This certification, awarded by the non-profit sustainability expert A Greener Future, celebrates the venue’s commitment to reducing its environmental impact and serves as a model for events, festivals, and venues worldwide. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The O2 (@theo2london)

The O2 Arena, owned by AEG Europe, achieved this milestone as a result of implementing a comprehensive sustainability strategy with a strong emphasis on energy efficiency. 

Earlier this year, the venue made headlines for hosting the world’s first “carbon removed” shows in collaboration with The 1975, CUR8 and A Greener Future. The February 2024 gigs used carbon removal methods, including rock weathering and biochar, to successfully extract 500 tonnes of residual carbon – equivalent to the yearly electricity usage of 395 homes. Through this, The O2 pioneered carbon-conscious live entertainment, offering a blueprint for similar events in the future. 

The venue’s expanded efforts to achieve net-zero status include embracing electric-powered vehicles, investing in renewable energy sources, and enhancements in waste management. Initiatives such as distributing reusable cups and upgrading waste-sorting facilities have increased the venue’s recycling rate to an impressive 80%.

The 1975 have just played the world’s first carbon-removed arena events at The O2. The result of a collaboration between venue owner/operator AEG Europe, live sector sustainability consultants A Greener Future, carbon removal enterprise CUR8 and the band, the 100 tonnes of… pic.twitter.com/N8HFfqlVNo — The 1975 TH (@the1975_thteam) March 1, 2024

Sam Booth, the Director of Sustainability at AEG Europe, highlighted the significance of the arena’s progress: “From history-making moments like our carbon removed events, to essential works we’ve done behind the scenes to create efficiencies and minimise waste and emissions, we’ve made incredible strides at The O2 this year and we’re proud to have this recognised by A Greener Future.”

The ‘Commended’ status recognises arenas that show “demonstrable improvements” and “a significant engagement in reducing negative environmental and social impacts”. Booth promised that these efforts were not over, commenting that: “The path to net zero is one that is constantly evolving, and we’re committed to continued innovation so that we can deliver world-class, sustainable events for our fans, bands, and brands.” 

The O2 secures Commended status as A Greener Arena following sustainability initiatives https://t.co/BkqkDcjdaS pic.twitter.com/WaaWhUZEvt

— Music Week (@MusicWeek) December 19, 2024

Additional to the environment, the ‘Greener Arena’ Certification also evaluates the health and wellbeing of staff, for which The O2 was rated ‘Outstanding’. 

Steve Sayer, VP & General Manager at The O2, expressed pride for this achievement, stating: “We’re so proud to have achieved our Greener Arena certification, and to be paving the way for other arenas in England and around the world.” The venue has become a pioneer for a consideration for a brand’s internal environment as well as the external, global environment. 

This recognition places the O2 among a select group of venues that are setting a benchmark for greener practices within the events industry, as Claire O’Neill, CEO at A Greener Future, emphasised: “We’re really happy for The O2 and want to congratulate their team for all their efforts to run a greener arena. When one of the most iconic venues takes visible action for a more sustainable live sector it reverberates throughout the industry.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The O2 (@theo2london)

As one of the world’s busiest live arena, The O2’s leadership in sustainability sets an example for other arenas and large-scale events. This significant milestone reinforces its role as a trailblazer in redefining the concert and event experience, ensuring that entertainment remains accessible to future generations. 

The O2’s recognition as ‘A Greener Arena’ is not only a testament to its current efforts but a call to action for the broader events industry to prioritise sustainability as part of its mission.

The Leicester group are set to play a string of dates throughout July which will commence tomorrow as they will play a huge homecoming show at Victoria park with support from bands that include Kaiser chiefs and Everything Everything. This will then be followed up by dates in Bournemouth and at Bristol’s O2 Academy. At the end of the month Kasabian will then be Headlining Latitude festival in Suffolk, which sees acts such as London Grammar, Keane, Duran Duran and Corinne Baily Rae taking the stage.

Mike Skinner’s The Streets will then join Kasabian for a UK arena tour in November with them beginning this run of huge shows in Skinner’s hometown, Birmingham before playing at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro then at the O2 Arena before finishing in Manchester at the Co-op Live. Tickets for the November tour will go on general sale on the 10th of July at 9:30am and you can buy tickets here. Pre-sale for the tour will begin at the same time on the 8th of July and fans can access the pre-sale by purchasing a copy of ‘Happening’ in any format before 3pm on Sunday (July 7) here.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kasabian (@kasabianofficial)

The full list of Kasabian’s 2024 dates are as follows:

6 July– Leicester, Victoria Park
22 July – Bristol, O2 Academy
23 July – Bournemouth, O2 Academy
26 July– Latitude Festival

8 November– Birmingham, bp pulse LIVE
9 November– Glasgow, OVO Hydro
15 November– London, The O2
16 November– Manchester, Co-op Live

Speaking via Instagram on the release of their new album ‘Happenings’ the band said “We loved making this record it’s a relentless joy ride through dance floors, mosh pits and psychedelic function rooms. It was made with pure joy to be played live for the fans to lose their minds to. Thank you for the support so far we hope you enjoy the trip  ONWARDS x”.

This announcement follows both the Streets and Kasabian playing at Glastonbury festival last weekend. The Leicester indie band played a secret set on the Woodsies stage at Worthy farm early on Saturday evening. The 6pm slot was initially listed as TBA, but the group confirmed via their Instagram that they would be playing to the Glastonbury crowd with the Woddsies stage inevitably packing out to see them take the stage.

The Streets also played at Worthy farm on Saturday (June 29) night playing a smashing set on The Other stage. The Streets’ set saw Mike Skinner play an array of the Projects hits such as ‘Fit But You Know It’, ‘Has It Come To This’, ‘Don’t Mug Yourself’ and ‘Blinded By The Lights’. Skinner was full of energy throughout the performance, walking through the crowd and crowd surfing at points.

The band took to Twitter and Instagram to make the announcement, miming to Fergie’s “London Bridge” to show their excitement to be performing at this iconic East London festival.

Onsale now! @HAIMtheband make their Luno presents All Points East debut on Bank Holiday Monday 28 August, for a European exclusive performance. With @_girlinred_, @confidencemanTM, @LizzyMcAlpine and many more, plus further artists to be announced.
https://t.co/ePb44YLNZq pic.twitter.com/4gEISqidhR

— All Points East (@allpointseastuk) March 10, 2023

The festival is based in Victoria Park, London and is taking place on Bank Holiday Monday, falling on 28th August. Tickets are available to purchase here.

Joining Haim on the line-up are Girl in Red, Tove Lo, Confidence Man and Lizzy McAlpine amongst many others. Many more are due to be announced, guaranteeing it to be the perfect way to spend your Bank Holiday Monday.

We’re so excited to announce the unstoppable @HAIMtheband are heading to Victoria Park on Bank Holiday Monday 28 August for a European exclusive performance, with Girl In Red, Confidence Man, Lizzy McAlpine and many more! Tickets go on general sale Friday 10 March at 10am. pic.twitter.com/RWhoqjg9Op — All Points East (@allpointseastuk) March 7, 2023

 The festival is held over two weekends and is a must for alternative music fans.

Having recently toured the UK, Haim will take a break from their travels this year, with this being the only European show for the sisters in 2023.

They recently made waves by bringing Taylor Swift on stage at The O2 to perform their hit song “Gasoline” as well as Swift’s “Love Story”.  

Haim are set to join an already star-studded line-up for All Points East, joining Angel Olsen, Amyl and the Sniffers and The Strokes.

The festival will also include a day of music curated by Stormzy called the “This is What We Mean Day”, with Stormzy headlining this day himself. Stormzy is teaming up with APE to put together a UK exclusive show back in his hometown.  

.@stormzy will be heading to Victoria Park for a massive hometown show on Friday 18 August 2023, as part of Luno presents All Points East. pic.twitter.com/zpi9E7hcFe

— All Points East (@allpointseastuk) November 9, 2022

Sharing the news prior to deleting his social media accounts, Stormzy said “I was thinking what’s next cos we’ve done 3 O2s shut that down. I said to the team we gotta do something bigger something better something different. We were having back to back meetings bouncing ideas.”

He continued, “Then it hit me I started jotting down ideas thinking – live band need a live band. August 2023 a summer time thing outside for the people always for my people. So August 2023 Victoria Park more info coming soon…. This Is What We Mean Day. Hard.”

More information on All Points East can be found here with tickets on sale now.

The show will not just be the band’s first live performance in two years but will also mark the O2 arena’s reopening, the famous venue was forced to temporally closed its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions which have been put in place due to the health crisis. The free show will be in support of the NHS staff who have proceeded to be on the front lines of the current health crisis, NHS workers and their families will be able to attend the concert by showing their NHS pass along with their tickets. The gig will take place a day before the band’s original rescheduled date on 11th August 2021, the sold-out event will also take place at O2 Arena.

The group took to their Instagram page to announce the news, the post also featured a message of thanks from drummer Russel Hobbs.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gorillaz (@gorillaz)

The O2 Arena’s VP and General Manager, Steve Sayer, has also commented on the importance of the show as well as the venue’s excitement to be back at business. “This is such a big moment for us. Our first live show in over 500 days, with one of the UK’s best bands playing to an audience made up of NHS staff and their families. We have missed the fans and live performances so much, we couldn’t be more proud to reopen with this event and to welcome such a great audience.”

The live dates in August will not be the group’s only live performances, the group has also been announced to play at Primavera Sound Festival in 2022. The festival is set to take place at the Parc del Forum located in Barcelona Spain and will be held across two weekends in the month of June. Over the two weekends, 2-4 June 2022 and 9-11 June 2022, ticket-holders will get to see over 400 acts perform. Other acts including Gorillaz on the line up include Lorde, Tame Impala and indie icons The Strokes.

The group consists of non-virtual and virtual members, the non-virtual bandmates include Blur member Damon Albarn, comic book artist Jamie Hewlett and producer Remi Kabaka Jr. The ‘Feel Good Inc’ performers also include virtual and animated bandmates, 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle and Russel Hobbs. The band recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of their debut album ‘Gorillaz’ released on 26th March 2021. The album featured the now-legendary track ‘Clint Eastwood’ which launched the group into immense popularity, the album also gained the group entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. They were included within the impressive roster of achievements as the Most Successful Virtual Band and the album reached a phenomenal 3 million global sales. For this year’s Record Store Day the band also marked their debut album’s birthday celebrations with their participation in the event, the group released a box set of six of their studio albums. The box set was entitled ‘G Collection’ and was a popular item for Record Store Day.

The performance date will be Saturday 5th December, and will be the first in nine months. Opening the show will be Leon Tilbrook – son of Glenn Tilbrook who is the frontman of Squeeze – as well as The Wilhelm Scream. Tickets go on sale this Friday, 9th October at 10am, and will be sold in groups of two, three and four to ensure safety.

Organisers announced the news on Twitter, explaining what they’ll be doing to create a safe gig for attendees, artists, and crew. A one-way system will be in place, and everyone must wear a mask when in the venue, unless they are seated in their assigned area.

We’re excited to announce that after 9 months without events, our first socially distanced gig will be held on 5 December 2020 with London band Squeeze

Find out what we’re doing to keep you safe here https://t.co/sMleqfsUb0

Tickets on sale Friday 10am https://t.co/brBYPVFBPA pic.twitter.com/dhT3Z7wVos

— The O2 (@TheO2) October 5, 2020

Fans had mixed reactions, understandably given the circumstances and the regularly changing Government guidelines. General Manager of The O2, Steve Sayer, expressed his thoughts, saying, “At the moment, we’re only able to host under a quarter of our capacity in the arena, so this is not a long term solution for us or other venues and we continue to press the government for targeted support and guidance to get the live events industry and its supply chain back on its feet.”

Many other venues have held socially distanced live shows, which were successful, but not financially viable in the long-term. Virgin Money were able to set up a new outdoor venue for the summer, which maintained health and safety guidelines. However, smaller grassroots venues are suffering greatly from the loss of business and income.

Sayer continued, “The O2 was designed to give artists and fans the best live music in the world and we look forward to doing that again with Squeeze. As The O2 returns to live, it’s really fitting that a band from the local area are the ones to reopen our doors to the public once again. The whole team are excited to see them on our stage for the first time.”

K-pop sensations @superm are heading to London on 28 February 2020. Ticket info coming soon. Follow us for all the latest updates. https://t.co/UI2wYE5D1L pic.twitter.com/XUvobJLryx

— The O2 (@TheO2) December 23, 2019

The K-Pop group – which features members of three different groups including EXO, NCT127 and WayV – are set to play tracks from their self-titled, SuperM, debut EP, including the hit single ‘Jopping’. The band’s hit single, ‘Jopping’ reached Number One, on the US Billboard 200 earlier this year.

The group – which includes seven members from four SM boy groups: Taemin from Shinee, Baekhyun and Kai from Exo, Taeyong and Mark from NCT 127, and Ten and Lucas from WayV – became the first Korean act to debut at the top of the chart, as well as achieving the fourth Korean-language album release to open at Number One.

The supergroup, who released their self titled debut EP on October 4 2019, kick started their world tour off, in North America last month and will re-commence in early 2020, with shows in cities such as San Diego, Los Angeles and Vancouver.

The announcement comes after fellow K-Pop group Ateez announced they’re coming to London next year on tour. The K-pop group are bringing ‘The Fellowship: Map the Treasure Tour’ to London’s SSE Arena Wembley, on March 20 2020. As part of the group’s European tour, they will also perform shows in Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Warsaw and Moscow, during March.