Why UK's brand new £365 million largest indoor arena keeps embarrassingly cancelling events last minute

What was meant to be a groundbreaking addition to the UK's event venue list has started as a complete disaster.

The Co-op Live Arena was set to become the country's largest capacity indoor venue, able to host a crowd of 23,500 people, including standing.

On-site, there are 32 bars, restaurants and lounges, while the arena says that it is '100% electric', 'carbon neutral' and 'planet friendly'.

Developed by Oak View Group in partnership with City Football Group, it is located on the Etihad Campus, next to Manchester City's Etihad Stadium.

Despite how impressive it sounds, it's no use if the arena can't be used for its purpose - to host events.

Last night (Wednesday 1 May), fans of American rapper A Boogie Wit da Hoodie were queueing outside the arena for what was meant to be the venue's opening event, when they learned via social media that the show would be postponed due to a 'venue-related technical issue'.

The artist said that 'something happened' in soundcheck that caused the cancellation, saying he was 'heated' but to 'stay tuned' for new dates.

Oak View Group confirmed that there was a problem with a component with the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

A spokesperson for the venue has since confirmed to the M.E.N that a part of an air conditioning unit fell from the gantry inside the venue during soundcheck, though no-one was hurt.

The show was cancelled just one hour later.

But that's not the only big show to be postponed on short notice, as thousands more fans have been left disappointed by the news that Olivia Rodrigo's sold-out GUTS World Tour shows on 3 and 4 May at the venue would be postponed following the incident.

The venue again cited 'ongoing venue-related technical issues' in a post on social media for the inconvenience.

But believe it or not, that's not it either, as a number of events have also been called off, delaying the arena's opening by two weeks.

To rub more salt to the wounds, on 26 April, following the delayed opening of the arena, general manager of the venue Gary Roden quit after a number of problems in the lead-up to the venue's planned opening date of 23 April.

Here are the shows that have been affected or cancelled by the venue, so far, for one reason or another:

Rick Astley - Test event (21 April)

The 80s' pop star was called in to perform a test event for a crowd of 11,000 that consisted of arena workers, VIPs and press.

But about than an hour before the event, as many as 4,000 tickets were cancelled, with invitees left furious.

The Co-op Live Arena stated that they 'made the difficult decision to reduce overall capacity for today’s test event' to test the new spaces 'effectively'.

Peter Kay - Opening event (23-24 April)

The comedian was set to be the venue's first official act, as he announced it earlier this year along with his comeback tour dates.

However, following a delay in construction, he was forced to postpone his shows to 29-30 April - and after more delays, he has been made to move his dates again, to 23-24 May.

Posting on X, formerly Twitter, he stated: "I know I can’t believe it either."

The Black Keys (27 April)

The rock duo were also hit with the construction delay, and have been made to push their show back to 15 May.

The Black Keys said: “At Co-op Live’s request, we have agreed to reschedule to 15 May. We look forward to hitting the stage when everything is up and running.”

A Boogie Wit da Hoodie (1 May)

During his soundcheck, the air conditioning unit in question fell from the gantry, which has caused further delays to upcoming shows.

There has been no news yet in terms of when the new date for his show will be.

Olivia Rodrigo (3-4 May)

The artist said she was 'disappointed' in a post on her Instagram story, but stated that she was working with her team to find new dates for her GUTS shows.

There has not been an update on new dates, since the postponement announcement on 1 May.

LADbible has reached out to the Co-op Live Arena team for comment.