Wembley Arena

• 1. Introduction

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  Wembley Arena began life on the 25th of July 1934 as the Empire Pool, opened by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. Inside was a 200-foot swimming pool, built for the British Empire Games. The engineer behind it, Sir Owen Williams, worked without any architect. His concrete frame spanned 240 feet, the largest such span of any comparable building in the world at the time. Decades later, a concert poster by Steve Hardcastle for Led Zeppelin's two-night Electric Magic shows sold at the door for 30 pence. Those same posters now fetch more than £500 at auction. How did a record-breaking pool become a stage where decades of records followed? And who played there often enough that the building became, in some sense, their home?

• 2. An Engineer's Vision

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  Work on the Empire Pool began in November 1933. Owen Williams chose a structural approach that avoided internal pillars entirely. His three hinged concrete arches met at the centre via cantilevers, clearing the floor below. Williams also insisted on high-quality concrete. The result has aged better than many more recent structures. Along the sides, 15 massive concrete buttresses supported the walls. At the ends, 20 narrow window lights graduated in height from the outer edges toward the centre. The far end of the building opened onto sunbathing terraces and lawns. Construction was supervised by R.J. Fowler, Wembley's chief building inspector.

  Ice hockey was introduced at the Empire Pool in October 1934, just three months after the opening ceremony. Six years later, in 1940, the building was pressed into a very different use. Several hundred Gibraltarian evacuees were billeted there as Gibraltar was being extensively reinforced against expected Axis attack. In October 1976, the Empire Pool was awarded Grade II Listed status, recognised for its special architectural interest, technological innovation, and virtuosity.

• 3. The Transformation Years

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  At the 1948 Summer Olympics, the pool hosted boxing, diving, swimming, and water polo events. It was the last time the pool served as a competitive venue.

  Ten thousand fans came to the annual NME Poll Winners Concerts in the mid-1960s. Acts included the Beatles, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, the Monkees, and the Hollies. Dusty Springfield, Joe Brown and the Bruvvers, and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich also appeared. After each performance, a celebrity joined the winner on stage to present the award. The Beatles received one of their prizes from actor Roger Moore. Roy Orbison walked on stage to present Joe Brown with his award. These ceremonies were filmed and later broadcast on television.

  On the 1st of February 1978, the Empire Pool was renamed Wembley Arena. In February 2005, the arena closed for a 14-month refurbishment costing £35 million. Events moved to a temporary 10,000-seat venue next door, called the Wembley Arena Pavilion. The arena reopened to the public on the 2nd of April 2006, with a concert by Depeche Mode. The temporary pavilion was then relocated to Attard, Malta. It opened as the permanent Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in December 2006.

• 4. The Concert Legacy

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  T. Rex's concert at the Empire Pool in 1972 produced more than a single night of music. Ringo Starr directed a documentary around that performance, titled Born to Boogie. The Faces performed there in the same era, supported by the Pink Fairies and the New York Dolls. That show came just days before the death of New York Dolls drummer Billy Murcia.

  Pink Floyd played the arena on two separate tours: the 1974 British Winter tour and the 1977 In the Flesh tour. Roxy Music arrived for two nights on the 17th and the 18th of October 1975, part of their Siren tour. The Eagles brought the Hotel California tour there in 1978. That same year, the Electric Light Orchestra set a record by playing eight consecutive nights at the venue.

  Dire Straits broke that record during their Brothers in Arms tour in 1985, playing 13 consecutive nights. They returned for the On Every Street tour in 1991. The Grateful Dead's shows on the 7th and the 8th of April 1972 were later released in full as part of the Europe '72: The Complete Recordings package.

• 5. The Record Holders

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  ABBA played six sold-out concerts at the arena from the 5th to the 10th of November 1979. Swedish television filmed the shows for a documentary released on DVD in 2004 as ABBA in Concert. In September 2014, Universal Music issued Live at Wembley Arena. The release drew on the concert of the 10th of November, appearing on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. Guitarist Björn Ulvaeus described the warmth of the Wembley audience as 'like coming home after a couple of nights.' Vocalist Agnetha Fältskog said the crowd's energy made one track work far better live than it ever had in the studio. That track, The Way Old Friends Do, became the closing song on ABBA's seventh studio album, Super Trouper.

  Cliff Richard holds the record for male artist with the most shows at the venue, at 61 performances. Tina Turner leads among female artists with 25, and also performed five times at nearby Wembley Stadium. Status Quo hold the rock band record with 45 performances, while Irish pop group Westlife lead the pop band tally with 28. David Cassidy set a different kind of record in 1973, when his first tour of Great Britain sold out six shows in a single weekend. The experience was documented in a TV special called David Cassidy: Weekend at Wembley.

  Pearl Jam set the single-show attendance record in 2007, with 12,470 fans at one gig. Queen first played the venue from the 11th to the 13th of May 1978 on their News of the World Tour. They returned in December 1980 for The Game Tour, and again in September 1984 for The Works Tour. The Grateful Dead played three nights there in late October and early November 1990, with Bruce Hornsby accompanying them. George Dalaras performed a sold-out concert on the 27th of June 1992, the largest Greek concert ever held in the United Kingdom. Vanessa Redgrave and Georges Moustaki were among those who took part. Dalaras had organised the event as a personal initiative to support Cyprus.

• 6. Sport and Spectacle

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  The Wembley Professional Tennis Championships took place at the venue every year from 1934 until 1990. It ranked as a major professional event from 1927 until 1967. The Skol 6-Day cycle race was held there from 1936 to 1939. It returned in the early 1950s and again from the late 1960s into the late 1970s. Each September, an indoor velodrome of 166 metres was assembled from sections, making it the first indoor velodrome in Britain. Top riders from the European 6-Day circuit competed, including Eddy Merckx, Peter Post, and Patrick Sercu. British riders Hugh Porter, the world pursuit champion, and Tony Gowland, the British champion, also competed.

  The Wembley Lions and Wembley Monarchs made the venue their home rink throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The London Lions also used it for a season in the 1970s. The British Hockey League held its play-off finals weekend there at the end of each season until the league disbanded in 1996. Two pairs of NHL preseason games were played at the arena. The Chicago Blackhawks met the Montreal Canadiens in 1992, and the Toronto Maple Leafs played the New York Rangers in 1993. In 1980, Marvin Hagler won the world championship boxing bout against champion Alan Minter at the arena.

  At the 2012 Summer Olympics, the venue hosted badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events. The Horse of the Year Show ran there from 1959 until 2002. From 1979 to 1983, indoor speedway was held on a 181-yard concrete track. Two NBA exhibition matches featuring the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic took place on the 1st of October 1993. The 2015 League of Legends World Championship quarterfinals brought esports to the arena. In September 2018, the playoffs of the FACEIT Major: London Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship were held there.

• 7. The Square of Fame

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  When the arena reopened in 2006, a Square of Fame was created in front of the building, modelled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Notable performers receive bronze plaques bearing their names and handprints. Madonna was the first to have a plaque installed, on the 1st of August 2006. Cliff Richard added his handprints on the 9th of November 2006. Status Quo's Rick Parfitt and Francis Rossi unveiled a shared plaque on the 16th of December 2006.

  Kylie Minogue added her handprints on the 9th of January 2007, on the final day of the London leg of her Showgirl Homecoming Tour. Seven-time World Snooker Champion Stephen Hendry followed on the 21st of January 2007. Dolly Parton's plaque was unveiled on the 25th of March 2007, the final night of her UK tour. Bryan Adams received his on the 10th of May 2007, just before his 25th appearance at the venue. Lionel Richie was presented with his plaque three days later, on the 13th of May 2007.

  Westlife unveiled their plaque on the 28th of March 2008, after 27 sell-out shows in ten years. All four members, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, and Mark Feehily, had casts of their hands made. Those shows had drawn a total of 250,000 tickets sold. Alice Cooper added his handprints in 2012, the only solo artist to have headlined the venue in each of the previous five consecutive decades. The arena's name changed in June 2014, when SSE plc purchased the naming rights. Since early 2022, the building has been known as OVO Arena Wembley.

• 8. International Firsts

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  On the 3rd of August 2013, Nepathya became the first Nepalese band to perform at the arena. Two years later, on the 19th of December 2015, Nightwish became the first Finnish act to headline. On the 2nd of April 2016, Babymetal became the first Japanese act to headline and set the venue's record for highest ever merchandise sales. On the 17th of November 2018, London-based DJ Andy C performed a five-hour set, the first all-night event in the arena's history. That show had sold out in three days, six months before the performance date.

  On the 25th of October 2023, Critical Role filmed a live show at the arena, titled The Mighty Nein Reunion: Echoes of the Solstice. The cast played Dungeons and Dragons before a live audience. Twelve thousand tickets sold out in less than six minutes. On the 21st of June 2024, singer-songwriter IU became the first South Korean female soloist to headline the arena. She performed as part of her HEREH World Tour. One Ok Rock played there on the 11th of October 2024 for the Premonition World Tour. It was their largest UK show since their debut, with a special appearance from Ed Sheeran. Revolution Pro Wrestling is set to hold events at the arena in 2026, under the Legends Global banner that took over management in December 2025.