O2 Academy Edinburgh

Academy Music Group buys Edinburgh venue Corn Exchange

The famous Corn Exchange has become part of the Academy Music Group (AMG) and over £500,000 has been invested in a new PA and lighting system. The new venue is now called O2 Academy Edinburgh. Opened in 1909, the venue starting hosting concerts in 1999. In 2000 the venue welcomed Pulp, Blur and The Deftones.

In recent years, corporate events and award shows were a key part of the venue revenue so the move means more live music for the city.

Academy Group COO Graham Walters told the Scotsman paper “The Corn Exchange had moved more towards the corporate and non-music side of things over the years. The former owners didn’t have the knowledge or expertise of the music industry that we have. We absolutely expect, with our connections with all of the UK’s major promoters and agents, that we’ll be bringing new acts to the city that would potentially have bypassed the city previously”.

Forthcoming shows include Declan McKenna, Tom Grennan, CHIC, The War On Drugs and Yungblud.

In August last year the venue joined the Save Our Venues campaign and commented “Like so many sectors today, our industry is being ripped apart due to the restrictions that are being put on us. The live events, live arts and live music industry is so important to the economy, UK tourism and the mental wellbeing of people in the country and must be allowed to reopen!”

The AMG site doesn’t list it at the time of writing but the purchase will mean AMG have 20 UK mid sized venues, list on their site.

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