Rick Astley opens UK’s new biggest indoor arena in Manchester, after some test gig tickets were axed for fans
nme.comRick Astley performed at the Manchester venue Co-Op Live in Manchester over the weekend.The star played as part of a test event on Saturday (April 20) ahead of the official opening of the 23,500 capacity venue tomorrow (April 23).The new venue, which is the UK’s largest indoor arena, is located opposite Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, and features a “unique bowl design” that will bring fans “closer to the artist than at other arenas of equivalent size”, according to a spokesperson.Ahead of Astley’s performance, bosses at the venue apologised after some tickets were axed ahead of the show in order to reduce the capacity to 11,000.“To enable us to test the spaces effectively, we have made the difficult decision to reduce overall capacity for today’s test event,” a Co-op Live spokesman told BBC News.Tickets have instead been offered The Black Keys on April 27 “as a gesture of our appreciation”, the spokesman added.The show saw Astley perform a host of his classic hits including ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ along with Sam Fender, Harry Styles and AC/DC covers.
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