Pink, Portman Road, Ipswich
Posted: Wed 30 June, 2010 Filed under: 1BEM, Charm School, Domestic, Driving, Reviews(ish), Stupidity, Travel 13 Comments »Last night I was supposed to be seeing Pink at the Portman Road stadium in Ipswich. I didn’t see it.
Why? Because I couldn’t find the fucking stadium.
I’m normally pretty good on finding places, but must admit that in this case I’d figured there would be some signs to follow. After all, it’s a football stadium for fuck’s sake. Surely they need some signs for away fans to get there etc.?
Apparently not. I have to assume that Ipswich is truly embarassed about the stadium – they sure as shit don’t like to admit that they’ve got one.
Driving along the A14, I got to the first turn-off for Ipswich. There’s a sign there that says “Football Stadium” with an arrow pointing straight on (i.e. don’t take the turn-off). Fine. Second junction’s the same – “Straight on for Football Stadium“. After that, nothing. I got to the far side of Ipswich, no more signs. I turned round, coming back from Felixstowe direction to Ipswich, and there’s not one fucking sign. Not one.
All told I did that stretch three times, checking the exit roads, trying to see any damn signage whatsoever that pointed me in the direction of the stadium. Nothing except those two signs saying “straight on” from one direction.
So in the end I said fuck it, and drove home.
I assume Portman Stadium etc. won’t give a shit, as they’ve got their money for the gig already. But you can be damn fucking sure I won’t be going back there again.
I do feel like a right bell-end for not being able to find a sodding football stadium. But at the same time it’s not just me, others have said it’s a shit to find unless you actually know where it is. Personally, I’m not going to make the effort to try and find it again.
Christ. I don’t what’s more embarrassing. Owning up to buying tickets to see Pink or admitting you couldn’t locate the venue.
Think of it as a blessing.
You could have stopped, of course, and asked anyone. The stadium is easy to see on most approaches to the town, as the approaches are higher than the stadium. Nevertheless, after seeing one concert there myself, I don’t think you missed much; acoustic-wise, it’s rubbish
I cannot believe you didnt’ think to follow the signs for the town centre and failing to see the gigantic flood lights from most places in the town stopping at oh I don’t know, A Petrol station and asking, what a muppet!!!
John
A14. Not the easiest place to stop and ask.
But yeah, I could’ve pulled off onto one of the roads. (And did when turning round etc. but didn’t see anyone) As for seeing the stadium, I didn’t spot it, but was paying more attention to the road/signs…
Andrew,
In my experience/knowledge (or lack thereof) stadiums are outside the town/city centre, so I wasn’t expecting to find the stadium by following signs for that.
As I said above, yeah, I suppose I could’ve asked somewhere. I just didn’t see anywhere I could stop, and wasn’t really on the right wavelength at the time.
Ummmmm….. Iphone, web, Ipswich Football ground website……. postcode, google maps, enter postcode, locate current position, directions…. not perfect gps but got you in right direction and wow there’s the stadium !!
you missed an awesome concert – visually spectacular. But then I don’t suppose you would have seen it anyway, if you can’t find a 30,000 seater staduim in a large town.
She was FAB ……. loved the hamster ball trick over the crowd.
I’ve always enjoyed the Ipswich ring road more than Pink.
Erm, you have satnav and an iPhone, non?
Jeez.
You missed a good one. She was amazing suspended on wire and doing the vocals.
Here’s a thought, maybe next time you locate the venue in advance – y’know, using a little something called “common sense” maybe?
To be fair, I worked in Ipswich for nearly 2 years, taking that exact route from the A14 (for 4 months, from Colchester – then the remainder from near Cambridge).
Portman road is a bummer to find, if you’re not sure where it is. And don’t get me started on the one way system surrounding it.
My advice for anyone ever visiting Ipswich who’s not from around there? Take any A14 exit marked “Ipswich”, find a Park and Ride, and cough up. Alternatively, the train station is awesome.