As Motorpoint Arena celebrates its 25th birthday, we look through the stories from 25 of their seminal gigs

Queen Elizabeth II
31 July 2002

No, not the band with Brian May on guitar! Although they played here a few times with both Paul Rodgers (2008) and Adam Lambert (2015 and 2017) covering Freddie on vocals. The actual Queen herself, HRH Queen Elizabeth II, came over with the Duke of Edinburgh to give the centre its royal seal of approval. A keen fan of ice skating in her youth she hung out with Torvill and Dean and took part in a gala involving the greatest line-up of ice-skating talent ever assembled in this country.

Coldplay
8 October 2002

A couple of years before this gig, Coldplay were playing 100-capacity venues including Nottingham’s Bodega. However, their ascendence was sharp and a couple of years later they were playing Madison Square Garden in New York. This Nottingham appearance caught them in a sweet spot as part of their A Rush of Blood To The Head tour. They played seventeen songs, including an encore of Clocks, In My Place and Life is for Living. 

Oasis
10-11 November 2002

Oasis have played twice at the Arena in both 2002 and 2006. This first appearance was a two-nighter as part of their Heathen Chemistry tour. Each night they played identical sets of eighteen songs, starting with Hello and ending with an encore of Force of Nature, Don't Look Back in Anger, Some Might Say and a cover of The Who's My Generation. Wonderwall was not part of the set. Both Gallagher brothers were present - although Liam was experiencing some vocal issues. In the days before ‘dynamic pricing’ tickets were a snip at £28. 

Radiohead
29 November 2003
This wasn’t Radiohead’s first Nottingham gig, but it’s the last time they played in the city and it’s unlikely they will do so again. They previously played Rock City touring The Bends in 1995 and unbelievably at a pub called The Imperial on St James’ Street in 1992, more recently known as ICON. However this gig, part of their Hail To The Thief tour, was peak Radiohead. It featured 25 songs and two encores. They finally left the stage with Everything In Its Right Place.

The White Stripes
23 January 2004

It was big news when Jack and Meg White came to town in 2004. Assumed by many at the time to be husband and wife, they blasted through a set of 25 songs including Fell In Love With A Girl, Jolene and I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself. Support came from fellow Detroit alt-country band Blanche. I was at this gig, reviewing it for LeftLion, and can remember wondering how just two people could fill such a big room with that level of energy and noise. 

 Justin Timberlake
19 May 2007

From his origins as a fresh-faced Disney Club TV presenter and the teenage boyfriend of Britney Spears, by the time he played Nottingham Justin Timberlake had split from NSYNC and become one of the world’s biggest music artists in his own right. As part of his FutureSex/LoveShow tour, he played nineteen songs including Cry Me A River, Rock Your Body and NSYNC’s Gone. He left the stage to (Another Song) All Over Again alongside a chorus of maniacal worshipping fans.

Beyonce
6 June 2007

Imagine if Beyonce came to Nottingham now? They’d have to close most of the NG1 postcode off just to accommodate her entourage, wardrobe and security. Yet back in the early days of the millennium she played here twice! Her 2007 gig was part of The Beyoncé Experience tour and featured a gruelling thirty songs, starting with Crazy In Love and featuring a ten song Destiny’s Child medley half way through. She then came back on 20 November 2009 as part of her I Am… world tour, playing a more restrained 27 songs ending on Single Ladies.

Foo Fighters
14 November 2007

Another gig I'm proud to say I was at myself. Like many people who were teenagers in the 90s I was a massive Nirvana fan and took a passing, if slightly dismissive, interest in seeing Dave’s new band. This gig changed that. Still one of the best live gigs I've ever seen, they played 22 songs, starting with Let It Die and ending with Best Of You. Perhaps the most memorable bit however was the middle section, where the band walked from the main stage to a second more intimate circular stage in the middle of the Arena and played eight songs, including Everlong, all acoustic and unplugged. 

Dalai Lama
24-28 May 2008

Yes, that guy who runs worldwide Tibetan Buddhism! He came to stay in Notts for a whole week once, offering up five days of seminars focused on 'Bringing Meaning to Our Lives' and 'Investigating the Nature of Reality' to over 37,000 total attendees. Tenzin Gyatso is actually the 14th Dalai Lama, but unless you were alive in 1933 you won’t remember any of those who came before him. Perhaps unsurprisingly, our request for an interview was turned down, but he did speak to BBC Nottingham’s Sarah Julian and said he’d like to come back one day.

Dolly Parton
1 July 2008

Tennessee-born singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist Dolly Parton has actually played at Nottingham Arena three times, with subsequent appearances in 2011 and 2014. However, this first appearance was notable as part of her Backwoods Barbie tour, during which unfounded rumours of her death started to circulate after a moment of silence for her at a Tennessee high school football game. Dolly dispelled the rumours with a statement that she almost had a heart attack when she heard the news. Our Nottingham sources also tell us she only left her palatial tour bus twice, once for the gig and the other to get her nails done in town.

Metallica
25 February 2009

This appearance from the seminal American metal band is officially the biggest attendance at a Nottingham Arena event ever, pulling a total crowd of 10,337. Part of their World Magnetic tour, Metallica played a total of eighteen songs, including Master of Puppets, One and the live debut of The Judas Kiss. They ended their ‘official’ set with crowd-pleasers Nothing Else Matters and Enter Sandman, but then came back for an encore featuring two covers (Breadfan by Budgie and Helpless by Diamond Head) before a final bow to Seek and Destroy. 

The Killers
3 March 2009

Probably the most famous thing to come out of Las Vegas since deserts and gambling, Brandon Flowers and his band played in Nottingham as part of their Day & Age tour. Many who were there will remember them playing their first song Human, with the house lights on so they could see and interact with the crowd. All in all, they played a twenty-song set including Mr Brightside and a cover of Joy Division’s Shadowplay, exiting the stage to When You Were Young.

Arctic Monkeys
22 November 2009

This was actually the sixth of seven appearances from Alex Turner and the gang in Nottingham, with the first two at The Old Angel (2004 and 2005) and the next three at Rock City, all in early 2006. However, it was their first gig in the city when the whole world knew who they were following that seminal Glastonbury headline appearance in 2007. They were touring Humbug and played eighteen songs, starting with Dance Little Liar and ending the encore with 505. They also came back to the venue on their Suck It And See tour in October 2011. 

Whitney Houston
14 April 2010

Commonly referred to as ‘The Voice’, New Jersey-born Whitney Houston remains one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time, selling over 220 million records in the era when people still bought music. She came to Nottingham as part of her Nothin' But Love world tour and played a set of twenty songs, including covers of The Isley Brothers, George Benson, Chaka Khan and Annie Lennox. She ended it with that Dolly Parton cover she made her own I Will Always Love You. Less than two years after her appearance she died in her Beverley Hills home, due to coronary artery disease. 

Lady Gaga
27 May 2010

Lady Gaga (aka Stefani Germanotta) stopped off in Nottingham right in the middle of her mammoth 100+ date The Monster Ball tour. The nineteen-song setlist was mainly songs from her debut album The Fame - including Pokerface - but in the middle she also did a cover of Ben E King’s Stand By Me. This was actually her second appearance at the venue as back in January 2009 she’d played a seven-song set here as the support act on The Pussycat Dolls' Doll Domination tour. 

Justin Bieber
24 March 2011

The Canadian singer and former teen idol sparked a global craze in the late 2000s, basically doing to a generation of teenage girls what catnip does to moggies. This was the first of two gigs performed at the Arena, this one as part of his My World tour. He played the early hits like My Time and Baby, but the fifteen-song set was also notable for covers such as Michael Jackson’s Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' and Aerosmith’s Walk This Way. He came back again two years later, on 2 March 2013, on his Believe tour with nineteen songs, this time all his own. 

TNA Impact Wrestling
26 January 2012

The biggest names in world wrestling have made dozens of appearances at the Arena over the years, including WWE Live as recently as last month. However, this event was particularly notable for two reasons; firstly I was there with ringside seats (don’t judge me) and secondly so was Hulk Hogan. The appearance of the Hulkster was completely unannounced beforehand and he came out to his 80s theme music Eye of the Tiger, hi-fiving as many of the crowd as he could. I can still feel a tingle in my hand thirteen years on. 

One Direction
20 March & 16 April 2013

One Direction played at the Arena four times in total. Their first two appearances were in March 2011 as part of the X-Factor Live tour, with them performing on a bill with Matt Cardle, Katie Waissel and Wagner, amongst others. But their 2013 dates were in their own right as part of their Take Me Home tour. Each night they played identical 21-song sets starting with Up All Night and ending with What Makes You Beautiful. In between were covers of One Way or Another by Blondie and Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus.

Ed Sheeran
31 October 2012

You might not realise it, but Ed Sheeran has quite a history in Nottingham. This was the first of five appearances from him at the Arena, following two earlier ones in 2011 at Rock City. Not only that, but Nottingham’s DHP Family were his tour promoters at the time, so it made sense that this would be his first ever Arena gig. It was touring his + album, but he would come back for two-night stints in October 2014 for X and April 2017 for ÷. 

Jake Bugg
20 February 2014

Our Jake has made it into this ‘Top 25’ list ahead of three appearances by his idol Bob Dylan. But this gig was notable as he was the first Nottingham music act to command enough public attention to be able to fill our biggest venue. At this point he had two albums under his belt, his eponymous debut and the follow-up Shangri La. His nineteen-song set ended with Lightning Bolt, which was hummed all the way home by a happy home city crowd. 

Elton John
24 June 2014

You might not know it, but Elton has played in Nottingham a whopping eight times! He was the opening act at the Royal Concert Hall in November 1982 (for a two night stint) and then came back for the same in 1985. However, then followed seventeen years with no Rocketman, until the Arena was born that is. He played here in Nov 2002, June 2005 and June 2006. But his last appearance in 2014 was a 26-song epic full of all the bangers and sadly destined to be his final Notts appearance, as he’s now retired from touring.

The Prodigy
24 November 2015

Liam Howlett and the band have made four appearances at Nottingham Arena between 2005 and 2018. Each time it’s like a massive lively rave with the best light effects you’ll see this side of bonfire night. However this appearance, their penultimate for now, was part of their The Day Is My Enemy tour and was notable because the first song of the encore was Ibiza, featuring a guest live appearance from local legend, of Sleaford Mods fame, vocalist Jason Williamson. 

Pet Shop Boys
22 June 2017

Quite simply The Pet Shop Boys are one of the best live acts I have ever seen, despite the actual band being just two ageing blokes. This show was part of their 83-date Super tour and for the first time in years they had a full band with them. The visuals started with a stark black and white video game aesthetic and ended with multi-coloured balloons everywhere. 23 songs including all the classics like It’s a Sin, West End Girls, Go West and Domino Dancing. They came back in 2024 for their Dreamworld tour too. 

Sleaford Mods
27 November 2021

Jason Williamson must have got a taste for the Arena from the Prodigy gig, because almost six years to the day he was back at the venue headlining it with his own band. I’m not going to list how many gigs Sleaford Mods have played in Nottingham as it would take up this whole magazine, but going from playing The Angel to the Arena in a decade is quite something. Their 23-song Arena set ended with crowd-pleasers like Tied Up In Nottz, Jobseeker and Tweet Tweet Tweet. 

Kylie
30 May 2025

We started with HRH Elizabeth II, so it seems only right that we end with the Australian Queen of Pop herself, Kylie Minogue. She first played at the Arena on 4 & 5 October 2014 as part of her Kiss Me Once tour. She then came back on 20 September 2018 for a whopping 28-song set. She’s back once again on 30 May and we hope that will be her crowning glory. Congratulations to those of you who have secured your tickets!

Sources: setlist.fm, songkick, overallmag.com, wikipedia and leftlion.co.uk

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Were you at these or any other Nottingham Arena events? Do you have photos? Nottingham Arena are asking for public contributions of photography for their People’s Picture Project. They’ve commissioned artist Helen Marshall to make a mosaic from 3000 crowd-sourced photos from the venue. If you’d like your memories to be part of it visit tinyurl.com/arenapics