NHS beats Prince's record for longest residency at London's O2 Arena

The NHS has beaten Prince’s record for holding the longest residency at the O2 Arena in London.

The iconic artist, who died in 2016, had performed at the O2 Arena for 21 consecutive nights back in 2007 – spending more than 50 hours on stage and playing more than 500 songs.

He had held the record for the longest residency at the venue, thanks to his impressive feat, but reports now reveal Prince’s record has been beaten by the NHS during the coronavirus crisis.

The NHS has taken over the O2 Arena, that holds a capacity of 20,000, during the pandemic, as it has become a training facility.

The facility has been operating for 44 days now – first opening in April to supply staff to the Nightingale hospitals tackling Covid-19.

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Bosses have said that converting the arena into the facility has been the live music venue’s ‘most important residency to date’.

The O2’s deputy general manager Danielle Kennedy-Clark said: ‘We’ve hosted some real heroes during these past few weeks and it has been a privilege for AEG, along with our partner O2, to have been able to play our part during these challenging times

‘This has been our most important residency to date and we’re grateful to the team for this special piece of artwork to remind us of such a poignant time.’

The O2 Arena currently remains closed to the public, but it’s believed plans are in place to reopen parts of the venue for summer.

And to mark its role in helping the NHS during the coronavirus crisis, artwork of a nightingale with rainbow wings, created by British artist Madeleine Floyd will be framed and hung in the O2 Arena’s backstage area.

There are currently more than 265,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, with the number of deaths now reaching 37,000.

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