Jackson tribute show could go ahead at The O2

Calls for a tribute concert at The O2, featuring members of the Jackson family, have been growing.

In an interview on Monday David Campbell (pictured), chief executive of AEG Europe, who own and operate the venue, did not rule it out.

But he insisted more important matters have to be dealt with first.

He said: "It's clearly early days. People are talking about these things and there is a lot of outcry from people saying there should be a tribute concert so if we could make that happen it would be good.

"But I think what's really important is this is a tragic event and we've got to put things in perspective and in the right order. We, like so many other people, are music fans and we've lost one of the greatest - if not the greatest ever - musical artist.

"We'll let plans for the funeral get out of the way first and we'll talk about tributes later on."

Jackson' comeback This Is It tour, due to start on July 13, were the hottest tickets in town, and sold out within hours. Up to one million fans are now entitled to refunds, at an estimated cost of around £50million to promoters AEG Live, but that does not cast any doubt over the future of The O2.

Although The O2 is owned and operated by AEG Europe, part of the same company as AEG Live, the venue does not carry any of the liability for ticket refunds. The Wharf understands the 50 shows were not in The O2's target calculations for this year, and were just a part of a very varied entertainment portfolio.

A spokeswoman for The O2 said: "Michael Jackson's death is a tragedy that music fans across the world are still trying to comprehend. It is a great sadness for us a venue that we will never see such a genius performer take to the stage.

"Looking ahead The O2 has a great six months ahead and we will have over 170 events this year - this beats our record breaking 158 arena events of last year."

The venue's bars and restaurants will miss out on increased trade, with the arena likely to be empty for some of the early Jackson dates, but this will be mitigated by other acts filling in.

The Wharf can reveal that before Jackson died The O2 was fully booked between mid-September this year and Christmas 2010.

Speaking to The Wharf two weeks ago, Mr Campbell said: "Music normally books between six and nine months ahead. We've got zero dates between the middle of this September and Christmas next year.

"Now people are getting wise to that and they are booking ahead, to the point where we have at the moment got 23 days on hold in December 2011 for music. It just doesn't normally happen."

Fans who bought tickets from authorised agencies, such as Ticketmaster, are entitled to a full refund plus charges, while ebay has offered to refund anyone who used its auction site to buy tickets. Fans have also been given the opportunity to have their tickets sent to them as mementoes of Jackson.

Despite Jackson's untimely death plans are still in place at The O2 for the world's favourite music venue to grow.

The Wharf spoke to David Campbell about the plans to expand the range of entertainment at The O2.

The venue, which at 22 acres is the same size as Soho, already houses restaurants, bars, a cinema, a nightclub as well as the British Music Experience.

More attractions are planned as part of the Phase Two development approved by Greenwich Council last October. No start date for that has been set but Mr Campbell is keen for work on at least one addition to begin.

He said: "I'm very keen to get a hotel here. I know from speaking to local hotels we generate a lot of business for them. While I'm very happy to be their friend at the moment I'd like to have some of that business for us.

"We were hoping to be off the ground this year but I'm not sure we will. I'd be disappointed if we're not off the ground by the end of 2010. That would be good.

"When we started out Phase Two was pretty important. We thought we would need things like it to drive us to get to where we are now but it's gone from being a need to have to being a nice to have. Everything's in place and when we think the economic conditions are right we'll push the button."

Mr Campbell is still keen to add a casino, despite the problems surrounding The O2's bid to house the supercasino eventually awarded to Manchester before being scrapped.

He said: "I would consider a casino tomorrow. When we bought the lease on the building the Government said we're going to have 40 supercasinos. By the time we got to designing it they had changed their minds and made it eight but we still thought they would have one in London.

"Then they changed their minds again and put it down to one. We went through a process over a year-and-a-half applying for it and then the panel said it can't go to London because it's too big a city. They could have told us that beforehand. They decided to put it in Manchester and then they didn't even do that.

"The most important thing is it's a big economic driver. We'd start a hotel tomorrow if we had a casino in place. And from a Government standpoint it would drive taxes."

One thing definitely coming to The O2 is Olympic gymnastics and basketball in 2012. Mr Campbell is looking forward to being part of it. He has no doubts London will be ready for the Games.

He said: "There's not a chance of London being accused of not being ready. The Olympics will be great but the Olympic effect, the legacy, will be even more important."