80s band first to announce a show at Becketwell arena

Soft rock band from the 1980s Wet Wet Wet have become the first group to announce a date at Derby's new performance arena in Becketwell. According to their publicity, the Scottish trio will play their gig at the Becketwell Live Arena on October 28 next year and tickets will soon be on sale.

The £45.8 million venue is currently having the finishing touches put to it and the last seat is expected to be put in place next week in a traditional topping out ceremony. It is expected to be finished in January and then testing of its systems and health and safety features will begin.

It has been said several times by the owners Derby City Council and operator ASM Global than the venue will have a soft launch in late spring or early summer, ahead of a full programme of events in autumn. ASM Global has been recruiting a wide range of staff in the past month .

Wet Wet Wet founding member Graeme Clark said: "We’ve been involved in a fair few venue openings over the years and it’s always exciting to be amongst the first bands to perform somewhere new. It’s even better when the venue happens to be somewhere we’ve never played before, which is the case with Becketwell Live in Derby.

"We’ve performed reasonably close by before, and it’ll be great to play to all those proud Derbeians on their own doorstep - we can’t wait!"

The show will feature Graeme Clark, accompanied as ever by long-standing guitarist Graeme Duffin, and fronted by Kevin Simm, the band will perform two sets of dates in 2025 with the first run being in January / February followed by another in October.

The ‘Wets’ will bring to the stage their catalogue of legendary and defining hits, including the likes of Sweet Little Mystery, Angel Eyes, Goodnight Girl, With a Little Help from My Friends, Sweet Surrender, Julia Says and more. They will also, of course, perform Love Is All Around, their cover of The Troggs’ 1960s song, which became the soundtrack to the summer of 1994, and recently celebrated 30 years since it originally topped the charts.

Presale for the show starts at 10am on Monday, November 25, with general sale from 10am on Wednesday, November 27. The show will be seated, with prices starting at £33 + booking fees, which means it should be able to hold around 2,500 people. It can accommodate 3,500 when standing is used as well.

On the tour dates for 2025, Wet Wet Wet will be joined by special guest Heather Small who will be opening all the shows. Having rose to fame as the lead vocalist of the band M People, Heather is known for hits like Moving on Up’ and ‘Search for the Hero.’ With a career spanning several decades, her distinct vocal style and charismatic stage presence have earned her a dedicated fan base and critical acclaim.

She said: ‘I’m so excited to join Wet Wet Wet on their extensive tour in 2025. I’m a fan of their music, so to be able to share these stages with them will be a real pleasure, it’s going to be one big party."

Building on the site started in June 2023 and, by last December, the steel frame and concrete tiers for seating were already complete. During 2024, most of the mechanical and electrical systems have been installed together with an acoustic ceiling and exterior cladding.

Built on the site of the former Pink Coconut nightclub, Pennine Hotel, Laurie House and Padley House, the new Becketwell venue offers a much larger and more adaptable space than anything previously available in the city centre.

As well as the main auditorium, there are a series of flexible spaces for smaller entertainment events or conferences, as well the green room and dressing rooms for artists, a large kitchen and six bars - three on each of the ground-floor and first-floor concourses.

Outside at the rear of the building, backing onto Becket Street, is a large covered area for receiving goods and stage equipment, with a large area for lorries to turn and for tour buses to park.

The performance venue is the second phase of the £200 million development of the Becketwell site, which includes the formerly derelict Duckworth Square.

Earlier in 2023, phase one was officially completed with the opening of Springwell Square, a green, seated garden area adjacent to the newly completed Condor building, the latter of which contains 259 rental apartments.

Once open, the venue is set to host more than 200 cultural and commercial events each year and attract an additional 250,000 visitors to Derby. It is also expected to create over 200 new local jobs, it will generate more than £10 million per year for the area, diversify the economy and increase levels of investment in surrounding areas of the city centre.