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Co-op Live
Indoor arena in Manchester, England From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Co-op Live is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, sited in the Etihad Campus next to the City of Manchester Stadium. It opened on 14 May 2024.[4][2][3]
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The venue has 32 bars, restaurants and lounges and has the largest floor space of any comparable UK arena.[5] Oak View Group operates the venue in partnership with City Football Group.[6] Further investors in the arena include singer Harry Styles.[7]
Co-op Live is the UK's first fully electric arena,[8] and notes its strong sustainable credentials including a football pitch worth of solar panels, rainwater harvesting to flush the toilets and water the plants, intelligent building controls, reusable cups, locally sourced food and materials, and a zero waste direct to landfill policy.[9]
The venue has been commended for its sound design,[10] with Liam Gallagher comparing the venue to New York City's iconic Madison Square Garden.[11] Opening the venue, Elbow frontman Guy Garvey noted the arena's design, calling it a "feather in the cap of Manchester's music [scene]".[12]
In its first year of opening, Co-op Live announced 12 UK arena exclusives, including well-received performances by Paul McCartney[13] and the only UK dates on Eagles' farewell tour.[14] The venue marks its first anniversary with the first of an exclusive run of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performances.[15]
Co-op Live has pledged at least £1m annually to the Co-op Foundation,[16] and having donated funds to the likes of Liam Gallagher's chosen charity, Happy Doggo.[17] In March 2025, Co-op Live confirmed a donation in the name of opening act Elbow to Manchester's Northern Quarter venues to help improve their sound equipment.[18]
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History
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Co-op Live was first approved in September 2020, announcing BAM Construct UK as the primary contractor.[19] At the time, Tim Leiweke, co-founder of Oak View Group, said: "We’re delighted that Manchester City Council has given our proposals the go-ahead, and we can’t wait to get started, bringing £350m of private investment, creating thousands of jobs, and delivering one of the world’s best arenas to this amazing city.[20]"
In 2020, the Co-operative Group announced it would be a significant investor in the arena, which would be named after it, and that Co-operative members will receive exclusive benefits regarding use of the arena.[21]
Construction, undertaken by BAM Construct UK,[22] started in 2021.[23] As of 2022, the estimated cost of the scheme was £365 million.[5] In July 2024, Royal BAM reported its UK construction business had suffered a £19.5m loss due to problems at the arena, and would be cutting jobs.[24]
Opening events
Manchester indie band Elbow officially opened the venue on 14 May 2024.[25] The opening period also included notable performances by the likes of comedian Peter Kay, Liam Gallagher, The Killers, Take That and Nicki Minaj.[26]
The Eagles also performed a five night residency at the venue as part of their farewell "Long Goodbye" tour, taking place in May and June 2024.[27]
On 25 May a performance by Nicki Minaj was cancelled, after most attendees had been admitted into the venue, after an arrest for drug possession at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol;[28] the concert, which was part of the Pink Friday 2 World Tour, was rescheduled to 3 June.[29]
Notable events
The first 12 months of Co-op Live has seen over 100 shows take place, including performances by Liam Gallagher, Diljit Dosanjh, Janet Jackson and Pearl Jam. In February 2024, it was announced that the arena would host the MTV Europe Music Awards in November, which took place on 10 November 2024.[30] On 24 April 2024, the UFC announced it would hold UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad 2 at the venue on 27 July.[31][32]
On September 21, 2024, Melanie Martinez made her debut at the arena as part of the European leg of her The Trilogy Tour.
In July 2024, Sabrina Carpenter announced she would play two gigs at the Co-op Live Arena as part of the European leg of her Short n' Sweet Tour.[33]
Charli XCX opened her Brat Tour from the Manchester venue in November 2024.[34]
Paul McCartney played the arena on 14–15 December as part of his Got Back tour.[35]
The venue will host the 2026 Brit Awards on 28 February.[36]
Other upcoming events
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band are set to perform across three nights, with the first on 14 May 2025.[37] Olivia Rodrigo has confirmed her rescheduled shows for late June and early July 2025, now her only UK indoor shows announced for 2025.[38] The venue has also announced a UK arena exclusive run by stateside R&B artist, Chris Brown.[39] Upon announcing Chris Brown, the venue revealed their highest ticket sales to date, and the most across Europe during that single week.[40]
Additionally, American rapper Tyler, the Creator is scheduled to perform two nights at the arena on 27 and 28 May 2025 on his tour Chromakopia: The World Tour.[41] Robbie Williams is set to perform on 10 and 11 June 2025 as part of his 2025 tour.[42] Iron Maiden will rock the roof off with a headline performance at the arena on 22 June 2025 as part of their Run for Your Lives World Tour. Additionally, Lady Gaga, with her Mayhem Ball, will perform two nights at Co-op Live on 7 and 8 October.[43]
Billie Eilish confirmed the venue would host four nights of her Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour in July 2025.[44]
Delayed opening
The arena was officially due to open on 23 April with a headline act by comedian Peter Kay; however, due to power supply issues at a test event featuring Rick Astley on 20 April, which resulted in 4,000 tickets being cancelled, the venue announced that Kay's performance was to be postponed until 29 and 30 April. The Black Keys were scheduled to perform on 27 April, but this was later rescheduled to 15 May.[45][46] On-going technical issues saw Kay's performances rescheduled for a second time to 23 and 24 May.[23] The venue was due to be opened on 1 May with A Boogie wit da Hoodie, but this was also postponed, as well as Olivia Rodrigo and Keane who were scheduled for the following weekend.[23][47][48] In the wake of the delayed opening and cancellations, Take That opted to move their five concert dates from Co-op Live to rival venue the AO Arena.[49] Co-op Live officially opened on 14 May 2024, with the band Elbow being the opening act.[50]
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Arena design
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The arena is planning to host live music, sports, comedy acts, and family entertainment events. It will have an all-seated maximum capacity of 20,500 (for a centre-stage concert, extending the retractable seating in the lower tier); but with an enhanced maximum capacity of 23,500, of whom 7,500 would be standing, when lower tier seating is retracted.[51][52][53]
The audience bowl will be approximately square with retractable seating on level 0 and level 1, premium seating on level 2, upper tier seating on level 3, and hospitality lounges overlooking the stage at level 4 from the North and South sides; while the configuration of the auditorium is intended to be optimised for larger-scale touring music performances with a relatively low ceiling (to enhance the acoustic experience), an extensive potential flat floor area at Level 0 for standing, and minimised distances from the upper tiers to the stage. Compared to a more conventional arena bowl of equivalent size, the tiered seats on the Western side of the Co-op Arena are claimed to be around 20 metres (70 ft) closer to the performance stage. The promoters state that the interior of the bowl "has been designed to feel like the UK's largest nightclub".[54]
The arena is planned to host around 120 events per year, 100 of which are planned music events. The design of the arena is primarily focused on hosting live music with Tim Leiweke, the CEO of the Oak View Group, stating that the design "made it about music and started there" as other arena projects had been "compromised by trying to please everyone".[5]
In addition to live music and entertainment, the developers propose basketball, netball, tennis, esports and gymnastics as sports that could be hosted within the dimensions of the arena floor, and for which there was not, at the time, an appropriate larger venue in Manchester capable of hosting championship events. With lower-tier seating retracted, the floor would accommodate a standard ice hockey rink. For events configured with a centre stage or using the arena floor, there will be additional upper-tier seating on the East side; above and behind the normal end-stage position.[52]
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