Sister Bliss

December 2010

I’M in Dusseldorf at the moment. It’s pretty full with the tour so I haven’t got time for any hobbies. My four-year-old son is with me so I suppose you could call that a pretty good hobby.

That takes up all my time when I’m not working.

Here’s here with me now but he’s due to go home in a bit and he really doesn’t want to. I’ve had to cajole him out of the bedroom.

We try and explore wherever we are. That’s the fun of having him on the road with me. Although with it being so wintry and cold it’s been a challenge because he didn’t really want to leave the hotel room. So that’s been frustrating, like dragging around a reluctant donkey. But we’ve been to aquariums, museums, indoor play centres... thank God for Google, is all I can say. Wherever we are we can search on there for things to do together.

And he gets to kick a ball around the arenas where we’re playing. I do play football but only a dismal mother way.

We have iPods and DVD players so during any boring down time we can listen to music or watch a film or play games together.

If we’re at home at the weekend we’d go to the park and the usual family stuff. I spend a lot of time on the Heath -- but not tearing tights off with my teeth I hasten to add.

It’s kids’ parties and staying in watching the X Factor. I enjoy it for the shouting at the telly aspect because it’s just so appalling. I enjoy my Saturday night rants. If I’m not out DJing or doing gigs I stay and watch other people making complete (fools) of themselves.

I saw a couple of episodes of I’m A Celebrity... but then we went on tour. I was rooting for Shaun Ryder, of course. Would I do it? No. I’ve absolutely no desire to that whatsoever. I don’t need to prove myself to anybody and if I want to I prove myself musically. Besides, being on a bus with a band is a very similar sort of thing. It’s a close knit community of people, thrown together in a way, so I’ve had my I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! moments aplenty. So I don’t need to go in to the jungle.

I wasn’t there but half the band went up a pyramid in Mexico last week and there were all these sorts of weird bugs at the top and some strange hallucinogenic drinks. So they had their own version of it. At the bottom of the pyramid in the little cafe there was a kind of worm on the menu. You don’t need to go all the way to Australia...

To keep fit I do a bit of kick-boxing. We all box a bit. And I’ve been to the gym twice this week which is a miracle for me. But we have the best catering in the world so it’s hard not to put on weight. Every portion of everything is amazing. In fact, I had three dinners the other night because I couldn’t choose.

The catering people have just been out with the Prodigy so if you see Keith (Flint)’s belly wobbling around when he’s trying to start those fires you’ll know why.

Having a good catering company makes the difference between a miserable tour and a great one. It’s cold, you’re away from home, so you look forward to meal times.

They always make egg and chips for Maxi (Jazz) so he goes on stage feeling great. He really loves his classic English food.

I’ve done two chapters of a book called Eat, Pray, Love (by Elizabeth Gilbert) about a woman who has a disastrous divorce and decides to do the things she’s always wanted to do. She goes to Italy to learn Italian... and that’s as far as I’ve got to. It’s very entertaining. They’re made it in to a film already? (Yes, with Julia Roberts). Oh super cheese.

On a perfect weekend I’d have sunshine, maybe in Ibiza on the beach with friends, drinking sangria all afternoon, plopping in and out of the sea.

Faithless play the Trent FM Arena tonight. Tickets are £29.50, call 08444 124 624.

A new album, The Dance Never Ends: Deluxe Remix Edition, is out now.

Michael Flatley

November 2010

It has been 12 years since you performed in Lord of the Dance, why come back?

I went to see the show in Egypt and I was hooked. By the end of the first act I couldn’t wait to dance. At the end of the show my wife looked at me and said ‘you’ve got to go back and dance’.

Isn’t it hard work doing it again in your fifties?

I’m not as young as I used to be but my slogan is ‘50 is the new 30’. And I do feel that way. I’m one of those guys on the golf course who hits the ball and is standing waiting for the next shot when it lands. I move at a ferocious pace. And I have muscle memory. My body remembers a lot of the dances.

Is it a brand new show?

It’s not. The audience dictates and demands to see their favourite things. But it’s a new look, a new feel, a new excitement. And there are a lot of new little things that people will appreciate, without detracting from the original storyline.

How have the cast responded to your return?

A lot of them have been doing this for years and for me to come in, they go from 3,000 seats a night to 80,00 seats a night, in some cases. And that’s a big buzz for them. It’s an honour to share that with them.

The shoes you use for each show are specially made by who?

Freed of London. I designed them myself. They’re Spanish leather and the heels are made by a man in America using the same material that’s used in the nose cone of the Space Shuttle. I go through a pair every three shows. I auction them all off for charity. When Michael Jackson stayed with me in Castlehyde (Flatley’s 18th-century mansion in Cork) he fell in love with the shoes. They are one of a kind. I should go in to that business.

It’s reported that your legs are insured for $25m. Is that right?

That’s light. You mean each? It sounds really glamorous and impressive but it’s not, it’s business. If I go down, the tour goes down and the promoter loses money. With the policy I have there is a lot of stuff I am prohibited from doing. Most of it I probably wouldn’t do anyhow, to be honest with you.

You’ve performed before royalty, politicians and numerous celebrities. Who impressed you most?

I’ve met some great people and a lot of them impressed me. Who am I to say they impressed me? They blew me away. I had lunch with Mohammed Ali and he has been my hero since I was a little boy, ever since I took up boxing. I had lunch with Mandela. There are a lot of people I have respect for. Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull), what a remarkable man he is. Back in the days of Led Zeppelin and the big rock bands, he cut a path through the middle of them doing something so different. And he’s still doing it. Hats off. I performed with Pavarotti at the G8 Summit. What a classy guy and what a thrill it was for me to be on the same bill as him. But I don’t think anyone has impressed me more than Prince Charles. He has so much class, is so intelligent... he’s a very interesting down-to-earth guy, with a great sense of humour. I went to a dinner with Charles and Camilla and the speech he gave was just beyond anything I’d ever heard. All I could think of was I wish to God this guy was more in the public eye in terms of world affairs. I think he’s streets ahead of the Obamas of the world and all the political leaders we have.

The Lord of the Dance UK Tour comes to the Trent FM Arena tomorrow for two shows, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Tickets are £35, £49.50 and £75 on 08444 124624 or go to www.trentfmarena.com

Behind The Scenes at Trent FM Arena

June 2010

HERE’S something you probably didn’t know: It takes six hours to set up the Trent FM Arena for a concert. From ice hockey stadium to concert hall.

And that’s even before the trucks carrying the artist’s stage set, equipment, etc. have even turned up.

Logic dictates that it takes the same amount of time to take it all down again. So, after a show, while you’ve caught last orders, gone home to bed and are well in to your night’s sleep, there are people still clearing away.

Not that Sunday’s Access All Areas tour of the venue is just an excuse for the staff to have a moan about grafting in to the night for our benefit.

“It’s to give people a flavour of what goes on behind the scenes,” says press officer Louise Stewart.

“We decided to do it as part of the tenth anniversary celebrations but we had no idea how popular it would be. We had an ice skating open day where we invited every down for a family day and thought we should do something to celebrate it from an arena perspective. And the 300 spaces on the tours booked up really quickly.”

There will be 12 free tours every half hour from 10am.

“We expect to do more in the future for anyone who missed out.”

Rather than looking around an empty building, visitors will be able to see a tour as it is loaded in, albeit on a small scale, with crew setting up for Trent FM’s local band event The Future Sound of Nottingham.

“New College Nottingham’s hair and beauty students will be in the dressing rooms making people up as Lady Gaga, Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson, just to give a flavour of the activity that goes on backstage,” says Louise.

Junior Wood, senior event manager since the venue opened ten years ago, will be doing the talking on Sunday.

He runs the team which transforms the arena from ice hockey stadium to concert hall and back again.

It takes 11 crew and two fork-lift drivers six hours to get it ready. The ice is covered, barriers removed, seating placed, stage built, drapes hung, dressing rooms prepared...

“The ice covering is really good and it has halved the time it takes to lay,” says Junior, who originally from Manchester.

“In the past we’ve used wooden panels which didn’t really insulate very well and the cold came through, they slid around a bit and there was condensation. And it could take up to a couple of days to lay them, as well as everything else.”

Once the floor and stage is ready, the dressing rooms have to be prepared.

There are 12 in all but it’s rare all will be occupied. That’ll usually be when the TV shows, like Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing On Ice, X Factor Live and tonight’s Britain’s Got Talent, turn up.

Each is fairly plain. Eight are furnished with en suite but the rest are set up as offices for promoters.

For most, that will do nicely, such as the seventies stars, The Osmonds, Bay City Rollers, David Essex and Leo Sayer, who were due on Tuesday for that evening’s Once In A Lifetime Tour.

Others need special attention from companies such as Inner Sanctum, who specialise in dressing a room with drapes and pictures, extra furniture, flowers... to personalise it for an artist.

“I can understand why,” says Junior.

“It’s like a home from home. They can be on the road for eight months out of the year and all they will see is a dressing room, the tour bus and hotel room. A familiar environment can keep them sane.”

The rider, an artist’s food and drink demands for backstage, can indicate how diva-ish they are but the legend of requesting M&Ms with the brown one’s taken out are for good reason, says Junior.

“It’s to make sure the rider is being read. It’s to test them. I can’t remember which gig it was here, maybe Metallica, but on the security’s list of restricted items was Verne Troyer,” he laughs.

“You know, the little guy from Austin Powers. Spotting that shows you’ve been paying attention. And they did.”

He adds: “A lot of the time our staff don’t see to the artist’s rider anyway - that’s the job of the tour promoter.

“Our job is to deal with the production rider although we have been asked to sort out a masseuse or flowers.”

Once the floor, stage and dressing rooms are prepared, the venue is ready for the arrival of the artist’s trucks and buses carrying the equipment, instruments, artist and crew.

They pull in to the back of the arena down the small road to the left of AMF Bowling.

On Tuesday there were 20 or so fans awaiting the arrival of the seventies stars.

“That’s usual for most gigs,” says Junior.

“The whole street was chocka when Justin Timberlake was here. Sometimes they’ll sign autographs. It’s chaos out there when the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent are here.”

There is room for 13 trucks to park up, which is the average for Arena gigs.

“But Lady Gaga had more than 30,” he says.

“Most of them had to park down at the City Ground. That was a mad event, a lot of work involved and a logistical nightmare. The Justin Timberlake and Metallica shows were similar.”

Most of the time the production makes use of the arena’s own stage but Gaga, JT and Metallica brought their own.

Artists arrive around 3pm, settle in to their dressing rooms and soundcheck between 4pm and 5pm.

“Sometimes there is a specific request for closed soundchecks, depending on how diva-ish they are but generally we can watch,” says Junior.

“Although we do have work to do.”

The rest of the artist’s free time is usually spent backstage. One would assume they’d hang out in the hotel.

“I’d say only half stay in a hotel. The rest sleep on the bus. They’re as good as a hotel room anyway. I stayed on one at the V Festival and it was fantastic: Leather suites, entertainment systems and comfy beds.”

To kill the boredom of hanging around, artists will kick a football around the floor or fly toy helicopters.

“Stereophonics did that and Mick Hucknall always gets a football out. Westlife practiced their golf. Justin Hawkins from The Darkness had a motorised scooter and he asked me if it’d be OK to ride it around the place. I thought, well you’re the main event at a sell-out show, you can do what you like. And off he went riding around the arena floor.”

Legend has it that Liam Gallagher went missing, the reason Oasis were late on stage.

Says Louise: “And he was down the road at a chip shop.”

The temptation for staff to ask for a photo with a star or an autograph is easily resisted, says Junior.

“It’s a sackable offence. It’s not the done thing.”

And he’s never been star struck. Well, maybe once.

“Rihanna came in to my office one day. I knew her security guy quite well and I’d said how gorgeous I thought she was. Which she is. And the day she appeared here he said he was going to bring her in to my office. I was like ‘yeah, mate, OK’. Throughout the day he kept saying it. Then in she walked and stood by my desk, ‘hello, how are you?’ It was the first time I’ve been stuck for words which the rest of the lads found amusing.”

The event management office is by the dressing rooms so the team often pass the stars in the corridor.

“Sometimes they’ll talk to you, sometimes they’ll ignore you. Generally they are really good. Rick Parfitt of Status Quo walked about like some average Joe, talking to everyone. He’s a really bubbly geezer.”

He adds: “Not many are diva-ish. I have experienced acts who we’ve been told not to make eye contact with. Not so much here but when I was working at the arena in Manchester.

“And there was one where the staff had to literally turn their backs!”

Doctor Who Live Tour

May 2010

AFTER five decades of time travel, Doctor Who will enter a new dimension later this year with the first ever live stage show.

Giant Cybermen and Daleks will all do battle with the good Doctor during the multi-million pound tour that comes to the Trent FM Arena in the autumn.

It will feature special effects, optical illusions and pyrotechnics, plus video clips drawn from the TV series on a huge screen.

“This is everything I ever wanted since I was eleven,” says Steven Moffat, executive producer of the award-winning TV series, who has helped put the live show together.

“It’s a live show, with all the coolest Doctor Who monsters, a proper story and brand new screen material for Matt Smith's Doctor! I'll be writing scenes for it and probably attending every single night!”

Neither Smith, the 11th actor to play the Time Lord, nor his assistant Karen Gillan, will appear in person. They will record new footage exclusively for the show to be broadcast on screen.

The story will open in wartime London and conclude with “an epic onstage battle”. Other monsters from the TV series who will appear include Weeping Angels, Judoon and Oods.

The show is produced by the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide.

A 16-piece orchestra, conducted by longtime Doctor Who composer Murray Gold, will soundtrack the two hour show.

Said Gold: “The live element always adds something extra, but these will also be brand new arrangements for a new band of very talented musicians. It's very exciting.”

Doctor Who Live will be the latest TV show to be developed for the stage, following The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing On Ice.

The tour comes to the Trent FM Arena for two performances October 25 and 26.

Nottingham is just one of nine cities on the tour which is expected to be seen by 400,000 people.

Geoff Huckstep, chief executive at the Trent FM Arena said: “This will be like nothing you’ve ever seen before. It'll be a real treat for the whole family – especially those big Doctor Who fans.

“We’re all excited to see exactly how the format will work as the show has never been performed live on stage - it’s definitely going to be this winter’s must see event.”

Tickets went on sale today (Friday) priced at £25, £34.50 and £38.50.

They are available from the venue box office, by calling 08444 124 624 and online atwww.trentfmarena.com.

More information about the show is available at www.doctorwholive.com

Doctor Who facts

Doctor Who first appeared on BBC on November 23 1963.

It is the longest running science fiction TV show in the world.

The 2007 Christmas special attracted 13.31 million viewers, its biggest ever audience.

The current series is broadcast in 42 countries.

More than seven million Doctor Who action figures have been sold.

The show won Most Popular Drama at the 2010 National Television Awards for the fifth year running.

Steven Spielberg is a fan saying: “The world would be a lesser place without Doctor Who.”

Lady Gaga

May 2010

MAVERICK, mannequin or just another Madonna?

To be honest, I’m with Christina Aguilera.

When asked about Lady Gaga, she said: “I think she's really fun to look at.”

It was a dismissive remark that our Aggers insists wasn’t meant to be a criticism. This week she responded to talk of a brewing feud by saying “I have absolutely nothing against Lady Gaga. I think she is great.”

But the column inches dedicated to the flamboyant singer, whose career is barely in to its second year, seem to outweigh the success of her music.

There have been the singles Just Dance, Poker Face, Paparazzi, Telephone and Bad Romance and the album, The Fame. Yes, The Fame Monster followed as a second studio release but it was originally intended as a reissue package of the debut with eight extra tracks. Not quite the follow up in the traditional sense. Then, just this month she released The Remix, essentially a collection of, erm, remixes.

Her presence in the gossip columns over the past year seems to outweigh such success.

And it’s not only been for the bonkers outfits that have included a lobster hat and Bridget Jones-style big knickers that, apparently, prompted a rush on sales. But for excessive cocaine use that she believed would kill her; stripping on stage in New York club; asking Boy George to sign her body; and discussing her bisexuality.

This week MTV has reported that she is to design a range of condoms. And The Sun reckons she’s been learning to speak “like the Queen” to impress fans in the UK.

Then again, isn’t she the perfect pop star? Don’t we prefer them to extraordinary? I’d swap a dozen Leonas or Alexandras for half a Gaga any day.

George Michael is fan: “Lady Gaga has my full attention,” he said.

“She’s a very original songwriter with quite a unique overall package.”

As is Rihanna: “I have so much respect for original artists who aren’t afraid to do what they want to do. She’s awesome.”

Madonna has yet to comment. Her take will be the most interesting as many see Lady Gaga as an heir apparent.

“I don't see myself as an heir,” Gaga told the LA Times.

“There is nobody like me,” she adds - but with a twist.

“That is a statement I want every woman to feel and make about themselves.”

So, if she’s not the new Madonna, then who is she?

Born Stefani Germanotta to middle class Italian American parents in New York, she attended a private Roman Catholic school.

“I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down,” she told one interviewer.

“I didn’t fit in, and I felt like a freak.”

By the age of 14 she was performing at open mic nights in the city. Three years later she enrolled on a music course at a prestigious arts school but she quit after a year, moved in to a rented flat - paid for by her father - and immersed herself in the local rock scene.

At 19 Germanotta signed to the Def Jam label, was introduced to songwriter and producer RedOne, recorded Boys Boys Boys (a mash-up inspired by Mötley Crüe's Girls, Girls, Girls and AC/DC's T.N.T.) but nothing came of it. Or the Stefani Germanotta Band, which she started with friends.

It was music producer Rob Fusari who gave her both a step up and the name Lady Gaga.

He says: “When Stef came to the studio, instead of saying hello, I would start singing (Queen’s) Radio Ga Ga. That was her entrance song.”

It was while sending her a text that “radio” was changed by predictive text to “lady”. That’s his story of how the legend of Lady Gaga was born.

Within 12 months she was writing her debut album.

Despite the dominant image as a mannequin for leftfield designers, the 24-year-old has substance as a songwriter.

Prior to hitting a single headline she had written tracks that would be recorded by Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block, Fergie and the Pussycat Dolls.

It was supporting PCD on tour last January that resulted in her Nottingham debut, playing a 20 minute set at the arena.

Her arrival next week will be greeted with more of a fanfare.

For starters the show is sold out.

Since playing Nottingham she has sold 11 million albums, broken records for download sales and won Grammy, Brit and numerous other awards.

Just last month she, along with fellow pop divas such as Cheryl Cole and La Roux, was cited as key to a resurgence of the pop single. During 2009, pop singles accounted for a 33.5% share of total sales, unseating rock as the most popular music genre.

This month’s Time magazine has included her in its annual list of the one hundred most influential people in the world.

Yes she’s a maverick and a mannequin -- and Madonna must be terrified.

Gig

Who: Lady Gaga, Alphabeat

Where: Trent FM Arena

When: Thursday, 7.30pm

Tickets: £30/£27.50 (returns only), 08444 124624

Christopher Biggins

April 2010

IF I’m at home on a Sunday, I’d just throw something dirty on, whatever I was wearing the night before, and go straight to the newsagent for the Sunday Times and the News of the World. Then I’d get back into bed and read them.
Perhaps I’ll occasionally go to the study to check something, but it would be a slovenly day where I’d never leave the bed.
Reading the papers, watching television, eating... all in bed.
I’d do that on both days if I could.
I’m a great Sky+ person. I don’t know what we did before Sky+. On there is Dancing on Ice, Brothers and Sisters, which is a brilliant American TV series, and Desperate Housewives.
You know the hotelier who’d go around hotels and tell them how to improve [Ruth Watson]? She’s doing one on stately homes and that is very funny.
And I’m an absolutely avid fan of Michael Winner’s Dining Stars. It is so bad it is fantastic.
He’s an old friend of mine and it’s so wonderfully bad I can’t tell you.
Glee is fantastic. It’s so camp it’s not true.
I haven’t bought a DVD box set since Prison Break. I’ve got 24 but I’ve never gotten in to it.
And I can’t get past episode one of The Wire – they say it’s wonderful, I don’t understand it.
I’m reading the new Robert Goddard at the moment. I love thrillers and mysteries. And biographies.
I’m getting back into Kenneth Williams’ Diaries. I never get the time to read until I go on holiday. When I go to bed I tend to watch whatever I’ve recorded on Sky+.
But when I’m on holiday I read a lot.
I love books, I’ve got thousands at home.
I find it very odd when I visit friends and they don’t have a bookcase.
I’ve just been sent Linda Bellingham’s autobiography in which I feature heavily. Behaving myself? Certainly not.
I love cooking, the trouble is I’m not an instant cook. I can’t go to the fridge and make something in minutes.
I’m very much a three-day dinner party man. The first day shopping, the second preparing, the third cooking.
Then by 6pm, when people are starting to arrive, I wonder why the hell I asked them because I’m absolutely exhausted.
I’m very much a Waitrose and Marks & Spencer meal man.
We have lots of those. Having said that, my partner is a very good cook.
Pantomime keeps me fit. Two shows a day, that certainly keeps me fit.
I like swimming but I’m so lazy. I don’t go to the gym.
I’ve got one of those plates that wobbles you around – Power Plates, that’s what they’re called.There’s one that sits at the bottom of our bed and I run past it every morning and try not to let it see me.


Dancing on Ice is at the Trent FM Arena on January 27 and 28. For tickets, priced at £32.50 to £55, call 08444 124624.

10 Years At Nottingham's Arena

March 2010

THE moment he realised they were no longer the new kids on the block, that the financial troubles were solvable, that people would stop complaining about Nottingham Arena, was thanks to Rod Stewart.

“The turning point was when we got Rod Stewart in July 2002,” says chief executive Geoff Huckstep.

“Once we’d persuaded the promoter to bring him here then I thought the strategy was working. On the back of that we got Elton John, Bryan Adams and quite a few other big acts. And he put on a fantastic show. It’s still one of the best I’ve seen here.”

One of the biggest challenges he faced when he took over managing the National Ice Centre and Arena, 18 months after its opening in April 2000, was to convince the UK’s key concert promoters that Nottingham Arena had its own audience. That 9,000 East Midlanders would fill the place time after time. In other words, you can book tours in to Sheffield, Birmingham AND Nottingham.

“It was hard work but we did it.”

At a cost of £30,000 -- at a time when they were operating at an annual loss of half a million pounds -- they sponsored the International Live Music Conference, the coming together of all the key players in the industry. He also chaired meetings of the National Arenas Association. In layman’s terms, Geoff and his team ‘got in’ with the key live music promoters, who book all the tours in to UK arenas.

There were a few other issues to deal with too.

“The expression ‘white elephant’ had been bandied around,” admits Geoff.

“There were big problems with budgets. When we came here we were operating at a loss of a million and a half. And rising. It took us 18 months to sort out the finances, then another year to understand the music business.”

After dribs and drabs, the floodgates steadily opened as international names came to play. Beyonce, Kanye West, 50 Cent, Pink, Bob Dylan, The Killers, Kings Of Leon, Neil Young, Justin Timberlake, Metallica...

“We’ve had everyone we could possibly get at an arena of this size. We’re never going to get Take That or U2 as they’re stadium artists.

“I would like to get Peter Kay. I’m working on that.”

The difficulty Nottingham’s Arena faced on opening was the larger stadiums so close by. Sheffield’s can hold 11,500. Birmingham’s revamped LG Arena, 13,000.

On average a sell-out at the Trent FM Arena, as it was renamed in 2007 after a sponsorship deal, is around 9,000.

But plans are afoot to increase that to around 11,000.

“We’re looking at ways of doing that.”

He’s also looking at smaller, all-standing shows for bands that outsell Rock City and the Royal Concert Hall.

“We’re just about to invest £25,000 in a new draping system that will enable us to do 4,000 capacity all standing gigs. It’ll be like a self-contained black box with its own bar and we’re looking to work with Rock City on that.”

More than five million people have been through the doors of the NIC since it opened.

More than three million of them saw a show in the Arena. Others were there for the Nottingham Panthers, boxing, football, WWE or ice skating.

But we’re here to talk entertainment. Music and comedy, the TV shows on tour like X Factor, Dancing On Ice, Strictly Come Dancing and Britain’s Got Talent.

There have been around 600 of them.

The first was Simply Red, who will be back on their farewell tour in December. Rod Stewart, Rihanna, Michael Buble, Leona Lewis and Boyzone are also due back this year.

Westlife have played more shows than anyone else -- their visit in May will be their 14th.

But it’s the Killers who hold the record for the fastest selling -- shifting all 9661 tickets in just an hour.

But in terms of attendance, Metallica hold the record at the venue. By playing in the round they could accommodate 10,337 fans.

Says Geoff: “Metallica’s show last year was also the loudest, at 101 db, close to the level of a jet flying overhead at 1000ft.”

The record for the most nights played on a single tour belongs to Michael McIntyre with six.

“Comedy really is the new rock n roll,” says Geoff.

“Lee Evans played five shows. We’ve also had Steve Coogan, Al Murray, Eddie Izzard, and this week we’ve announced both Russell Howard and John Bishop.”

Dancing On Ice is another show that keeps returning, featuring local ice dance legends Torvill & Dean. It was Jayne Torvill who opened the venue with the Queen giving it an official opening in July 2002.

“I had to kneel at her feet,” says Junior Wood, senior events manager, who has worked at the NIC since its opening.

“I was de-rigging her microphone trying not to move too quickly because there were a number of secret service operatives watching my every move.”

The Royal visit was also a highlight for assistant rink manager Alan Levers.

“Myself and five of my hockey team mates from The Nottingham Lions performed a routine choreographed by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, which was filled with Olympic and World figure skating champions. It was the most nerve racking time of my life but the most incredible experience.”

Scouting For Girls frontman Roy Stride says it was their Arena show that made them realise they’d hit the big time.

“It was our biggest show and probably the best we’ve ever done. The guy from our record label who signed us came down for it and he was quite emotional by the end of it. Because 18 months earlier when he signed us we were playing to 30 people.”

For Geoff, who used to book old school entertainers for a seaside theatre many years ago, the highlights have been Rod Stewart, Oasis, Kings Of Leon, Pink, Dolly Parton, The Killers and Metallica.

“I’ve seen most of the shows because we entertain a lot in the house suite so I’ve seen hundreds. Some better than others,” he laughs.

Bob Dylan was a disappointment and he didn’t rate the White Stripes.

Many sign the Arena Guest Book. Jack Johnson drew a castle and Kenny Rogers a deck of cards. Cliff Richard wrote “What a place! I loved my two nights here!” Oasis scribbled a baffling message “Welcome The Empires!” as did Girls Aloud: “Tweedy The Roast”, while Justin Timberlake had a message for us: “Tell the Sheriff to **** himself.”

“Pete Doherty signed the dressing room wall,” says press officer Kim Blood.

“He’s the only one to have done that. We’ve had it painted since then though.”

Less troublesome was Bob The Builder, although his appearance proved to the management that you can’t please everyone.

“I had a letter from a lady who had been to the show with her son. He was traumatised. They’re always traumatised so they can get their money back. But he was traumatised because Bob The Building was miming. So I wrote back ‘it’s a puppet, you muppet!”

“Well, I didn’t but I felt like it.”

Top ten audience attendance

1.    Metallica       10337

2.    The Killers      9661

3.    Snow Patrol    9608

4.    Pink            9519

5.    Arctic Monkeys 9438

6.    Kasabian       9298

7.    Neil Young     9084

8.    The Prodigy    8953

9.    Beyonce       8747

10.  Kaiser Chiefs   8729

What they say

“There’s something about Trent FM Arena Nottingham that makes it difficult for an artist to have a bad gig there whether it’s James Morrison or the Scissor Sisters or the Killers. I’m not sure if it’s the room, the audience or the local water but all the shows I put in there always seem to be amongst the best on a tour.”

Matt Woolliscroft, SJM Concerts

“From doing the arena’s first ever show with Simply Red back in 1990 through to putting on the enormous, in the round Metallica show in 2009, our experience of working with the Trent FM Arena has always been nothing other than fun.”

Stuart Galbraith, Kilimanjaro Live

“Over the last 10 years Nottingham Arena has become an essential part of Nottingham's live music and entertainment scene. We are proud to have worked with a venue of this calibre with artists such as James Blunt, System Of A Down and Scouting For Girls. Here’s to 10 more years.”

George Akins, DHP Group

“One of the most artist friendly arenas out there. There is always a great atmosphere and bands love coming back.”

Toby Leighton-Pope, Live Nation

“One of the strongest and friendliest teams in the country. All of which helps with the running of the show both out front and backstage.”

Tony Denton, Tony Denton Promotions

“An excellent platform for the very best of Off the Kerb’s comedic talent bringing laughter to thousands of people.  It's always a pleasure to play at the venue.”

Joe Norris, Off The Kerb