Skyscraper said:

Is it January 7th yet?!

Just have to see what happens tomorrow or maybe even the day after, Lianne LaHavas seemed to be expecting him on Tuesday anyway but that doesn't mean his arrival would be the same day as the announcement I suppose. Hoping for announcements this week detailing gigs next week as from a purely selfish point of view that looks (fingers crossed) like my best chance of getting time off, after that it starts to get ropey. Hoping the 'month of surprises' won't mean one gig announced, then another one announced after that gig, then one other, hoping we instead just find out about all the shows at once.

Also sympathise with those outside of London who already know they can't make it. May end up in that position too depending on the shows and dates. Yes if it really matters some can make the extra effort but it is the expense as much as distance that's prohibitive. At short notice coming from the very north of England I'd be looking at £160-£200 just for a return train journey, before even getting hotels and tickets. I reckon a hotel could be found that's half-decent for about £60-£80, or for one night go for a hostel option for less, but adding it all up and general spending on top of that you're looking at around £300 for one person travelling, obviously for a couple or a group of friends it gets a lot more expensive. For people even further away, like fans in Scotland, it could cost even more and be upwards of 5 hours on the train coming just from Edinburgh or Glasgow. So it's not like anywhere in the UK you just hop on a free short ride to London where Prince picks you up at the train station to take you to the venue and phones ahead to the girls to get the soundcheck started!

For me, a lot of this UK tour frustration people have (could be wrong, just my opinion) is the fallout from the European summer dates, which were short notice. When London's show fell through in August there were lots of mutterings, some from the 3rdEyeGirl Twitter, that he'd be back sooner than we thought, Hannah's website still has '2014 UK Tour with Prince & 3rdEyeGirl dates TBA' on it and that's been there for weeks, there's been proper hype for such a long time. Maybe when the album comes out in June there will be more to come, but right now this seems to be the culmination of the hype. He doesn't owe anyone an explanation as it's his gig and a lot of acts say UK when they mean just London, but people from elsewhere will be cheesed off about it! I've got my head around the mindset that this is our lot and will try really hard to make something happen to be able to go, but it's anybody's guess what he'll actually do, what the availability will be for tickets and how much it'll all cost.

I have an idea that may end up working for all:

How about Prince comes round to each an everyone of your frickin' living rooms and plays for you personally? Sound good?

Jeez. You wanna see him. Pay what you need to do that. It 'ain't his fault you live in Donkeydick, Delaware. Yeah, I know. Life sucks.

Damn Manchester 2002 was amazing, come back to the Apollo please Prince

filthyrichyuppie said:

Skyscraper said:

filthyrichyuppie said:

I have an idea that may end up working for all:

How about Prince comes round to each an everyone of your frickin' living rooms and plays for you personally? Sound good?

Jeez. You wanna see him. Pay what you need to do that. It 'ain't his fault you live in Donkeydick, Delaware. Yeah, I know. Life sucks.

Top trolling! And I'm in the kitchen now so the living room's no good. I'm going to complain until Prince plays in here and makes me a sandwich to take to work the next day. Then we'll talk about what a great place Donkeydick is since people in other continents can't stop discussing it. If I was Lianne LaHavas that would actually work, so he does have previous for that kind of thing.

A opposed to bottom. Anyway, thanks. Please let me return the compliment.

Yes. Prince is obviously open to the "living room" concept - although I suppose it helps if that living room is in London. Here we go again.

filthyrichyuppie said:

fnksoul said:

tiadalma said:

I'm also fed up with all the whinning. I'm from the UK and am really exciting that Prince will be here. Can't wait for the announcement tonight and will do whatever I have to, to get to a concert.

some dont have the disposable income to do so, or able to get time off work, thats the arguement. Maybe your one of the lucky ones, but will be many left dissapointed

I get your point but the same can be said for every single live event in the world that is not free. A lot of people are not able to go. That's life. I'd love be see him but I live in New York. I just have to deal with it. He hasn't played a Prince concert in NY since W2A in 2013. I did go up to Connecticut in Dec and will be seeing him in New Orleans in July. At least I get to plan ahead.

[Edited 2/3/14 23:02pm]

jjazznola said:

fnksoul said:

some dont have the disposable income to do so, or able to get time off work, thats the arguement. Maybe your one of the lucky ones, but will be many left dissapointed

I get your point but the sane can be said for every single live event in the world that is not free. A lot of people are not able to go. that's life. I'd love be see him but I live in New York. I just have to deal with it. He hasn't played a Prince concert in NY since W2A in 2013. I did go up to Connecticut in Dec and will be seeing him in New Orleans in July. At least I get to plan ahead.

did you manage to buy a single ticket for new orleans? Till now i thought it there were only overpriced packages for sale.

EuanH91 said:

filthyrichyuppie said:

With respect, "what is England anyway? Some rinky dink country the size of Wisconsin where the cops don't even carry guns?" Get your ass over to London if you wanna see him. Bitching about a 2 and half hour journey is obscene.

Well, a 2 1/2 hour train or 4 hour drive is a hell of a long way to us Brits.. we rarely travel that far for anything.. but it's less the time/distance, and more the £400ish we'd have to spend to see a show in London.

A 2 1/2 hour train ride would stop you from seeing Prince? Then you really can't want to see him that bad. Even if you had to stay over, just share a room with other fans or stay out all night and catch an early train back in the morning. Make it happen! You'll be glad you did.

jjazznola said:

A 2 1/2 hour train ride would stop you from seeing Prince? Then you really can't want to see him that bad. Even if you had to stay over, just share a room with other fans or stay out all night and catch an early train back in the morning. Make it happen! You'll be glad you did.

I can mostly agree here!

At least I know I did very similar stuff...

SquirrelMeat said:

thedoorkeeper said:

Anybody know what time this is supposed to happen?

I mean the living room announcement.

Rumour has it its tomorrow now.

I was just gonna ask if it happened yet since I don't see anything, but I see now it will be on Tuesday.

rafael said:

jjazznola said:

I get your point but the sane can be said for every single live event in the world that is not free. A lot of people are not able to go. that's life. I'd love be see him but I live in New York. I just have to deal with it. He hasn't played a Prince concert in NY since W2A in 2013. I did go up to Connecticut in Dec and will be seeing him in New Orleans in July. At least I get to plan ahead.

did you manage to buy a single ticket for new orleans? Till now i thought it there were only overpriced packages for sale.

Not yet but I believe they will put single day tix on sale in a few months. One way or another I'll be there. I used to live there so I always have somewhere to stay which makes it a lot easier to go down. Tix in New Orleans are usually easy to come by compared to NYC where I live now.

jjazznola said:

EuanH91 said:

Well, a 2 1/2 hour train or 4 hour drive is a hell of a long way to us Brits.. we rarely travel that far for anything.. but it's less the time/distance, and more the £400ish we'd have to spend to see a show in London.

A 2 1/2 hour train ride would stop you from seeing Prince? Then you really can't want to see him that bad. Even if you had to stay over, just share a room with other fans or stay out all night and catch an early train back in the morning. Make it happen! You'll be glad you did.

I think you missed the part where he says its 'less the time/distance' Travelling isnt the problem, its the cost, its pretty bad when you can get a Return flight to Amsterdam or somewhere in Europe alot of the time cheaper than a train ticket to London, then you have drinks/food prices, almost double the cost of other cities. I love London, but they dont half have your pants down where money is concerned.

[Edited 2/4/14 0:30am]

fnksoul said:

jjazznola said:

A 2 1/2 hour train ride would stop you from seeing Prince? Then you really can't want to see him that bad. Even if you had to stay over, just share a room with other fans or stay out all night and catch an early train back in the morning. Make it happen! You'll be glad you did.

I think you missed the part where he says its 'less the time/distance' Travelling isnt the problem, its the cost, its pretty bad when you can get a Return flight to Amsterdam or somewhere in Europe alot of the time cheaper than a train ticket to London, then you have drinks/food prices, almost double the cost of other cities. I love London, but they dont half have your pants down where money is concerned.

[Edited 2/4/14 0:30am]

That sucks. I've never been there and maybe never will if that's the case. I'd pack a lunch, bring a flask and wing it then if I lived within a few hours. At least in NYC you can eat cheaply if you know where to go.

jjazznola said:

fnksoul said:

I think you missed the part where he says its 'less the time/distance' Travelling isnt the problem, its the cost, its pretty bad when you can get a Return flight to Amsterdam or somewhere in Europe alot of the time cheaper than a train ticket to London, then you have drinks/food prices, almost double the cost of other cities. I love London, but they dont half have your pants down where money is concerned.

[Edited 2/4/14 0:30am]

That sucks. I've never been there and maybe never will if that's the case. I'd pack a lunch, bring a flask and wing it then if I lived within a few hours. At least in NYC you can eat cheaply if you know where to go.

Yeah i guess where there is a will there is a way, If ticket prices are reasonable im certainly going to give it a go perticularly if I can get one towards the end of the month, closer to payday, Who knows maybe they will be free and tickets all round for Prince.org haha

fnksoul said:

jjazznola said:

A 2 1/2 hour train ride would stop you from seeing Prince? Then you really can't want to see him that bad. Even if you had to stay over, just share a room with other fans or stay out all night and catch an early train back in the morning. Make it happen! You'll be glad you did.

I think you missed the part where he says its 'less the time/distance' Travelling isnt the problem, its the cost, its pretty bad when you can get a Return flight to Amsterdam or somewhere in Europe alot of the time cheaper than a train ticket to London, then you have drinks/food prices, almost double the cost of other cities. I love London, but they dont half have your pants down where money is concerned.

[Edited 2/4/14 0:30am]

I think people are over stating this. I live in the north near leeds and travel a lot via train. I've just looked and say theres something announced for next Monday. Train down is £22 to get to London at 7pm, train back leaving Tuesday at 11.35 is £14 and an overnight at a standard hotel is £64.

£100 not at all bad, and since the wife was 8 1/2 months pregnant when 21 nights was here, its Manchester 2002 since I saw him I'm not going to let £100 stop me. The Ladder at that gig is the best concert experience I've ever had, just about my favourite P song I couldn't believe it

[Edited 2/4/14 1:23am]

[Edited 2/4/14 1:24am]

dewmass said:

fnksoul said:

I think you missed the part where he says its 'less the time/distance' Travelling isnt the problem, its the cost, its pretty bad when you can get a Return flight to Amsterdam or somewhere in Europe alot of the time cheaper than a train ticket to London, then you have drinks/food prices, almost double the cost of other cities. I love London, but they dont half have your pants down where money is concerned.

[Edited 2/4/14 0:30am]

I think people are over stating this. I live in the north near leeds and travel a lot via train. I've just looked and say theres something announced for next Monday. Train down is £22 to get to London at 7pm, train back leaving Tuesday at 11.35 is £14 and an overnight at a standard hotel is £64.

£100 not at all bad, and since the wife was 8 1/2 months pregnant when 21 nights was here, its Manchester 2002 since I saw him I'm not going to let £100 stop me. The Ladder at that gig is the best concert experience I've ever had, just about my favourite P song I couldn't believe it

[Edited 2/4/14 1:23am]

[Edited 2/4/14 1:24am]

The cheapest return from Manchester that same day is £65 i think , crazy the difference when Leeds is further away too.

fnksoul said:

let the wait begin! - on my screen I have the org open, 3rd eye girl twiter open, lianne la havas twitter open! lol!

Wouldn't a press conference announcement style thing be an ideal time to have a livestream. If I get a tick and its doable I'll do an all nighter from Preston to London be in work the next day!

bigd74 said:

^^^^^ if it's just the normal 1 show a night, depending on any changes you should make it, last train normally about 11.30. I've been caught before where they were doing works on the Brixton line, they laid on a bus to the next station, the trafic was gridlocked and when i got to the next stop the last train had gone. Had to get s taxi to Hillingdon where my car was, £60! Took 25 mins! Thieving bastards! [Edited 2/4/14 1:58am]

Don't think I'll take the risk anymore. I've given up looking at my watch hoping the show will end so I can get back on the train. It's a bit easier for me though as it's only a 2 hour or so drive (unless it's Brixton). Apart from the pain of driving in London and parking etc I think I'd rather do that. Tough, if you are coming from top end of the country though.

If, by chance, they are bigger shows (not likely I know) I'd probably do the train as they are usually over by 10.30-11

That was easier than Hop Farm? I just had a day ticket to that and booked a coach. Took us from London Waterloo right there and back. Had to get a short taxi ride home from there which was more expensive than the coach itself but it was worth it.

Ellie said:

That was easier than Hop Farm? I just had a day ticket to that and booked a coach. Took us from London Waterloo right there and back. Had to get a short taxi ride home from there which was more expensive than the coach itself but it was worth it.

I got a coach and found it easy peasy too, but my friends drove and didn't get out of the car park until 2.30am or something as there was so much traffic!

I forgot about that fiasco. Yes, I remember being in East London at the time, tucked up in bed while other Prince fans were tweeting and posting away while still stuck in the car park

dewmass said:

fnksoul said:

The cheapest return from Manchester that same day is £65 i think , crazy the difference when Leeds is further away too.

At the risk of bogging this thread down with boring logistics, is it possible to get the last train home after a gig? What time would it finish? I'd ruled out coming back the same day. Anyway, get yourself on the Trainline website and look at booking individually instead of just pressing return. That way you can see all fares and select the cheapest

Last trains to manchester are around 11-11:30pm ish, which might be feesable but jumping on the underground or something to the station after the gig or taxis, you run the risk of not making it at all and camping out in Euston haha.

I work for a business travel/events company and with some notice I can get 75% off train tickets so as long as I know two weeks or more before the show and we have any of the tickets avaliable on that date it wouldnt be a problem too much for me but at the moment im basing it on the fact I might not get over 2 week notice, Im currently in a team of 3 people, out of 7 so I have to give the same amount of notice to get a day off too If I end up going on my own would be more happy for someone to jump on as my plus one at Manchester and pass on a saving to someone else too if anyone manages to get a ticket for the same day up north, no telling though at the moment, Lets hope this Press conference goes down tonight and all our minds can be put at eaze and stop speculating and can plan our trips!

I'm in Northampton and work in Milton Keynes, so would only have an hours train journey tops, plus for anyone heading from midlands way check thetrainline.com as I think they're doing cheap fayres to Euson at the moment. I would imagine if it was a weekday I would just jump on the train straight from work and hope I could get one back that same evening if it is doable as I'd rather not slum it in the big smoke. (IF THAT WAS THE CASE ANYBODY KNOW WHERE WOULD BE BEST TO SLUM IT RELATIVELY SAFE?)

In terms of past exploits, I've seen him twice at the o2, Roskilde whilst travelling, Poland and with Rotterdam for the North sea 2nd show, I bought a plane ticket with the expectation of going to it from Bristol and doing an overnighter back but I was so so lucky in meeting fellow orger OrganGrinder, who I hooked up with in Amsterdam with his mates and sorted me out all the way down to Rotterdam and let me stay at his hotel with them. eternally greatful for that!

slept in the field (in my car) at Hop Farm and then took a slow drive to work at about 5am - stopping at Clackett services McD's, that was a great night!

working in London now so looking forward to the scrummage of getting tickets - will go whatever the price (hey didnt need a holiday anyway this year!)

past exploits not so mad as others - only other country I went to was the 2002 Celebration

ladymisskat said:

Ellie said:

That was easier than Hop Farm? I just had a day ticket to that and booked a coach. Took us from London Waterloo right there and back. Had to get a short taxi ride home from there which was more expensive than the coach itself but it was worth it.

I got a coach and found it easy peasy too, but my friends drove and didn't get out of the car park until 2.30am or something as there was so much traffic!

I stayed the whole weekend and drove. I got up at 5.30am on the Monday morning, packed my tent, and left the car park at 6am. It seems it was a very sensible decision, I was home and back in bed by 7.15am!