Hrrmmm.
I'm waffling between 2 and 3 stars and ultimately landing on 2 because tho Roger's Stadium was the location of one the 2 best nights of my life but since that wholly had to do with the band, not the venue, I'll stick to an objective review of the place: this was one of the worst and weirdest venues I've ever been to in over 30 years of concert going in multiple countries.
We came for the two nights of Oasis. I knew things would be a bit dodgy given the stadium wasn't even standing when we bought our tickets 9
months out from the show but even leading up to the week of the show I didn't know what to expect. All I had heard is that it's in the middle of nowhere, getting in and out is a nightmare, and to wear comfortable shoes. ALL TRUE!
I hesitate to use the word "stadium." It's more like a series of bleachers with a stage on one end (Liam Gallagher called it "legoland" and he wasn't wrong!). Word on the street is they're going to be using this space for up to 4 years and I'll be surprised if the current infrastructure lasts even 2. It's also located in the middle of a former airfield. So walking from the train or any of the main roads is basically a mile/1.6km walk down what is literally a landing strip. There is nothing around, just concrete and fields!
Since there isn't much around they built their own "fan plaza" which opens an hour/2 hours before gates to the actual stadium open. And I'll admit this was kind of fun since it lent a bit of a festive air to the already buzzing Oasis reunion vibes. Oasis took full advantage of the plaza, setting up multiple merch stores, painting the ground with logos and "Live 25" and also had multiple photo ops throughout. The venue itself also has a lot of food options and a small Ferris wheel. Now, the food options aren't particularly GOOD but they're there!
Because we got there when fan plaza opened we were able to get bracelets to be in the front section of the GA floor the first night. They don't let you take any bottles or anything in, instead they give you plastic cups to pour your water/other drinks into. So things were a little chaotic as folks were grabbing cups and pouring beer and whatnot. We didn't have drinks to take in so it wasn't bad for us but it was kind of annoying. I get they don't want people throwing bottles on stage but man, all those single use cups on top of the cans and bottles? So wasteful!
Anyway, the show was incredible. Our spot was aces. It started pouring rain half way through and I will say this is one time the concrete was actually ok because it didn't get muddy! Fireworks were shot off without a hitch and the crowd was good vibes and full of joy the whole time. Night two we came to the venue later so we weren't in the pit and stood a little further back but that vantage point was still pretty good.
Exiting both nights was the biggest pain I think. Night one was worse since we were in the front, meaning last out. It's just a giant crush of people all making their way to one exit: the train station. They had staff essentially playing red rover with us letting groups through in chunks to keep the stations from getting too overwhelmed. I will say the trains did as best as they could given the volume and rides out are free which kept the line moving pretty good. There was no real easy way to get to our hotel from here so in the end we took a train to a station a little further out and grabbed a Lyft there the rest of the way.
Oh, also the bathroom situation? Not great! Port-o-potties galore. And my husband reported that they did have a "men's room" which were essentially a line of open air urinals, like a trough. Cool cool! As we were exiting all the fencing was lined with dudes just free peeing so, that was fun. Ugh.
So yeah, not my favorite. Props to the staff though who made a pretty crappy venue run as smoothly as it could be. Everyone we encountered was friendly and helpful. It's just the place is SO WEIRD!! The shows themselves were incredible but that was in spite of where they were held, not because of it. read more