Joe GallopDuring a week of nationwide rail strikes, Manchester is set to host around 300,000 concertgoers with shows by Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay and Sir Elton John taking place at Emirates Old Trafford (cap. 50,000), Etihad Stadium (53,400) and AO Arena (21,000) respectively.
As Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) prepares for its “busiest day on the network this year”, passengers travelling to the gigs are being warned to plan ahead, with strikes planned for both Friday (2 June) and Saturday (3 June).
This weekend also marks the first edition of the free-to-attend We Invented The Weekend festival, which is expected to attract more than 150,000 people to MediaCity and Salford Quays.
Coldplay will perform at the Etihad Stadium for shows on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, while Elton John plays three gigs at AO Arena as part of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Fellow Glastonbury headliners Arctic Monkeys play at Old Trafford Cricket Ground on Friday and Saturday.
Saturday will also see football fans from the region travelling to London’s Wembley Stadium (90,000) to watch the first-ever all-Manchester FA Cup final between Manchester United and Manchester City.
Manchester had a similarly busy weekend last summer when the three venues hosted respective shows by Ed Sheeran, The Killers and Alicia Keys while the 80,000-capacity Parklife Festival was taking place.