The O2 arena (London)

The O2 arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located at the centre of The O2, a large entertainment complex on the Greenwich peninsula in south-east London, England. It is the first American style arena in London. With a capacity of upto 20,000 it is one of the largest indoor arenas in Europe

Background

Construction of the arena started in 2003 and finished in 2007. Due to the impossibility of using cranes inside the dome structure the arena's roof was constructed on the ground within the dome and then lifted. The arena building's structure was then built around the roof. The arena building, which houses the arena and the arena concourse, is independent from all other buildings in The O2 and houses all the arena's facilities. The whole arena building takes up 40% of the total dome structure.

Musical events

Anschutz opened The O2 arena on June 23, 2007 with a free event for all of the building's employees payable as The O2 Premiere featuring Peter Kay, Tom Jones, Kaiser Chiefs and Basement Jaxx, with the show hosted by Dermot O'Leary. This was before the official reopening to the public and go before a programme of events set to launch the venue over summer. Snow Patrol then played a gig to an audience made up of sponsors, local residents and local business employees. Bon Jovi played the first open-to-all concert at the arena on June 24, 2007. A lot of Aritists has performed at O2 Arena. The list of them are as follows:-
Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Coldplay, Leonard Cohen, Tiësto, Queen + Paul Rodgers, Celine Dion, Rihanna, The Rolling Stones, Justin Timberlake, Keane, Avril Lavigne, My Chemical Romance, Foo Fighters, Madness, Snow Patrol, Andrea Bocelli, Bon Jovi, Linkin Park, The Eagles, Take That, Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton, Scissor Sisters, Kanye West, Smashing Pumpkins, 50 Cent, Boyzone, Alicia Keys, Westlife, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Kylie Minogue, Shayne Ward, Carlos Santana, Backstreet Boys, Girls Aloud and Elton John.

Sports Events

The first sporting event to take place was the Commonwealth Boxing Lightweight Championships featuring Amir Khan on July 14, 2007. That September it hosted UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion with the main event being UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Jackson vs. PRIDE Light Heavy Weight Champion Dan Henderson, Jackson won the bout by Judge's Unanimous Decision. On March 8 Enzo Maccarinelli and David Haye clashed at the venue for the World Cruiserweight title, Haye won by KO in the second round. The arena has also hosted two National Hockey League contests, which started the 2007-08 NHL season, on 29 and September 30, both involving the Anschutz-owned Los Angeles Kings and their regional rivals from Southern California, the Anaheim Ducks. In addition to this, a lot of different sports events has been played or going to be played at o2 arena such wrestling, wwe, Night Raw, ECW, Smackdown and 2012 Summer Olympic Games,