WINTER | FEATURE
England’s World Cup semi-final
match on his big screens before
performing), Katy Perry, Britney
Spears, Iron Maiden, Pearl Jam
and K-Pop sensations BTS, who
smashed merchandise records
held by The Rolling Stones since
2012.
The calendar is already filling up
for 2019 too, with the NBA coming
back to The O2 in January, Post
Malone bringing his first UK arena
tour, Country to Country Festival
returns for its seventh consecutive
year, Cirque du Soleil’s Toruk show
comes through in June and legends
Ozzy Osbourne and KISS will bring
their final ever tours to the venue.
2019 also sees Mamma Mia! The
Party, an immersive theatrical
and dining experience taking up
residency in a specially-adapted
venue within The O2.
Looking ahead even further, it
has recently been announced that
Elton John will bring his ‘Farewell
Yellow Brick Road’ tour to The O2
in November 2020.
Q&A with Alistair Wood, executive
vice president, Real Estate &
Development, AEG Europe
How far in advance was the
vision for The O2 created and has
it always been the goal to be where
you are now?
The initial focus of AEG’s
interest in the Millennium Dome
was that it was related solely to
the opportunity of building a new
arena.
That was AEG’s focus in London
– to find a centrally located site
capable of delivering the new
music venue we thought London
so desperately needed. So back
in 2004, the masterplan for the
Greenwich Peninsula was created,
with the redevelopment and reuse
of the Dome for an arena at its
heart.
At the time of AEG signing their
deal, the land around the arena
but inside The O2 was earmarked
for mixed retail and leisure
development, however it is fair to
say the thinking at that time was
very conceptual.
Our ownership recognised
the opportunity and need for
developing additional space
around the arena very early on,
so plans for the first phase of the
Entertainment District were
then developed and delivered
concurrently with the arena.
The hotel and retail were
considered options at the time,
but plans for those only firmed up
once the arena and Entertainment
District had been delivered and
stabilised.
The O2 readies for
action...
Timeline of The O2: Ten Major
Milestones
• Construction began in 2005 and the
venue opened on 24 June, 2007
• Prince held a 21 night residency
at The O2 in 2007, a record still
unbeaten
• Over 20 million people applied for
tickets to see Led Zeppelin’s reunion
concert in 2007
• In 2010 Bon Jovi became the first
act to perform on the roof of The O2,
announcing a 12 date residency
• ‘Up at The O2’ opened in 2012, with
over half a million people climbing
up and over since then
• The O2 was turned into the North
Greenwich Arena for the Olympics
2012 and hosted the gymnastics
and parts of the basketball
tournament
• In 2017, Metallica played to 22,211
fans, breaking the previous record
set by Muse in 2016
• Michael McIntyre performed at
The O2 for the 28th time this year,
breaking ticket sales records
• On October 18, 2018, ICON Outlet
officially opened its doors, marking
the completion of Project Loop
• The Nitto ATP Finals have
been hosted at The O2 for ten
consecutive years since 2008
There are various event spaces
of different sizes in within The O2
and a variety of experiences (Up at
The O2 etc), what research inspired
the creation of these specific
experiences and event spaces?
We did a lot of analysis up
front, looking at a whole basket
of potential uses (including live
theatres for Cirque du Soleil,
casinos, MICE space linked
through to the hotel and surfing
concepts).
This analysis looked at how such
uses might perform as part of a
wider development, but also gave
reference to both our schemes
23