Concert Halls, Theatres

Wembley Stadium in London

It opened in 2007 and was built on the site of the earlier Wembley Stadium which was demolished in 2003. With 90,000 seats it is the 2nd largest stadium in Europe and the largest stadium in the UK. In international football, the stadium hosted the Gold medal matches at the  2012 Olympic Games, and will host both the semi-finals and final of EEFA Euro 2020. Record attendance took place 17 May 2008 in a football match between Portsmouth and Cardiff City, though most of the music concerts have been very close to total sell out.

Some of the concerts

• On 16–17 June 2007, Muse became the first artist to sell out the new Wembley Stadium
• On 11 September 2008, Madonna performed
• U2 performed to a record 82,000 fans each night on 14 and 15 August 2009. The U2 360° Tour stage was designed to cater for fans positioned behind the stage.
• Eminem became the first rapper to headline at Wembley Stadium
• One Direction performed at the stadium as part of their Where We Are Tour on 6, 7 and 8 June 2014

O2 Arena

The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the centre of  The O2, a large entertainment complex in Greenwich in London. It is named after its main sponsor, the telecommunications company O2. The O2 Arena has the second-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the UK, behind the Manchester Arena, but in 2011 took the crown of the world's busiest music arena. It has  seats for 20,000 visitors. It took 4 years to build it and was completed by June 2007. Concerts take place weekly, in addition to international and national tennis tournaments, basketball, darts, boxing,  even skating and horse shows, to mention a few. 

One of many  West End theatres

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of "Theatreland" in and near the West End of London. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London. In 2013 ticket sales were 14,587,276. There are about 40 venues in West End. 

Musical Wicked

The longest-running musical in West End history is Les Miserables ("Hüljatud"). It overtook Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, which closed in 2002 after running for 8,949 performances and 21 years.

Prince Albert Memorial

The Albert Memorial is situated in Kensington Gardens, directly to the north of the Royal Albert Hall. It was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband, Prince Albert   who died of  typhoid in 1861. The memorial is 54 m tall and took over ten years to complete

The Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall  best known for holding The Proms concerts annually each summer since 1941. It has a capacity of up to 5,272 seats. Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from several performance genres have appeared on its stage and it has become one of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings. Each year it hosts more than 350 events including classical concerts, rock and pop, ballet and opera, sports, award ceremonies, school and community events, charity performances and banquets.

The BBC Promenade Concerts, known as "The Proms", is a popular annual eight-week summer season of daily classical music concerts and other events at the Hall. Founded in 1895, each season currently consists of more than 70 concerts in the Albert Hall. Many people's perception of the Proms is taken from the Last Night, although this concert is very different from the others. It usually takes place on the second Saturday in September, and is broadcast in the UK on BBC Radio 3 and TV channels BBC 2 and BBC1.  The concert is traditionally in a lighter with popular classics being followed by a series of British patriotic pieces in the second half of the concert. People often wave Union Jacks and wear patriotic clothing or symbols.

The Royal Albert Hall before classical musical concert

Shakespeare's Globe

The first permanent public playhouse, known simply as The Theatre was constructed in 1576. It was soon joined by The Curtain. Both are known to have been used by William Shakespeare's company. In 1599, the timber from The Theatre was moved to South London where it was used in building the Globe Theatre. 14 years after it was opened, it was destroyed by fire. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997 approximately  230 m from the site of the original theatre. It has no roof and only Shakespeare plays are performed from April till September there. It is open to tourists a year round. 

Photos taken by teacher Evelyn