Harry Styles the former One Direction singer announced today (26/10/2020) will help fund the new arena in Manchester. The arena will be called the Co-Op Live is to be the biggest arena in Britain to date with Styles being the main investor for the project. It’s estimated to cost around £350 million and to be completed by 2023.
The Co-Op Live arena is set to be situated on the Etihad Campus, which is also the site of the football team Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium in the Eastlands of Manchester. The venue will be the largest music arena in Britain, reportedly seating 23,500 at capacity which is over 2000 more seats compared to Manchester’s AO arena (the currents largest arena) which seats 21,000. London’s O2 Arena is the current 2nd largest with a 20,000 capacity.
Harry Styles started his career as a contestant on the X-Factor, after he was eliminated, he was brought back with 4 others to form the boy band One Direction. One Direction had great success in their time together with 4 albums (all reaching great successes and becoming chart-toppers) before one of the 5 members (Zayn Malik) and a final 5th album which again topped charts around the world before the band went on hiatus.
Styles went on to become a solo artist and even featuring in movies. His most recent album ‘Fine Lines’ reached critical success being at number 3 in the UK and topped the US charts breaking the record as the biggest sales debut from an English male artist with singles such as ‘Adore You’ and ‘Watermelon Sugar’. Another of Styles’ accomplishments was featuring in the movie Dunkirk as Alex.
Talking to NME Styles commented on the status of the new arena saying “As long as everything’s in order by 2023, hopefully they’ll me play there. If I haven’t messed up’. Hopefully, this means that Styles’ tour will not only return (His tour is scheduled to continue in 2021, dates may change due to the pandemic) but we may see him being one of the first artists to perform in Manchesters new arena.
Styles also joked with NME recalling his first job being a paper delivery boy for his local Co-Op “Maybe the first show they’ll make me deliver the papers to every seat”. Co-Op Lives’ new arena will no doubt be a refreshing sight for the music industry with the pandemic putting other venues at risk of closing. not only will it help the music industry it will also open up thousands of new jobs and help local businesses as it will allow large groups to flock to shows and will host vendors and other shops to support businesses.
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