Fans react as Manchester’s Co-Op Live finally opens with Elbow “christening” arena with hometown gig

nme.com:

Elbow.The venue – which has a capacity of 23,500 and is the biggest indoor arena in the UK – has been plagued by issues over recent months, and has experienced countless delays when it comes to opening.Originally, the arena was set to open officially three weeks ago with an opening gig from comedian Peter Kay, however this, along with many other planned shows, were postponed at the last minute.Now, the venue has finally opened its doors to the public and seen Elbow become the first act to complete a scheduled date in the venue’s calendar.Guy Garvey and co.

received an enthusiastic response from the crowd last night (May 14) and made references to the long-running issues that have loomed over Co-Op Live in recent weeks.“Good evening Manchester!

Let’s open this venue properly shall we?,” the frontman said at the beginning of the gig, opening with ‘Things I’ve Been Telling Myself For Years’. “Everybody who’s been working on this building has been so excited today – so nervous and so excited.”Garvey added: “There was already electricity in the air before you lot got in here, and now it’s thoroughly amped up.

I hope you can feel it.”Elbow opening the co-op live pic.twitter.com/2jSSD10xfR— Manchester Gigs (@ManchesterGigss) May 14, 2024From there, the band launched into various fan favourites from across their catalogue, including ‘Balu’, ‘Lover’s Leap’ and ‘Grounds For Divorce’, before closing off the gig with ‘One Day Like This’.“What do we make of this amazing room everybody?