“ We were the busiest venue in the county during the pandemic ,” says Boylan . “ Covid , perversely , helped us retool and enhance our skill set . It allowed us to bounce back in style . Last year , more than most , was just exceptional . We were delighted to have set new attendance records for Women ’ s Euros , boxing and NFL games and have multiple nights from Coldplay , Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles .”
With the venue ’ s event calendar open until 2025 and events being booked in , Boylan says he is confident that the next few years will also be busy ones for his team , helped by the installation of a new “ lay and play ” pitch system that has enabled the venue ’ s June / July concert window to be extended by three weeks .
“ We are also opening a regular August concert window ,” he says . “ It can be a complicated process trying to program tours with lengthy build and break schedules , but by creating a larger window , we hope to increase the number of concerts . The stadium has a licence for 24 concerts per year , which we hope to achieve within the next few years .”
Wembley Stadium senior event technical manager Henry Munro heads up a team responsible for making sure all event production requirements are met and the venue can be transformed swiftly between show formats . In the past that has meant hosting football , boxing and a concert within a single weekend .
Along with the boost to programming opportunities presented by the lay and play pitch system , other enhancements to the Wembley Stadium events offering include improvements to the public concourse areas and the concert crew kitchen . Says says Boylan , “ An army does indeed march on its stomach , so we need to assist the tours and give them a good base to work from .”
“ Covid , perversely , helped us retool and enhance our skill set .” – Liam Boylan
Staging such large-scale events clearly has an impact on the environment but Boylan says much work is being done behind the scenes to minimise the venue ’ s carbon footprint : “ We are committed to delivering the highest levels of sustainability at Wembley and proudly became a zero- waste-tolandfill venue in 2010 . We were the first sporting venue to achieve the Carbon Trust Triple Standard in 2014 , and in 2018 we achieved the prestigious ISO 20121 international standard . It is something we are committed to , and we have around an 80 % recycling rate after each event .”
Wembley Stadium ’ s centenary year is certainly shaping up well . Aside from the aforementioned concerts , key sports events planned include the FA Vase Trophy Final , The EFL Championship play-off Final , FA Cup Final and Rugby League Cup Final .
Boylan says the anniversary activity will be ramped up considerably ahead of the 28 April birthday ; the date of the 1923 FA Cup Final . The celebrations kicked off with a ‘ magic memories ’ initiative calling on fans to share their personal memories of the stadium .
Says Boylan , “ We want to show the history of the stadium through people ’ s personal memories . Seeing their side win or lose , a child ’ s first game or witnessing a favourite band or artist perform . We want people to share those magic , personal moments with us and let us know why Wembley is so unique to them .”
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