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Manchester Arena to remain closed until September

By | Published on Thursday 15 June 2017

Manchester Arena

Manchester Arena is to remain closed until September, following the bomb attack outside its main entrance killing 22 people as they left an Ariana Grande concert there last month. It had been hoped that upcoming shows could go ahead mostly as planned, but owners now say that repair work will not be completely quickly enough to allow this to happen.

In a statement, the venue said: “Whilst it was always our intention to honour our existing summer events, the damage caused to the main public area outside of the arena has left us with no other option than to remain closed until September. We are currently working with the promoters of our June, July and August shows to find suitable solutions for events affected by this unprecedented closure”.

The bulk of the scheduled shows, including performances by Kiss, Kings Of Leon, Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Blink 182 and Bros, have been cancelled. A statement from Celine Dion, who was due to perform at the venue on 25 Jun and 1 Aug, says that she is still working to reschedule her performances.

Take That and Radiohead, both of whom were due to play multiple dates at Manchester Arena, have chosen to consolidate those performances into larger shows.

It was announced shortly after the attack that, having been unable to find a suitable venue in which to stage their planned three concerts, Take That would instead play one at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on 18 Jun as the finale to their current tour.

Radiohead have now announced a similar move, consolidating two shows planned for 4-5 Jul into a single performance at Emirates Old Trafford on 4 Jul. Ticketholders for the original Radiohead shows will be offered a ticket swap for the new show or a refund. Extra tickets for the new show will go on sale this Saturday at 10am.

Meanwhile, Manchester Council is proposing a new system that would enable Ariana Grande to be made an honorary citizen of the city, in recognition of her work to raise money for those directly affected by last month’s attack.

“This seems a fitting moment to update the way we recognise those who make noteworthy contributions to the life and success of our city”, said council leader Richard Lees, according to the BBC.

The proposal will be voted upon on 12 Jul.



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