First artists announced to play London’s newest venue British Airways ARC
Self Esteem and McFly are amongst those announced to welcome people into the new live entertainment venue.
Photo: Dematerial Venues
London has a new venue — and it’s announced the exciting collection of artists who will be among the first wave of performances for the opening of the British Airways ARC at Olympia. The 3,800 capacity arena will have a double-bill performance from British pop musician Self Esteem on June 16th and 17th, followed by pop-rock icons McFly on June 18th, with GRAMMY Award-winning Zac Brown Band on June 25th. Rounding off the opening acts is the American singer-songwriter Khalid, who will take to the stage in the Autumn, on October 24th.
British Airways ARC is the first venue of its size to be built from the ground up in over a decade, a part of the £1.3 billion transformation of the iconic Olympia exhibition centre, which will also feature a theatre and a host of new bars and restaurants. The development will look to become a ‘must-visit’ for nightlife, and will aim to be a cultural hub for music goers, as well as one of the great venues in London.
As mentioned, the opening act will be Self Esteem, who will be playing two back-to-back shows to baptise the venue. The band are one of the most notable breakout acts within the last decade, and a worthy performer to open the world to the British Airways ARC. Self Esteem is playing shows off the back of releasing A Complicated Woman in 2025, which really pushed itself as a very subversive anti-bible pro-woman soliloquy to overcome the measures of overbearing expectations, and peaked at Number 5 in the UK albums chart.
Straight after the opening nights from Self Esteem, the exciting new venue will play host to the legendary McFly. The British band hope to bring their larger-than-life style of rock and pop punk for all to enjoy. The band that brought you Five Colours In Her Hair and All About You will hope to continue their hot streak of touring action following the infamous McFly vs Busted Arena tour in 2025. Now 23 years into the game, with seven Number 1 singles, seven Top 10 albums and multiple platinum records, it would not be too presumptuous to say that this would be something completely unmissable — and a huge statement for the venue in the calibre of acts they are looking to attract.
A week later, Zac Brown Band will grace the venue, the Multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning southern rock group from Atlanta, led by their frontman Zac Brown. The first American headline for the venue, Zac Brown Band are quite the group to represent the talent from across the pond. The band has had six consecutive albums reach the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, with five albums reaching Number 1 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart. The three-time Grammy winners will bring the soft soul of country music to the UK masses.
Following the big triple whammy of artists in June, the venue has an interval until October for the next big act that makes up part of the first wave. On October 24th, British Airways ARC will be treated to R&B superstar Khalid, who had an astronomical rise to stardom in the late 2010s and early 2020s, through hits like Location and Young, Dumb and Broke. Khalid truly broke into the scene with his debut album American Teen, which has been certified 4 x Platinum, and was followed up brilliantly with Free Spirit, his sophomore album. In October 2025, Khalid released his latest album, After The Sun Goes Down, and, with this show being a year since this release, it will be great to see how well the album breaks the mould in Khalid’s set list.
The Olympia was built as an events and exhibitions venue 140 years ago and has a strong historical impact on London’s music scene. Hosting shows from legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Rod Stewart, Primal Scream, The Cure and so many more, the British Airways ARC will hope to honour that heritage and breathe new life into the culture in this part of the capital.
Tickets for all of the shows can be bought here.
