Following technical issues at one of Manchester’s most famous arenas, huge artists such as: Take That, Olivia Rodrigo, and Keane, have been forced to postpone or cancel their performances on extremely short notice, leaving thousands of fans angered.

Usually, the arena can hold up to 23,500 people, and these seats were expected to be filled on the 20th April, as Rick Astley was due to perform in a test concert, and was the first show since the arena’s original opening. However, according to NME, only an hour before the show began, thousands of unfortunate concert goers received the fatal email that was cancelling their tickets. The arena claimed that this was in order to reduce the venue capacity to 11,000 for safety measures, however it did not appease attendees, some of which had already began on their travels to the show.

From here, the situation only worsened as A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s show on May 1st was cancelled ten minutes prior to the doors opening. It has been revealed that a component of the air conditioning system had fell during soundcheck, resulting in the abrupt cancelling of his show. As a result of the worsening difficulties with the venue, artists including A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Take That, have managed to change their shows to the Co-op Arena’s rival venue, the AO Arena.

The arena has stated that they are hoping to re-open on May 14th, despite recently undergoing work. According to the BBC, the venue had been warned in February that construction plans were around 35 weeks behind schedule. Nonetheless, the £365m venue is confident that they will soon be re-opening, and are keeping fan’s hopes up with the announcement of shows for this summer and the rescheduling of previously cancelled shows.

However, many artists have been unable to rearrange their shows, with Olivia Rodrigo, who has currently not managed to reschedule her show, stating she is “so bummed” that her show can’t go ahead

Hopefully the venue will be up and running again soon, as many despondent fans have been left miserable and confused at the sudden change of circumstances.

The event was formerly recognised as the MTV European Music Awards when it was first held on November 24th, 1994 to honour European artists who have made their mark on the pop culture scene. It first came to fruition as an alternative event to the United State’s MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), which stretches beyond Europe’s borders.  

It is the first time this prestigious and globally renowned ceremony is taking place in Manchester and will be presented by Paramount International Networks. According to The Guardian, the leader of the Manchester city council, Bev Craig, has expressed his excitement: “With the expertise, experience and reputation we also have for delivering successful, world-class events, we’re confident Manchester will provide a superb platform for the best MTV EMAs yet.”

Manchester is not the only British venue to host the event. The locations in the UK that have been home to the ceremony in the past include: London, Liverpool, Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Thus, this year is an exciting event for two reasons: Firstly, it has not been hosted in the UK for a total of seven years. Secondly, anticipation has been building since the ceremony was cancelled in 2023. It was set to be held in Paris but the show did not go on due to the Israel-Hamas conflict which continues to send ripples of devastation on an international scale. In the year prior (2022) it was hosted in Düsseldorf, Germany.

However, there has been controversy rising in regards to the details of the event as the clock ticks and the calendar counts down. ASM Global, the operator of AO Arena in Manchester; also referred to as the “enemy” of the soon to be functional Co-op Live Arena, is not being shy in sharing their (not so subtle) concerns about the arena’s operating licence. According to The Guardian, ASM are arguing in order to “safeguard public safety…”  and to ensure “the prevention of public nuisance”.  The chief operating officer of Oak View Group and owner of Co-op Live, Mark Donnelly, is reportedly “quite disappointed to see [ASM] are trying to put conditions on us when they operate with an unrestricted licence. We feel these are competition-based.”

On a lighter note, Manchester seems to be the perfect location, as music is in its DNA and is at the heart of its creative and vibrant city centre. It is the historical home of musical legends, such as New Order, The Stone Roses and Oasis. It is a prosperous and booming city, and will be even more so with the multi-million pound boost that this event is predicted to provide for it. It’s an exciting future ahead, especially on November 10th!

The band have not held back with this year’s tour. Starting on the 24th of July, just after they release Starcatcher, they will be performing at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. And they will make their way around various countries all the way through until December where they will be making their grand finale in Lisbon, Portugal, at the Campo Pequeño, performing alongside Black Honey.

It is a grand tour which will be seeing the best of American arena shows throughout July, August and September before finally crossing the pond in November. Europeans will be happy to know that they will be visiting more countries than originally imagines, such as Germany, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Spain and, as mentioned before, Portugal. Most of these mentioned shows are to be held in arena stadiums. They do not go easy.

In just three years Van Fleet have gone from hopping through Detroit bars to selling out Arena tours quicker than a dog could lick a dish clean. Best known for their fans favourite “Safari Song”, “Highway Tune” and “Black Smoke Rising” from their debut album.

Within the creation of this ten track album, the musicians reflect and explore the duality of fantasy versus reality and the contrast between light and darkness. Hence the naming of the album Starcatcher. We had this idea that we wanted to tell these stories to build a universe,” says Wagner in a press release. “We wanted to introduce characters and motifs and these ideas that would come about here and there throughout our careers through this world.”

The album is a follow up from their last, of which they have taken concepts from to apply to their newly constructed project, in another formality. They have teased us with a previously released single of the lot “Meeting The Master”. Within music different questions lead to different answers. But their general concept stands the same. The band is very well known for their live performances and have never failed to sell out arena tours, such as the ones waiting ahead of them.

Tickets went on sale this morning (19 April) at 10 am.

Click here to purchase.

UK Tour Dates:

14/11/2023 – Wembley Arena – London
16/11 – 3Arena – Dublin
19/11 – Manchester Arena – Manchester
20/11 – OVO Hydro Arena – Glasgow