O2 Arena: At last, the Dome has found its rhythm

A down-to-earth and perhaps unlikely impresario, Glasgow-born David Campbell finds it hard to switch off from his job as head of the O2, the rebranded London entertainment centre, once known - a lifetime ago, it seems - as the much-pilloried Millennium Dome.


most popular venue in the world for live music. In the first six months of this year, ticket sales were at 853,000, 30 per cent better than runner-up, the Manchester Evening News Arena (576,171), and well ahead of Wembley (247,159) in London and Madison Square Garden (312,896) in New York.
'I often work an eight-day week, or so it feels,' says Campbell. 'A lot of the music is at weekends, so there isn't much time to flop around at home.'
The O2's income is generated via a rental charge - which varies, depending on the artist - and from taking a proportion of ticket sales, which also varies with each performer.

O2 timeline
2003-7 Construction
2007 Bon Jovi play venue's first public event on 24 June, later followed by Prince (21 nights) and the Spice Girls (17 nights), and, for one night only, Led Zeppelin's celebrated reunion.
2008 Artists scheduled include Kylie Minogue, Stevie Wonder, Barry Manilow and Elton John