Brv wrote: And I’m not even sure , if it is possible to wait at the station during the night . 
                 Trains for Luton airport goes from St Pancras station during whole night , but WizzAir flight back to Riga is only at 14:00 , so I’m afraid that I will fall asleep somewhere . So , I would be really grateful for any information about concert duration . 
                  And , yes , maybe there are some local inhabitants of England at the forum ? If yes , then I would like to ask : is it necessary to buy a train ticket through the Internet ? Can I just buy it at the station ? I assume that it would be not so expensive as via Internet .

Most stations in the UK are open 24 hours, so you should be able to wait at the train station if that's what you want to do.

The concert itself will probably finish around 22:00. If you have VIP, then I'm guessing the high touch will be after the concert, so you might be there until 23:00.

Tickets cost the same online as they do at the train station. You can buy advance tickets, which are sold at a discount price, but you usually don't save much at all and they come with the downside that you need to travel on a train at a specific time. In my opinion, they're not worth it. You should buy a period return from Stansted to Liverpool St though as this will be cheaper than purchasing two singles.

or we can do what Babymetal fans did after gig at brixton. Find a venue and make afterparty. As for night, find decent Hostel and just get big (cheap) room together xD

Hi everyone! I've got a normal ticket for the concert as well! Hope I can meet some of you, as I'll go alone and I'd be nice to be with someone haha~~ I'm new here as well.

I'll depart from hatfield, like 30 min to London by train. I have some diffiulties too, because actually I came as exchange student from Spain and I don't really know the place (I've been in UK since 29th September, and yeah, I'll be studying here by the time scandal plays in london and more haha). If someone knows what's the best way to travel i'd really appreciate it ^^

I've looked a bit and seems that the fastest option is taking the train (as it'll Sunday, no buses) and going from King's Cross to Angel underground station or taking the nº30 bus to O2 Islignton. But the real problem comes when going back to Hatfield, since I saw in the google maps plan that I had to leave my train half-travel or taking another one or something like that. Do you know something about this?


PS: Btw, the travel itself will probably cost me almost the same price than the ticket for the concert LOL

So I got a normal ticket as well as well. And like Detheroc^ said, I hope I can meet and get to know some of you since I am going by myself. The only other person I know who knows SCANDAL cannot come so..yeah.. I live in NorthWest London and travelling to the venue seems no problem to me. Although I have never been there..maybe I'll scout the area later this week see what's around.

I have a standard ticket for the concert and will be landing in London in the early afternoon, so I'm looking forward to meeting you guys at the O2 Academy in April. Surely we will have time to hang around Islington before the show, time I'll be probably spending feeding on muffins =)

Thanks to everyone ! The information that you’ve provided is really priceless ! Right now I still haven’t made my choice of flight . But if the situation will stay the same and I will not find any more convenient way to reach Stansted airport after the concert , I guess that I will choose “WizzAir” flight via Luton , even despite the fact that I will need to endure 36 hours without sleep .
                 Instead of it I would like to ask a little bit more general questions about the event .
1 . Is inner map of the concert hall available somewhere ? I didn’t find anything like this at the organizers web-page . Especially interested about cloakrooms . I will have one small backpack or a bag ,and it would be quite inconvenient to take it with me at the concert . And I think that it is not allowed at all . Honestly , it shall be the first big concert in my life . Before this I’ve visited only concerts of traditional Japanese music , organized by Embassy of Japan in Latvia , but it is not the same thing . So , I can imagine that they will let people go in at 18:00 at then everyone will run as fast as possible to take better position close to the stage ? But will there be a possibility to visit cloakroom before , so everyone could have equal possibilities ? I would like to be closer to the right part of the stage , because in this way I will be closer to the Mami-san ! Mami-san is my favourite member of the group , because she is biggest otaku of all girls ! Mami-san is our soulmate ! That’s why I need to be closer to her even if it means that I will be quite far from Tomomi-san .
2 . Policy about using photo cameras . In the organizer’s web-page there is said that small cameras are allowed if something else isn’t mentioned . I’ve read my ticket for many times but didn’t find any notifications about cameras . Does it mean that it would be allowed to make pictures ?
3 . Dress-code . Right now I asked for assistance of the local anime shop – we have only one small anime shop in Latvia – in order to buy SCANDAL t-shirt . Hope it will work . But if not , is it allowed to wear an anime t-shirt , even if soundtrack of this anime wasn’t composed by SCANDAL ? Unfortunately , I have no t-shirts from the anime , where SCANDAL songs are used . 
4 . I have a VIP ticket , but it’s difficult for me to understand , what is the meaning of “hi-touch with the band” . Does it mean that we will be able to see them before/after the concert and , maybe , even ask for autographs ? ! If yes , then will it be any SCANDAL related merchandise available to buy at the place , because even usual CD is too big to put it in the pocket . Well , if I will get t-shirt with SCANDAL symbolics , I can ask for autograph at the shirt . But I guess that it would be quite impolite to ask for an autograph on t-shirt while wearing it . So , looks like that I will need 2 t-shirts . This is so complicated . . . 
 
               If there were be many fans going via Stansted at night , maybe , it’s possible to cooperate and order one taxi for all ? I have no idea how expensive taxi at UK is , but if there will be 4 or 5 persons , maybe , it will not be so extreme expenses .

You can reach Stansted from the Liverpool Street Station, and tickets can be purchased from the Stansted Express website with a 30-day-advance discount. It should be about 16 pounds for a return ticket.

. I have a VIP ticket , but it’s difficult for me to understand , what is the meaning of “hi-touch with the band” . Does it mean that we will be able to see them before/after the concert and , maybe , even ask for autographs ? ! If yes , then will it be any SCANDAL related merchandise available to buy at the place , because even usual CD is too big to put it in the pocket . Well , if I will get t-shirt with SCANDAL symbolics , I can ask for autograph at the shirt . But I guess that it would be quite impolite to ask for an autograph on t-shirt while wearing it . So , looks like that I will need 2 t-shirts . This is so complicated . . .

From what I know, "hi touch" more or less means you get to high five each member and that's it, handshakes if you're lucky(?) I wouldn't expect autographs.

Brv wrote:1 . Is inner map of the concert hall available somewhere ? I didn’t find anything like this at the organizers web-page . Especially interested about cloakrooms . I will have one small backpack or a bag ,and it would be quite inconvenient to take it with me at the concert . And I think that it is not allowed at all . Honestly , it shall be the first big concert in my life . Before this I’ve visited only concerts of traditional Japanese music , organized by Embassy of Japan in Latvia , but it is not the same thing . So , I can imagine that they will let people go in at 18:00 at then everyone will run as fast as possible to take better position close to the stage ? But will there be a possibility to visit cloakroom before , so everyone could have equal possibilities ? I would like to be closer to the right part of the stage , because in this way I will be closer to the Mami-san ! Mami-san is my favourite member of the group , because she is biggest otaku of all girls ! Mami-san is our soulmate ! That’s why I need to be closer to her even if it means that I will be quite far from Tomomi-san .

The O2 has a cloakroom on entering the venue. Once you deposit your coat (I'm sure your small bag is fine) you go upstairs to the hall where the gig is. There may be a fee for the cloakroom (at most GBP1-2 I think). Whether or not you get to the front row depends on where you are in the queue. As this is not Japan, unfortunately there is not much decorum at gigs esp as this is a general admission ticket and it'll be survival of the fittest. But if you do anything stupid, security will not take it very lightly hehe.

In Singapore, the VIP tix holders are in a 'golden circle' ie physically separated from the regular tix holders who are in the back. I am not sure how the O2 is doing this. I do hope it is the same like the Singapore show in 2013. It also facilitates the hi-touch as it is easier to 'herd' the VIP tix holders to line up for the event.

Brv wrote:2 . Policy about using photo cameras . In the organizer’s web-page there is said that small cameras are allowed if something else isn’t mentioned . I’ve read my ticket for many times but didn’t find any notifications about cameras . Does it mean that it would be allowed to make pictures ?

When I was at the OOR gig at the O2, there were signs of 'no cameras/videos of the performance' and there was even an announcement by one of the band's crew. But enforcement wasn't strict at all at the O2 and I took some shots. At Perfume (different London venue) the security were much more strict, doing rounds every now and then making sure people were not taking photos (I have seen some photos surfacing on FB anyway). In the UK, taking photos at gigs are the norm although it does get annoying even for the adjacent members of the audience. I take gig photos for posterity myself but I try not to piss people off hehe. It's up to you. If you happen to be at front row and start to point your iPhone at MAMI it'll be obvious and you may get told off by security. If you do carry a camera, only small point and shoots and not a DSLR. One thing though - how strict security is depends on how strongly the band management wants the security to ensure no photos are done. I have been at a gig where everyone was frisked and they had a system where all cameras are held by staff at the venue, only to be returned after the end of the show.

Brv wrote:3 . Dress-code . Right now I asked for assistance of the local anime shop – we have only one small anime shop in Latvia – in order to buy SCANDAL t-shirt . Hope it will work . But if not , is it allowed to wear an anime t-shirt , even if soundtrack of this anime wasn’t composed by SCANDAL ? Unfortunately , I have no t-shirts from the anime , where SCANDAL songs are used . 

It's a free country, dude. You can wear a Taylor Swift tee shirt with a clown mask if that takes your fancy. Some fans wear stuff trying to impress the band esp if there is a hi touch by wearing something relevant to the band or even cosplaying.

Brv wrote:4 . I have a VIP ticket , but it’s difficult for me to understand , what is the meaning of “hi-touch with the band” . Does it mean that we will be able to see them before/after the concert and , maybe , even ask for autographs ? ! If yes , then will it be any SCANDAL related merchandise available to buy at the place , because even usual CD is too big to put it in the pocket . Well , if I will get t-shirt with SCANDAL symbolics , I can ask for autograph at the shirt . But I guess that it would be quite impolite to ask for an autograph on t-shirt while wearing it . So , looks like that I will need 2 t-shirts . This is so complicated . . . 

The hi-touch is just us lining up to lightly high-5 the bandmembers. You can give a cursory "hey your guitar playing rocks, MAMI" but that's it. No photos, no autographs. This is likely after the show - as 1. the previous hi touch at Singapore was the same 2. it is very unlikely to be before the set as SCANDAL have their 'me' time before they get onstage.

As soon as the London concert was announced, I knew I couldn't turn down this chance. I purchased a VIP ticket soon after they went on sale as the hi-touch was way too tempting.

im also there :-D i got 1 VIP ticket for me and a Normal for my Girlfriend.

I would like to hang around that day with you guys/girls. But i dont know if my GF have other Plans.

Alakhai


You can reach Stansted from the Liverpool Street Station, and tickets can be purchased from the Stansted Express website with a 30-day-advance discount. It should be about 16 pounds for a return ticket.



                  Well , yes , but , as it’s been said above , the last train to Stansted goes at 23:25 , so I’m not sure if I will be in time . And if I will be late , the next train will be only at 3:40 and will arrive at Stansted at something about 4:30 , but the airplane will be at 6:25 , so possibility of overbooking is more than zero , that’s why variant with Luton looks more possible for me right now . And distance between St. Pancras station and O2 Academy Islington is only 1,8 km , while distance to Liverpool Street station is 3,2 km . 3,2 km in 25 minutes is not so difficult task , but there will be some tomes to go out from the hall and also to find a platform , so risk is quite high .
 
maharizm



                 Understood about cameras . Yes , it’s quite difficult to remember amateur photos or videos from SCANDAL performances right away . Seriously thinking about leaving my photo camera at home in order  not to provoke myself . Is there really no possibilities to make at least one picture ?  From the one side , it’s quite sad , but from another one – we’re actually going to visit their concert . Just visiting their performance once in a life is more than enough . It will be the pride for the whole life . (“Daddy , is that true that you’ve visited SCANDAL concert when you were young ? – Yes , yes , Tomomi , I will tell you later . But now find Mami and go to eat .”)  


It's a free country, dude. You can wear a Taylor Swift tee shirt with a clown mask if that takes your fancy. Some fans wear stuff trying to impress the band esp if there is a hi touch by wearing something relevant to the band or even cosplaying.



                Honestly , I have no idea what Taylor Swift is , but I know that I don’t want it . But , actually , I’m worrying that other fans will be unsatisfied if I’ll wear any t-shirt that is not connected with SCANDAL  , because take it in the wrong way and decide , that it is deficient respect for the band , and it’s quite sad if people will think about me something like this .


No photos, no autographs.


                  Ah , sad again . But , actually , it means , that I don’t need a second t-shirt for autograph and can save some money .
 
                  Right now I’m thinking about any possibilities for making London concert more pleasant and memorable for the SCANDAL . It would be really nice to surprise the band in some way ; for example , we can arrange and make something like a small flash-mob during the show . There can be many ways how to realize it . For example , when the band will start “Scandal Baby” (really believe that this song will be definitely  included in the program) we can all sit on the floor , but when Mami-san will begin to play her solo , we can all rise and jump . In my opinion , it would be very qualitative flash-mob . But I will be really happy if there will be any better ideas to implement .

Brv wrote:But , actually , I’m worrying that other fans will be unsatisfied if I’ll wear any t-shirt that is not connected with SCANDAL  , because take it in the wrong way and decide , that it is deficient respect for the band , and it’s quite sad if people will think about me something like this.

I can see how passionate you are for SCANDAL as a fan but so are all of us.

I have seen SCANDAL twice and met them in the flesh for hi-touch sessions, and the band members were not offended that I (and the few hundred members of the audience with a VIP ticket) wasn't wearing a SCANDAL T-shirt. There were fans from Japan who actually flown in to watch the show and they were not wearing SCANDAL T-shirts.

Neither the other fans or the band would think of you otherwise, so please do not worry! There'll be members wearing SCANDAL tees or related items because they already have them/out to impress/whatever, and if you want to be one of them, it's okay too!

To show disrespect for the band/fans is to simply do disrespectful things that any person will not like.

Hope you enjoy your first ever SCANDAL concert and as evidence that you've been to it, there will be many eg your ticket, any merchandise you bought etc. Also, S-H members tend to meet up and do a group photo after a show - so watch out for that opportunity if you are not rushing off to catch the train.

Would it be a good idea to get a Travelcard for London ahead of time? Would that save me time and money? Are there usually lines to get tickets at the stations? It would be preferable to just get on the right train and not have to worry about anything.

How many zones do I need, and will the card be valid for the train back after the concert?

http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/london-travelcard/

joon wrote:Would it be a good idea to get a Travelcard for London ahead of time? Would that save me time and money? Are there usually lines to get tickets at the stations? It would be preferable to just get on the right train and not have to worry about anything.

How many zones do I need, and will the card be valid for the train back after the concert?

http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/london-travelcard/

If I remember correctly, you are going to do a day trip (of sorts) to London, right?

You just need a one-day travelcard although it is only valid for the day that you buy the card, ie need to use it by 2359hrs. So, if after the gig you must make sure you travel to your destination in London to catch your train to airport by then.

You can just buy it when you arrive at the station. As it is a weekend, there will be lines if you want to buy the travelcard at the counter but you won't spend hours. To avoid queues, you can just use the machines on the wall which are easy to use.

Get the off peak zones 1-2 as you will enter London at a railway station within this zone.



The bit that is relevant to you is the first 40 secs of this YouTube vid.

Unless you fly into Heathrow or London City Airport, you need a separate rail ticket from the airport (Stansted/Luton/Gatwick) to get into London. These tickets are worth getting in advance as you may get a discount. However, you must have a credit card.

You can use this site: http://www.thetrainline.com/

You need to be aware that you need to collect your ticket at the machine at the railway station. All you need is your card and the confirmation code that you get when you buy your ticket.

If you don't have a credit card, you need to buy your ticket the usual way ie pay at the station.

maharizm wrote:If I remember correctly, you are going to do a day trip (of sorts) to London, right?

You just need a one-day travelcard although it is only valid for the day that you buy the card, ie need to use it by 2359hrs. So, if after the gig you must make sure you travel to your destination in London to catch your train to airport by then.

You can just buy it when you arrive at the station. As it is a weekend, there will be lines if you want to buy the travelcard at the counter but you won't spend hours. To avoid queues, you can just use the machines on the wall which are easy to use.

Get the off peak zones 1-2 as you will enter London at a railway station within this zone.

But on the website it says "– can be used at any time on the day of validity and for any journey that starts before 04:30 the following day.

Doesn't that mean it will be valid for the trains back to the airport?
Also zone 1-6 covers both the train and the tube right?

Because apparently you can have the travelcard mailed to you ahead of time.

edit: oh I see now, trains from Gatwick are not included for the travelcard.
edit 2: Sweet jesus, tickets for Gatwick Express are expensive.

joon wrote:But on the website it says "– can be used at any time on the day of validity and for any journey that starts before 04:30 the following day.

Doesn't that mean it will be valid for the trains back to the airport?
Also zone 1-6 covers both the train and the tube right?

Because apparently you can have the travelcard mailed to you ahead of time.

True - but the last tube is just before/after midnight (depends where you are at). Granted you may/can use the card but between midnight and 0430 there aren't any trains running on the Underground. You may be able to use the night bus, I think.

See my edited post re: airport. The only London airports covered by the zones 1-6 are LHR and City airport. If you are going to Stansted/Gatwick/Luton - it's a separate train and a different ticket. You may use the train that goes to, say, Stansted with a travel card but even with a zone 1-6 card, your journey ends at the last station in zone 6 like Enfield Lock. You are better off with a return ticket eg Stansted - Liverpool St - Stansted and save the hassle.

Since the Gatwick Express return ticket costs so much, maybe it might be a better idea to pay extra for the flight to Heathrow and then just use the Travelcard back and forth?

Flight to Gatwick: around £80
Flight to Heathrow: £130

joon wrote:Since the Gatwick Express return ticket costs so much, maybe it might be a better idea to pay extra for the flight to Heathrow and then just use the Travelcard back and forth?

Flight to Gatwick: around £80
Flight to Heathrow: £130

That's a £50 difference if you wanna save up on not travelling the Gatwick Express.

The cheapest return ticket is £8 (well, this is only if you happen to travel on a particular time of the day).

I wonder if you looked at the ticket+travelcard option. I wouldn't buy that if I were you.

If you really wanna save, you need some forward planning. Know when you are arriving etc etc and see what time you can get on the train after taking into consideration immigration clearance.

Even if you pay an anytime return which is £19.60 plus a zone1-2 travelcard which is £8.90 - that's at most £29-ish, and it ain't £50!

maharizm wrote:If you really wanna save, you need some forward planning. Know when you are arriving etc etc and see what time you can get on the train after taking into consideration immigration clearance.

Even if you pay an anytime return which is £19.60 plus a zone1-2 travelcard which is £8.90 - that's at most £29-ish, and it ain't £50!

Sorry, this is my first time traveling abroad by myself. That's why I don't want to run into any problems, because there will be nobody there to help me if I do.

I'm not sure how you get £19.60 for the return ticket to Gatwick Express, because the site here that I was looking at says it costs £35, which is 422 SEK.

And If I use a currency converter, the flight ends up at £108 to Heathrow, and £70 to Gatwick.

Now this site doesn't list cards only for zone 1-2, so the only option I see here costs £12

These all day passes seem attractive to me, because I don't have to worry about which exact train I need to catch.

I used the thetrainline.com site, the link of which I provided in my reply above. It's a British site, but with a credit card it doesn't really matter. The site you quoted is a Swedish site, which understandably doesn't give you discounts like thetrainline.com (the trainline gives discounts you can't get even at a British train station).

The £19 ticket I quoted is for an 'anytime return' ie as it says on the ticket any time but on the same day. There are many options, which you do need to read what the terms & conditions are:




Please bear in mind the above is for the same day travel. If you board the Gatwick from 12 am onwards on Monday morning, you cannot use the one-day ticket.

If you prefer paying more for a hassle-free travel, then it's understandable especially with you cutting it very close arriving on the same day in the UK etc.

I'd like to reassure you that you can always ask for help at the information desk at the airport/train station if you are stuck. From your written English, I am sure you speak English fine. It's not like you are travelling to Japan (unless you are fluent in nihon-go, of course). Hope you find the best solution for your trip.

I'll be there too: I've got a VIP ticket. :D

i would love to come, but it seems like there are no VIP tickets anymore .whiteflag.
*sigh* i couldn't buy any in time cause i didn't know anyone who had a credit card and now that i have found one the tickets are gone.... unlucky me
if anyone knows where to buy a VIP ticket please tell me

Hi

Sorry for this question, but what exactly means hi touch when you get a vip ticket? =)

Chabo8888 wrote:Hi

Sorry for this question, but what exactly means hi touch when you get a vip ticket? =)

 Hi,
From what I'm concerned, that is just "hello, let's have a high five. Bye" thingy. So you will probably see them, greet them, high five, some short sentence while they are on their way and say goodbye

I bought a normal ticket, so I'd encourage people to buy a normal one if the VIP's are already gone. Well, personally i think that paying a difference of 35 pounds for a high five is too much, so I didn't buy the VIP one. Perhaps I'm not that great fan? sorry xD