Did my comment deserve ridicule?

[Gladness]

Have name changed as anyone in the group I posted in will know it’s me if they see this.

Basically a band I love have just reunited and the fans have been eagerly awaiting tour dates. One date has just been announced in London. I posted in the comments that I was excited for the gig but hoping they put on another show maybe in central London.

The comment received a mixture of laughing and angry faces and endless comments such as “Typical Londoner” and “What about people who live miles away from London!” Etc

I replied saying I was not suggesting that all dates should be in London, what I meant was if there was a gig in central London it would be easier for people from all over the UK to get to. I continued getting harassed over it so I deleted the comment but some arsehole screenshot it and reposted it so the comments and laughing continued.

Im so upset by the whole thing it’s put me off going to the gig at all and it’s ruined the reunion for me, I know it sounds daft but it has really got to me. I feel totally ridiculed.

I’ve just told DH about it and he laughed and said he’s not surprised I’m getting stick for it!? Was it really such a bad thing to say?!

Absolutely this

I can understand why they'd be annoyed - I live in Scotland but most of my colleagues are London or thereabouts (I work remotely). Their ignorance of the rest of the UK is astounding. They assume because they can get places in minutes, its the same for the rest of us. I've even had colleagues telling me I should 'pop by tomorrow for a cup of tea' 😂sure, if you pay for my flight and accomodation to travel from mid Scotland! You seem to think central London is accessible for all, it actually isn't, and would cost a helluva lot more than the ticket alone! So I don't blame them for laughing at you. You were ignorant.

It does my head in when everything's in London. Why not Leeds or Sheffield? Even Manchester is easier and cheaper than London!

Aw I'm sorry. People on the internet can be so mean ☹️

I dunno, if the gig is in Ally Pally it might as well be on the moon if you live in South London/ Surrey. Especially if it’s a weeknight and you have to get up for work in the morning.

In conclusion, if this mysterious gig is at Alexandra Palace, I do have sympathy with the OP. (I’m still hoping Suede and Manics will do a non-Ally Pally London date, or that I can persuade my husband to go to Leeds with me for their only weekend gig…)

It's not easy for everyone to get to. I would have to travel from the other end of the country. Would have to travel by public transport taking twice as long. Can't book train's in advance so you can book seats because you never know when there's going to be cancellations or delays. But If you really want to see them then just have to grin and bare it I suppose.

The OP doesn’t really make it clear if the only date in the UK is in London, or if the London date is in a non central venue, like the afore-mentioned Ally Pally. I only skimmed the thread though, to be fair.

Thanks @TrickorTreacle

YANBU. It's exciting for you that the band are performing again in central London. Go to the concert and enjoy it.

I totally agree.

You only skimmed the op too, clearly

It was a daft thing to say in the first place and then backing it up by saying that central London was easy for 'everyone in the UK' to get to is ridiculous.

Didn't they build the NEC for just this reason?

I'm taking my two teenagers to The Globe to see Othello in the Easter holidays as they are doing it for their A levels and it's cost me £450 so far. Just for the day as the cheapest Premier Inn was £166 a night. Not the Easter weekend or anything. Just in the Easter holidays.

Could they watch the movie

The moon!

How about the one gig in your country starting at 9pm on a Sunday night and you live about three/four hours drive or train ride away from Glasgow.

Oo. Thanks for the heads up. Might try for their second London gig. (Even though it's not that convenient, never been to the Albert Hall...)

I’m just making the point that the greater London area is very big. If you live in Coulsdon for example, and a gig is on in Alexandra Palace, that’s about 2.5 hours door to door on public transport. Driving is not much better; on a weeknight that would be 2 hours according to Google Maps.

The things is, what you originally posted (if you reported it accurately) didn't say anything about how easy it was for other people to get there. You could just as easily have meant that you live in central London, and so would like them to do another gig much closer to your home - and then others could have joined in and said "Yeah, come to Edinburgh too!", "Somewhere down here near Swansea would be good as well!" etc., depending on where they live. Not unreasonable at all.

It's a bit like, if somebody two miles away from me here in the Midlands won the lottery jackpot, I wouldn't be saying that it would be nice and fairer now if somebody in Oban, or Bury St Edmunds, or Caernarfon, or Redruth won the next week's jackpot (if I actually played the lottery!); I would want it to be just two miles away - at my house!

Why would you have desires for amazing/nice/treat things (as opposed to, say access to clean water or enough food) on behalf of others rather than yourself?

I hate it when things only happen in London, but that is the largest population centre by a very long way. If you split London in half and considered each half a population centre in its own right, they would be 5m each - so still some way ahead of wherever would be 'third'; thus, the first (only?) two gigs logically maybe should both be in London - especially if they were sure to sell out.

I doubt it’s Air she is talking about; I don’t see how the Royal Albert Hall could not be considered central!

I get that @HaitchOar but it really doesn't make it any different to the rest of us all over the country who routinely have to travel significant distances to things that aren't dropped squarely into our laps.

Also, the UK is a very tiny part of the world's land mass. If you really had only been altruistically interested in it being within easiest reach of the largest number of people, you would be campaigning for the first/only gig to be somewhere like Kazakhstan, not London!!

I’m just making the point that the greater London area is very big. If you live in Coulsdon for example, and a gig is on in Alexandra Palace, that’s about 2.5 hours door to door on public transport. Driving is not much better; on a weeknight that would be 2 hours according to Google Maps

So perhaps central London isn't the easiest to get to for everyone in the UK then.

I’m fully aware of that; I’m not originally from London. I’m from Ireland originally, which bands used to sometimes skip entirely… (or they would do one gig in the Olympia, which would inevitably sell out in about .5 of a second.)

I really really dislike London, so it’s a PITA when there’s something on there that’s not on anywhere else, which is then doubly inconvenient because I have to pay to stay overnight in an overpriced cesspit of a hotel for the privilege. At least if somethings on in Leeds or Manchester the prices for staying in a hotel are reasonable.

I really wish the OP would come back and say what band and venue it is! I’m invested now!

I don't see the issue with that comment at all. Crazy that sad little people would make such a big deal out of it. Its not the bands fault though, just toxic people on social media. You should boycott social media rather than the gig.