Co-op Live ticket holders 'fuming' after being turned away from first ever show just hours before it starts
21.04.2024 - 06:55
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Ticket holders have been turned away from a test event at Manchester's huge new arena just hours before the show was due to start.
Co-op Live was set to welcome 11,000 fans to its first-ever show starring Rick Astley tonight - but bosses have been forced to reduce its capacity at short notice.
Attendees have received emails saying their tickets have been cancelled so spaces at the arena can be tested properly.
Join our WhatsApp Top Stories and Breaking News group by clicking this link
Visitors to the new £365m venue - located next to the Etihad Stadium - were set to be a mixture of paying fans, press, VIPs and staff who helped build the new venue. Some fans were able to get tickets for just £5 for the show.
The KTNA will be first to open the show followed by Manchester's Everything Everything before Rick Astley takes to the stage as a headline act. The test show comes before huge acts including Peter Kay, Barry Manilow, The Killers, Eagles, Liam Gallagher, Olivia Rodrigo and Take That perform in the weeks ahead.
But now some attendees have been told their tickets have been cancelled just an hour before the event. One VIP guest, who had been invited to attend received the email just as they were preparing to leave at 5pm for the arena, said: “How disgusting to be uninvited an hour before the show? I’m bloody fuming.”
Another added: "The free concert tonight for all the staff that built the arena has been cancelled. In other words the so called owners couldn’t care less about the people that built it. As we all started to arrive we got emails telling us it’s cancelled."
Speaking about preparations just a couple of weeks ago, general manager Gary Roden explained that more than 1,500 workers had been on site in the days