Wembley Arena - Musical Events

Musical Events

Since its opening in 1934, the venue has become the third-largest indoor concert venue and London's second-largest indoor arena, having hosted concerts by the world's most famous artists, spanning many different genres of music.

When the venue was known as the Empire Pool, it hosted the annual New Musical Express Poll Winners' concert during the mid-1960s. Audiences of 10,000 viewed acts like The Beatles (who performed there three times), Cliff Richard & The Shadows, The Hollies, Dusty Springfield, Joe Brown & the Bruvvers, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich and many others, hosted by Jimmy Savile and Pete Murray. The individual performances were then finished by a famous personality joining the respective performer on stage and presenting them their award. The Beatles were presented one of their awards by actor Roger Moore and Richard was joined on stage by Roy Orbison, to present him his. He also received a letter of congratulations from Elvis Presley. It was 1963 when Richard won best male solo artist worldwide outstripping Elvis, Richard having sold more records that year than any other musical act worldwide. These were filmed and recorded and later broadcast on television.

Richard has sold the most shows out at the venue. He has headlined 63 shows at the venue with his first headliner being in 1984 and his latest being 2009.

Richard holds the record for the most headline shows by one artist, having played his 61st concert in October 2009. Tina Turner is the female artist with the most shows, with 26 and with 7 at Wembley Stadium.

A notable attendance record was set in the early 1970s by David Cassidy, in his first tour of Great Britain in 1973, when he sold out six performances in one weekend.

In 1978, The Electric Light Orchestra sold out eight straight concerts (a record at the time) during their Out of the Blue Tour. The first of these shows was recorded, televised and later released as a CD/DVD.

ABBA played six sold-out concerts, from 5 to 10 November 1979. The shows were filmed by Swedish television for a documentary which was released in 2004 on DVD as "ABBA in Concert". Afterward the members of the band talked about the warmth of the Wembley audience. "It was like coming home after a couple of nights," said guitarist Bjorn Ulvaeus. A finale from these concerts, "The Way Old Friends Do", is the closing track on ABBA's seventh studio album, Super Trouper. Vocalist Agnetha Faltskog said it was the vibe from the audience that made the track work so much better as a live performance than as a studio track.

Meat Loaf performed two consecutive shows during his 20/20 Tour, on 1 and 2 March 1987, which were recorded and later released as a live album entitled Live at Wembley.

Marillion performed three dates of their Clutching at Straws UK tour from 3 to 5 November 1987.

The Cure performed and recorded their show in July 1989, which was later released as a live album entitled Entreat.

George Michael performed four consecutive shows during his Cover to Cover Tour on 19–20 and 22–23 March 1991. During the final show, on the 23rd – Elton John made a surprise guest appearance and together they sang, as a duet, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". This was recorded and released later that year, becoming a massive hit, with even greater success than the song's original release in 1974.

In April 1994, Barbra Streisand began her Barbra – The Concert Tour, with four performances at the arena. They marked her first performances in the UK after 28 years and were the only shows outside of the US. The opening song on the first night, "As If We Never Said Goodbye", was recorded and transmitted on BBC TV's Top of the Pops.

Diana Ross previewed her "Here and Now Tour" in November of 1990 with two soldout dates. She returned in June of 1991 for 4 more sold out nights of her "Here and Now World Tour". Diana had previously filmed her HBO "World Stage Tour" in 1989 and platinum live album, Greatest Hits Live from Wembley. Diana is the second most popular female solo artist, behind Tina Turner for the most sold out dates. Diana began appearing at Wembley in 1982 for her world tour.

The Spice Girls performed nine sold-out shows, during their Spiceworld Tour, on 14–15, 18–19, 21–22, 25–26 and 28 April 1998.

Britney Spears performed during her Oops!... I Did It Again World Tour on 10-12 October 2000 and was broadcast on Sky1. Later, she again perform here on April 26-27, May 3-4 2004 as part of her The Onyx Hotel Tour.

Christina Aguilera performed during her Stripped World Tour on 2, 3 and 5 November 2003. The shows were filmed and later released as a DVD entitled Stripped Live in the U.K..

Beyoncé performed on two consecutive nights, during her Dangerously in Love Tour on 10 and 11 November 2003. Her show on the 10th was filmed and later released as a DVD entitled Beyoncé: Live at Wembley.

Westlife performed two shows on 18 May and 19 May 2006. The shows were filmed and released on a DVD.

Girls Aloud performed during their Chemistry Tour in June 2006. The show from Wembley was later released on DVD.

Pink performed two shows during her I'm Not Dead Tour on 4 October and 4 December 2006. They were filmed and later released as a DVD entitled Pink: Live from Wembley Arena.

Pearl Jam hold the attendance record for one show, with 12,470 fans at their 2007 gig.

Bob Dylan has performed at the arena 12 times over his career selling more that 150,000 tickets.

Norwegian Pop trio A-ha Played their last UK date of the Ending on a High Note Tour at the Arena on 27 November 2010.

Taylor Swift brought her Fearless Tour to the UK and her first major UK date was at the arena, with Justin Bieber as her opening act. She sold out the arena. Swift was later greeted with a 10-minute ovation from the crowd, after singing "Tim McGraw".

McFly have performed at the arena seven times over their career, selling more than 70,000 tickets there. From which they have released two concert DVD's and have streamed one concert over the internet, seen by people from all over the world.

Madonna played eight sold-out nights here during her Confessions Tour in 2006, the 15 & 16 August were filmed for The Confessions Tour DVD.

Alter Bridge have performed on 29 November 2011 and released a DVD later.

Machine Head performed to a sell-out crowd on 3 December 2011 as part of the Eighth Plague Tour.

Shakira has performed twice at the Wembley Arena, 10 December 2002 for her Tour of the Mongoose concert and 18 March 2007 for her Oral Fixation Tour concert.

It was announced that the 2011 X Factor UK final would be the shot at the Wembley Arena over two days; girl band Little Mix won the competition on 11 December 2011.

The Saturdays made their arena debut here on the 16 December 2011 in front of a capacity of 11,500.

Mayday (五月天), a Taiwanese alternative-rock band performed at the arena on 27 March 2012, in their "Just Rock It" concert.

Frank Turner performed on 27 April 2012 to a sell-out audience. A DVD was to be released later in the year.

On 7 October 2012, Wembley hosted the BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards 2012 which stared fun., Conor Maynard, Little Mix, Ne-Yo, Taylor Swift and One Direction.

On 8 October 2012, Nickelback and Daughtry performed at the arena as part of their Here and Now Tour.

Kelly Clarkson brought her Stronger Tour to the venue on 20 October 2012. This was be the second time she's visited the arena, after she appeared there on her All I Ever Wanted Tour on February 19, 2010.

The Grateful Dead have released recordings of complete shows from 7 and 8 April 1972 as part of Europe '72: The Complete Recordings.

The surviving members of Bad Company( Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs, and Simon Kirke ) with Howard Leese and Lynn Sorensen, played to a sold out crowd in April of 2010 with a DVD and CD recorded for the occasion.

Evanescence are set to headline a show at Wembley Arena along with The Used with support from Lost Alone on November 9th 2012 as part of Evanescence's UK Arena Tour. It'll be Evanescence's second show in London in a year after playing at the Hammersmith Apollo in November 2011.

You Me At Six are set to headline on December 8th.

BIGBANG will be performing live as part of their BIGBANG Alive Galaxy Tour 2012 on the 14th and 15th December 2012, and is the biggest and first solo Kpop Boy Band concert in United Kingdom.

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds: The New Generation will be at Wembley Arena on December 6th as part of the new productions arena tour of the UK in late 2012. The original version of the War of the Worlds was also on stage at Wembley in 2006 and was recorded for the DVD release of the show.

Fish Leong The Malaysia Top Female Singer will be back to London have her "The Love Library World Tour concert" Final Station on 25th January 2013. The is the first time Malaysia Artist have concert in this Arena.