Avicii Arena: Stockholm concert venue renamed in tribute to DJ

The popular DJ was known for hits such as 'Levels', 'Hey Brother' and 'Don't Wake Me Up'

DJ Avicii spins at Marquee on June 17, 2010 in New York City. Getty Images

DJ Avicii is joined by Madonna at Day Two of Ultra Music Festival 14 at Bayfront Park on March 24, 2012 in Miami, Florida. Getty Images

DJ AVICII performs onstage at the 2012 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival held at The Empire Polo Field on April 15, 2012 in Indio, California. AFP

DJ Avicii performs at Wynn Las Vegas @ Park City Live! during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2013 in Park City, Utah. AFP

DJ Avicii performs at the MLB Fan Cave on October 1, 2013 in New York City. Getty Images

DJ Avicii accepts the favourite electronic dance music artist award at the 41st American Music Awards on November 24, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. Reuters

DJ Avicii accepts the EDM Song of the Year award for "Wake Me Up" onstage during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Awards held at The Shrine Auditorium on May 1, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. AFP

DJ Avicii performs onstage during the 22nd Annual KROQ Weenie Roast at Verizon Wireless Music Center on May 31, 2014 in Irvine, California. Getty Images

DJ Avicii performs during a concert at Brooklyn's Barclay's Center in New York June 28, 2014. Reuters

DJ Avicii attends Volvo Cars and Avicii Feeling Good About The Future on May 7, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. AFP

DJ Avicii performs at the Summerburst music festival at Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden May 30, 2015. Reuters

DJ Avicii performs headlining the main stage at the end of Day 2 of Wireless Festival at Finsbury Park on July 4, 2015 in London, England. Getty Images

DJ Avicii attends the popchips and Westwood One's Backstage At The GRAMMYS at Staples Center on February 13, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images

A concert and sports venue in Stockholm has been renamed Avicii Arena in tribute to one of Sweden's most successful musical exports, DJ Tim Bergling, who took his own life in 2018 aged 28.

Bergling, who used the stage name Avicii, shot to international fame in 2011 with hit single Levels but retired from touring in 2016 after suffering mental health and other medical problems.

Previously known as Globen, Swedish for Globe, due to its spherical shape, the indoor sports arena and concert venue opened in 1989, the year of Avicii's birth. It is one of Sweden's largest with a capacity of 16,000.

Scroll through our gallery above to see more photos of Avicii through the years.

Avicii played one of his breakthrough concerts there.

"It was a milestone for him to play Globen," said Klas Bergling, the DJ's father.

He told Reuters his son's story had opened up a discussion about mental health, and he hoped the renaming of the concert venue would further raise awareness about mental illness, especially among young people.

In his short career, Avicii became one of the world's biggest stars of electronic dance music. His track Wake Me Up has been viewed on YouTube over two billion times, making it one of the website's most popular music videos.

Andreas Sand, general manager of Stockholm Live, the company that runs the arena, said Covid-19 had caused many people mental health difficulties as well as devastating the live music sector.

He said it was timely to rename it for Avicii just when the music business and wider society were emerging from the worst of the pandemic.

"Unfortunately, this is the perfect timing to launch this kind of initiative," said Sand.

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