My boyfriend and I had a little trip to Manchester last week to see Yellowcard. Rather than drive back home after the gig I decided we should stop over and make it more than just a one day round trip. Rather than make this post too photo heavy (and an essay) I've split it into two parts!
We got to Manchester around 3pm and after dropping our stuff in our room at the Premier Inn (Deansgate Locks) we headed out in search of food and somewhere for Andy to take my outfit photos for the post you can see here. It's no surprise that we ended up at Nando's considering it's one of our favourites and after a little wander around, befriending a pug and having a Christmas coffee, we walked back down to our room to change and head off to the gig.
The gig was at the RNCM (Royal National College of Music) and it only took about 15 minutes to walk there from the hotel, even after hopping a fence in my dress (not my proudest moment). We had front row seats and even from there we had a great view to watch the brilliant support band, Like Torches. When Yellowcard came out, Ryan told us we could move forward if we wanted and sit 'Indian style' in front of them. Dress or no dress, I wasn't passing that up and seconds later I was sitting less than a meter from the band! The gig was amazing, they played some extra tracks and finished on the first song I ever heard by them, 'Lights and Sounds'.
I genuinely believe it's the best gig I've ever been to and that's probably due to how close we were, how the band interacted with the audience and how personal the songs from the album are to me.
We had considered going for drinks somewhere in Manchester after the gig finished but instead we headed back to the hotel and had a drink in the bar. I was really impressed with our room. It was clean, tidy and bright (like you'd expect) and despite being really close to a busy main road, I wasn't disturbed by any traffic or sirens in the night. For me, the best part was having such a comfy king size bed and I guess the free parking was pretty good too, especially when you consider how expensive it can be to park all day/overnight in a city center.
