Travel - Top 5 Tips for going to gigs and concerts.
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| Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash |
Going to a Gig or concert is one experience that I enjoy, seeing a band, artist or can be an experience to treasure for a lifetime, but at the same time it can be stressful, here are my 5 top tips for going to a gig or concert.
Travel - Top 5 Tips for going to gigs and concerts.
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| Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash |
1) Plan your transport to get there and home
Planning how you are going to get the concert or gig is important, is it by car , train, or the tube, having the times on how long is its going to be, how long is it going to take to get to the venue from the car park, station to the venue. Also planning how long the train or tube is going to take from your home to the station at the venue is important to, as it might take you longer depending on the running of the trains, I have had to deal with cancelled, missing or getting the wrong train to a gig.
On the way home its handy to keep a list of train times or use the National Rail enquires app or the TL app to get the latest info as there could be delays to your journey. Also, prebooking the car park, even though expensive can be a good way of reserving a space, or as it might cost more to park without a reservation. Most local theatres the car park might be a fraction of the cost compared to a national venue.
Budget for your transport costs to the venue, as prices are higher to get some places on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as these are peak and weekend fares.
2) Arrive Early
One of my favourite tips is to arrive early to the venue, this means you can find those all-important toilets and get ahead in the queue for bag searches and ticket scanning. This can be good also if the weather is not great, so you can have some shelter if the weather is poor, or its dark.
Getting to your seat early also means that you can sort yourself out, have time to have a drink if you have bought one at the bar, buy merchandise, use the toilets, and read the program if you have bought one. It can also be useful as finding your way in the dark once the show has started can be annoying.
This can be useful as well for remembering you car parking space, or the route back to the train station, I have sometimes need to use maps on my phone to find my way to the train station, as the signage has been poor to find the station especially if you are going somewhere unfamiliar to you, you don’t want to start panicking as I know I have done when I got lost before.
3) Have a meal before you get to the venue
Having a meal before going into the venue can same you money, as sometimes the food inside the venue can be quite expensive and a limited menu of chips, nachos, popcorn, ice cream and burgers. So booking a restaurant or bringing your own picnic can be quite useful and save you some money
Some venues have sit down restaurants inside before you go into the main venue area for example The 02 in London has shopping and restaurants inside before you go into the main arena. But some smaller venues don’t have this, and can some choices near by that do special deals for shows like pre-theatre menus, these can be expensive, but are worth it. Others don’t do this but still have good options nearby, booking in advance is always a good idea as these places can be busy and walk-ins might be turned away. Plan how long you are going to take to eat your food, as if its busy service might take longer and you might be late, and then you might not be let in.
Bring a small picnic is also a good idea, when going to venue, there might be some tables around that you can sit at to eat or even a park near by, something like a sandwich, crisps, fruit and water are a good option to take. Sometimes these can be in the space in front of the venue or to the sides. Be careful to get rid of your litter after you have finished, as the security when searching your bag don’t want to find an apple core!
If you go to an early show for example an matinee perform, you can be a bit more flexible and have a dinner after the show, and have a picnic before the show, but if its and evening performance than best to follow the tips above.
4) Buy your merchandise before the show starts
Buying your merchandise, before the concert, gig or show starts if you have time, is a great way to making time to see what there is to offer, these can include various t-shirt designs, programs, keyrings, mugs, and Iron-on-Patches. Buying before, means you have the time to try on the t-shirt (which I have done in the loos in the past), to spot faults in the products like poor stitching, holes or other faults. You can also read the program whilst the lights up so see what it says, theatre programs include an actors list, acts in the play, where as concert and gig programs might include puzzles, adverts, and photos of the artist.
Be careful on buying merchandise outside of the arena, most of this is not authorised merchandise, and can be expensive or poorly made, I have had experiences of people selling posters for more than they were at the venue and young people very disappointed and complaints on TripAdvisor of merchandise been taken off them when they have arrived at the venue.
If you don’t have the time to buy your merchandise before the show starts on in the breaks, most artists or shows put the merchandise online for you to buy, this can sometimes before more expensive than it was at the concert, gig or show. This might include the postage price as well to send it to you.
5) Have Fun
Have fun at your concert, gig or show, you should not hopefully any problems, you will hold on the experience of going to the concert, gig or show for the rest of your life, so enjoy it
Have you been to a gig or concert before, what are your top tips for having a great time, share in the comments below?
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