Words Dept.: entry

Earlier tonight I saw a delightful bit of PR puff on BBC1’s The One Show about the O2 Arena – aka the Millennium Dome – being the most popular concert venue in the world, ahead of Madison Square Garden in New York.

Strange, because according to the Manchester Evening News earlier this week, the MEN Arena in Manchester (which the paper sponsors) is the most popular… ahead of Madison Square Garden in New York.

THE M.E.N. Arena is officially the most popular entertainment venue on the planet – for the second year running.

A total of 1,245,196 concert-goers have flocked through the doors to see some of the world’s biggest acts like Take That, Kylie Minogue, Westlife and Justin Timberlake over the past year.

The latest figures from Pollstar show that Madison Square Garden, in New York, came second with ticket sales of 1,230,433 while The O2, in Greenwich, came third with 1,209,376 after it opened for business in June.

So what gives? Well, who the hell cares, frankly. I suspect the Dome is using some kind of figures projection taking into account that it was only trading for six months, whereas the Manchester venue has actually achieved – and had verified – the winning feat over the whole twelve-month period. Maybe.

Seems a bit cheeky on the part of O2 but I doubt anyone involved felt the need to question the finer detail. The PR company would presumably sell rubber johnnies into the Catholic Herald if someone wrote them a cheque, while the One Show is so desperate for items that tonight’s programme featured a whimsical item about ash trees and Lenny Henry pretending to be a Scouse wedding DJ. Seriously. So, you see everyone – and yet no-one – is a winner.

Anyway, I’m going to ring up the One Show’s researchers to tell them that the ginnel between our house and number 54 is the most popular musical venue in the world and that Jethro Tull are booked to play a 400,000-a-night sell-out show for 276 nights running to from March to December. Or, better still, employ a London PR firm to do it for me. It can only be a matter of time before the camera crew turns up.

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