When my husband saw the announcement for Nothing Nowhere’s tour we knew we had to book tickets. Little did we know that months later Bad Omens would announce their tour and the closest location to us was the same night!! So we did the most obvious thing and brought tickets to Bad Omens show the night before Nothing Nowhere. Three months later we tackled two cities in two days for two gigs.
Here’s how seeing two gigs in two cities, one being our home town, went for us and what we got up to! For reviews of the shows please keep an eye out for posts titled Bad Omens 28.11.25 & Nothing Nowhere 29.11.25 (coming very soon).
We live in Birmingham (UK) so decided to travel to Manchester to see Bad Omens after discovering that the Nottingham show was no longer an option for us having Nothing Nowhere already in the diary. It was my first time ever going, and naturally I decided to drive there… To be honest, besides the rain and hail storm halfway down the M6, it was a lovely drive where we listened to music, stopped at the services for lunch, had grabbed a coffee to begin the journey and even stopped at the Trafford Centre for a little mooch before the show too!
The journey itself was a good few hours with a stop at the services, we arrived at the Trafford Centre about 3pm after living Birmingham about 11ish. We spent a good hour and half in the Trafford Centre, where we then headed on another detour to Rodeo to grab a sweet treat! Rodeo’s Gluten Free doughnuts are made in a separate part of the factory to their gluten containing doughnuts to avoid cross contamination (Rodeo GF info) which gave me confidence to eat them as a Coeliac. I opted for the Stranger Things doughnut, and my husband went for one of their Christmas themed ones which I didn’t grab a picture of.
Arriving at Co Op Live arena around 5:40pm, we got to see it the first time lit up as it was already quite dark with it being the time of year it is. I found the signage for the different parking zones were so clearly laid out and with enough notice to get into the right lanes too. Which for such a new venue they have really nailed the traffic control! I’ve seen more chaos getting into the Black Country Museum than this night.
I’d booked parking online ahead of the show so was able to get into a space quite quickly and we walked round to the Backstage Club entrance. Now this is a package I’ve never done before! I’ve had a few backstage style passes in the past for some smaller more intimate venues in the past due to a fantastic friend of mine (hi Tom if you are reading this) where I’ve been fortunate to meet some bands. But this was a very different experience and one I would do again in a heartbeat! Walking in the door we were given a free welcome drink token each, wrist bands and welcomed in by the most friendly staff ever (something that continued throughout the whole venue) and walked into the private area. There was a bar, cloakroom, food vendor, masses of sitting with and without tables, Photo Booth (which was free if you were a Co Op Member), toilets which were no-gender which was refreshing to see and a merch stand.
Now the arena itself had a very detailed allergen matrix (even listed may for cross contamination risks) for all food vendors in the arena, showing what floor to find them on, which was great for me! I even spoke to a manager who shared her concerns with cross contamination and with me being coeliac not having an intolerance. Which honestly, was so refreshing as many just assume allergy as they aren’t sure what coeliac disease is. I did go with the vendor she was worried about in the end – the matrix hadn’t listed them as a cross contamination risk. I made this decision after watching the kitchen (which was very open and visible to all) and feeling comfortable myself that the gluten containing ingredients were very far away from the gluten free ones (opposing sides) and saw no risk of cross contamination for myself. Now this isn’t me saying “all coeliacs go to this vendor when you go Co Op Live” this is something I would recommend making a decision on yourself. My husband ate from the same vendor as me having a very delicious looking gluten pizza.
We then headed to our seats for the first support act to start and I was blown away by the size of this arena! I had no idea it was the largest UK indoor arena, nor did I realise how high up and space utilising they were without compromising on the leg room. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t more leg room than say the NEC, Utilita Arena or The O2 London, but considering the quantity I was impressed. Now despite my sore feet from my Docs and my hip being a little troublesome as the chosen joint to be more painful that day, I found the sitting quite comfortable and usually I am in so much pain the next day with my lower back but this time round I felt great in comparison with other venues!
With the show wrapping up at 11pm, we headed back to the Backstage Club area for a toilet stop, and then headed back to the car to start the journey home. Sticking to what I did when travelling back from London for a gig, we stopped a few times at services to get out the car, stretch and check if I was tired or not. Evaluating each stop whether it was safe to continue. Now this might sound drastic, but I suffer terrible with fatigue and don’t wish to put myself, my husband or others in danger. Especially after witnessing the aftermath of an accident literally seconds after joining the M6 on the way home. We finally arrived home about 1:45am and got ourselves in bed ready to start all over again!
Saturday morning after a quick Ep of Stranger Things, we did boring grown up things like clean the house to get ready for Christmas decorations to come out of storage, but on the evening I drove us into Birmingham city centre. Securing parking quite near the O2 Institute, we walked round the corner and joined the queue, it was whilst waiting in the queue where my phone sent me into panic mode! I could not access my ticket. Restarting my phone, hot spotting of my husband’s phone, trying to connect to the venues wifi. Nothing was working! We got through security and had to head to the Box Office where again we had the loveliest staff member help us out so I could enter. Finally in the room, grabbed a drink from the bar and plonked ourselves on some seats near the back of the room as this venue was jam packed!
Kicking off the show at 8pm with Sace6 and then Nothing Nowhere graced the stage until finishing around 10pm. We walked back to the car and were home by 11pm. It felt so much more of an intimate venue after being in such a massive arena the day before, and was such a juxtaposition of experiences. But my favourite part of the venue location was its closeness to home which for day two of two felt so good to be in bed before midnight!
Now I will be the first to admit that now in my 30’s (yes, your girl turned 30 this year) two gigs back to back in two cities was rough. I felt hungover on the Sunday I was that tired. But was it worth it? Absolutely! Will I do it again? Most definitely!
And that is how we tackled two cities (one being our home town) for two gigs in two days!
Thanks for reading,
Leanne xo
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