Wembley Arena
The Wembley Arena (currently sponsoring agreement officially The SSE Arena Wembley ) is a multi-purpose hall in Wembley , part of the London Borough of Brent , north-west of the British capital. It is one of the most traditional arenas in the world and, after the O₂ Arena , with up to 20,000 seats, is the largest event hall in London. It is in the immediate vicinity of Wembley Stadium .
history
The Wembley Empire Pool was built for the British Empire Games in 1934 , the forerunner of the Commonwealth Games . Construction began in November 1933. The Duke of Gloucester opened the building on July 25, 1934. The hall was designed by engineer and architect Owen Williams. It originally contained a swimming pool , because of which the hall was named Wembley Empire Pool (until February 1978). Boxing , wrestling , swimming and diving competitions were held at the British Empire Games from August 4th to 11th . The first ice hockey game took place in October 1934. The swimming pool was last used at the 1948 Olympic Games . Today the arena is mainly used for concerts , shows and sporting events.
From 2005 to 2006, the 70-year-old building in the course of the construction of Wembley Stadium completely renovated and with a concert that was synth pop - band Depeche Mode reopened on April 2 of 2006. In 2012, the Wembley Arena was the venue for the badminton and rhythmic gymnastics competitions at the Summer Olympics .
In September 2013, AEG Facilities became the new operator of Wembley Arena. The agreement with the owner Quintain Estates and Development plc runs for 15 years. In April 2014 it was announced that the Wembley Arena will be named The SSE Arena Wembley from June 1st of that year . The sponsorship agreement with SSE plc runs for ten years and is worth £ 15 million .
use
music
The Beatles gave their last official concert in Great Britain in 1966 at Wembley Arena as part of the NME Poll Winners Concert. Singer David Cassidy set an attendance record in 1973 when he performed six times over a weekend at the sold-out Wembley Arena on his first tour of Great Britain. The Swedish pop group ABBA also played six times in a week in the sold-out hall in 1979 and released The Way Old Friends Do, a song recorded at these concerts on the album Super Trouper . In 1983 The Animals gave a New Year's Eve concert, the recording of which was released the following year after they separated again.
Prince achieved another attendance record with 16 sold out concerts in 1990. The Britpop band Blur played at the sold-out Wembley Arena in December 1999; a recording of this concert later appeared on a limited edition of their album Blur: The Best Of . Pearl Jam holds the record attendance at a single event with 12,470 visitors in 2007.
The most frequent appearances in the arena can be recorded by Cliff Richard , who completed his 60th concert in the hall in 2008. Whitney Houston is the most frequently performed musician with 29 performances, Status Quo is currently (March 2011) 46 concerts, the music group with the most performances (as the main group).
Sports
In the history of the stadium, numerous sports competitions, primarily boxing events and ice hockey games , have taken place at Wembley Arena. With the Wembley Lions and the Wembley Monarchs, two ice hockey teams regularly played their home games in the arena in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, and in the 1973/74 season the hall was the home of the London Lions ice hockey team. In addition, the play-offs of the British Hockey League took place in the arena every year before the league ceased playing in 1996. In addition, various competitions in netball , darts , basketball , indoor soccer , snooker and mixed martial arts have been held in the hall. From 1957 to 1993 the All England took place there annually , until 1977 the unofficial world championship in badminton . From 1979 to 1983, Speeway races were held in the winter . A 117 yd (approx. 108 m) long track was built for this purpose.
At the 1948 Summer Olympics , the Wembley Arena was used for swimming competitions , diving, and water polo and boxing . The arena was the venue for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics competitions at the 2012 Olympic Games . In 2008 speculation arose that Wembley Arena could also be used for the preliminary round matches of the Olympic basketball tournament, thus saving £ 90 million on the construction of a new arena. However, these plans were ultimately rejected.
Other Events
Other events take place regularly in the Wembley Arena, such as performances by comedians such as Eddie Izzard or Lee Evans as well as ice shows such as Holiday on Ice or Disney on Ice .
The World Wrestling Entertainment signed in April 2006 and October 2007, several shipments of their shows RAW and Smackdown on in the hall. The guest appearance of the pay-per-view event Insurrextion in the arena was the last event ever to be recorded under the old name of the World Wrestling Federation . In addition, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling made a guest appearance in the stadium in January 2009 and achieved a new attendance record for the organization of 8,100 visitors.
The playoffs of the Faceit Major: London 2018 , a tournament in the e-sports discipline Counter-Strike: Global Offensive , took place from 20 to 23 September 2018 .
Square of Fame
When the arena reopened in 2006, a Square of Fame was set up on which, based on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, famous personalities from the history of the Wembley Arena are immortalized on bronze plaques with names and signatures. Madonna received its first star on August 1, 2006. This was followed by plaques for Cliff Richard, Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi ( Status Quo ), Kylie Minogue , Stephen Hendry , Dolly Parton , Bryan Adams , Lionel Richie , Westlife , the Harlem Globetrotters , Melanie Brown and Lee Evans .
gallery
Wembley Empire Pool during the 1938 European Swimming Championships
Wembley Arena in the days of the old Wembley Stadium (1991)
Rhythmic gymnastics during the 2012 Olympic Summer Games
The hall with a new name and the colors of the sponsor (2014).
See also
Web links
- ssearena.co.uk: Official website of the SSE Arena Wembley (English)
- wembleypark.com: Official website of the Wembley Park (English)
- aegworldwide.com: SSE Arena Wembley on the website of AEG (English)
- setlist.fm: concert list of the Wembley Empire Pool , Wembley Arena and The SSE Arena Wembley (English)
- livenation.co.uk: Official Ticket Website (English)
- Wembley Arena on the official London 2012 website ( 1 May 2012 memento on the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ engineering-timelines.com: Sir Owen Williams - Empire Pool, now Wembley Arena (English)
- ↑ designingbuildings.co.uk: Wembley Arena (English)
- ↑ AEG Facilities to run Wembley Arena ( September 9, 2013 memento in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ theguardian.com: Wembley Arena to be renamed Article from April 10, 2014 (English)
- ↑ national-speedway-museum.co.uk: Tracks who's name starts with the letters 'W' (English)
- ↑ 411mania.com, Wrestling - Various News TNA Tour Attendance, ROH Contracts, HDNet Details, More (English)
- ^ The FACEIT Major 2018 London. Retrieved September 22, 2018 .
Competition venues for the 1948 Summer Olympics
Competition venues for the 2012 Summer Olympics
