Wembley OVO Arena (London, Great Britain)
Wembley OVO Arena
Wembley Arena is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-seat facility is London's second-largest indoor arena after The O2 Arena, and the ninth-largest in the United Kingdom.
When the venue was known as the Empire Pool, it hosted the annual NME Poll Winners Concerts during the mid-1960s. Audiences of 10,000 viewed acts like the Beatles (who performed there four times), Led Zeppelin (who played a special two night "Electric Magic" concert during their 1971 Winter Tour; the poster for the event, designed by Steve Hardcastle, sold on the night for 30p, has become a collectors item, fetching over £500 at auction),T. Rex (whose Ringo Starr-directed documentary film Born to Boogie is centred on a 1972 concert at the Empire Pool); Genesis, David Bowie, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, the Monkees, the Hollies, Dusty Springfield, Joe Brown & the Bruvvers, the Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, INXS and Pink Floyd (who played there on their 1974 British Winter tour and 1977 "In the Flesh" tour). The Eagles on their Hotel California 1978 tour, the Grateful Dead, Dire Straits, who played there on their "Brothers In Arms" tour in 1985 and "On Every Street" tour in 1991, Status Quo, Queen, the Who, and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, were among many others. The individual performances were then finished by a famous personality joining the respective performer on stage and presenting them with their award. The Beatles were presented with one of their awards by actor Roger Moore, and Joe Brown was joined on stage by Roy Orbison who presented him with his own award. These ceremonies were filmed, recorded and later broadcast on television.