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It has been billed by its American owners as the greatest music venue ever built: a state-of-the-art arena to put Manchester back to music card.
But after a series of humiliating setbacks, the £450m Co-op Live – now dubbed by some as Co-flop Live – opened its doors with more of a wobble than a flutter with a long-delayed gig by the local band The elbow on Tuesday evening.
The concert came almost two weeks after the 23,500-capacity arena canceled a show by US star A Boogie Wit da Hoodie when part of a ventilation system fell from the ceiling shortly after the doors opened.
It was the latest problem to hit the UK’s biggest indoor arena, whose supporters include Harry Styles and Abu Dhabi-based owners Manchester City after power problems caused the cancellation of concerts by comedian Peter Kay and US rockers the Black Keys.
The Elbow frontman Guy Garvey said he wanted to open the venue “properly”, citing teething problems at the start of his band’s two-hour set.
Delighted, he said: “Everyone who worked on this building was so excited today, so nervous but so excited. There was already electricity in the air before you came in today, and now it’s all amped up. I hope you can feel it.
Before the Elbow gig, the venue’s moody boss, Tim Leiweke, said he was confident Coop Live was now “the safest building in the world”.
As he toured the arena’s VIP section — which looks like an airport departure lounge, with the same boozy atmosphere — Leiweke appeared emotional as he described the toll of the past few weeks.
“It was hard. I’m emotional because it’s a big deal and we want to do well until Manchester,” said the Missouri-born executive.
“It’s never easy to build these things with Brexit and Covid, but in the end we built the greatest arena ever built – for Manchester. It was hard. I apologized to those [fans] we broke … now the building is open and will be for another 30 years.”
Leiweke, chief executive of the venue’s manager, the US-based Oak View Group, said some parts of the arena would not be completed for another six months, adding that it was normal for buildings to have an extensive “hit list” to handle after opening.
He added: “I’ve never opened a building without a thousand things to do. These buildings have a life of their own. We will be back here several more times [in the coming months].”
Leiweke previously told the BBC that A Boogie Wit da Hoodie’s show was canceled after one of the 96 pre-produced pieces crashed onto the venue floor from the ceiling after soundcheck and as fans began to make their way inside. It could have been “catastrophic” if it had happened 15 minutes later, he added.
The incident forced bosses to cancel concerts by US megastar Olivia Rodrigo and Take That. In perhaps the biggest humiliation of all, its bitter rivals – Manchester’s AO Arena – had to intervene to be hosted by Take That.
Fans who arrived at the Elbow expecting a completely finished state-of-the-art venue may have been surprised to find parts of it still look like a construction site. Workers in jackets and hard hats toiled away shortly before Tuesday night’s concert.
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Neil Forkin, 54, said he had been excited about the gig for weeks but at times feared it might never happen.
“Some people think it’s a national shame, but I don’t,” he said as he queued to get in with his wife Melanie, 47. “I see it as an exciting new place. There will be naysayers, but there are a lot of positives.”
Forkin, who works in commercial real estate financing, said he thinks the arena has fallen victim to hubris: its opening date is too ambitious because the building is not yet finished.
But he wasn’t going to let any safety concerns ruin his night: “Should we have been wearing helmets in case lightning fell from the ceiling?”
Kelda Ross, a teacher, said she hoped the site would be “safer than ever” after the extra checks.
The 36-year-old singer said she hoped Co-op Live would bring Manchester’s musical heritage into the modern day and attract the world’s best new acts. “The current one [AO] The Arena needs an update so having this brand new venue will raise Manchester’s profile,” she said. “I think he’ll bounce back from a rough start.”
Plans to open the venue began to fall apart when thousands of tickets were canceled for a test event headlined by Rick Astley on April 20 with only a few hours notice due to safety concerns. Gary Roden resigned as general manager of Co-op Live next week after a PR own goal when he said mainstream venues were often “badly managed” – shortly after he canceled opening shows by Lancashire-born comedian Kay.
Co-op Live is scheduled to host shows by Kaye, Eric Clapton, Nicki Minaj and Barry Manilow over the next two weeks.
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