Hello and welcome to a bit of a different post, more of an 'experience' one; if that's what it's called?! Thought I'd write about a trip me and my best friend took a couple of weeks ago, to see Arcade Fire at the MEN Arena; we had the best time and made so many memories!
Coming back to uni from the Easter holidays can be disappointing; you've gone from eating your body weight in chocolate and lazing around the house to returning to the thought of exams and deadlines being upon you. However, I was quite looking forward to coming back for one reason; the fact that Holly and I were off on another city adventure, this time to Manchester where I've actually never been, except for to the airport! We left Sheffield around midday and caught a train to Manchester Piccadilly, where we were sat near the cutest child and in front of a dog, so cue 'doggy' 'I love you doggy' every 5 minutes - the most adorable thing.
We got to Manchester and straight away headed for some lunch; going quite upmarket for us to Pizza Express. Me and Holly hadn't seen each other in a fortnight so it provided a much needed catch up and of course we both love food so it was a win win. A fortnight might not sound long to some people but whilst at uni we basically live in each other's pockets so it had seemed like a lot longer!
After lunch, we tried to find our hotel for a good two hours, getting majorly lost in the process! We were staying at Manchester Salford Central Premier Inn but ended up in the wrong one, being directed by the receptionist to the right one. I like to think I'm quite city smart - I know most of the tube map like the back of my hand; but Manchester really did confuse me! We seemed to walk for miles and not get anywhere, which was especially annoying with our overnight bags in the hot weather! After a couple of hours and a very long detour, we arrived and checked into our hotel which was lovely and modern; the standard you expect from Premier Inn, we weren't disappointed! We initally had hoped to go out and explore Manchester a bit more, but because it took us so long to get there, we decided it was just about time to get ready for the gig.
We headed to the arena for 7pm, so that we could see their support act. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band were insane; their talent was incredible and I just couldn't take my eyes off them, their energy was so infectious! If they tour any of the London jazz clubs, you can bet I'll be there. Then came the main event; Arcade Fire. I only started listening to them when me and Holly became friends and I still only really know their most popular hits, but they put on the most spectacular show I've ever seen! The lights, the effects and everything just went off so perfectly, I was enthralled from the very first song. We didn't sit down once, every song had the whole crowd up and dancing, from our age up to much older people, there really was something for everyone! Even if I didn't know every song, I would 100% go and watch them again, purely for the spectacle that was their performance, and their mad talent as well! It was 2 hours of non stop great songs, coupled with amazing staging and I enjoyed every minute, really not wanting it to end. The highlights were definitely Everything Now and Creature Comforts as they're two of my personal favourites which I'm so glad I got to see live.
We made our way back to the hotel (in a taxi this time so we wouldn't get lost) and were going to order a Chinese to be delivered but everywhere had shut so we raided the vending machines and just sat in bed with a cup of tea, lots of chocolate and watching Family Guy before setting an 8.30 alarm.
The morning rolled around and we headed down for a famous Premier Inn breakfast which as usual filled me up nicely! It was such a nice day so we walked up to the water fountains in the center of Manchester and just sat with a drink, people watching - a weekly occurrence at uni is to sit in Pret and people watch so why break the habit?! We trekked around Manchester a bit more, looking in some shops, but with big bags it was difficult to manouvre around without annoying everyone else so we found a Starbucks and grabbed a drink before heading to the train station. The journey is only an hour, so we were soon back in Sheffield, ready for the last semester to begin!
Thank you so much to Holly for buying my Arcade Fire ticket; we had such a good weekend and are now trying to decide which city to make a weekend of next:
London😁
Manchester😁
Next stop????
As always, hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed our weekend!
Charlie x
Coming back to uni from the Easter holidays can be disappointing; you've gone from eating your body weight in chocolate and lazing around the house to returning to the thought of exams and deadlines being upon you. However, I was quite looking forward to coming back for one reason; the fact that Holly and I were off on another city adventure, this time to Manchester where I've actually never been, except for to the airport! We left Sheffield around midday and caught a train to Manchester Piccadilly, where we were sat near the cutest child and in front of a dog, so cue 'doggy' 'I love you doggy' every 5 minutes - the most adorable thing.
We got to Manchester and straight away headed for some lunch; going quite upmarket for us to Pizza Express. Me and Holly hadn't seen each other in a fortnight so it provided a much needed catch up and of course we both love food so it was a win win. A fortnight might not sound long to some people but whilst at uni we basically live in each other's pockets so it had seemed like a lot longer!
After lunch, we tried to find our hotel for a good two hours, getting majorly lost in the process! We were staying at Manchester Salford Central Premier Inn but ended up in the wrong one, being directed by the receptionist to the right one. I like to think I'm quite city smart - I know most of the tube map like the back of my hand; but Manchester really did confuse me! We seemed to walk for miles and not get anywhere, which was especially annoying with our overnight bags in the hot weather! After a couple of hours and a very long detour, we arrived and checked into our hotel which was lovely and modern; the standard you expect from Premier Inn, we weren't disappointed! We initally had hoped to go out and explore Manchester a bit more, but because it took us so long to get there, we decided it was just about time to get ready for the gig.
We headed to the arena for 7pm, so that we could see their support act. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band were insane; their talent was incredible and I just couldn't take my eyes off them, their energy was so infectious! If they tour any of the London jazz clubs, you can bet I'll be there. Then came the main event; Arcade Fire. I only started listening to them when me and Holly became friends and I still only really know their most popular hits, but they put on the most spectacular show I've ever seen! The lights, the effects and everything just went off so perfectly, I was enthralled from the very first song. We didn't sit down once, every song had the whole crowd up and dancing, from our age up to much older people, there really was something for everyone! Even if I didn't know every song, I would 100% go and watch them again, purely for the spectacle that was their performance, and their mad talent as well! It was 2 hours of non stop great songs, coupled with amazing staging and I enjoyed every minute, really not wanting it to end. The highlights were definitely Everything Now and Creature Comforts as they're two of my personal favourites which I'm so glad I got to see live.
We made our way back to the hotel (in a taxi this time so we wouldn't get lost) and were going to order a Chinese to be delivered but everywhere had shut so we raided the vending machines and just sat in bed with a cup of tea, lots of chocolate and watching Family Guy before setting an 8.30 alarm.
The morning rolled around and we headed down for a famous Premier Inn breakfast which as usual filled me up nicely! It was such a nice day so we walked up to the water fountains in the center of Manchester and just sat with a drink, people watching - a weekly occurrence at uni is to sit in Pret and people watch so why break the habit?! We trekked around Manchester a bit more, looking in some shops, but with big bags it was difficult to manouvre around without annoying everyone else so we found a Starbucks and grabbed a drink before heading to the train station. The journey is only an hour, so we were soon back in Sheffield, ready for the last semester to begin!
Thank you so much to Holly for buying my Arcade Fire ticket; we had such a good weekend and are now trying to decide which city to make a weekend of next:
London😁
Manchester😁
Next stop????
As always, hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed our weekend!
Charlie x
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