food sold in The O2 clearly labelled with its carbon footprint .
Talent is everything Programming at The O2 is overseen by Emma Bownes . Aside from touring shows , the venue is building a series of landmark annual events across sports , music and comedy .
Described by Sayer as “ the Ryder Cup of tennis ”, the Laver Cup will be held at The O2 for the first time from 23-25 September , with Novak Djokovic , Rafael Nadal , Roger Federer and Andy Murray among the players in Team Europe .
‘ That will be huge for us , it has been an incredibly hot ticket that ’ s absolutely flown out ,” he says .
The O2 is also home to Europe ’ s biggest country music festival , Country to Country , which was developed with SJM and has been expanded to three days . Next year will see the debut at The O2 of longstanding Canadian comedy festival Just For Laughs . In partnership with AEG Presents , the annual comedy festival , will run
The O2 ’ s vital statistics
• The O2 arena has a capacity of 20,000
• The venue opened on June 24 2007 with a concert by Bon Jovi
• The arena hosts more than 200 events a year
• More than 25 million tickets have been sold since the arena opened
• The O2 welcomes 8 million visitors each year
• In terms of tickets sold , The O2 arena has been among the most popular venues in the world every year since it was launched 15 years ago
• Over 77 % of the venue ’ s visitors arrive via public transport or on foot
• More than 100million people have visited The O2 since opening
from 2-5 March 2023 and will include solo performances , live podcast recordings and in-conversation events involving UK-based comedians and international stars .
Sayer also wants to build on the success of artist residences and create a situation where acts perform regularly , similar to what Billy Joel has done at New York ’ s Madison Square Gardens – who has played well over 100 shows at the venue bolstered by a series of monthly shows he started in 2014 .
In terms of genres making inroads at The O2 , Sayer says Afrobeat and K-pop have begun to make a major impact in recent years and AEG has partnered with touring K-pop festival KPOP . FLEX to present a multi-day show at the venue in September next year .
Looking ahead to the next 15 years , Sayer says he is confident The O2 will remain one of Europe ’ s busiest and best live entertainment venues : “ We will continue to look at how we refresh and renew a venue that is still the flagship in the UK . It is about having the right team , creating the right culture , reducing our environmental footprint , and continuing to provide the best stage for artists to do what they do best .”
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