Alright, this one’s for my Panther Message Board friends.
In a previous post, I mentioned that The O2 venue was awesome. The O2 was formerly the Millennium Dome, which was a much-maligned tourist attraction, though I must say I rather enjoyed the Dome as did everyone I know who visited. The problem was the locals hated it, and locals stayed away in droves and scared off the tourists. But everyone who actually went, loved it. It failed spectacularly.
Many years of political wrangling passed and ultimately it was turned into The O2. It’s a large entertainment district including an indoor arena, an indoor ski slope, music clubs, a multiplex cinema, exhibition space, and a large number of bars and restaurants built within a large dome-shaped building on the Isle of Dogs at the North Greenwich tube (subway) station on the Jubilee Line extension.The O2 was opened on 24 June 2007 to the public with an opening concert by Bon Jovi in the arena. In both 2007 and 2008 PollStar named The O2 the best arena in the world. (BAC is ranked 8th in the US only).
In my previous post I listed this set of facts as presented on the official O2 website:
- The O2 has an overall diameter of 365 metres, an internal diameter of 320 metres, a circumference of a kilometre, and is 50 metres high at its central point
- The twelve steel masts are 100 metres high
- If you turned The O2 upside down, it would take Niagara Falls 15 minutes to fill it
- Alternatively, you could fill it with 3.8 billion pints of beer or the contents of 1100 olympic-sized swimming pools
- The volume of The O2 is equal to thirteen Albert Halls, ten St Paul’s Cathedrals, or two old Wembley Stadiums
- 18,000 double-decker buses could fit into The O2
- The O2 is as high as Nelson’s Column
- The Eiffel Tower could fit inside The O2 lying on its side
- 12 football (soccer) pitches or 72 tennis courts could fit in The O2
- Entertainment Avenue is the same length & breadth as New Bond Street
So, what’s the big deal? First, the staff are friendly, helpful, and know and do their jobs. They’re obviously trained and not some one-off throw-aways. As you walk the 200 metres from the tube station to the main door, you’re under a covered walkway, which is — hello Mister Yormark — plastered with advertising of all kinds. The main door to the dome opens and straight ahead is the entrance to the arena. To your left and right are dining options. Before we get to the arena, let’s talk what you experience.
Inside the dome, as I said, you have some dining options and then straight ahead is the arena and to the right next to the entrance to the arena is “Entertainment Avenue” which is about triple the width of the BAC concourse. It’s laid out like a street. The whole thing is climate controlled. On both sides are millions of dining options from Pizza Express, Starbucks, to a rodizio, and even an American-style BBQ place. It’s all pricey, and on event days the queues are well over an hour or more for most places. There’s even a 7-11 style store. In the middle of it all is a Multi-Plex Cinema and an indoor ski-slope (fake ice) which was populated by kids in snowboards. The line for the toilets defies all explanation but if you gotta’ go in a hurry you will be in trouble but most restaurants have toilets for their guests only — the UK apparently doesn’t require restaurants to have toilets for its patrons. At the very end is the exhibition area which on my visit had The Body exhibit that’s been all over the states. A complete list of restaurants is here but this only what’s on their website and some other stuff seemed to be there.
There are also plans to put a Las Vegas style super-casino here subject to (and unlikely to get) regulatory approval. I bet Yormark wish he could be so multi-purposed as AEG has been in developing this site.
Right, then, on to the Arena which has hosted the NBA and NHL games as well as the abominable WWE. It’s also sold out *5* consecutive nights of Tina Turner — rock on sweetheart! I wanted to go — it’s March 2009. It’s also an official 2012 Gymnastics venue. The food at the stands, for the record, is comparably priced to what we pay when converted at the $1.50 to 1 pound. The big difference here is that there is a wide selection of choices — way more than any arena I have ever visited. Being British there is, shall we say, an overabundance of alcohol and no rules about how many you can buy or how late you can buy them. Most everyone takes public transit here, so it’s not a real issue.
As you enter, you go up a trio of escalators to the main concourse (100 level) and a second set to the second concourse (400 level). The 200/300 levels (suites) are accessed by a separate private VIP entrance off to the immediate left of the main entrance.
Doors open 15 minutes before an event, I guess they assume you’ll be on the avenue. Security is tight. It works much like the BAC where all bags are searched only, keep in mind, in the US they’re really looking for banned items such as food and all that crap. Over there, you can bring anything non-alcoholic in as long as it’s still sealed. What is security looking for? Bombs and weapons. Over there it’s not a joke, and it’s not lip service. It’s a way of life. The lines move relatively quickly.
The O2 is non-smoking. Woo-hoo! Period. No smoking decks either. If you want to smoke, you have to leave. And some events, like this New Year’s Event, were “no readmission” so you had to tough it out. Like our arena, all bottle caps are taken. But most bottles are plastic. No glass of course. The restrooms are clean, but they use the “trough” urinals — I’ve never been a fan of those because you tend to get some “splash” from neighbours when it gets crowded there.
The concession stands have many lines, and they all move quickly. Except, of course, the one I am standing in. That line will never move quickly no matter where it is on the planet. (I gotta’ tell you, Karen is great at picking the fast-moving lines.)
The concourse is littered with individual vendors too, like we used to have at the old Miami Arena. Depending on the event they’ll roam the stands too. But not at concerts. There are ushers at ever set of doors. Then you go through the doors and there are ushers at the top of ever staircase. They all know what to do and they do it. If you’re lost, they help. If they see a seating issue, they will go deal with it. It just runs smoothly. There is a digital board around the ring between levels — just like ours. And the second level has signage, just like ours. The signs are 1/2 the length of ours. All signage is turned off during the performance. There’s advertising everywhere but it’s just not so bludgeoning as ours is. The concession stands are named “Beck’s Vier” for instance sells Beck’s Beer.
The upper decks are some of the steepest inclines I’ve ever seen anywhere in any arena. I’d be afraid to walk it. The chairs themselves are almost identical to our lower bowl seats with the same cupholders. But each step has, instead of a yellow stripe, a glow-in-the dark strip and also a glow-in-the-dark letter so you can find your row even when the lights are out. The acoustics are excellent — and that’s something that is absolutely HORRIFIC at the BAC. Our audio waves are distorted and destroyed and it’s not normally the band because I’ve seen tons of concerts at BAC and they all sound shite. The sightlines at The O2 are similar to ours as well. There were even dasher boards up (but covered) because the night before it was High School Musical on Ice. So they handle the ice situation the same as we do too.
Anyway, that’s my short review of The O2 Arena (and accompanying facilities) and some BAC comparisons.