The O2 arena reopened on Tuesday 10 August with a free gig from Gorillaz exclusively for NHS workers and their families. 

 

To commemorate the moment, The O2 presented Gorillaz with a specially commissioned piece of artwork, created by British artist and illustrator Madeleine Floyd who designed the original piece of nightingale artwork to commemorate the NHS Training Facility at The O2 in 2020.

 

Steve Sayer, VP & General Manager, The O2 said: “Our reopening night was such a special moment. Not only did we see an iconic British band perform but the night was to celebrate and thank the NHS workers who have worked so hard over the past 18 months and continue to do so. It was our first full capacity show in over 500 days and we couldn’t have been prouder to bring back the buzz to The O2 arena in such an incredible way. The connection between and fans and band was off the scale. Thank you to Gorillaz for putting on an amazing show, the team at Kilimanjaro, Xray Touring and of course everyone at The O2 for getting us to this point. It’s wonderful to be back.”

 

Stuart Galbraith, CEO Kilimanjaro Live added: “Kilimanjaro are extremely honoured to be involved in the organisation of the NHS workers and families show that saw the Gorillaz play the first full capacity gig back at The O2 in front of audience of 17 thousand heroes and heroines, and we were very happy to be part of a team to give thanks to the people who have given such wonderful service in the last 18 months.”