Events
The first event held in the Belgrade Arena was a Socialist Party of Serbia and Yugoslav Left final election campaign rally, held September 20, 2000 before the 2000 elections in Yugoslavia. The construction of the Arena wasn't finished at that time. The official opening came nearly four years later, July 31, 2004, when the FIBA Diamond Ball basketball tournament was held. Since Arena had only temporary license, only several events were held during the next two and a half years. The first event held after getting permanent license was the 50 Cent concert, on November 6, 2006.
One of the biggest events to take place in the Arena was the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. In the final night of the contest an audience of over 20,000 was present. Other big events held in the Arena include numerous sporting events, notably the European championships in basketball (EuroBasket 2005), volleyball (2005 Men's European Volleyball Championship), table tennis (2007 European Table Tennis Championships), and judo (2007 European Judo Championships). The Belgrade Arena was also one of the 69 venues to take part in the 2009 Summer Universiade Games, hosting the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the basketball competition. Arena was the host venue for the concerts of the most significant artists of Serbia and former Yugoslavia, as well as major international stars, including 50 Cent, Backstreet Boys, Andrea Bocelli, Montserrat Caballe, Nick Cave, The Chemical Brothers, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, Joe Cocker, Leonard Cohen, Phil Collins, The Cult, Bob Dylan, Fatboy Slim, Guano Apes, Guns N' Roses, Hurts, Il Divo, Iron Maiden, Jean Michel Jarre, Elton John, Tom Jones, Judas Priest, Alicia Keys, Mark Knopfler, Lenny Kravitz, Massive Attack, Nicole Scherzinger and The Pussycat Dolls, Queen + Paul Rodgers, Eros Ramazzotti, Jennifer Lopez, Rammstein, Chris Rea, RBD, Rihanna, Sade, Simple Minds, Shakira, Slash, Sting, Whitesnake, Zaz, ZZ Top, and many others. The Arena also hosted the second Green Fest music festival with performances by Franz Ferdinand, Cypress Hill and The Raveonettes, the IQ festival headlined by Marylin Manson, and many other concerts, political rallies, product exhibitions and numerous other events.
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