Simon Carpenter Dan Ealam
Anton Lockwood
The arena is also planning more events with Detonate – the local promoter team behind the electronic music focused Detonate Festival at Colwick Country Park .
Ingham , who is also deputy chair of the National Arenas Association , says following an unsurprisingly slow start to the year , the February schedule will pick up and March to May is looking particularly busy . Among the acts scheduled are Sam Fender , Stormzy , Little Mix and Dua Lipa .
The arena boss predicts 2022 is going to be the busiest year to date at the venue , as the backlog of tours play through , with a larger number of shows than normal already on sale for September through to December : “ We have seen customer confidence ebb and flow depending on the mood of the nation and that has manifested itself in fluctuating ticket sales and no-shows ranging from 5 % to 30 % [ of an event ’ s sales ].”
“ I am seeing a lot of people who have contracted Covid in the past few weeks and months now recovered and raring to get out there and make up for the past couple of years , so I ’ m very optimistic about 2022 .”
Ingham says the council-owned venue is responsible for bringing many headline stars to the city , and is the venue where many locals experience their first gig : “ We give the local population the chance to
see major artists on their doorstep and then make a night of it in Nottingham with all the local bars and clubs , instead of having to travel miles to London or Manchester . Live music is such a broad canvas and without the arena , Nottingham ’ s breadth of live musical offering would be poorer for it .”
Nott to be missed Following Nottingham City Council ’ s successful launch of the Christmas at Wollaton light trail series , promoted by Kilimanjaro Live , the council ’ s head of events Patrick Loy says there
is a packed schedule of content for 2022 .
As well as working with DHP and FKP Scorpio on festivals , Nottingham City Council also runs events such as the annual Goose Fair – one of Europe ’ s largest and oldest touring fairs that attracts around 450,000 people over five days .
It also brings together 220,000 people for the three-day summer event Riverside Festival on the banks of the Trent , as well as hosting events in city centre locations including the Old Market Square .
The council has worked a lot with British Triathlon on events , its last being the Accenture World Triathlon Mixed Relay in 2019 . Loy says it is working with another national governing body for a sports event to take place later this year .
“ Nottingham just seemed like a place where there was big stuff happening all the time and it was a dream come true to get a job there .”
– Daniel Ealam
“ We ’ re always working with partners to develop new content ,” says Loy , who points out that the council does not operate on a large commissioning budget but “ punches above its weight ” in terms of the scale of events and their audience reach .
Tied up in Notts Another Rock City event that DHP works on is Beat The Streets , alongside charity Framework , in aid of tackling homelessness . The event
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