Joe GallopAEG Europe has unveiled a new tribute to the ‘21 Club’, with a permanent wall installation at The O2 Arena (cap. 20,000) that honours all of the acts who have played 21 or more dates at the venue.
The wall was unveiled by Canadian singer Michael Bublé (pictured centre), who performed a headline show as part of his Higher tour at the AEG-owned venue on Tuesday night (28 March).
Each artist in the 21 Club has been presented with a bespoke ‘key to the venue’ to mark the milestone. The keys have been specially designed and engraved for each artist and are now displayed on the wall.
The 21 Club was launched following Prince’s record-breaking 21 consecutive, sold-out shows at the arena in 2007. Since then, only seven other artists or performers have been inducted into the club: Michael Bublé, Take That, One Direction, Drake, Young Voices, Micky Flanagan and Michael McIntyre.
The O2 Arena VP of venue programming – Europe, Emma Bownes said, “Reaching 21 shows at The O2 is a huge achievement and something only a handful of artists have reached, and so it felt right to create a permanent tribute which celebrates this backstage at The O2. Congratulations to Michael, and all of the other artists in our 21 Club, on this huge milestone – we can’t wait to welcome even more artists to the 21 Club later this year.”
This year the venue is set to host headline shows by acts including Elton John, Shania Twain, Madonna, Micky Flanagan, Blink-182, S Club 7, as well as a monthly residency with comedian Peter Kay.
Pictured (L-R) John Langford, Carl Leighton-Pope, Michael Buble, Bruce Allen and Toby Leighton-Pope.