AO Arena Manchester reviews by real event-goers

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Headliner did not arrive so the ticket were not worth the money in the end! Paid £60 per ticket then another £120 for a hotel. Very disappointed and will be requesting a refund

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

The Ao arena did the best they could with very little information for organisation.
Staff did not know at 2pm what was going to happen when the doors opened at 4pm.
We found out more information from one of the acts than we did staff because of the poor information given from the event organisers.
The sound wasn’t great, the bass was too high and most of the acts had trouble with their sound too.
The majority of the issues was not at all to do with the arena but the organisers
The majority of the acts were fantastic however and we really enjoyed the show but it needs better organisation

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Great show - let down by the big act being unable to do the show. It was a long ass show!! 7 hours maybe a little too much for full on standing - maybe seated option would be better for such a long gig!
Loved it though - highlight b*witched cx

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

The show was amazing, I loved every minute of it, and would definitely recommend, I feel that some of the singers mics wasn’t working properly and in places some of the sound system seemed to cancel out the singing but on a while it was brilliant and we can not wait for the next show

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Most of the crowd stewards were rude and disinterested from showsec, plus Aqua pulled out again

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Great night

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Ace night, lost of entertainment for the cost of the ticket. Some issues with microphones/sound quality but didn't deter the atmosphere at all. Will be back for next year's show 100%.

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Forced to be in the arena for 7-8 hours. Cancelled acts. Requesting refund through bank and not what was paid for

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Poor sound system, meant you couldnt hear the acts some times... the line up of the acts needs more thought into it as the atmosphere dropped after 5 and a lot of people left. All in all I'm less than satisfied from this event. Poor sounding and poor organisation. Maybe they bite off more than they could chew.

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

What a fantastic night. Definitely booking for next year

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Great night until the last group of acts. Too much from one hit wonders. Line up needed changing

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Love the 90s music. But the concert was very long 6 hours so people started to get bored. The sound/Mike feedback was terrible and you couldnt hear some of the songs they sang. People started to leave after 2 hours. Some Acts pulled out at the last minute. Really disappointed

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Headliner dropped out, 1 hit wonder with about 8 songs to fill time yet established artists with only 3.

Poor quality sound and graphics on the screens.

People smoking inside the venue blowing smoke from directly behind us yet security doing nothing.

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Headline act pulled out an hour before, some of the lineup not even 90s, poor communication from event throughout, sound system very poor, artists constantly complaining due to mics not working , very average show

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Gutted the headline act didn’t appear.

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

It's a shame that the headlining artist cancelled as did 2unlimited. Rubbish is a massive issue as no bins provided in standing area.

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

I think it is poor that you couldn't resell tickets so I wasted over £100 not being able to attend.

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

Review of 90s Baby POP - The Biggest Pop Show Ever

The event in itself was great, and all the artists really tried to maintain the atmosphere at the cost of their vocal capacity due to the sound engineering being absolutely ridiculous. I have never been to an event where you could not hear the artist sing due to the melody being flooded by bass and beats consistently, sometimes with their mics being purposefully toned down it seemed. We complained to supervisors during the early hours of the show hoping for an improvement, but to no avail. Not even so much as an effort to try and focus on the artist's voices in the melody rather than the overwhelming beat. Couple that with a few echo/microphony moments over 7 seconds long and at multiple decibels, you really start to lose hope at that point. Whomever coordinated the sound quality for this show either had a really bad day, didn't care, or should leave the business altogether. This review can be multiplied by 5 as I bought five tickets and all of my friends and family members that joined felt the same. Good show, a shame for the poor sound quality.