The incident occurred last week as a couple were trying to see a Peter Kay live show, but were stopped by a member of security who deemed the shirt inappropriate and against policy. The man’s request to turn the shirt inside out was denied, and he was consequently refused entry.

He was denied entry to the O2 for wearing a t-shirt that said "Free Gaza." pic.twitter.com/ZYUInPamD7

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) August 16, 2024

AEG Europe, the company that owns the O2, told Middle East Monitor that the couple were not allowed in as the shirt fell under the venue’s ‘prohibited items policy,’ stating that: ‘in our reasonable opinion, [they] may cause danger or disruption to any event or to other visitors’.

The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor entertainment venue located in the Greenwich Peninsula area of London, England. It is one of the largest and busiest music arenas in the world, known for hosting a wide range of events, including concerts, sports, comedy shows, and other entertainment spectacles.

It has hosted some of the biggest names in music and entertainment, including Beyoncé, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, and many others.

The recent incident has brought bad publicity to the O2, however, as it has led to calls on X for people to boycott the venue.

London's O2 arena last week refused entry to a man for wearing a t-shirt with the words 'Free #Gaza', leading to calls to boycott the venue, which has since apologised https://t.co/n4xgl11z55

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) August 17, 2024

Boycotting brands or companies associated with Isreal’s war on Gaza is not uncommon, with a survey finding that over one-third of consumers are boycotting brands due to perceived stances on the war, using their purchasing power to express political views. This survey included 15,000 individuals from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, US and India.

Many prominent US-companies, such as Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s, are facing significant challenges due to boycotts, despite many of them asserting that they do not support a particular side in the Isreal war on Gaza.

In response to the backlash that the O2 received, they released an official apology, stating that they “sincerely apologise for any offence and upset this incident may have caused.”

As reported in NME, the O2 went on to say: “Safety and security are our paramount priority at all times, and we do everything we can to provide a safe and respectful environment for all our guests. It is for this reason our ‘prohibited items’ policy exists, stipulated in our terms and conditions for all events.”

Opening for Field Day 2019, a timeless rendition of the event featuring Skepta, Earl Sweatshirt, Death Grips, and HOMESHAKE, it has since operated as a solo venue, albeit for a shorter amount of time that anyone would have hoped for. The decline of London’s venues is a well-documented and saddening phenonemon, a cultural trend that the Drumsheds had hoped to counter. A new, large venue in a city where these sorts of venues were only decreasing in number was supposed to be a minor source for hope, but with COVID piling on there seemed to be no other alternative.

The ambitious venue combines 10 acres of outdoor space with four interlinked warehouses, all featuring separate acts when operating at its full potential. As it is an appropriate distance from residential properties – situated on the old industrial area of the Tottenham marshes – music can play on until much later than residential venues. The venue was part of the Meridian Water project in Enfield, a £6 billion fund to regenerate the formerly-industrial marshlands into a cultural and creative hub.

Promoters The Hydra were supposed to host their Not To Be event on the 18th of December, yet this was postponed until the 29th of January. The event, featuring Four Tet, Floating Points, Jon Hopkins, and Joy Orbison, will be the Drumsheds last. This sad announcement was made on The Hydra’s Instagram, which you can view below:

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“Thank you for your patience while we’ve been working to reschedule our NOT TO BE show, which was unfortunately postponed in December,” the statement from The Hydra reads. “As many of you recognised, postponing the show wasn’t a decision taken lightly – but it was the right call and we appreciate the ongoing support.”

“After a great deal of negotiation, we’re pleased to finally inform you that the show will now be going ahead on Saturday, 29 January 2022 at The Drumsheds.”

Tickets for Not To Be can be bought here.

The building is a former Morris furniture factory and will be renamed Junction 1 due to its location at Junction 1a of the M74. it will be a multipurpose cultural venue, and as well as providing an exciting new hub for arts and performances this will be an eco-friendly and sustainably managed site. As part of its commitment to sustainability, the new venue will feature 100 electric car and bicycle charging spots, and the site is also easily accessible via environmentally-friendly public transport as it’s just a ten-minute walk from Dalmarnock Station.

Teh first ever acts for this exciting new space have already been confirmed. The Flaming Lips and Colonel Mustard and the Dijon Five will perform on May 27th  2022, followed by Hot Chip with The Pictish Trail on June 3rd.

Events management professional Ashleigh Elliott, working on the Junction1 project, stated to Glasgow Live that:

 “Glasgow is the largest music economy in the UK after London so we are thrilled to announce our incredible new space, Junction-1 in the heart of Scotland’s musical capital. We have secured two of our favourite acts of all time to celebrate the arrival of our amazing new venue – The Flaming Lips and Hot Chip – so we know we are getting off to the most perfect of starts, with much more to come. J1 will play a key role within the city’s existing rich musical heritage by bringing together globally recognised artists and Scottish talent across multiple genres. J1 will open up so many possibilities for Glaswegians and music lovers across Scotland, the UK and beyond. Robert Morris, owner of the Morris Park Complex, is an absolute visionary and working with him on Junction1 from the very beginning of the project has allowed us to create something unique. The facilities are going to be superb, and the space will be firmly embedded in Glasgow and Scotland’s musical DNA. We just know fans and artists alike are going to love it. In keeping with our whole ethos, it is very much designed with sustainability in mind and as always we will be completely inclusive and diverse in everything we do.”

It’s our birthday!

On this day in 1871, Queen Victoria officially opened the Royal Albert Hall, built in honour of her beloved late husband, Prince Albert.

We so wish we were spending this special day with you #RAH150 pic.twitter.com/DR4dBRlWXb

— Royal Albert Hall (@RoyalAlbertHall) March 29, 2021

Now the venue, most widely known for The Proms which have taken place there since 1941, has become a premier stage for the world’s leading artists in a range of performance genres. Not just a platform for classical music, The Royal Albert Hall has hosted the likes of The Who, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Fleetwood Mac to name just a few.

The RAH has released a film with rock legend Mick Jagger to mark the beginning of the celebrations of their 150^th birthday.

The video reflects upon the great history of the venue as well as proclaiming “Your Room Will Be Ready” referring to hope that live events will return to the hall soon following a long hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On their official website The Royal Albert Hall wrote:

“2021 will see the Royal Albert Hall turn 150 years old, and to celebrate we’re planning a whole series of events and activities to celebrate our past, present and future! The Royal Albert Hall is so much more than just a beautiful Victorian venue, it’s the place of countless performances, stories and memories from countless visitors – where people have been singing, dancing, laughing, and crying together since 1871.”

 The website encourages people to share their memories of the historic venue writing: “As we prepare for our very special birthday we want to hear from as many of you as possible who have been part of our first 150 years. Whether you’ve performed here, visited here or even watched us on the television, we want to know your memories and what the Hall means to you.”

The platform will be used on the Sansar app and will allow viewers to move between the dancefloors of the club in vivid detail, with a livestream of all other goers. It will work through phone devices, Mac, tablet, PC or VR for viewers to enjoy a slice of the past in the club.

The company Beatport will be broadcasting the events through Facebook, YouTube and Twitch. The main-events have not yet been announced, as far as dates and times, however it has been released that their will be pre-game parties with music and games for attendees. The main events are scheduled to be announced on February 6th, 2021.

As one of the first widescale virtual events with a livestream and in-person attendees simultaneously, Tobacco Dock Virtual is setting the stage from a more innovative and virtual future. Tobacco Dock’s director Jonathan Read explained the experience, stating that –

“Tobacco Dock is excited to be working alongside our long term partner LWE to develop a cutting-edge virtual venue that will enable remote audiences to have a truly immersive, rich experience with the attributes of being present without the travel. It is a bold new step on our journey to make Tobacco Dock a global destination for music, cultural, fashion and tech events.”

In a press release, it was allusively announced that there will be big acts preforming opening weekend, which does not have a determinate date as of today. Not only were big acts promised, but major party bands situated in London will also be on the ticket.

It is not yet announced how much the app will cost, if anything or if there will be a type of ticket sale for the event. With the plan to open Easter of this year, it is still unclear whether the UK’s most recent restrictions surrounding the Covid-19 new variant will have been lifted at that time, and whether the events will still go ahead without a live-audience.

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The owners posted a message explaining the situation on their social media platforms. They began, “It is with more sadness and anger than I have the words to express that I have to announce that The Crobar will be unable to re-open at it’s current location.”

This was followed up with, “If the insurance companies had paid out, we could have paid the rent and the staffs wages and survived. If the landlords had given us a rent discount or holiday, we could have survived. Sadly, our idiot government did not make either of them do what’s right, and now the bar and music industries are in tatters.”

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Dear All, It is with more sadness and anger than I have the words to express that I have to announce that The Crobar will be unable to re-open at it’s current location. If the insurance companies had paid out, we could have paid the rent and the staffs wages and survived. If the landlords had given us a rent discount or holiday, we could have survived. Sadly, our idiot government did not make either of them do what’s right, and now the bar and music industries are in tatters. Years and years of hard work by pub, bar and venue owners across the country have been destroyed in the blink of an eye, and all because of the greed of a few ‘land barons’ Why did our government let this happen? Oh, that’s right, they are the land barons! On the up side, my 7 year old daughter pointed out to me that all I have to do is open a new Crobar, so that’s what I’m going to do. I aim to open a new Crobar with both a bar and a live music venue. It will require crowd funding, and I suspect it will be a year or so before opening will be viable, but fuck the greedy insurance companies, fuck the greedy short sighted landlords and fuck our brainless government…….we will be back! Long live Rock n’ Roll

A post shared by The Crobar (@thecrobarsoho) on Sep 20, 2020 at 12:17pm PDT

Despite this, there is a silver lining: the venue will re-open in a new location as a bar and music venue, with the support of music fans. Through crowd funding, a new Crobar will continue the unique experience artists and gig-goers have grown to love. The owners expect fundraising to take about a year.

The Crobar first opened in 2001 and became known for its jukebox containing the most popular rock and metal tracks of all time. It hosted many celebrities including Slash, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and even Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. It also became one of Dave Grohl’s (Foo Fighters) favourite places to visit; he once hired out the bar to hold an after-party for one of the band’s Wembley Stadium shows.

UNFORTUNATELY OUR AUGUST EUROPEAN SHOWS WILL ONCE AGAIN HAVE TO BE RESCHEDULED DUE TO THE ONGOING COVID-19 PANDEMIC. ALL TICKETS WILL BE VALID FOR THE NEWLY REVISED DATES AND WE HOPE TO ANNOUNCE THEM BY SEPTEMBER. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE. STAY SAFE. pic.twitter.com/SruirWFkKu

— HEALTH (@_HEALTH_) August 17, 2020

Fans commented saying that they understood, asking the band to ‘stay safe‘ in the meantime. Some even requested HEALTH add other UK locations such as Cardiff to their tour, as London remains the only UK destination on the schedule.

The band toured the UK and Ireland only last year, on their ‘Coveted Islands Tour 2019′. Their latest album, ‘Vol 4: Slaves of Fear‘ was released in February 2019 with Loma Vista Recordings. It was met with varying reviews; NME criticised it for being too sonically similar to its predecessor ‘Death Magic‘ whilst DIY’s Matthew Lombardi said the album helped establish HEALTH as a ‘landmark’ band. There was a general consensus that ‘Vol 4: Slaves of Fear’ is a gloomy, nihilistic commentary on society; some wield this as a criticism, while others praise the album for this very reason.

There is no doubt that the eponymous track, Slaves of Fear, hauntingly explores themes of alienation and despair. With lyrics like ‘slaves of fear// ’til we’re dead in the ground’ and ‘we want to be different// but we don’t want to try too hard’ under metal style guitar that reaches a thudding crescendo toward the middle of the song.

There is no doubt that HEALTH will put on a good live show when it is finally safe to do so. The band is known for its impressive lighting and energetic performances. They actually started out playing live shows at LA institution The Smell, a venue known for its legendary alcohol and drug-free gigs. Watch a recording of HEALTH live at The Smell in 2008 below while you wait patiently for the new European tour dates to be announced in September:

Affected Tour Dates:

20/08/2020 – Zetpete – Krakow, PL
21/08 – Hydrozagadka – Warsaw, PL
22/08 – Lido – Berlin, DE
23/08 – Luxor – Cologne, DE
25/08 – Petit Bain – Paris, FR
27/08 – Studio 9294 – London, UK
28/09 – Loppen – Copenhagen, DK

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat. 

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A post shared by Music Venue Trust (@musicvenuetrust) on Apr 30, 2020 at 11:40am PDT

In the last few weeks, many artists like Danny Goffey, La Roux, Gaz Coombes and Daniel Briskin showed support to the organisation in these difficult times. An online festival celebrating Liverpool music in support of Liverpool NHS Hospitals and Save our Venues has also been announced recently.

 

 

 

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Artists around England are concerned with the potential losses the music industry will suffer if no measures are taken. This topic was explored further by journalist Poppy Platt in an article published in ‘The Guardian’ on March 13. The singer and songwriter Ellie Rowsell stated the importance of Grassroots Music Venues in an Instagram post shared in the official MVT profile.

 

 

 

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A post shared by Music Venue Trust (@musicvenuetrust) on Mar 6, 2020 at 5:01am PST