Green Day fans of England: How do I choose the right concert to attend (In England) during their upcoming tour?

[XxXxXxXxX]

Hi,

With the expectation that Green day will be touring within the next couple years, I have about $4,000 saved up and plan on taking a vacation to England (I live in the U.S.) with my younger brother to see Green Day.  I have always wanted to visit England so I figured why not see Green Day while I am at it? For that reason I will most likely purchase tickets to a show somewhere in the U.K. and stay the area for a couple nights. I know they have had a lot of major shows in England (Milton Keynes 2005, Wembley 2009, Emirates 2013, Reading 2013) My overall goal would be to attend a show of similar capacity and atmosphere.

Whenever they announce a new tour I want to be prepared to buy my tickets and make sure that its a hell of a vacation to remember. Are there any English fans that could give me some advice? I know London is relatively large but in reality I don't know much about other major cities in the U.K. (For example, if I went to the Reading festival, Emirates, or Milton Keynes what would I expect to experience in those particular locations that would be different from an experience at Wembley in London?)

Also, as an American at a Green Day concert in England: am I even wanted there? There is always speculation amongst Americans that we are hated by the people of England. Do you have any tips, pointers, or suggestions for me?

 

Thanks

[In Your Coffee Maker]

As an English Green Day fan, I can tell you that you will be made more than welcome at any Green Day concert. GD fans in my experience have always been the friendliest bunch of people, always a great atmosphere as well. They'll likely only do one or two gigs in the UK, and I can guarantee they'll be in/around London. They'll be the arenas you're looking for as well, it's rare to see an international band as large as they are to play anything less around here. They all have pretty much the same feel, (except for Reading which is a festival so not everyone will be a GD fan) so go for wherever is convenient for your vacation, or whatever stadium looks the coolest. It's pretty easy to get around via the Tube provided you know where you're going (research this beforehand, for the love of god do not wing it and think "fuck it that sounds about right" because you will end up in the middle of nowhere. Trust me, almost missed the Emirates gig because of this!)

That's really all there is to it, shouldn't be too different from home, except everyone here sounds like Hugh Laurie. Good luck!  

[solongfromthestars]

Yeah, we definitely don't hate Americans! There are generally a lot of international people at shows and I've never really known anyone have a problem with it. If anything people will probably think it's cool.

If they do an arena tour with several shows (not sure how likely that is, but they did do it in 2009) the venues will all be pretty much the same. If you're interested in seeing London as a city go for that, but if you'd rather save money or see more than one show, go for the ones outside London, since then everything (accommodation, travel, food, etc) will be cheaper. Manchester and Birmingham both have big airports that you can fly to from the US.

If it's a stadium tour it's likely they'll do London (like Wembley/Emirates) and maybe somewhere like Manchester. Again, there won't be much difference between the shows (it's more up to chance, really - one may be a better show than the other but you can't really tell from the location), so it depends what you want to see and whether you'd rather save a bit of money by not staying in London.

I haven't seen them at a UK festival, but most of my friends who have said that headline shows are more fun since everyone there is a fan, and the atmosphere is generally better. It's also more difficult to get a good front row spot at a festival, you may end up having to stand there all day which gets really tiring if you don't like the other bands. Festivals tend to be further from cities so harder to get to.

Travel by coach (Megabus and National Express) is super cheap if you do want to go to more than one show.

Hope that was helpful and feel free to ask if you have any other questions!

[XxXxXxXxX]

9 minutes ago, Maria Gloria said:

Yeah, we definitely don't hate Americans! There are generally a lot of international people at shows and I've never really known anyone have a problem with it. If anything people will probably think it's cool.

If they do an arena tour with several shows (not sure how likely that is, but they did do it in 2009) the venues will all be pretty much the same. If you're interested in seeing London as a city go for that, but if you'd rather save money or see more than one show, go for the ones outside London, since then everything (accommodation, travel, food, etc) will be cheaper. Manchester and Birmingham both have big airports that you can fly to from the US.

If it's a stadium tour it's likely they'll do London (like Wembley/Emirates) and maybe somewhere like Manchester. Again, there won't be much difference between the shows (it's more up to chance, really - one may be a better show than the other but you can't really tell from the location), so it depends what you want to see and whether you'd rather save a bit of money by not staying in London.

I haven't seen them at a UK festival, but most of my friends who have said that headline shows are more fun since everyone there is a fan, and the atmosphere is generally better. It's also more difficult to get a good front row spot at a festival, you may end up having to stand there all day which gets really tiring if you don't like the other bands. Festivals tend to be further from cities so harder to get to.

Travel by coach (Megabus and National Express) is super cheap if you do want to go to more than one show.

Hope that was helpful and feel free to ask if you have any other questions!

Thank you for the info! If I wanted to do more than one show how far can I get by coach? (Ex. Would it be possible to get from London to Manchester in a day or 2)

[lhutton93]

3 minutes ago, XxXxXxXxX said:

Thank you for the info! If I wanted to do more than one show how far can I get by coach? (Ex. Would it be possible to get from London to Manchester in a day or 2)

Yeah easily! It would take about a 4 hour journey by road from London to Manchester! (with no traffic)

[solongfromthestars]

4 minutes ago, XxXxXxXxX said:

Thank you for the info! If I wanted to do more than one show how far can I get by coach? (Ex. Would it be possible to get from London to Manchester in a day or 2)

Yeah, definitely, like lhutton93 said it should only take a few hours! Megabus tend to be cheaper than National Express and they do nearly all the routes like that.

[Hermione]

Just to say again you'll absolutely be welcome! Maria Gloria has it covered really well. I'd add that in 2009 they played two nights in a row at the O2 Arena in London. If they did two nights in one venue again that would be cool to see, as well as less travelling I think there's a bit more chance of the shows being different or that they'd do something special/play songs they don't play so often etc on the second night.

[sara_gd]

Milton Keynes,  Emirates and Wembley are all just outside London (I think you can take the tube to all) and Reading is very near, so I think London would be a good idea.  In 2009 they played lots of cities (arena tour) and in 2010 only London and Manchester  (and Glasgow) (stadium tour). Your question about getting from London to Manchester made me laugh  it's only a little island  

[XxXxXxXxX]

On December 23, 2015 at 7:37 AM, sara_gd said:

Milton Keynes,  Emirates and Wembley are all just outside London (I think you can take the tube to all) and Reading is very near, so I think London would be a good idea.  In 2009 they played lots of cities (arena tour) and in 2010 only London and Manchester  (and Glasgow) (stadium tour). Your question about getting from London to Manchester made me laugh  it's only a little island  

See I need to know these things! I've never been out of the states (Barely even left my own). It absolutely blows my mind how such a small country can hold so many people though... England is 50,000 sq miles and is home to 64 million people whereas my home state of Illinois is 57,000 sq miles and home to just under 13 million. England is not only smaller, it houses almost 5 times the population.

[lizziebix]

2 hours ago, XxXxXxXxX said:

See I need to know these things! I've never been out of the states (Barely even left my own). It absolutely blows my mind how such a small country can hold so many people though... England is 50,000 sq miles and is home to 64 million people whereas my home state of Illinois is 57,000 sq miles and home to just under 13 million. England is not only smaller, it houses almost 5 times the population.

/off-topic but...

Ooooh, love having another Chicagoan on the forum!

[XxXxXxXxX]

2 hours ago, lizziebix said:

/off-topic but...

Ooooh, love having another Chicagoan on the forum!

It's always nice!!!