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Wembley Stadium (1923)

The original Wembley Stadium (/ˈwɛmbli/; originally known as the Empire Stadium) was a football stadium in Wembley, London, best known for hosting important football matches. It stood on the same site now occupied by its successor and by its predecessor, Watkin's Tower.

This article is about the original stadium. For the current stadium that was opened in 2007, see Wembley Stadium.

Former names

Empire Stadium
British Empire Exhibition Stadium

Wembley, England

51°33′20″N 0°16′47″W / 51.55556°N 0.27972°W / 51.55556; -0.27972

Wembley Company

82,000 (original standing capacity was 125,000, and later 100,000 prior to being made all-seated in 1990)

126,047 (Bolton Wanderers vs West Ham United – 1923 FA Cup final)

Grass and track

1922 (1922)

28 April 1923 (1923-04-28)

1963 (1963)

7 October 2000 (2000-10-07)

2002–2003

Replaced in 2007 by the new Wembley Stadium

£750,000 (1923) (equivalent to £41.19 million or US$52.58 million in 2019)[1]

Sir John William Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton
Sir Owen Williams (engineer)

Wembley hosted the FA Cup final annually, the first in 1923, which was the stadium's inaugural event, the League Cup final annually, five European Cup finals, the 1966 World Cup final, and the final of Euro 1996. Brazilian footballer Pelé once said of the stadium: "Wembley is the cathedral of football. It is the capital of football and it is the heart of football",[3] in recognition of its status as the world's most famous football stadium.


The stadium also hosted many other sports events, including the 1948 Summer Olympics, rugby league's Challenge Cup final, and the 1992 and 1995 Rugby League World Cup finals. It was also the venue for numerous music events, including the 1985 Live Aid charity concert. In what was the first major WWF (now WWE) pay-per-view to take place outside North America, it hosted the 1992 SummerSlam.

performed 7 times at this location, the most by any artist in the history of Wembley Stadium, selling over 504,000 tickets in the process. During Michael Jackson's Bad World Tour in 1988, he was given a special award by Wembley Stadium Officials for breaking a Guinness World Record with a combined total of 504,000 people attending the seven sold-out Wembley shows.[53] The concert on 16 July 1988 was attended by Princess Diana and Prince Charles and a DVD of this concert (Michael Jackson: Live at Wembley July 16, 1988) was released on 18 September 2012.[53]

Michael Jackson

played 14 September 1974. Guests included Joni Mitchell, The Band, Jesse Colin Young.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

performed seven times, including 1975, 1984, 1992 with Eric Clapton and 1998 with Billy Joel . He headlined The Summer of 84 concert, part of his European Express Tour, along with bands such as Big Country, Nik Kershaw, Kool and The Gang and Wang Chung. The show was recorded for a Showtime concert special.[54]

Elton John

played on 18 August 1979: "The Who And Friends Roar In". This was the band's first major concert after the death of drummer Keith Moon the previous year following a series of smaller warm-ups.[55]

The Who

performed there on 19 June 1982.

Simon and Garfunkel

performed there in 1982, 1990, 1995 and 1999.

The Rolling Stones

played three times on the 1984–85 Born in the U.S.A. Tour, and twice in 1988, once during the Tunnel of Love Express Tour and the second time as a part of Human Rights Now!. The Tunnel of Love Express Tour date is the biggest crowd for a concert at Wembley: 80,000 people. Springsteen was supposed to play two shows at Wembley but a scheduled Mike Tyson Boxing fight made that impossible as Wembley only took a certain amount of dates a year for football, concerts and sports. He also performed once in 2013 and once in 2016 at Wembley Stadium.[56]

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

performed 9 times between 1985 and 1997 including four nights on the 4th (European) leg of their "Zooropa" tour on 11–12 and 20–21 August 1993.[57]

U2

played their last concert titled The Final on 28 June 1986.[58][59]

Wham!

performed there in 1986, 1991 and 1995

Rod Stewart

performed two nights on 11 and 12 July 1986, on The Magic Tour, with the concert on 12 July recorded for a live album with edited video released on VHS as Queen at Wembley and full version released on DVD as Queen: Live at Wembley Stadium.[60] On 20 April 1992, The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert took place at Wembley, a concert which featured the surviving members of Queen and various guests.[61]

Queen

performed two nights on 19 and 20 June 1987, on his Glass Spider Tour.

David Bowie

played four consecutive sold-out concerts on 1, 2, 3, 4 July 1987, on the Invisible Touch Tour with a total attendance of more than 300,000. These were the last four shows for the band's major, sell-out world-tour in 1986–1987. The concert of 4 July 1987 had Princess Diana and Prince Charles in attendance. The shows were filmed for Genesis Live at Wembley Stadium.[62]

Genesis

had eight shows on 18, 19, 20 August 1987, 20, 21, 22 July 1990 and 25 and 26 September 1993.[63]

Madonna

performed two shows in August 1988, on the A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour. World War II searchlights were used outside the stadium for dramatic effect for approaching fans.

Pink Floyd

played on 16 and 17 June 1989 in front of 144,000 people. The concerts were recorded and was released as From a Distance: The Event album and VHS/DVD. Guests included The Shadows, Aswad, Kalin Twins, The Searchers, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Dallas Boys, The Vernons Girls, Stock Aitken Waterman, Tony Meehan and Jet Harris.

Cliff Richard

performed there on 19 August 1989, during their Bros in 2 Summer concert.

Bros

played on 26 August 1989 as part of their Street Fighting Years tour.

Simple Minds

had a concert on 13 July 1991 that was recorded and released as a VHS/DVD with the name Live Baby Live).

INXS

performed there on 31 August 1991, and 13 June 1992, as part of their Use Your Illusion Tour. On the 13 June 1992 concert, Brian May was the special guest.

Guns N' Roses

performed there on 11 and 12 July 1992.

Simply Red

performed there on 31 July 1993.

Prince

performed there on 28 August 1993.

Jean-Michel Jarre

played three consecutive nights in June 1995, which were filmed for Live from London. They also played on 19 and 20 August 2000, and were the last musical act to play at the old Wembley before it was closed.[64]

Bon Jovi

(4 sold-out concerts at Wembley Stadium, two in July 1996 and two in July 2000. Recorded during her Twenty Four Seven Tour for the One Last Time Live in Concert DVD in the year 2000).[65]

Tina Turner

did 2 nights in 1996 as part of their Hell Freezes Over Tour.[66]

Eagles

in July 1996, in front of a crowd of over 70,000 people, performed his second sold out at the UK venue, the first on 18 July 1992, and is considered to be his most popular concert; the concert was broadcast on radio stations in 25 countries. From the evening of 27 July, the Wembley 1996 video was obtained.[67][68]

Bryan Adams

and Noel Richards performed there on 28 June 1997.

Delirious?

The had shows on 19 and 20 September 1998 to a crowd of 110,000; one was recorded and released as a VHS/DVD.[69]

Spice Girls

The did the "One Night Only" Tour on 5 September 1998 to a crowd in excess of 56,000.[70]

Bee Gees

with support from Lenny Kravitz were the guests at the Twin Towers Ball on 26 June 1999.

Aerosmith

performed twice, including 11 & 12 July 1999 as part of her Let's Talk About Love World Tour, performing to 80,000 people each night.[71]

Celine Dion

performed twice, 21 and 22 July 2000, recorded their video and album Familiar to Millions at Wembley and they were the last UK band to headline at the old Wembley.[72]

Oasis

The stadium became a musical venue in August 1972 with The London Rock and Roll Show, an all star concert. It later played host to a number of concerts and events, most notably the British leg of Live Aid, which featured such acts as David Bowie, Queen, Paul McCartney, Elton John, the Who, Dire Straits and U2, held at the stadium on 13 July 1985.[51] Phil Collins performed at Wembley, then boarded a helicopter to London Heathrow Airport and took a British Airways Concorde to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to perform at the American segment of Live Aid at JFK Stadium on the same day.[52]


Other charity concerts which took place in the stadium were the Human Rights Now! concert, The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute Concert, Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa Concert, The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness and the NetAid charity concert.


Acts who played at Wembley Stadium include:

. The Engineer. 6 April 1923. Retrieved 26 August 2013. – Architectural drawings and plans of the 1923 stadium

"The Stadium in Wembley Park"

@worldstadia.com

Old Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium & the 1948 Olympics – UK Parliament Living Heritage

Wembley trivia

Extract from Vintage Speedway Magazine – Wembley The Last Amen

White Horse Cup Final – The Times