If you were going to England for one day...

Strongly considering a trip to England this fall to catch a concert on tour.  For all the times I've been to Europe, I've never been to UK/GB.

So if you were going for a whirlwind 3 day trip, (one day over, one there, one back) pick a city you would want to see a concert in/get dinner in/have a pint in.  And why would you pick that town?

Manchester
Newcastle
Leeds
Liverpool
London
Birmingham
Glasgow

I will always pick Scotland over England as a place to spend time. Ireland is also magical.

London is just NYC with a funny accent and the rest of the UK is the suburbs.

If you're considering going for a specific artist, go to whichever city gives you the best concert experience.

Since you only have a day, the generic experience of being in England will be interesting enough and you won't have any time for the nuances of each different area.  In 24 hours you'll only get the biggest picture, so go wherever the venue is best combination of good seating and least crowded.

Well, the first thing I would do is give my head a shake, and find a way to spend a week there instead.  Sixteen or so hours of flight time for a day strikes me as lunacy.

Liverpool based on James may shows

Birmingham, because Black Sabbath.

I would stay home and watch old Top Gear reruns.  But I hate traveling. 

I'd stay longer, you'll be flying for longer than you are there if you stay one day.

Genesis?

I at some point want to visit Glasgow just to compare it to my home town of Glasgow, Kentucky. Horrible reason to make a travel recommendation though.

Imperial War Museum. 

But that's me.

Glasgow  because its like going to a foreign country :)

London is BIG ,  lots of stuff to do , British Museum with all the stuff they "borrowed" from around the world , 

Imperial War museum is good ,  and on and on....

And most of your 16 hours will be overnight.....

The one closest to the Formula 1 team  HQs?

If any of the cities is the band's home town go to that one.

The Science Museum in London is very cool.  One of my favorites.

I spent a long weekend in Newcastle for work 20 years ago.  I thought it was over the top cool but I just went from work to clubs and back.

Edinburgh would be my choice.

I'd pick whatever flight schedule works out best, ideally for non-stop flights. That usually means Manchester or London, possible Brum[1].

I've worked with lots of Scots, and can generally understand them well. Glaswegian is mostly a foreign language even to fellow Scots.

Oh, and keep in mind that unless you have your pint before the concert, you'll have to make sure to have a pint tucked away somewhere for after the concert - in most cases you won't get out of a concert in time before most pubs close.

I'd make the choice based on the venue the band is playing in.

[1] Birmingham

In reply to Curtis73 :

Fun thought exercise but in the wake of the KungFlu and reduced air travel, will there be enough flights to pull of the time line? Will there be travel restrictions? 

Get the refundable tickets or travel insurance. 

Go spend the day in Portsmouth, have your beers at the old docks, hit some museums and the Victory flagship, check out whatever new warships are in town, dip your toes in the ocean, and then head down to Bognor Regis for the absolute 80's weekend. 

Curtis73 said:

Strongly considering a trip to England this fall to catch a concert on tour.  For all the times I've been to Europe, I've never been to UK/GB.

So if you were going for a whirlwind 3 day trip, (one day over, one there, one back) pick a city you would want to see a concert in/get dinner in/have a pint in.  And why would you pick that town?

Manchester
Newcastle
Leeds
Liverpool
London
Birmingham
Glasgow

Personally I'd pick Newcastle but that is cause I am a massive Newcastle United fan but that probably isn't a great reason for some one else to go.

I'd skip Birmingham (seriously Birmingham kind of sucks) and Glasgow personally. Not a massive fan of either city. If I was going to Scotland and going to a city, I'd recommend Edinburgh. Honestly easily my favorite two cities in England are Oxford and Cambridge. They are amazing cities with two great universities and more history then you know what to do with. I tend to prefer the small villages and countryside though in England and Scotland.

If you are going to England for the first time, it is hard to not recommend London. There are so many good places to eat, probably the best museums in the world (seriously I am convinced the British Museum is the best museum in the world) and all the famous sites. 

I do agree though one day seems insane to me. Just dealing with jet lag would a bit much for me.

You're out of your mind to go over there for a day.  No matter where you go, it's not worth back-to-back cattle car transcontinental flights unless you're flying business class...which probably ain't worth paying for if you're only going for a day.

The wife and I went for a week last fall.  We stuck to London with a daytrip to Cambridge.  Cambridge is pretty berkeleying cool.  Could likely have spent more than a day there.  London is difficult to run out of stuff to do in, and has some legendary concert venues.   I reccomend the Victoria & Albert museum (especially the theater section!  take the guided tour!).  I enjoyed it more than the Royal Museum, and it was about one-tenth as crowded.

John Welsh said:

In reply to Curtis73 :

Fun thought exercise but in the wake of the KungFlu and reduced air travel, will there be enough flights to pull of the time line? Will there be travel restrictions? 

Get the refundable tickets or travel insurance. 

This would be in Nov/Dec, so (hopefully) things will be under control by then.

Sounds like a fun "bucket list" type of trip.  If I was going to do it and if when you go is totally optional, I'd look at concert tours of bands you like that are from there to find when they're doing a home concert.  Paul McCartney in Liverpool, The Proclaimers in Edinburgh, The Rolling Stones in London, etc.  Or, a band you like playing at an epic location or festival around that time.  You might want to just add one more day, just in case, but I think a three day would be epic (but tiring).

-Rob

Streetwiseguy said:

Well, the first thing I would do is give my head a shake, and find a way to spend a week there instead.  Sixteen or so hours of flight time for a day strikes me as lunacy.

16 hours?  Flights even to the mainland (Brussels, Berlin, Paris) only take 6-7 hours.  I often fly through Keflavik and that's 5 hours.

And if it's lunacy, call me a loon.  I've done it 4 times now.  I popped over to Saltzburg to see a friend for a weekend once.   Seriously, it's the same distance for me to fly to Los Angeles, but if I said I'm going to Los Angeles for a day no one would bat an eye.