Co-op Live  Omdömen 

Co-op Live has to be the worst ever venue for anything. No disabled access if you don't buy a ticket from the venue and no way are you allowed in through that access. Got told to join the overflow queue but not told the end was almost a mile away. Paid to see a whole concert but missed part of the opening act because of that long queue.
Venue was difficult to get to, no adequate signage, Then we come to the tickets, what a fiasco.
With this place if you don't have a smart phone, you can't go to gigs there as the ticket is supposed to be on the phone, no other option. Can't have tickets for 2 people on 1 phone. If you don't have a phone, so no individual ticket, you can't leave your seat because no phone, no ticket, not allowed back. Absolute farce.
There's a good phrase which sums up this place and its organisation, couldn't organise a p up in a brewery.
Totally insufficient space between rows so leg room very restricted, Toilets impossible to use and not enough of them.
The show, what we saw of it, was brilliant. Shame it was spoiled by a disorganised ill thought out arena with unhelpful staff.

Firstly... Def Leppard rocked the place.. BUT
Co op live.. what a joke..
Queue that went on for miles. Staff really unhelpful. As we got closer a member of staff sent us and others to another door where we were then sent away! Extortionate prices. Cramped unsafe seating! Bar staff stood around during the concert ignoring you.

We went to see Def Leppard and Extreme last night. The queues were ridiculous. The doors opened at 6.30pm and we didn't get into our seats until 8.20pm. We caught one Extreme song. In 25 years of going yo concerts have we been to such a disorganised venue. Staff were useless, venue cannot deal with the volume of guests. Ticket machines are awful. Unless you get in the queue hours before doors open dont expect to see a whole show. Never again shall we be using this venue.

Def Leppard were amazing! But the venue and staff was a complete joke, told to queue in the longest queue ever just to slowly walk back to where you started! Then told you were being put through a different door to your ticket as it’s faster access. Only because it was a different door no one’s digital tickets worked and only one member of staff to try and sort it out causing unnecessary delays then we found instead of being closer to our seat (as faster access suggests) we were actually the complete other end of the venue! I almost missed my favourite song by Extreme with all the messing around we arrived at the venue at 6:15 for context, got to our seat at 7:45pm. No Guinness, no Peroni only what was meant to be Grolsch but was awful. No burgers available as they had sold out. The place is a complete joke, we will definitely not bother again. It’s organised chaos and no care for the people attending

Worst venue I have ever been to! I have been to many venues in Manchester and other parts of the uk and the Co-op live venue is nothing other than a shambles! And a very expensive shambles at that!

Points listed below.

1. Extortionately expensive drinks.
2. Bars charging differently for the same round of drinks.
3. Massive slow moving queues wherever you are within the venue inside and out.
4. Inexperienced staff who struggle to understand what you are asking for, keeping in mind you’re only asking for what is on the drinks menu.
5. Various drinks like draught larger and Pepsi running out quite some time before concert ended.
6. No ice available for quite some time before concert ended.
7. Poor sound quality.
8. Long walk or wait for transport at the end of your night. Location of Co-op live not great.

Overall the venue is badly managed and not in the best location, most of its reviews on here tell that story.

For a newly built venue that has been built specifically to host large events it a shame to say it is possibly one of the worst venues I’ve ever been. The queues for food and drinks were really long, it took over half an hour to get to the bar and the beer was flat. The management from the CO OP could do with having a chat with the guys at the Etihad over the road on how to run an event. The band were great though.

me and my son went to see the boxing on saturday Wardley v Dubois it was the best experience the staff were very helpful and friendly and the arena is stunning. We had the best time and the booth we had for the boxing room 201 was incredible.

I was profiled at the Tap&Go drink area due to not being a UK citizen and providing a different national ID despite it being very real and abiding by the government policies. After I was able to buy the drink showing a student ID, they made me drink the whole can in front of them since I "didn't have an ID" and was not allowed to take it inside. They could have just refused service but they made me pay and then drink it on top of racially discriminating against me. Other people or even my friends were able to buy drinks without the same treatment. There are serious racist staff here that have personal vendettas against people of other specific nations.

I can’t explain my hatred for this place!
The staff are so rude to the guest shouting at the for no reason! Not to mention the security don’t even care to organise the queues. The main lobby is overpacked and sweating hot. Not to mention the lengths I had went to go to see lady Gaga at this horrible arena! The PRESALE had 90,000 people in front of me and ten general sale had 120,000 in front of me. Then the ticket drop s few months after was suddenly empty and then I could get tickets without a fuss, unfortunately the food isn’t much better £5 for some chips that are so skinny and don’t have enough potato and then they have the audacity to charge £6 for a drink! The location of this arena is inconvenient and also super busy I went to see Sabrina carpenter Asher and it was worse than when I saw lady Gaga

Worst venue I’ve ever been to! Never seen queues like it and then once you’re in it was that over sold you couldn’t physically get onto floor. Boarder line dangerous, people passing out calling for help throughout the show, the fish bowl design of the floor is a disaster waiting to happen

The securityy set up was abominal on the saturday show with Neyo and Akon.
A fight broke out and A woman was physically assaulted after the fight by a male who punched her straight in the face.
This was on the floor area in the interval.
Lights were on but noone was attending the scrne.
2 people eventually came but were out of their depth no earpieces that i could see
And no assistance.
The first aid team arrived at the scene nearly 25 minutes after the assault.
Firstly going to the person the wrong way and not being able to get through.
All i can say is that i am glad there was not a serious incident in the Arena as we would have stood no chance!!
No security protocol and no security.
Absolute shambles
This is a huge venue and needs more staff and more eyes in the crowd surveilling.

WORST VENUE EVER. Rip off high prices, tight seats, audio quality. How can a multimillion pound venue get this so wrong??!! To be honest i can swallow the high prices if the experience is amazing which it is not!!
WORST SOUND EVER muddled deafening sound ears ringing 2 days later…. The band drowned out neyo and akon it was all just a sound left early wont ever return! Been to 100’s of events and this was by far the worst experience. SAVE YOUR MONEY AND GO TO LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC OR SHEFFIELD CITY HALL FOR EXCELLENT SOUND QUALITY. Skip the big acts.
WORST SEATS ryan air style cramped seats
HIGHEST PRICES £4 for a 330ml can of pepsi
Its only £2 in MONACO!!

Looking at the other reviews it's probably all been said before but it's still worth repeating. Went to the Alex Warren gig last night. He was good and if anything much better than I hoped, having booked the tickets to take my daughter and friend who are massive fans. The arena experience though was really poor. To have spent so much to open a brand new business like this and to deliver such a poor fan experience beggars belief. We drove there and parked in a pre-booked space on site. Fine. Until you try to leave at the end of the night, then it's an hours' wait before you need to actually start your engine. Nice to hear a selection of all the different car horns though. Really helped with the ambience. Its hard to imagine a more poorly laid out and choked up space with far too few exits for the volume of vehicles. A massive downer at the end of the night when you should be leaving you with a good feeling. However the real fun starts when you arrive on foot to be faced with 20,000 other lost souls all trying to figure out where to go and which of the numerous mile long queues to join. They've really not given much thought to any of the issues around getting so many people into the building and seem to have settled on funnelling everyone into a small number of entry points via queues that snake around the site for mile after mile. If you've not been before you're in for a treat. Think Disney queues and then multiply them by a hundred and add in the Manchester weather for good measure. Hope you took a coat because you're out there for an hour at least. If you don't freeze to death you might finally get to see the inside of this dimly lit mausoleum but if you're a first time visitor maybe grab a ludicrously priced drink because it could take you a while to navigate the interior in the search for your seats. We made the mistake of trying to decipher the directional signage. Hahaha more fool us. Makes no sense whatsoever but does mean you get to see every inch of the front of house and all the merch stands. Method to their madness eh. We asked directions from a lady who was presumably employed as a steward given she had the requisite badges but alas no, the staircase she pointed us toward was out of bounds according to another steward who saw us and almost got us arrested. How we laughed. In the end though we did find our entry point and our designated seats and I swear at one point I did manage to make out the aforementioned Alex Warren on stage about three miles away. Luckily though they had large screens up either side of the stage so I could do like I do at home and watch him on the telly. As I said, he sounded good and put on a show. Shame the show was at the Co-op Live though. I won't be returning.

Great arena, been several times. Parking is over priced but the arena itself is always a good experience.

Firstly must mention the staff at the james concert last night in Manchester that helped with our accessibility seats were very helpful and friendly, but the door steward on entrance D was the opposite, he was unprofessional, rude and bad tempered with everyone entering, we watched severel people going in before us being treated with a horrible bullyish attitude, we are in our 50s had drove from Wales, hadn't been drinking and when it was my partners turn to be scanned he realised he had his phone in his back pocket still which triggered the scanner, my partner apologised and removed it from his pocket, the steward was sarcastic and continued to say " if I smell a whiff of alcohol on your breath I have the power to stop you coming in" my partner just smiled ( ironic as they sell alcohol in there and later in the show there was drunken troubles at the front somewhere,that a band member had to call security and first aid for, twice). We had preboked paid £25 for disabled parking but it was worth it as secure and close to the venue, took about 20 minutes to get out of the car park after the show which isnt bad.Overall a well organised, clean and friendly venue.

Fantastic staff at Co-op live at Prodogy concert.
Nicolette, Amour and Paul are names I can remenber, but all staff at venue and in particular the Ciroc lounge including the big man on the door were excellent, caring and thoughfull.
Was carer for fan with autism, they were wonderfull with him, made his evening. To quote him best night of his life.

OMG seats are a joke. I’m tall at @ 6 foot 5 inches with a recent hip issue so can’t sit comfortably for long. Although the staff did their best to accommodate us we had no choice but to leave missing the concert we’d paid to see as I wasn’t allowed to stand and watch due to venue rules. I won’t be returning to any event as it’s impossible to get a reasonably priced alternative.

Went to see 5 Seconds of Summer in April 2026 and firstly want to say that the performance was stellar and the support acts were really strong.

However the venue is abysmal. The seats were too small and the isles insanely narrow if you are plus sized you will not have a good time. The queues to get in did not feel thought out at all. We had to wait about an hour outside in the cold.
The prices are insane I got a pint and a Coke at the bar and it was £14. I did not buy anymore drinks after that as I felt it was a complete rip off.
There was also technical difficulties during the show due to this both supporting acts were cut short and at the begining of 5Sos's set the sound cut off for a bit. I'm not sure if this was down to the venue or the acts set up but I'm going to assume it was the venues fault.
I'm not sure how Coop Live can improve I think the seats need to be ripped out and completely redone as it was very uncomfortable. The seats have these weird cupholders that are right at your elbow so you will knock your drink over onto the person next to you if you try to use them and they don't lift up or anything.
Another way they could improve is to lower the food & drink prices. I'd struggle to find a bar in the center of town that was charging this much for a pint.
Needless to say the Venue is a joke and I won't be going back. 5Sos and the crowd really saved it as the atmosphere was still good despite the fact you had to risk your life to shuffle past people on tiny isles if you needed the toilet.

Went to the MOBO’s which were brilliant. This review is not in relation to the actual performance/ceremony. The venue is ok, but the customer service is absolutely dreadful.

I left my phone in a disabled toilet at the end of the evening. My friend rang my phone when I realised shortly after we left the venue. A member of staff answered the phone and said my phone had been handed in and to complete the lost property form on the fan site. I completed it that evening. You can not go and collect lost property until they contact you and they say this may take 5 days, and if you don’t hear within 5 days then they don’t have it. You can not speak to anybody, there is no phone number.

Today is the 5 th day and I have not heard a thing despite knowing they have my phone. It is making my life so difficult and stressful.

I have reached out on X and Facebook as well as making the official lost property request.

What away to treat paying fans, in what is supposed to be a fantastic state of the art venue.

PLEASE CONTACT ME ASAP AND ARRANGE FOR ME TO COLLE T MY PHONE ASAP.

Wu-Tang Clan were phenomenal. The stage design, the setlist, the production, - they delivered everything you’d hope for from a group of that significance. Co-op Live is a different matter entirely.

The sound quality was indefensible for a venue of this cost. The bass distortion was so overwhelming it completely obliterated the vocals - at points I could barely make out what was being performed.

The seating was unreasonably narrow and uncomfortable throughout. Not a lot of space to move around, I’m not sure I would feel safe in an emergency situation here given we were packed in so tightly with very little walkway.

The crowd experience was poor. Multiple people stood up at different points through the show to dance and film, blocking the view of everyone seated behind them. Every time the people in front of us got up to go to the toilet/bar our view was blocked, and this happened very frequently throughout the show. Vapes were used inside the venue, I had clouds of vape in my face throughout the night which was unpleasant.

We arrived at 6:30pm. Wu-Tang didn’t take to the stage until nearly 9pm - very long time to sit in these conditions. The £9 Guinness was bad. The merch was good, staff were generally helpful.