I returned to Co-op Live two months after its disastrous opening and here’s how much it has changed

I was one of the people invited to the arena’s test event on April 20. At that point, we were only allowed into one of the entrance halls and it was standing room only in the bowl itself. The rest of the arena, including the tiered seating and several other club venues within the building, were incomplete.

As us journalists were given a tour of the completed areas of the venue and waited for Rick Astley to take the stage, thousands of people outside received emails that their tickets for the special occasion had been cancelled. This was the first warning sign that something was awry at the Co-op Live. The following weeks saw cancelled gigs, a resignation, multiple health and safety issues and headline acts rescheduling shows to the rival AO Arena. 

But this was all just a distant memory for me and the thousands of Pearl Jam fans in the arena last night. There is no doubt Co-op Live has come a long way since its nightmarish opening. Here’s what we thought of the venue, two months on. 

Getting to Co-op Live

The Co-op Live experience starts long before you’ve entered the building. A lot of money has been spent on transport and travel infrastructure to make sure people can safely enter and exit the campus, which the arena shares with the Etihad stadium. The CityLink walking route from Holt Town alone cost £4m. From what I could see, there were plenty of people choosing this option but most people seemed to be travelling by Metrolink, which all seemed rammed.

I was lucky enough to get a lift on this occasion, but as a Tameside resident, I am fully aware of how packed this tram route gets when there’s a match or a gig on. Luckily, it’s only a few minutes from the city centre. 

There were stewards holding signposts every few metres inside the campus offering help to anyone who seemed lost or confused, like me. It did not take long to get my bearings though and as I approached the big black cube of a building, I was greeted with the welcome sight of an outdoor bar. This was a feature of the arena I was unaware of and it was a pleasant surprise, as was the canal-side seating area where I went to enjoy my pint and wait for my companion to arrive. 

Inside Co-op Live - food, drink and the loos

Getting inside the arena was quick and easy for us. There was no queue for our entrance, which was for one of the seated blocks. The queue for standing ticket-holders, on the other hand, was much longer although seemed to be moving on quickly enough. 

Our priority on entering was food. There are kiosks throughout the arena selling hot and cold snacks, all with self-service checkouts. We went for a hot dog, a totally normal arena snack, but you can also get pasties, chips, confectionery, canned drinks both soft and alcoholic. There is something a bit strange about seeing a mini Co-op supermarket in a venue like this, but well-received if you’re rushing to a mid-week gig straight from the office, for example.

The price-list was one of the things that caused controversy when the arena first opened, and not much has changed in that regard. A Tango and hot dog cost around £14, less than our two pints cost. 

Because so much of the arena was closed off during my first visit, it took a few minutes to figure out where our seats were, but we were able to use the maps and stewards for help. Spread across four levels, it struck me how vast it really is on the side. My companion, who has recently come back from a weekend in Paris, said it felt like being in Charles de Gaulle airport, especially with the amount of facilities each floor has.

In general, the facilities at Co-op Live were fairly impressive – I didn’t have to queue too long for anything, the toilets were clean, the bars were well-stocked. I’m a seasoned gig-goer, used to much smaller venues than this and there is nothing worse than needing the loo halfway through the set. I’m an expert at darting in and out of the crowd as quickly as possible and finding my friends quickly afterwards. So when I needed the ladies’ room during Pearl Jam, I braced myself for the journey, but the toilets were directly outside the entrance to our seats, which were also easy to find.

In fact, I managed to go to the loo, buy a pint and a sausage roll, which my companion tried to eat discreetly in between flashes from the light show, in half a song. A mid-gig sausage roll was definitely a first for both of us and definitely made us chuckle. 

The seats were as comfortable as you’d expect arena seats to be, although not much legroom if you’re tall. Our side of the arena remained seated but our counterparts on the other side of the stage were all on their feet anyway. It’s worth noting that while it was hot and muggy outside, it was comfortably cool inside the arena. 

Another thing that struck me about the Co-op Live was the sheer amount of people it takes to run an event there. It felt like there was an army of staff involved in the whole operation – from the bartenders to toilet attendants. Hopefully this is a good example of a new development providing real opportunities for the people of Manchester. 

What about Pearl Jam?

One of the things I noted in my first ever review of the Co-op Live was that, despite all the unfinished paint jobs and hanging wires, the sound in the bowl is actually very good. And although I am no expert, luckily my companion, a sound engineer, definitely knew what he was talking about and agreed with me. 

Pearl Jam were the perfect band to test the credentials of the state-of-the-art arena. The nineties grunge heroes are very much at home in a venue of this scale. The have a powerful, clean sound and each instrument, including Eddie Vedder’s legendary vocals, sounded crisp. We were sat to the left of the stage, so it was difficult to say how it sounded at the back or from the floor, but there did not seem to be any complaints from the audience, who were enthralled by the band’s performance from start to finish. 

The stage set-up was also slightly different from my first visit as Pearl Jam made use of the full screen behind them. The show included live closeups of the band and impressive graphics that complemented most of the songs. 

Tickets for Co-op Live, and most venues these days, are not cheap. My companion’s colleague had looked at getting a last-minute ticket but was put off by the £180 price tag. The venue was mostly full, save for a few patches near the back in the top tiers, which shows that dedicated fans are prepared to pay for these big-name bands that Co-op Live are aiming to showcase.

Ultimately, whether or not it’s worth money depends on how much you love the artist you’re watching. But there’s nothing to be disappointed about in terms of production value.