*** London, UK Fanviews Here 7/17/18 ***

Electro_UK

Eh, I've seen Weezer and Queens of the Stone Age at Wembley in recent years and both easily topped anything I've seen at the O2 in a long time. There's something to be said for not queuing for ages to get into the venue and not being hassled by staff when you're there.

pdalowsky

I wouldnt knock the 02 as a venue though, despite its size which caters for a lot of fans (always a good thing to save disappointed fans), it is an amazing venue for sound, and facilities. 

Bella

The sound was excellent on Tuesday night. Poorest sound of the shows I went to this time was Berlin Waldbuhne.

Bella

We were perfectly placed in Berlin too. Centre stage, in font of VIP seating area. Great show as usual, but distorted sound.

Electro_UK

pdalowsky said:

I wouldnt knock the 02 as a venue though, despite its size which caters for a lot of fans (always a good thing to save disappointed fans), it is an amazing venue for sound, and facilities. 

That's fair, I've just had a lot of bad experiences there from being overly micromanaged by staff to waiting an hour to get in when the doors were open (and not just for London last month). I once walked onto the floor and two poor guys with massive kegs strapped to their back nearly had a fight over who was going to get to serve me. Just hate stuff like that.

jrd

RC74272 said:

jrd said:

Olivavu said:

jrd said:

kevtic said:

I don't know why they take them off you in the first place. 

Not sure why this annoys me so much but it really does.

I asked why at the first London show and was told "It's because we need to count them" which sounds like bullsh*t to me, as if they're going to count them all while the show's going on and then hand them out afterwards.

I asked again last night and was told "because it's policy" which means nothing and I'd like to know WHY this is the 'policy'.

Doesn't every ticket have a bar code which they scan so tickets can't be re-used? So you automatically count them via the scanning process and surely that's done anyway!? Saw Paul Simon at Hyde Park last Sunday; same process there of bag check, body scanner, then ticket scan and... you just keep the whole ticket.

Might just email the O2 to see if I can get some sort of explanation. Or I might not because it's probably their policy not to discuss policies...

Anyway, brilliant show, enjoyed it immensely. Sorry to hear about the trouble further forward but had no problems where we were, Mike's side but a few rows in front of the sound desk so well back from the idiots by the sound of it.

Totally forgot to get a ticket at the end so if anyone has a spare...

I think they take them off the GA so that they can't be given to people in seats to try and get down and in that way, but they're scanned so you'd think not based on that.

I always make sure I find someone to grab one after - and I always get them to give me a 10c stub as well.

OK, so I emailed the O2 to ask if they could send me a ticket if they had any left and got a reply back a few mins later from 'Shanice' who said "I have popped a ticket in the post for you", which is nice.

I also asked why they take the tickets off you in the first place and she said

It is venue policy to swap tickets for wristbands to prevent loss of tickets
and as a result, no entry to the standing floor. Standing customers are also
allowed on to the level one concourse to purchase food and drink so having
an easily detectable wristband helps staff members who are manning that
entry point provide a swift in and out operation stopping those who may be
seated on level one from accessing the standing floor.

So that's the reason.
But why can't I get a wristband AND keep my ticket, assuming that once it's been scanned it can't be used again by anyone else to try and get on to the floor...?

The ticket is only scanned on entry to the venue not he internal doors 

someone could come down from the nosebleed seats, grab a ticket stub lost on the floor outside the GA doors and use that to “upgrade” to standing

safety concerns being what they are the venue is limiting those “upgrading” as described

No they couldn't because they wouldn't have a wristband. That's the whole point of the wristband, as the woman from the O2 said in her reply to my email.

js261067

I thought the sound at o2 in '09 was much better than this year.  Funnily enough,  my memory of Leeds was of particularly poor sound quality,  but I was up in the gods.

Olivavu

js261067 said:

Olivavu said:

I would love it if they sacked off playing arena shows in England and just did two nights at Brixton for 10c members only.

How much better would that be? 

It would be crap because half of us wouldn't get tickets  lol

Five nights then!

Olivavu

Electro_UK said:

The whole 10 Club show the night before an arena show thing was a good idea. I'd love to have a chance to see that stuff.
When it comes to London, though, I wish they'd go back to playing Wembley Arena. I know O2 holds more people but that building is a fucking corporate void, man.

That's ultimately why Leeds 2014 was a better show than this week's gig for me. The size and shape of the venue created an intimacy that you just can't get in the O2.

The First Direct Arena in Leeds is a much better shape for a concert. Ed commented on it that night. The capacity is 13500, while the o2 Arena is 20000. It's a way better venue. 

I enjoyed the show at Shepherds Bush in 2009, but missed out on tickets for the Astoria in 2006. Which I was, and still am, absolutely gutted about. 

Olivavu

pdalowsky said:

I wouldnt knock the 02 as a venue though, despite its size which caters for a lot of fans (always a good thing to save disappointed fans), it is an amazing venue for sound, and facilities. 

The Ziggo Dome is a heck of a lot better. Aside from the 10c queues. There weren't any at the o2, but it took over an hour at the Ziggo. 

Olivavu

Electro_UK said:

Eh, I've seen Weezer and Queens of the Stone Age at Wembley in recent years and both easily topped anything I've seen at the O2 in a long time. There's something to be said for not queuing for ages to get into the venue and not being hassled by staff when you're there.

I went to the Weezer gig. I saw the setlist was mostly the blue album on the morning of the gig and got two tickets for less than the price of one. Was a good show. Sound was fine and has been since they renovated the place. I saw Marilyn Manson there last year, which wasn't a highlight, and will be seeing Smashing Pumpkins there this year. 

RC74272

jrd said:

RC74272 said:

jrd said:

Olivavu said:

jrd said:

kevtic said:

I don't know why they take them off you in the first place. 

Not sure why this annoys me so much but it really does.

I asked why at the first London show and was told "It's because we need to count them" which sounds like bullsh*t to me, as if they're going to count them all while the show's going on and then hand them out afterwards.

I asked again last night and was told "because it's policy" which means nothing and I'd like to know WHY this is the 'policy'.

Doesn't every ticket have a bar code which they scan so tickets can't be re-used? So you automatically count them via the scanning process and surely that's done anyway!? Saw Paul Simon at Hyde Park last Sunday; same process there of bag check, body scanner, then ticket scan and... you just keep the whole ticket.

Might just email the O2 to see if I can get some sort of explanation. Or I might not because it's probably their policy not to discuss policies...

Anyway, brilliant show, enjoyed it immensely. Sorry to hear about the trouble further forward but had no problems where we were, Mike's side but a few rows in front of the sound desk so well back from the idiots by the sound of it.

Totally forgot to get a ticket at the end so if anyone has a spare...

I think they take them off the GA so that they can't be given to people in seats to try and get down and in that way, but they're scanned so you'd think not based on that.

I always make sure I find someone to grab one after - and I always get them to give me a 10c stub as well.

OK, so I emailed the O2 to ask if they could send me a ticket if they had any left and got a reply back a few mins later from 'Shanice' who said "I have popped a ticket in the post for you", which is nice.

I also asked why they take the tickets off you in the first place and she said

It is venue policy to swap tickets for wristbands to prevent loss of tickets
and as a result, no entry to the standing floor. Standing customers are also
allowed on to the level one concourse to purchase food and drink so having
an easily detectable wristband helps staff members who are manning that
entry point provide a swift in and out operation stopping those who may be
seated on level one from accessing the standing floor.

So that's the reason.
But why can't I get a wristband AND keep my ticket, assuming that once it's been scanned it can't be used again by anyone else to try and get on to the floor...?

The ticket is only scanned on entry to the venue not he internal doors 

someone could come down from the nosebleed seats, grab a ticket stub lost on the floor outside the GA doors and use that to “upgrade” to standing

safety concerns being what they are the venue is limiting those “upgrading” as described

No they couldn't because they wouldn't have a wristband. That's the whole point of the wristband, as the woman from the O2 said in her reply to my email.

But anyone with a GA ticket can swap the same for a wristband? You know seated punters will try to sneak into GA (as the most desirable section) That’s why they confiscate the tickets.

At least they’re posting you one!

milan

Some one please post an image of a ticket on here, photo or scan

thanks

lastexitlondon

@milan I have whatsapped you.

Peasant Tents

I loved it on Tuesday night. I think the O2 is a great venue. Great sound, good facilities and as long as you're not up in the gods you have a pretty close up view wherever you are.  Sound was amazing. Set list was stellar. Interaction of band to fans was bestI have ever seen in London (as his been all tour actually).  For me and my Mrs, it was one of the best shows we have ever seen.  We were lucky to be in Block 112 in 10c seats as we are just too small and too close to 50 to stand for hours now...!

eboweddie

I was 101 mikes side. The flossing dancing done by 2 little people as the band took the stage was so much fun.  Just at the side of the stage. Loved it
 

TheMookster

lastexitlondon said:

I agree Wembley has awful sound
 It's just loud with no quality 

Agree with this. Under the floor I believe is still the swimming pool from the '34 British Empire Games & '48 Olympics (was known as Empire Pool originally) and I understand that they are not allowed to fill it in because it's a listed building (this is what I've heard but could be false).
I always found there was a bad echo and reverberation/sound bouncing around, especially bass, whenever I went to gigs there and assume it's because of this massive space under the floor. I think it has improved since the refurbishment but still haven't enjoyed the sound there all that much. I do think it's a more intimate space compared to the O2 but the sound problems mean I don't favour it for gigs. That's part of the problem with London venues, a lot of old (often concrete) venues that were not designed for music performances. Earls Court was always bad for sound too. I think the O2 is a reasonable compromise for sound, capacity (I assume this is the primary reason PJ use it over Wembley now), facilities etc. but I wish London had a better medium-sized venue designed for music. I'm sure I read somewhere that a lot of work went into making the sound good at the O2 when they converted it after being the Millennium Dome but I still don't think it's as good as Ziggo in Amsterdam or others I've been to. 

I think we're pretty lucky though, the PJ crew are brilliant and in recent years the sounds at their shows has been impressive - much better than many (presumably deaf) sound engineers at other band's shows I've been to where they seem to think volume is the answer to everything even if that results in crazy distortion and a painful experience all around. Great band, great crew, so grateful!

Brixton is my favourite London venue and would love a PJ residency there but I guess is just too small these days (agree with the other comment that getting tickets would be pretty tough).

My 2 cents on the venues thrown in, since we're in a fan view thread I'll just add that I thought the show the other night was excellent, really great way to end the tour, loved it and looking forward to the bootleg!

eboweddie

Gingerlou77

I'm speechless , I had the time of my life on the rail. I'm sorry some people had a shitty time, especially @lastexitlondon

cp3iverson

I gave up GA quite a while ago. Too many bad experiences.  Sucks that it got dangerous in there.