The troubled Co-op Live arena has again cancelled its opening concert at the last minute because of a “technical issue”. The US rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s show was supposed to be the first official event at the 23,500-capacity Manchester venue, after several shows were cancelled or postponed in the past two weeks. Doors for the concert were scheduled to open at 6.30pm, but the venue posted at 6.40pm that the show would no longer go ahead. In a statement on X, the venue said: “Due to a venue-related technical issue, tonight’s A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie show will no longer go ahead.” Co-op Live asked ticket-holders to leave the area and said they would “receive further information in due course”. This is the third time the official opening night has been cancelled. Rick Astley performed to about 11,000 arena workers, VIPs and press for the free test event on 20 April, but as many as 4,000 tickets were cancelled, some just an hour before the show, leaving ticket-holders furious. The venue said this was because of “testing critical procedures”, which meant they had to reduce capacity for the event. The venue apologised and told ticket-holders they could attend a gig by the US rock duo the Black Keys a week later instead. The venue then had to postpone that gig until 15 May. The arena also postponed two gigs by the comedian Peter Kay, who has been rescheduled to appear on 23 and 24 May. Gary Roden quit as general manager of the arena last week over delays to its opening and after being criticised for saying some small music venues were poorly run. Situated on the Etihad Campus next to the Manchester City football ground, the £365m venue is scheduled to host Take That, the Killers, Eric Clapton, Barry Manilow and Olivia Rodrigo in the coming weeks, and there are plans to hold the MTV Europe music awards there in November. Atlantic Records, who represent A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, have been contacted for comment.