Features
O2 Academy Edinburgh: Academy Music Group Expands To Scotland
Courtesy of Academy Music Group – The Exterior of the Edinburgh Corn Exchange.
The name will soon be replaced by the O2 Academy logo, a very familiar sight on venues across the UK.
The Academy Music Group today announced its expansion into Scotland by purchasing the 3,000-cap Edinburgh Corn Exchange, which will be turned into the O2 Academy Edinburgh.
The Corn Exchange is a category B listed building built in 1909. Over the last two decades, Marco’s Leisure Ltd transformed it into an award-winning multi-purpose building, one of the largest standing in the Scottish capital.
Under Marco’s Leisure, the building ran some 300 live shows, welcoming some three million guests to a wide variety of event genres.
Its reputation for live music began with a sell-out show by Blur in 1999. Major international acts, including Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro, Oasis, Coldplay, Faithless, Arctic Monkeys, Garbage, Grace Jones, Radiohead, Paulo Nutini, Pulp, Calvin Harris, have graced its stage since.
The venue will be known as O2 Academy Edinburgh from Sept. 1, based on Academy Music Group’s long-standing partnership agreement with telco company O2, which has been in place since January 2009.
Academy Music Group’s existing UK portfolio now comprises 20 venues, which the group owns and operates, including Scotland’s O2 Academy Glasgow, London’s O2 Academy Brixton and O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
Alan Rennie – Bastille performing at the Corn Exchange.
The gig took place on Feb. 27, 2047.
The O2 Academy Edinburgh already received new, in-house, state-of-the-art sound and lighting production facilities ahead of its forthcoming shows, which include: Declan McKenna (Sep. 3), Tom Grennan (Sep.9), CHIC feat. Nile Rogers (Sep. 21), Yungblud (Oct. 11), DMA’S (Oct. 18-19), Rag’n’Bone Man (Oct. 26), The Snuts (Oct. 28), Bullet For My Valentine (Nov. 1), Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes (Nov. 23), Bicep (Dec. 7), The Charlatans (Dec. 21).
The program for next year includes CHVRCHES (March 13), Jake Bugg (March 21), The War On Drugs (April 18), Gary Numan (May 9), Marina (May 17), and Beck (Jun 14).
“We’ve been keen to expand our O2 Academy brand in Scotland for some time and we’re delighted to now be in Edinburgh, it’s an inspiring city with a thriving appetite for music and culture,” commented Graham Walters, Academy Music Group’s COO.
And he added, “We see huge potential with this venue, it fits with our ethos of investing in heritage buildings, with the right capacity of 3,000 to bring world-class entertainment to the city. It also has a number of diverse secondary spaces, flexible formats and configurations that we’ll be looking at over the coming months to complement programming and events in the main auditorium.”
Gareth Griffiths, head of sponsorship at O2, commented: “The new O2 Academy Edinburgh is a brilliant addition to our O2 Academy estate. It’s a beautiful venue and as entertainment begins to return this further demonstrates O2 and Academy Music Group’s commitment to enhancing the live industry in Scotland, one of the best places to watch music in the UK.”
Paul DeMarco, MD, Marco’s Leisure Ltd, added, “When Marco’s Leisure bought the Corn Exchange in Chesser 22 years ago, we started with a plan to be Edinburgh’s go-to concert venue and ran over 300 live shows, as well as welcoming 3 million visitors to gigs, conferences, banquets, weddings, exhibitions and parties, creating one of the busiest and most successful venues in Scotland.
“We are happy to pass on the baton to the top professionals in the live music industry who will ensure it continues to play a major role in Scotland’s events industry for many more years to come. Marco’s will continue to operate and expand its leisure business.”