Arena of Light

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Father Jack Hackett said:
That is in Leeds - the biggest city for miles and a staple on the circuit for ever.
Mind, I don't know, do you?
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Well what about the P&J Arena in Aberdeen then? Similar size place. Was Aberdeen a staple on the circuit forever? I Honestly don't know. They've got a lovely new arena though and attract world class turns.

The Leeds arena was lobbied for for a long time as they'd been without a major venue since the Queen's Hall in '89. Where everybody played to keep Leeds stapled on the circuit in the meantime I don't know.

The council sought an operator and entered into partnership with SMG and set about building a world class £60m arena. Have you been? The place is immense.

Now I know SMG (now ASM) also operate the arena, but they've been talking about flattening/redeveloping that shed for a good twenty years now. My suggestion was never to compete with Newcastle - it was to take the venue away from Newcastle. Flatten the hockey pitch, and put a brand new state of the art purpose built venue on the Vaux site. Why not? It could have been a major development with major partnerships hosting major acts to serve Sunderland, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear and County Durham.

Too late now though, we'll stick with the status quo of Newcastle getting everything, and Sunderland getting fuck all.
 
chriswallace85 said:
Well what about the P&J Arena in Aberdeen then? Similar size place. Was Aberdeen a staple on the circuit forever? I Honestly don't know. They've got a lovely new arena though and attract world class turns.

The Leeds arena was lobbied for for a long time as they'd been without a major venue since the Queen's Hall in '89. Where everybody played to keep Leeds stapled on the circuit in the meantime I don't know.

The council sought an operator and entered into partnership with SMG and set about building a world class £60m arena. Have you been? The place is immense.

Now I know SMG (now ASM) also operate the arena, but they've been talking about flattening/redeveloping that shed for a good twenty years now. My suggestion was never to compete with Newcastle - it was to take the venue away from Newcastle. Flatten the hockey pitch, and put a brand new state of the art purpose built venue on the Vaux site. Why not? It could have been a major development with major partnerships hosting major acts to serve Sunderland, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear and County Durham.

Too late now though, we'll stick with the status quo of Newcastle getting everything, and Sunderland getting fuck all.
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take off your red and white glasses though Chris, if you were a developer and you had to build an arena in the NE you'd build it on the Tyne

I hear what you say that if someone had gone for it and built the facility on Wearside acts would have had no choice but to come but... if someone on tyneside had massive balls and built another one the Wearside one would lose, something which couldn't happen the other way round
 
Sandboy said:
take off your red and white glasses though Chris, if you were a developer and you had to build an arena in the NE you'd build it on the Tyne

I hear what you say that if someone had gone for it and built the facility on Wearside acts would have had no choice but to come but... if someone on tyneside had massive balls and built another one the Wearside one would lose, something which couldn't happen the other way round
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I haven't got them on man. It's not about Sunderland vs Newcastle FFS.

Not if the developer was Sunderland City Council they wouldn't. Instead they're pissing £100m up a wall on flagstones and a shitty box of offices straight out of the 1980s.
 
chriswallace85 said:
I haven't got them on man. It's not about Sunderland vs Newcastle FFS.

Not if the developer was Sunderland City Council they wouldn't. Instead they're pissing £100m up a wall on flagstones and a shitty box of offices straight out of the 1980s.
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Ahh Keel Square. The tourist attraction of Sunderland. Don’t get me started.

I completely agree with this mind. Whether we have an arena or not the council are wasting millions and wasting prime entertainment space.
 
Sandboy said:
take off your red and white glasses though Chris, if you were a developer and you had to build an arena in the NE you'd build it on the Tyne

I hear what you say that if someone had gone for it and built the facility on Wearside acts would have had no choice but to come but... if someone on tyneside had massive balls and built another one the Wearside one would lose, something which couldn't happen the other way round
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agreed. As I’ve posted before Newcastle and Gateshead have been lobbying for this since the 2000’s, before the council even owned the vaux site, and they still haven’t been able to get one fully committed yet people just assume you can create one in Sunderland - sure Gateshead have had maybe 3 goes at this now. Bet the same people would still complain if it was empty more often that not ie council not promoting it enough.

interesting that people want something like this sited on Vaux yet isn’t an arena just a big box itself with little or no views out? I still think a 5,000 venue could be accommodated within the city centre even with Vaux development you’ve got Holmeside, Crowtree, area around the stadium (would mean using up car parking).
 
chriswallace85 said:
I haven't got them on man. It's not about Sunderland vs Newcastle FFS.

Not if the developer was Sunderland City Council they wouldn't. Instead they're pissing £100m up a wall on flagstones and a shitty box of offices straight out of the 1980s.
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surely it is when it comes to the siting of an arena as the combined population will only support one - if you were building it yourself would you seriously put it in Sunderland over Gateshead Quays ?
I agree there's still space for a smaller venue anyway and I'd be much more likely to use it as I have no interest in seeing Take That, Tina Turner or Elton John
 
Sandboy said:
surely it is when it comes to the siting of an arena as the combined population will only support one - if you were building it yourself would you seriously put it in Sunderland over Gateshead Quays ?
I agree there's still space for a smaller venue anyway and I'd be much more likely to use it as I have no interest in seeing Take That, Tina Turner or Elton John
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If I was Sunderland City Council, yes I would, for the benefit of Sunderland City Centre - and the thirty miles surrounding.
 
genewolf said:
The final frontier for billionaire playboys is space. We start by launching the Satellite of Light, as part of a omniscient but creepy scouting system.
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It would take a shorter time to spend your money, although you wouldn't get arseholes giving you plenty of grief if things didn't go too well.
 
Roker End 1976 said:
I think 5-7k capacity would be better.
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so about 5 would be ok?

it will come down to the promoters / operators of such a facility that will advise what the optimal number will be. At 7 it may be too difficult to fill, at 4 it may be too small to attract the right bands - no matter how much we second guess they will dictate that.

I could see this sitting on the corner where the point is:

www.bostonmagazine.com

Here's Our First Look Inside Fenway's Planned MGM Music Hall

They're breaking ground on the new 5,000-capacity venue next to Fenway Park.
www.bostonmagazine.com www.bostonmagazine.com
 
Father Jack Hackett said:
It wouldn't have worked, seriously, I know what I'm talking about (for once).
When booking agents are routing tours, if they include Newcastle (established on the circuit for years) then they aren't allowed to book another so close.
If its a choice between the two and the money offered is the same, they would choose Newcastle due to its trannsport links etc.

I used to promote for the Manor Quay when live music was in the midst if a boom period in the city. It was even a slog to sell out Arctic Monkeys and the Subways who were all over the press at the time.
When they played Newcastle - a sell-out in no time.
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Agree that Sunderland is typically a harder sell for touring bands /music. Gone are the days the Beatles et al would rock up.

The New Gateshead arena looks like it'll be fantastic too (and a bit closer to SR). Truth is, the North East is too small for 2 similar venues - a multi use exhibition and sports centre could have worked on theVaux imo with provision for occasional musical acts possibly?
 
Mouldedplasticseats said:
Agree that Sunderland is typically a harder sell for touring bands /music. Gone are the days the Beatles et al would rock up.

The New Gateshead arena looks like it'll be fantastic too (and a bit closer to SR). Truth is, the North East is too small for 2 similar venues - a multi use exhibition and sports centre could have worked on theVaux imo with provision for occasional musical acts possibly?
Click to expand...

Like the beacon of light?
 
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