VIRGIN MONEY UNITY ARENA

[brettredmayne]

Did anyone go to this , I have managed to get a ticket of someone as he cant make it. Just reading the rules that you must turn up with lead booker and he is the one that give me the ticket. worried about going all that way and been knocked back.

[rascalpete]

2 hours ago, brettredmayne said:

Did anyone go to this , I have managed to get a ticket of someone as he cant make it. Just reading the rules that you must turn up with lead booker and he is the one that give me the ticket. worried about going all that way and been knocked back.

When are you meant to be going? I’m going on Saturday so can post back if it’s after that?

[brettredmayne]

48 minutes ago, rascalpete said:

When are you meant to be going? I’m going on Saturday so can post back if it’s after that?

Saturday too, im going to afternoon show but think it should be OK. Ticket doesn't have any name on it 

[rascalpete]

9 hours ago, brettredmayne said:

Saturday too, im going to afternoon show but think it should be OK. Ticket doesn't have any name on it 

Ah enjoy! I’m evening on Saturday so I’d have been no use to you, enjoy the show tomorrow and yeah it will be absolutely fine! 

[spudthemariner]

So, seeing as this looks like all we are likely to get for the foreseeable future.....anyone have any personal reviews?

The format certainly isn't to my preference....but.....if it can help to keep some of the industry alive...

[rascalpete]

On 8/16/2020 at 10:06 AM, spudthemariner said:

So, seeing as this looks like all we are likely to get for the foreseeable future.....anyone have any personal reviews?

The format certainly isn't to my preference....but.....if it can help to keep some of the industry alive...

I went to this on Saturday with my fiancée, two door cinema club are one of our favourite bands so we were over the moon to see them announced. We weren’t sure what to expect with the format and layout and were worried it might be a bit awkward. Far from it, a day in the pub beforehand might have helped but honestly, for what it was it was managed perfectly.

We were given an allocated arrival time of 6pm-6:20pm so we got a lift to the gig, straight in, no queuing, no parking up, dropped off and a short walk to the arena. No queue to get ticket checked, plenty of space, everyone had to wear masks. We were given a card indicating which section was ours and when we got there there were some chairs already there which we moved to the back once the gigs started. 

Already pre-ordered our drinks we first went to pick up our ciders, again, no queue for any of the bars any of the times we went, we then went up again on 2 more occasions to pick up our other pre orders so they weren’t just sitting there going flat.

Toilets, again, no queuing for these and there was an attendant cleaning them pretty much non-stop, I didn’t take notice about how much of a deep clean she was doing but she was constantly doing it and plenty of hand sanitiser on the way in and on the way out.

We got a pizza from one of the festival stalls, probably overpriced but we were hungry so we gave in, a few different food stalls but not a massive selection.

Onto the music, sound was spot on, I had seen a few complaints online that if you were toward the back it wasn’t loud enough but we were relatively close so it was fine, the screens were a bit small and could have been bigger due to distance from the stage. Absolutely couldn’t fault this side of it! 

I think the only disappointment for me was that Two Door only played for an hour, I think this was the bands choice as Sam Fender played for 1.5 hours so to be quite honest, given how expensive the tickets were and the £20 surcharge for just having two of us we felt a bit short changed but we had a brilliant night, lots of laughs dancing and singing and that’s what it’s all about.

Would I go again? 100%, in hindsight do I think it was overpriced? Yes. If you are all about moshing and being in there it’s probably not going to be your thing but if you want live music it’s defiantly not as bad as some might think/say. If you’re like me and stay toward the back near the bar dancing and singing like a fool it’s right up your street.

I think it’s been a success and fair play to Virgin Money for putting it on and doing something.

 

 

edit - exiting the arena was fine, taxi ranks were available and we queued for about 15/ 20 mins. Taxi driver told us we could pay by card but then half way home he said cash only. Makes me think they had to accept card to get the job but just one of those things

Edited August 17, 2020 by rascalpete

[FakeEmpire]

15 hours ago, rascalpete said:

 

We were given an allocated arrival time of 6pm-6:20pm so we got a lift to the gig, straight in, no queuing, no parking up, dropped off and a short walk to the arena. No queue to get ticket checked, plenty of space, everyone had to wear masks. We were given a card indicating which section was ours and when we got there there were some chairs already there which we moved to the back once the gigs started. 

How much attention was being paid to the arrival time?  If you arrived earlier than your arrival time, do you think it would be a problem? 

[rascalpete]

22 minutes ago, FakeEmpire said:

How much attention was being paid to the arrival time?  If you arrived earlier than your arrival time, do you think it would be a problem? 

No one verbally checked our arrival time, think it may be easier to turn up later than earlier, they might have checked us off when they scanned our tickets because they had everyone’s details on loads of papers spread out on the table but never verbally confirmed our time. They did seem to fill up from the front though so maybe might look weird if you were a bit further back.

[FakeEmpire]

1 hour ago, rascalpete said:

No one verbally checked our arrival time, think it may be easier to turn up later than earlier, they might have checked us off when they scanned our tickets because they had everyone’s details on loads of papers spread out on the table but never verbally confirmed our time. They did seem to fill up from the front though so maybe might look weird if you were a bit further back.

Cheers for the response.

I wasn't sure if they just allocate your 'pod' as you arrive and so, in arriving earlier, you might get a better spot.  But sounds as if that might be allocated before arrival then?

[rascalpete]

1 minute ago, FakeEmpire said:

Cheers for the response.

I wasn't sure if they just allocate your 'pod' as you arrive and so, in arriving earlier, you might get a better spot.  But sounds as if that might be allocated before arrival then?

No probs - I can’t quite remember, I was given a card with 152 on which was our pod but I can’t remember if it was just a next one off the deck or whether it was on the list of attendees! Sorry! I think maybe they were pre allocated

[Jonesy1]

The Snuts supporting the libs next Saturday, more than happy with that

[brettredmayne]

More acts out tomorrow 10am

[FakeEmpire]

I know this has got some stick but I went to both Libertines shows and the Maximo Park one and really enjoyed myself.

Granted, it's not how I want gigs to be, but I'll take anything I can get right now and these were so well organised. It just felt so great to be in a field with a pint listening to live music again. Big thumbs up to everyone involved in arranging these.

[TGCarr]

Is there any talk of more this year?

[Jonesy1]

1 hour ago, TGCarr said:

Is there any talk of more this year?

Seemed to be a success so I would guess it will be attempted up and down the UK. With holidays abroad being pretty much ruled out I can’t imagine it would be difficult to shift tickets on a couple of months notice.

[Ringo_Spar]

On 2/3/2021 at 2:57 PM, TGCarr said:

Is there any talk of more this year?

I’d guess that in the same way “normal” festivals are waiting to see if there’s a possibility of a return to pre-pandemic normality, this kind of event will be waiting to see if there’s a void to be filled.

[charlierc]

Presumably if they think the concept works, there might be a demand to try it beyond Newcastle and in similar places where the space is available.

[incident]

1 hour ago, Ringo_Spar said:

I’d guess that in the same way “normal” festivals are waiting to see if there’s a possibility of a return to pre-pandemic normality, this kind of event will be waiting to see if there’s a void to be filled.

The Government advice to venues / promoters is to plan for full capacity events from July, so hopefully there's no void and we never see this kind of abomination again.

[Ringo_Spar]

9 hours ago, incident said:

The Government advice to venues / promoters is to plan for full capacity events from July, so hopefully there's no void and we never see this kind of abomination again.

Yet the government won’t back the industry’s request for insurance backing. But fingers and everything else crossed we get there this year.