Rock musicians Joan Jett and Sammy Hagar will perform next week at a new West London music venue that is set to be a game-changer in the capital's events programme. Joan Jett and her band, the Blackhearts, will appear at the British Airways ARC venue at Kensington Olympia on Wednesday, July 8, followed by Sammy Hagar for three shows on Thursday, July 9, Saturday, July 10 and Sunday, July 12.
Sammy Hagar's revised tour plans
Sammy Hagar was scheduled to headline a concert at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena on Thursday, July 9, with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts as a special guest, but the event was cancelled in favour of several "more intimate" events at the Arc in Kensington Olympia, which opened to acclaim last month. In a message to fans, Sammy wrote: "After waiting 30 years to come back, we really wanted to get this right. Several factors pushed us toward revising this tour, but after wrapping our Las Vegas residency last month at Dolby Live, where the sound, the technology, and the more intimate size really let us connect with the audiences, it was clear that we wanted to deliver a similar experience for our fans in England."
"When I heard our promoter was opening a similar tech-forward venue in London, that really sealed the deal for me. Three nights, a fresh set every night, and I get to stay in London, one of my favourite cities in the world, for a week. That’s the Best of All Worlds!"
Joan Jett's legendary career
Joan Jett shot to fame in the 1970s as the rhythm guitarist of all-girl punk rock band The Runaways, who scored an underground hit with "Cherry Bomb", before finding fame as a solo artist in 1981 with her classic staple "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", later covered by Britney Spears. Other hits, "Bad Reputation", "I Hate Myself For Lovin' You", and an iconic cover of "Crimson and Clover" cemented her reputation as a pioneering rock star.
Sammy Hagar's rock legacy
Sammy Hagar, aka "the red rocker" for his flame-coloured curls, was frontman of the hard rock band Montrose in the 1970s before taking over from David Lee Roth as lead singer of Van Halen from 1985 to 1996 where he sung some of the band's biggest hits "Why Can't This Be Love", "Right Now", "Dreams", "When It's Love" and "Best of Both Worlds". He later founded the tequila brand 'Cabo Wabo Tequila', which he sold to Gruppo Campari for tens of millions of dollars.
The new ARC venue
British Airways ARC venue at Kensington Olympia opened last month with a spectacular opening gig headlined by Self Esteem. The new 3,800-capacity live music venue is located on the rooftop of the redeveloped, 140-year-old Olympia London complex. Van Morrison is also set to hold a five-night residency at the venue in September. The Arc is being marketed as an intimate, upmarket and mid-sized concert hall managed by AEG, which also runs the O2 Arena, the Eventim Apollo (formerly Hammersmith Apollo) and Watford Colosseum.
