‘They were in a hole – but carried on digging’: The fatal decisions that damned ‘Co-Flop Live’

It was at around 4pm on Saturday April 20 that bosses of Manchester’s new Co-op Live arena realised they had a problem. An issue with the electrics in Europe’s biggest indoor music venue meant that they had to cancel 6,000 tickets for a Rick Astley test concert just hours before it was due to start.

“The moment management went ‘Oh s___’ was when the electrics just cut out and there wasn’t consistent energy supply throughout the building during the test event. That’s when they cancelled 6,000 tickets – because none of the security equipment was working and they had to reduce capacity for safety,” says an insider who was among the 5,000 people who were allowed in. Tim Leiweke, the chief executive of Co-op Live’s owner, said this was the moment they realised there was still “a lot of work to do”.

If only they’d known. In reality the woes were just starting for the £365 million 23,500-capacity venue, which describes itself as a “game-changer for the UK music scene” and was part-designed by Harry Styles, who’s also an investor. Over 13 disastrous days, teething problems morphed into a full-blown PR catastrophe, leading to angry fans calling the venue Co-Flop Live and Cock-up Live on social media.

Bad news snowballed at an alarming rate. Comedian Peter Kay was forced to postpone his “grand opening” shows twice (“I know, I can’t believe it either,” he told ticketholders), performers including the Black Keys and Olivia Rodrigo pulled concerts and enraged fans, and the man in charge of the arena’s day-to-day running, a few rungs down from Leiweke, sensationally resigned, as revealed by the Telegraph. It then emerged that Greater Manchester Police were not satisfied with the strength and reach of the radio system inside the venue so they requested a special new system be installed instead.

Things got worse on Wednesday this week when an air conditioning unit crashed to the ground during a soundcheck (thankfully no-one was injured) and the venue had to be evacuated moments before a concert by US rapper A Boogie Wit da Hoodie. The falling unit was the most concerning of all the issues as the consequences could have been devastating.

In a statement, the venue’s co-owner Oak View Group (OVG) said that “a component of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, used to direct air, separated from the ductwork”. Although bosses believe it was an isolated incident caused by a factory defect it is now testing every air conditioning “nozzle” in the building.

One fan turned away that night said that Co-op Live “feels like Manchester’s own Fyre Festival”, referring to the disastrous music festival that became a Netflix documentary. It was only on Thursday night that OVG said it would “take a short pause” and postpone all events until May 14. Next week’s five-night residency by local heroes Take That has been moved to Manchester’s rival AO Arena, whose bosses must be rubbing their hands with glee. A Keane gig this Sunday has been postponed. “As many of you know, it’s not been the smooth start we had planned for,” said Leiweke as he apologised for the disruption and the frustration.

An inconsistent power supply, inadequate radio systems, and an unsafe air conditioning unit. Industry experts say that taken together these issues encapsulate Co-op Live’s fatal mistake: it was determined to open, willy-nilly, before everything was ready. “They failed to get everything signed off. That’s behind the chaos,” says one seasoned music industry veteran.

A second music insider, who has worked with some of the biggest names in the business for decades, says: “It has been a classic case of being in a hole and carrying on digging. It’s beginning to resemble the Hammersmith Bridge saga in London – which is closed but should be open sometime this century.” The decision to struggle on until Thursday seems to have doomed Co-op Live, certainly in PR terms.

So why did they plough on regardless for almost two weeks? “Because they’d already collected millions of pounds from fans, people had already booked their hotels, and major artists are involved,” says the person who was at the Astley test event. Not wanting to let fans down is noble. But that’s precisely what Co-op Live has ended up doing, although the company said on Thursday it had worked to keep “as many shows as possible in Manchester” (at the AO) to “limit the impact on fans”.

You can see why they wanted to carry on – the domino effect of artists thinking that Co-op Live isn’t open for business could damage future bookings. But there has been a huge element of optimism involved, some might say American chutzpah. “We’ll be fine,” Leiweke said on April 27 about the Rodrigo gigs (they weren’t fine, and almost 50,000  fans still don’t know when these will take place). “Let’s do this! A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, Olivia Rodrigo and Keane are going ahead,” the company told X on April 29. Er, nope. Let’s do this? Let’s not.

It was never meant to be like this for Co-op Live, which sits next to Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium and is the most expensive arena ever built outside North America. It boasts the largest floor-space of any UK venue, has a backstage gym for performers and includes a 22-metre long bar for thirsty music-lovers (£8.95 a pint).

The behemoth is a joint venture between OVG, which runs 450 arenas around the world and was co-founded by music mogul and long-time Eagles manager Irving Azoff, and City Football Group, the Manchester City owner controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and frustrated suitor of Telegraph Media Group. It tells you all you need to know about Co-op Live’s ambitions that The Eagles, one of the biggest bands in the world, have shunned London entirely to play a run of five shows – their last ever in the UK – at the venue, starting at the end of May.

Delays in the project have been clear for a while. In a recent interview, Leiweke blamed Brexit, Covid and a record amount of rainfall for the delays to the construction. But the Telegraph has been told that as far back as February it was known that Co-op Live was 35 weeks behind schedule.

The OVG spokesman would not comment on this specific figure. But delays in construction led to delays in the finishing details, according to someone who has closely observed the project. The next 10 days are “truly going to be a night and day project,” says this person.

Concertgoers’ plans aren’t the only things that have been damaged. The Co-op’s reputation is also taking a battering, as those nasty online nicknames suggest. But despite the vast Co-op logos around the venue, the supermarket had nothing to do with the building work – it is simply the venue’s “naming rights sponsor”, the equivalent of having its logo on a team’s football shirt or stadium.

And having agreed to pay a reported £100 million for a sponsorship deal that was dragging its name through the mud, Co-op was said to be fuming that ticketholders assumed that the drip-drip of bad news was its fault. “Shocked” is the word it publicly used after the aircon vent fell to earth on Wednesday. It said it would be demanding a “full explanation” from OVG. Internally, I was told there was genuine anger.

“Lots of people from marketing are saying internally that it’s awful for our reputation. People see the venue and they just see “Co-op”,” a Co-op insider told me the day after the aircon incident. “There have been lots of calls internally to put a statement out saying ‘We’re just the naming rights partner and we don’t own the venue’. That’s how passionately people who work for us feel.” And this is precisely what happened. On Thursday, after what I’m told was a frantic day of meetings, the Co-op put out a statement saying it “does not own or run the venue”. It said it has told OVG that “the impact on ticketholders must be addressed as a priority. We are pleased that they will shortly be putting plans in place to do so.”

The Co-op Live debacle fits in with an unfortunate trend in the UK: our inability to finish big infrastructure projects on time. It’s a bit of a push to say that this is music’s HS2. At least this one will be finished (eventually). And it’s a rare slip for OVG, which has a solid reputation. But, as the seasoned music industry veteran says, “the fact is that a number of things have gone dramatically wrong for an organisation that doesn’t get things wrong”.

OVG has said it is “deeply sorry” for all those impacted by the delays and that “safety and security” is its “utmost priority”. This may be a side debate, but there’s another question about whether cities like Manchester really need multiple big arenas, when it already has the AO and a raft of smaller venues.

West London could be next. Leiweke has talked about opening a Co-op Live-style venue in Hammersmith. Maybe it will open before the bridge. OVG is at least living up to its billing. Its tagline when you Google the company is: “Oak View Group – Disrupting Sports and Live Entertainment Industries.” It’s certainly disrupting things, although perhaps not in the way it had hoped.