Features
London’s The O2 Sells 25 Millionth Ticket
The O2 – London – The O2, London
AEG’s flagship in London
London’s The O2 is celebrating a milestone of selling its 25 millionth ticket after a run of sell-out shows from Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, Panic At The Disco, George Ezra, and Muse over the 2019 concert season.
Take That broke their own record for the most shows played at The O2 during their 2019 tour.
Other sold-out shows include John Mayer’s two nights at the iconic venue, Oct. 13-14, which grossed $2,371,315, selling 30,906 tickets in total, according to Pollstar box office reports.
The Backstreet Boys sold out two nights as well, June 17-18, which amounted to 28,884 tickets and a gross of $2,690,322. Michael Bublé grossed $4,788,815, selling out 44,540 tickets across three nights, May 30-June 1.
Shawn Mendes sold out 49,386 tickets across three nights in April, 16-19, grossing $3,345,197. Post Malone, who perfumed at the O2 for the first time, grossed almost the same ($3,318,776) on two nights, March 13-14, when he sold out 36,380 tickets.
Khalid, who also celebrated a sold-out O2 debut in 2019, Sept. 17-18, was presented with an award from the venue’s team. Emma Bownes, vice president of venue programming at AEG Europe, commented: “We’re excited to have hosted Khalid at The O2. It’s not often that an artist who performs at the venue for the first time sells out two shows, and we hope these are the first of many to come after such an impressive start to his career in music. Congratulations to all in the Khalid team. Please come back soon!”
– Came, saw, conquered: Khalid sold out The O2 on his first visit.
From left: Simon Jones (AEG Presents, Promoter), Ari Bernstein (Agent, ICM), Courtney Stewart (Manager), Khalid (Artist), Emma Bownes (Vice President of Venue Programming, AEG Europe), Dan Rolfe (Venue Manager), Oscar Tuttiett (AEG Presents, Promoter)
Other first-time O2 performers in 2019 include Daddy Yankee, and Cher with Bjork, Jim Jefferies, Krept & Konan, Liam Gallagher, The Chemical Brothers, The Lumineers and The World of Hans Zimmer, all set to perform before the end of the year. The venue will welcome its youngest headline artist yet, Jojo Siwa, in November.
By its own admission, the O2 venue has hosted over 2,000 individual performances since opening in 2007 and now averages over 200 events a year which cover music, sport, comedy, family entertainment and e-Sports.
Said Bownes: “To reach the 25 million ticket milestone is a huge achievement and we’re so grateful to have hosted so many artists for the first time this year. London has the best fans in the world, and we’d like to thank promoters, agents, managers and our partners for continuing to work with us to help bring the very best performers from the worlds of music, comedy, sport and entertainment to The O2.”
The O2 has been constantly expanding into a full-fledged entertainment complex over the past years, and is now also home a cinema, bowling, trampolining, over 30 bars and restaurants, and shopping outlets.
The O2 also recently welcomed Mamma Mia! The Party, an immersive theatrical and dining experience, and announced newcomer ABBA: Super Troupers The Exhibition, a musical journey into the story of the chart-topping Swedish pop sensation, opening 6 December 2019.
The O2 has hosted The BRIT Awards since 2011, The National Television Awards since 2013 and has become home to the annual Country to Country Festival. Other highlights from the venue’s recent past include Metallica smashing the overall attendance record with 22,211 fans on one night, watching the WorldWired Tour in October 2017. BTS broke the record for the most amount of merchandise sold in October 2018, and The Vamps became the first performers to play five years in a row at The O2 in May 2019.
In 2018 alone, 172,619 portions of chips, 72,528 hot dogs, 993,422 pints of beer and 493,022 spirits with mixers and 46,851 cocktails were purchased at the venue.