Relieved fans prepare to party at rearranged A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie gig after last minute Co-op Live cancellation

Pals Angel McCrane and Molly Morrisey were queuing up outside when Co-op Live cancelled its opening for the third time, as A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie's show was pulled at the last minute. But tonight the 18-year-olds were back in Manchester for the rapper's rescheduled gig at the AO Arena - and were just relieved it was actually going ahead.

Angel said: "We were so gutted we thought it was going to be fully cancelled because he’s an American rapper so he doesn’t come here often. At least it’s been rearranged.

"We’ve been obsessed with him since we were about 12 so this is a big thing for us. If it had been cancelled that would have broken my heart."

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Thousands of fan were expected to attend Wednesday night's show after Co-op Live bosses promised the concert would go ahead as planned. But with queues forming outside at 6.40pm, the venue took to X to tell fans the gig was cancelled due to a 'technical issue', later revealed to be a piece of an air conditioning unit which had fallen from the ceiling.

It was the latest setback in the opening of £365m Eastlands arena, which had already had to postpone two Peter Kay shows, and then forced to reschedule two Olivia Rodrigo shows which were due to take place last night and tonight.

Fellow Boogie Wit Da Hoodie fan Georgia said she was one of those turned away at the door when the original gig was cancelled just ten minutes before the opening act was due on stage. Recounting the night, she said: "We were in the queue standing there for ages and then saw on Facebook it had been cancelled. We saw everyone’s face drop and everyone started leaving.

"It was chaos. Nobody knew what to do or how they