Olivia Rodrigo London 2027 at The O2 - Family Travel Guide

London is the trip your daughter will remember forever, and even with the flight, it's still cheaper than a sold-out resale ticket in the US. The Unraveled Tour hits The O2 in April 2027, which gives you a full year to plan, save, and book the right flights. I'll be honest with you. When my eleven-year-old Jack saw the resale prices for Olivia's US dates pop up at $650 a seat for the upper bowl, $1,100 for the floor, my husband Tom looked at me over his coffee and said, "That's a return flight to Heathrow." He wasn't wrong. He's from Manchester, so he says these things with a particular kind of conviction. Face value at The O2 sits at roughly £60 to £150 depending on where you're sitting, which works out to about $75 to $190. Even with two transatlantic flights and four nights in a London hotel, you can come in under what one US resale floor seat costs. And your daughter gets London thrown in.

The show itself

Olivia plays The O2 Arena on Monday, April 5, 2027. Doors at 6:30pm, support act on at 7:30pm, Olivia herself around 8:45pm. She's been touring with The Breeders and Chappell Roan as openers on previous legs, and Live Nation usually confirms the European support a month out, so check her socials in March. The show wraps around 11pm.

O2 shows are exceptionally family-friendly. The arena admits all ages, under-14s must be accompanied by an adult over 18, and the security staff are used to wave after wave of tweens in homemade glitter outfits. Frankly, your daughter will fit right in. My friend's kid wore a purple skirt she'd safety-pinned to a band tee and was instantly absorbed into a small herd of identical girls in the queue.

Where to fly into

Heathrow (LHR) is the obvious choice, and direct flights from JFK, Newark, Boston Logan, and Chicago O'Hare run all year. Shoulder season pricing for January through April 2027 sits around $480 to $720 round-trip per person from the East Coast on Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, or Delta. From the West Coast you're looking at $720 to $980 round-trip, with the cheapest seats usually on Norse Atlantic out of LAX or San Francisco if you're willing to pay separately for bags and meals.

If you can fly into Gatwick (LGW), prices drop another $50 to $100 per ticket and the Gatwick Express runs to Victoria in 30 minutes. We've done this twice. The Lufthansa kids' meal is genuinely good if you connect through Frankfurt, by the way. The Iberia one is not. Pack snacks if you're going via Madrid.

Where to stay

The O2 is on the Greenwich Peninsula, which is a peninsula on the south side of the Thames. It's quiet, modern, and built around the dome itself. Here's where I'd actually book.

InterContinental London - The O2. Walking distance to the arena, like four minutes. After-show you walk out, you walk to your room, you collapse. Not cheap, expect £280 to £380 a night, but you're not paying for a cab home with an exhausted nine-year-old.

Novotel London Greenwich. Twenty minutes by DLR (the Docklands Light Railway), much cheaper at £140 to £190 a night. Right by Greenwich Market and the Cutty Sark, which is a separate day-out's worth of activity.

Premier Inn London Greenwich. The reliable mid-range, around £120 to £170, family rooms that actually fit four, with breakfast included if you book ahead. Tom swears by the Premier Inn breakfast. He grew up on it.

Hotel Indigo Canary Wharf. One Tube stop on the Jubilee line from North Greenwich. £180 to £240, lovely views, lots of restaurants in the area for kids.

Travelodge London Greenwich High Road. Budget option, £85 to £130, basic but clean. A hike to The O2 but you can DLR in.

European hotel rooms are tiny. Stop expecting a king bed. The InterContinental has proper family rooms, the rest you'll be in connecting doubles or a small twin and you'll cope.

Getting to and from the venue

The O2 is served by the Jubilee line at North Greenwich station. Door of the station to door of the arena is a six-minute walk along a covered concourse. The Jubilee line is one of the newer Tube lines, the trains are clean, the platforms are wide, and on a concert night the station is staffed up specifically to handle the crowds.

Here's the truth nobody tells you about getting home. Olivia ends around 11pm. The last Jubilee line train westbound from North Greenwich on a Monday is around 12:30am. That's plenty of time if you walk briskly and don't stop for merch. Plan for it.

The Night Tube on the Jubilee line only runs Friday and Saturday nights, and Olivia's first London show is on a Monday, so you don't have that fallback. Your options if you miss last train: the N1 night bus runs from North Greenwich to Tottenham Court Road via Waterloo, taking about 45 minutes; or you grab a black cab at the rank outside the station, expect £25 to £40 to most central London hotels. Uber works fine here too. Pre-book the Uber on the walk back to the station and it'll be waiting.

Honestly, this is why I'd push for the InterContinental or one of the Greenwich-side options. You don't want to be navigating the N1 with a sobbing nine-year-old who just spent four minutes hugging a stranger in a sequinned bow.

You can also take the Thames Clipper river bus from North Greenwich Pier to central London. It runs until about 11:15pm on weeknights and it's brilliant. Your kid will love the boat. £8.20 per adult with an Oyster card, half for kids.

Pre-show food near the venue

The O2 has an entire indoor street of restaurants called Entertainment Avenue, but most of it is chains and you can do better. Here's where I'd actually go.

Brasserie Bar Co. at Icon Outlet. Inside the dome itself, but properly nice. Steak frites, kids' menu with actual food on it, fast service if you say up front "we have a show at 8pm." I cannot tell you how much that one sentence speeds up service in London.

Craft London, a five-minute walk from the dome. Modern British cooking, the kids' set menu is genuinely thoughtful (not just chicken nuggets), and they have a balcony overlooking the river.

The Pilot Greenwich. Twenty minutes by DLR but worth it for an early lunch the day before show day if you arrive Sunday. Proper old pub, garden, Sunday roast that will keep an eleven-year-old quiet for ninety minutes.

Goddards at Greenwich, if you want pie and mash done the way Tom's mum makes it. Cash-only sometimes, kids think the jellied eels are a joke until they see them. Do not order the jellied eels.

Marugame Udon in the dome. I know I said no chains, but Marugame is the exception. Fresh udon made in front of you, kids love watching it, twelve-pound ticket for everyone fed.

Day-of itinerary in London

If your show is Monday evening, here's how I'd shape the day. Late breakfast in your hotel. Tube into central London. Hit the British Museum (free entry, don't miss the Egyptian galleries with the Rosetta Stone, your daughter has seen this in textbooks and her face when she sees the real thing is the entire trip). Lunch at Borough Market - the Kappacasein toasted cheese sandwich is a cultural moment. Walk along the South Bank, peek at Tate Modern from the outside, take the Thames Clipper from Bankside Pier downstream to North Greenwich. You arrive at the dome by boat, which is its own small thrill. Dinner at one of the spots above. Show.

If you're staying longer, day two: Tower of London, lunch in Spitalfields, afternoon at Sky Garden (free but you have to book ahead). Day three: Camden Market and Primrose Hill for the picnic-and-the-skyline thing your tween will pose against. Day four if you have it: take the train out to Bath. The Watsons are family friends of ours there and we always make a day of it. The Roman Baths are spectacular, and the Jane Austen Centre will hit if your daughter is reading age.

Shopping near the venue and in the city

The O2 has Icon Outlet, which is genuine outlet shopping with kid-friendly brands like Levi's, Adidas, and Gap at proper discounts. Your tween will probably want to look at the Lush, Pandora, and the merch shop by the dome.

For the actual mom-and-tween London shopping moment, you want to be in central London, not at the dome. Liberty on Great Marlborough Street is a department store inside a Tudor-style building and the haberdashery floor is the closest thing to a fairy tale my daughter Olivia (yes, my own kid is also called Olivia, this whole trip is on-brand) has ever stood in. Hamleys on Regent Street is the toy store, predictably packed but worth it for a forty-minute browse. Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road has an entire YA floor. Camden Market for vintage band tees and weird patches. Notting Hill on a Saturday morning for Portobello Road. The Stables Market in Camden has stall after stall of homemade jewellery your kid will treasure for a year.

The concert-mom packing list

You're going to a sold-out arena show in a foreign country with a tween. Pack like a professional.

The O2 enforces a clear-bag policy on most major concerts. The BAGAIL Clear Stadium Bag is the one that actually meets the size limit at 12 by 12 by 6 inches. We've used ours at three different European venues now and it's never been turned away. Throw in the show essentials and your phone and you're sorted.

For everything else around London - the Tube, the markets, walking through Camden - you want a proper anti-pickpocket bag. The Pacsafe GO Festival Crossbody is the one I always come back to, with locking zippers and a slash-resistant strap. If you prefer something a bit less tactical-looking, the Travelon Anti-Theft Classic Crossbody is the sister product and looks more like a regular handbag.

Earplugs. I'm serious. Olivia's shows run loud, and your tween's ears will not thank you for ignoring this. The Loop Experience 2 Earplugs reduce volume without making the music sound muffled, which is the only kind of earplug a tween will actually wear. Pack two pairs - your kid will lose one and you'll need a backup.

Your phone, your passport, your card. The FuninCrea Hidden Money Belt goes under your shirt and holds the essentials. Pickpockets work the Tube and the queue at any major venue, and London is no exception, so wear your valuables under your clothes.

The walk from The O2 back to the Tube on a chilly April night is a long one when you're tired. The ANLOKE Mylar Blankets come in a pack of ten, weigh almost nothing, and you can wrap one around a shivering eleven-year-old at the train platform. Genuinely lifesaving. We've used them at outdoor concerts in Munich and ferry queues in Greece.

UK plugs are different. The Anker EU Travel Adapter covers UK and the rest of Europe in one package, which matters if you're combining London with Paris or onwards.

Comfortable shoes are non-negotiable. You will walk eight to twelve miles a day in London. The Skechers Go Walk 7 Slip-Ins have saved my feet on every European trip we've done in the last two years. They look enough like normal sneakers that your tween won't be embarrassed by you, which at age eleven matters more than it should.

The mom-and-daughter moment

Here's the bit no one tells you about taking your daughter to her first big concert. The show itself goes by in a blur. What she'll remember forever is the lead-up. So write her a letter. Hand it to her on the plane, or on the Tube on the way to the venue. Tell her you remember the first concert your mother took you to. Tell her you saw her singing along to vampire in the kitchen at age six and you knew this trip was coming. Tom thinks I'm being soppy when I do this, but Jack still has the letter from his Hamilton trip in his desk drawer.

Or get her a small charm or pin from Camden Market on day one of the trip and say it's hers to wear at the show. Something she can keep in a drawer for the next thirty years and pick up and remember the night her mom took her to The O2. The trip is the souvenir, but a small physical object anchors it.

One more warning. The Trevi pickpocket thing I mentioned in my Rome posts? It applies in London too, especially in Covent Garden and on the Tube during rush hour. Yes, I lost my wallet to one of them in Rome. No, I won't be taking questions. Wear the money belt. Watch the bag. And have a brilliant time.