The O2 Announce Their First Gig Back After Nine Months

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The O2 arena is set to put on its first socially distanced show this December, the venues first gig back in nine months. Pop Rock Band Squeeze will be headlining the show, that’ll see the 20,000 capacity arena reduce its capacity to just 4,700.

The show is to take place on December 5th and tickets will be sold in groups of two, three, or four. In addition to the reduced capacity the venue will introduce a one-way system throughout the arena, separate groups of fans will have seats left between them, and food and drink will have to be ordered via the venues app.

Tickets go on sale from 10am on October 9th (Friday), and can be found here. O2 Priority customers can pick up tickets from October 7th (Wednesday) via the priority app.

Talking about the gig, general manager of the O2, Steve Sayer said “We have been working incredibly hard to bring back events at The O2 and put measures in place to ensure our fans will have a safe and COVID-19 secure experience.”

Going on to say “At the moment, we’re only able to host under a quarter of our capacity in the arena, so this is not a long term solution for us or other venues and we continue to press the government for targeted support and guidance to get the live events industry and its supply chain back on its feet.”

This news comes after last week many industry professionals held a silent protest outside parliament to call for government support as not all venues have the space to open socially distanced. The industry is the first to lockdown but will be the last to start. Hope is that a vaccine or mass testing will help bring the industry back to where it was but this could be over a year away, and in the meantime many venues will not be able to stay afloat.

Steve Sayer went on to say “The O2 was designed to give artists and fans the best live music in the world and we look forward to doing that again with Squeeze. As The O2 returns to live, it’s really fitting that a band from the local area are the ones to reopen our doors to the public once again. The whole team are excited to see them on our stage for the first time.”

We're excited to announce that after 9 months without events, our first socially distanced gig will be held on 5 December 2020 with London band Squeeze

Find out what we’re doing to keep you safe here https://t.co/sMleqfsUb0

Tickets on sale Friday 10am https://t.co/brBYPVFBPA pic.twitter.com/dhT3Z7wVos

— The O2 (@TheO2) October 5, 2020