'Back in the game' Why Man City are hosting gigs at the Etihad again

Manchester City will have gone three years without hosting concerts at the Etihad when The Weeknd and Take That play next summer

The last time The Weeknd played at the Etihad Stadium was the same night that Manchester City's footballing dreams came true. Pep Guardiola's side won the Champions League in Istanbul for the first time in the club's history while the Canadian singer was thrilling his own fans in Manchester in June 2023.

It feels fitting then that The Weeknd will be one of the first artists back next summer when the stadium hosts concerts for the first time in three years. With work on expanding the North Stand that started in 2024 set to be completed in the coming months, City want 2026 to kickstart their next chapter as one of the city's premier music venues.

In the meantime, they have already played their part in creating another. Co-Op Live, the UK's largest indoor arena with a capacity of 23,000, sits next door to the Etihad and City Football Group are majority shareholders in it.

As well as welcoming famous stars from Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish to Bruce Springsteen and Barry Manilow in the 18 months it has been running, the arena also hosted the 2024 MTV EMAs in November and has The Brits signed up for the next two years.

Having made such a big impact in such a short space of time, it's fair to ask if City's owners needed to host concerts at the Etihad as well. The reality is that being able to offer both venues gives them the biggest chance of making use of their space.

Some bands and artists may prefer the bigger capacity of a stadium for commercial reasons and others deliberately choreograph their tours to be in bigger venues. Take That are bringing their Circus Tour to the Etihad in 2026 and logistically it would not work anywhere near as well in Co-Op Live.

With City having built up a 'competitive advantage' over noisy neighbours United and Liverpool in the ever-growing battle to make money, they are determined to keep pushing on as they move towards completing a hotel and new fanzone on site to make the Etihad Campus an entertainment destination all year round.

"I think the overall ambition that football clubs are moving towards is how you utilise the venue far more frequently than the 25-30 days you have football matches there," City's managing director of operations Danny Wilson told the Manchester Evening News.

"Our reputation for concerts help us with this given we've been doing them since 2004. Artists enjoy the venue, acoustically it's great, visitors that come in enjoy the experience.

"We're different to Spurs and Real Madrid in that we haven't got the retractable pitch so they have more versatility to do thing in the season but from our perspective opening up that window to be as wide as possible in the summer months as pitch technology evolves as well is something that we're really focused on.

"We have other football stadia very close to us of similar capacity. All of them have their ambitions, but we do still have a competitive advantage in terms of the artist views and experiences of the stadium, and the space around it, and the connectivity and proximity to the city of Manchester.

"That gives us a bit more of an edge compared to some of those venues. We're a modern venue and we continue to invest in it.

"We've got a good start next summer and we're hopeful that 2027 will be even bigger."

With Everton having opened their new stadium, Liverpool completed an expansion of theirs and United planning to build a modern Old Trafford, competition to host a range of sporting and cultural events will only increase. And with City taking the decision to freeze season ticket prices and reduce matchday prices for their football fans, the need to generate money through other avenues is greater.

That helps to explain the motivation behind putting gigs on again, but City are also motivated by the idea of keeping Manchester on the map. They have been attracting music stars to their ground since the Red Hot Chilli Peppers there in 2004, and this month will host the Lionesses first game since Sarina Wiegman's team won the European Championship again as they play Brazil.

The Etihad has also been picked to have multiple games when England have the men's European Championship in 2008, while Anfield and Old Trafford were overlooked entirely. City's stadium expansion also raises the possibility of Manchester hosting its first Champions League final since 2003, with Old Trafford having fallen short of UEFA requirements some years ago.

It is a source of pride within the City Football Academy that they can compete with the ultra-modern stadiums of Tottenham and Real Madrid, who both have the natural attracting of being located in capital cities. City like to be seen as helping Manchester to be a northern powerhouse and compete with the biggest and best around.

As much as the club wants to show Manchester as facing outwards, it also wants to retain the community that has been built from within. Phil Foden dedicated the team's derby win last month to boxing legend Ricky Hatton, a lifetime Blue who had one of his fights at the Etihad in 2008 and was taken back to the ground one last time this week as part of his funeral procession.

City's commitment to hosting concerts again has raised hopes that Oasis, another of Manchester's most famous exports, could play there. The reunion of the City-loving Gallagher brothers in summer after an acrimonious split 15 years ago has been one of the biggest music stories in decades and Liam recently teased that they were on 'a tour of two halves'.

Lips are firmly shut at City over when or even if it will happen, even if Oasis are the musical equivalent of Erling Haaland: if you get the opportunity for them to play for you, why wouldn't you take it? The brothers were Maine Road regulars and played there, so it feels like there will be a will on all sides for a homecoming to happen if it is at all possible.

If it is only a definitely maybe for now, City are determined to make their growth part of Manchester's wider success with their masterplan for more events to come at the Etihad and Co-op Live.

"What better vote of confidence for the city than a football club that play in and host high-profile matches?" explained Wilson.

"We've had the MTV Music awards at Co-op Live, the Brits are coming there next year for the first time ever outside of London, NBA is coming in 2027, we're back in the concert game, we 've got the five games at the Euros in 2028, and there's other sporting events that we're looking at and bidding for working with the city.

"It's not just about the site and the venues and how they benefit, it's the wider economic benefits to the city of people coming in and eating in the restaurants in the day, staying in hotels, and I think it's great for Manchester.

"The more events you get, the more people you get into the city, the more the economy starts to thrive, the more jobs that come and for our ambition to become a destination open every single day of the year you do need more people.

"Our commitment is to find jobs for local people, to reskill, upskill and cross-skill to give them opportunities. There are a lot of positive benefits, not just it being great for the football club."

If The Weeknd can align the stars for them to win another Champions League, that would be a bonus.