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While an official launch date hasn’t been made public yet, the venue’s booking diary is open and music fans will be able to find out more about the venue and its first acts by signing up on their official website, to access their mailing list. The first acts are expected to be announced in the next few months.

The new venue will be located in Olympia to preserve their musical history, with Olympia having previously hosted the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Cure, Rod Stewart, The Chemical Brothers, Pink Floyd, The Who, and more.

In a press statement, AEG Presents Europe’s COO Andrew Spencer said, “Olympia is a place that has an incredible musical history which we want to honour whilst creating a venue that is thoroughly modern with world class facilities for artists and fans alike.”

The COO of British Airways Calum Laming also said, “Together with AEG Presents UK, not only are we creating unique experiences for audiences, we’re also helping shine a spotlight on the next generation of talent. As the flag carrier for the UK, it’s important to us that we represent modern Britain at home and all around the world, and we’re so excited to be a part of Olympia to showcase the very best homegrown and international entertainment.”

Besides the new British Airways ARC venue, AEG Presents UK also owns other music venues such as Indigo at the O2, Eventim Apollo, Watford Colosseum, and University of Wolverhampton at The Halls. AEG Presents also runs several major music events across the UK, including BST Hyde Park at London’s Hyde Park, and All Points East Festival at London’s Victoria Park.

They also promote intimate concerts at the Eden Project called the Eden Sessions which offer concerts in a unique natural setting, and C2C: Country to Country, Europe’s leading country music festival. Other festivals include Forwards Festival in Bristol, and LIDO Festival in East London.

New additions include Roundhay Festival in Leeds, launching in 2026, and Forever Now at Milton Keynes Bowl (an alternative one-day event). AEG also produces The Castle Sessions at Warwick Castle, where they present open-air concerts in a historic venue.

The hearing occurred amidst an ongoing period of uncertainty for the Brixton Academy following the devastating crowd crush at an Asake show last December that ultimately claimed the lives of two people and left another in critical condition. The event forced the Academy to shut its doors and led to the venue having its live music license revoked. This in turn led to a backlash amongst fans of the beloved venue, leading to a petition to reopen its doors amassing quite the success.

The first day of the hearing led to the venue refusing the accusation of racial profiling, with AMG’s legal representative Mr Philip Kolvin QC quoted as saying, “My client is probably the leading host of music of Black origin in this country. That’s a position that it values and would like to continue to be. Of the 13 different risks assessed by the Academy, none of them are racial“.

Lambeth Council barrister Horatio Waller QC agreed with Kolvin on the second day of the hearing, saying, “This new process should not lead to a tunnel vision situation where risk is associated with genre or race“.

Waller also confirmed yesterday that the venue could be re-opened if certain conditions were met. He claimed that AMG have performed a “complete overhaul” of their security procedures and attitude towards risk assessments since December and that these were “independently audited” by consultants and commended as “comprehensive and robust“.

Waller also states that “the council supports, in principle, the re-opening of the venue based upon new conditions“, with these conditions including a “new, revised system for ingress entry into the venue” and the “introduction of new barriers positioned on the highway”.

Mr Kolvin QC discussed in his closing argument the installation of strengthened doors at the venue. He stated, “At the time of this incident, the doors were unable to withstand a mass and violent attack. In other words, the premises were not a fortress, they were a concert hall. Even if you consider the doors should have been more robust at an earlier stage, that is a matter of blame which is for other processes to investigate. It does not require these premises to shut down any more than any other public or private premises that are compulsorily closed following accidents, even terrible accidents. The doors have now been strengthened so as to be resilient against pressure, even if it did occur”.

Following the conclusion of the public hearing, Lambeth Council have advised that a decision on the future of the venue will be made “within five working days”, according to NME.

NME has stated, based on a recent press release, that the venue will also play host to a Banksy piece entitled “Christ With Shopping Bags” or “Consumer Jesus”, which was originally created in 2004 and released in 2005 and was limited to 82 signed prints.

Amazing Grace describes itself as “London’s newest and most exciting live music venue focusing on high quality emerging talent and established artists from across the city and globe.” The venue has launched a new website, alongside an Instagram page. Whilst most of their website is still in its infancy, they have stated: “Amazing Grace will play host to an eclectic mix of musicians and DJ’s showcasing many different genres and styles. The venue boasts a large main bar, dancefloor and a jaw dropping mezzanine overlooking the downstairs space.” In addition, Amazing Grace will feature a 3D-mapped wall at the back of the stage, which will allow for projections to appear behind the acts that are playing, promising visually stunning performances.

The venue has also announced that they are partnering with Mr Bao, a Peckham-based family run business specialising in Taiwanese food: “We’re delighted to have partnered with the ever-popular restauranteur Mr Bao, who will offer an incredible selection of Chinese street food to keep you nourished throughout your evening. Alongside this our bars will serve an array of top-quality craft beers including our very own in-house lager, an expansive cocktail list and more.”

In other news pertaining to UK music venues, grassroots venues are currently facing a debt of £90million due to long closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the height of the pandemic, over 1,000 music venues, theatres and festivals were granted the first share of the UK government’s Cultural Recovery Fund, and in October of 2020, it was reported that there was an 89% success rate for English music venues that applied for the emergency lifeline fund. Given the worrying state that the pandemic threw the music industry into, the number of venues that we’re able to persevere and attain the funding they needed was both relieving and impressive. However, grassroots venues are now emerging from the pandemic with an average debt of between £80,000-£120,000 per venue. You can read more about this here.