Next year's Coldplay UK stadium tour will kick off in Coventry and local venue the Ricoh Arena thrilled to be hosting the first gig. Marketing director at the event centre Liz Cooper noted the concert held there on May 29th will be the only one the band play in the Midlands in 2012. [Are you applying for genral sale tickets for a stadium show in 2012 - and if so how many are you going to get? We want to hear your story at the Coldplay Live now!]
She warned people the 'unwavering' popularity of the band is likely to see a rush for Coldplay tickets when they are released. "We are expecting the concert to be a sell-out," she said. "I would urge everyone to reserve their hospitality packages before this opportunity closes."
There are three different types of these bundles - gold, silver or platinum - which include extras such as meals or a stay overnight in a nearby hotel. Ms Cooper stated this is the first time the promoter of the concert has allowed the venue to offer pre-registration of hospitality packages for fans. The general sale of Coldplay tickets begins at 09:00 GMT this Friday (November 18th) and with the band's new album Mylo Xyloto having been in the official top ten for three weeks, they could attract a lot of attention.
Meanwhile, in the northeast of England, scores of Coldplay fans from as far as Scotland are set to converge on Wearside tomorrow as queues for tickets to see Coldplay's live 2012 show at Sunderland's Stadium of Light open at 9am - 24 hours ahead of release at the venue, says Sunderland AFC website on Wednesday. The British music giants will perform at the stadium, which can hold up to 56,000 people during concerts, on 7th June 2012, and it is predicted that tickets will attract huge demand - and huge queues - when they are finally released for sale by the Sunderland AFC Ticket Office at 9am on Friday morning.
Preparations for the arrival of fans have already started on the stadium site, with barriers, stewarding and additional facilities all on standby to accommodate those hoping to camp out and get their hands on next summer's hottest music tickets. Gary Hutchinson, Sunderland AFC's head of venue and events, commented: "We are delighted with the bands we have once again been able to attract to the Stadium of Light. Coldplay are a hugely influential and successful group, not only in Britain but across the world, and that has naturally resulted in huge interest in their sole appearance here in the North East. We are already gearing up for the arrival of fans when queues open at 9am on Thursday after huge demand for tickets to previous shows and there's usually a fantastic atmosphere around the place as people take their place."
Fronted by Chris Martin, the multi-award winning band will follow in the footsteps of fellow chart heavyweights Take That, Oasis, Pink and Kings of Leon, who have all played spectacular shows at the Stadium of Light since summer 2009 - resulting in a total of nine music concerts and nearly 500,000 music fans. Sunderland AFC's chief executive Margaret Byrne said: "To have established the Stadium of Light as one of the top music venues in the country in just three years is a fantastic achievement both for the club and for the region and it's testament to the hard work and dedication of our concerts team and partners. To welcome a band of Coldplay's profile, alongside our Red Hot Chili Peppers show, highlights how our reputation and ability to deliver is now widely recognised across the music industry."
More than 100,000 concert-goers are expected to arrive in the region for the confirmed live music events at the Stadium of Light in summer 2012 when Coldplay will be followed by Red Hot Chili Peppers; the seminal US group playing one of their only two 2012 UK shows at the arena on 24th June. And the benefits for Sunderland and the wider North East are once again set to be huge as up to 200 organisations come together to facilitate the shows, with an estimated £3.5m expected to boost the region's economy through sectors including transport and tourism, leisure, hospitality, and retail.
Last summer, music tourists - attracted by shows at the Stadium of Light and across the region, boosted the North East economy significantly, increasing the average hotel room rate by 42% and increasing hotel room occupancy to a whopping 98%. The five shows at the Stadium of Light - four by Take That and one by the Kings of Leon - were estimated to have stimulated £18m worth of regional trade alone. For more information on concerts at the Stadium of Light, including details of corporate hospitality packages, which can be reserved now from £125 per person, contact the sales team on 0871 911 1555, email [email protected] / [email protected] or visit www.safcconcerts.com.
Kit yourself up for the forthcoming MX tour and get spotted with Coldplaying's new range of merchandise! [click on the items for the full shop]
The new range of Coldplaying merchanise (unofficial of course to the official shop) has hit our stores, with our biggest range of goods so far. Prices are as low as they can be for a Cafepress shop so more people will be able to afford them. We don't take any profits for the sale of the merchandise as a result. Take a browse in one of the online stores nearest to you: UK | US | Canada | Australia | European (shipping is worldwide, but you can choose what currency to pay in) - simply alter the country dropdown menu at the top of the shop page. [thanks to TracieMorgan and zzz]
More photos of Coldplay on the TODAY Show at Rockefeller Plaza {21st October 2011):
All photos courtesy of MrsMartin333 via Facebook (click for more!)
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.