Peter Kay fans have slammed Manchester’s new £350million Co-op Live Arena after two of the comedian’s shows at the venue were postponed for a second time.
Understandably, rather than taking aim at the comic, the arena has been labelled ‘a mess’, ‘shambolic’ and ‘farcical’.
Revealing the news, Peter explained that the arena ‘still isn’t ready and so, as yet, remains untested for a large-scale audience’.
The chaos has resulted in the boss of the 23,000-seater indoor venue – envisaged to compete with London’s O2 Arena for some of the world’s biggest sporting and pmusic events – Gary Roden, quit over a slew of issues.
A test event last Saturday saw its capacity reduced drastically at the last minute due to power issues, photos taken on Tuesday also showed some construction work still taking place and the main car park for the arena appeared to be a storage area for building materials.
Peter Kay fans have slammed Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena after the comic was forced to delay a pair of shows for a second time due to the venue not being ready
The shows were originally lined up for April 23 and 24 before being rescheduled on Tuesday to April 29 and 30. They are now penciled in for May 23 and 24
A test event at the 23,000-seater indoor venue last Saturday saw its capacity reduced drastically from around around 11,000 to 4,000 less than two hours before it was due to start due to power issues
Understandably, rather than taking aim at the comic, the arena has been labelled ‘a mess’, ‘shambolic’ and ‘farcical’ by fans
The BAFTA-winning Bolton native added today: ‘They are having to reschedule my two shows yet again (I know I can’t believe it either).
‘It’s very disappointing but your safety is very important, and I won’t compromise that.’
Peter had two shows lined up at the venue, originally for April 23 and 24, which were rescheduled on Tuesday to April 29 and 30. They are now penciled in for May 23 and 24.
Fans reacted by X saying: ‘We all know that building projects do overrun, but the @TheCoopLive project seems to be in a mess. First it was power installation needing more time now it is critical systems that aren’t ready . In reality the building isn’t finished and they should just admit it!…
‘Not your fault. Pretty shambolic for the venue to have initially announced the rescheduled dates for less than a week after the original dates when it was painfully obvious it wouldn’t be ready though…
‘It’s getting farcical now, no wonder Roden resigned…
‘Everyone slagging off Peter Kay for cancelling needs to remember, that building is not safe yet, but you lot would be the first to start scricking if it came down round yer ears…
‘I can imagine you are absolutely fuming! The whole point of us booking tickets was something special about supporting local talent to be the first in a local venue. #Cooplive is embarrassing!…
‘It’s not your fault Peter. However an email from the venue would be nice too as they have gone radio silent. We didn’t really expect to be seeing you on Monday and thought it was rushed but still gutted…
‘Not your fault but frustrating for everyone…
‘I’m sorry but @TheCoopLive knew this a week ago and I have wasted so much money now on travel and hotels. This is embarrassing for you…
‘Absolute shambles #PeterKay show @TheCoopLive postponed from this week to next week and now again to end of May. Really disappointed as can’t go now due to other bookings been waiting to see Peter Kay for years never lucky enough to get tickets before.’
Delays have seen Gary Roden (pictured), general manager of the venue quit after a slew of issues led to a delay in opening
On comment on X read: ‘I can imagine you are absolutely fuming! The whole point of us booking tickets was something special about supporting local talent to be the first in a local venue. #Cooplive is embarrassing!’
Peter’s highly-anticipated show would originally have been the grand opening for Manchester’s flagship new venue – the largest in the UK.
But just a day before the show was due to take place, it was announced that both shows had been cancelled, as work is still to be completed on the venue, which is yet to be signed off by the council’s building control.
There were problems with power at the site on Saturday’s Rick Astley test event, which are believed to have affected the fire safety and emergency services communication systems.
Bosses slashed the attendance from around 11,000 to 4,000 less than two hours before it was due to start.
Insiders claimed ‘everything was run down to the wire’ ahead of the test show starring Rick Astley.
Manchester City Council’s building control department cannot issue a completion certificate while work is still ongoing at the site, which is understood to include corridors and wiring.
The venue could still operate without this certificate after presenting council bosses with a mitigation strategy to manage potential risks, although details of this plan have not been made public.
Previously, bosses at Co-op Live said teams were on-site ‘throwing everything at it’ to prepare for the venue’s grand opening.
Pictured: Artist impressions when the plans for the venue were unveiled, and a picture of the venue seemingly still under construction on April 23 – the original grand opening date for Peter’s first show
A Co-op Live spokesman said: ‘Opening a venue of this size requires working very closely with multiple stakeholders and responsible authorities to deliver against a rigorous set of guidelines and protocols.
‘Leading into our test event, some systems had limited electrical power which we were only able to mitigate by reducing capacity.
‘This meant we made the difficult decision to reduce the capacity of our test event and deeply regret the impact this had on our invited guests.
‘We do recognise that many people were inconvenienced yesterday evening at very short notice and apologise to all affected.
‘We’re working hard to complete Co-op Live and look forward to welcoming fans and artists to the venue soon.’
A concert by The Black Keys has also been impacted by the latest delay after being moved from April 27 to May 15.
