Wembley Arena
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| Location | London, England |
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| Owner | Wembley Limited |
| Capacity | 12,300 |
| Opened | 1934 |
Wembley Arena is a world famous live entertainment venue, located in Wembley, London. The building is opposite Wembley Stadium. It was built for the 1934 Empire Games and originally housed a swimming pool, as reflected by its former name, the Empire Pool. The pool itself was last used for the 1948 Summer Olympics.
The arena is London's busiest music venue and the second busiest in the UK (the MEN Arena in Manchester is busier) in terms of ticket sales. The arena seats a maximum of 12,300 for concerts and although not the biggest of London's arenas (see for example Earls Court), it is regarded as having the best sound quality and the best backstage amenities for touring music acts.
The Arena has played host to many well known music artists over the past 70 years, such as Madonna, Pink Floyd, Pet Shop Boys, David Bowie, Slade, Elton John, Electric Light Orchestra, Status Quo, Guns N' Roses, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, Kylie Minogue, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Avril Lavigne, Rush, Bad Company, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, Shania Twain, Crowded House, AC/DC, ABBA, New Kids On The Block, The Cult, The Cure, The Beatles, The Monkees in 1967, Gary Numan, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Jason Donovan, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Meat Loaf, Blur, Destiny's Child, P!nk, Queen, Oasis, Pearl Jam, Coldplay, Placebo, Duran Duran, Jamiroquai, The Offspring, Spice Girls, Slayer, Will Young, Muse, Megadeth, Scissor Sisters, Girls Aloud, Led Zeppelin and Tool.
Indoor sporting events such as boxing and ice hockey have long been popular at the Arena, notably the World Championship bout between then champion Alan Minter and challenger Marvin Hagler, which the latter won. The Wembley Lions and Wembley Monarchs were two ice hockey teams that used the venue during the 1940s, 50s and 60s and Wembley hosted the British Hockey League play-off finals weekend at the end of each season up until the league's disbandment in 1996.
The Arena also hosts highly successful comedy nights, with comedians such as David Baddiel having appeared. His appearance alongside Rob Newman in 1993 is widely regarded as being responsible for bringing alternative comedy into the mainstream.
In addition, Wembley Arena is also famous for its Disney on Ice shows. The most recent was the show based on Disney/Pixar's film Toy Story 2 in 2004. Because of the refurbishment to the arena, there was no show in 2005.
Wembley Arena was renovated along with Wembley Stadium as part of the regeneration of the Wembley area. The Arena refurbishment cost £35m and the new arena opened to the public on 2 April 2006 with a concert by Depeche Mode.
Artists set to play the "new" venue include Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Take That, Kelly Clarkson, Cliff Richard, Status Quo, Il Divo, Placebo, Meat Loaf, McFly, Dave Matthews Band, Santana, Girls Aloud,Bruce Springsteen and My Chemical Romance. World Wrestling Entertainment taped their TV shows RAW and SmackDown!, with RAW on 21 April and SmackDown! on 22 April 2006. Both shows were a huge success resulting in a stadium sellout for each.
As of 25 January 2006, the venue forms part of Live Nation's (ClearChannel Entertainment) UK line-up alongside the Carling Apollo London, Manchester, Edinburgh Playhouse, Hallam FM Arena in Sheffield and Manchester Opera House.
A notable Empire Pool attendance record was set in the early 70s by the mega teen idol of the day, performer David Cassidy, in his first tour of Great Britain in 1973 when he sold out SIX performances on one weekend.
Square of Fame
With the reopening of Wembley Arena in 2006, a "Square of Fame" area has been created in front of the arena. Similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it is for notable Wembley Arena performers to have bronze plaques with their names and handprints. The first star to have a plaque was Madonna on August 1st 2006.[1] On November 9th 2006 Sir Cliff Richard added his handprints to the Square. Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi of Status Quo unveiled a plaque with one of each of their handprints on 16th December 2006.