The Weeknd at Allianz Arena 2026: A Munich Trip With the Bauers, Brigitte's Bakery, and the Honest Lyric Talk

Three Allianz Nights, the Resale Hangover, and a Trip Brigitte Has Already Planned For Us

Would you believe Brigitte texted me about the Munich Weeknd dates before they were even on Ticketmaster Germany? She works in the box office at the Bayerische Staatsoper - not the football one, the opera one - but she has friends across both organisations and one of them mentioned the Allianz block-out dates back in August. By the time the on-sale arrived in September she had a Whatsapp running with three of us in Berlin and Hamburg comparing presale codes. Brigitte was an actress in Munich theatre in her twenties before she had her kids and she has a particular talent for ticket-pulling that I lost the moment I had Margaux.

The Weeknd plays the Allianz Arena on Thursday June 25, Friday June 26 and Saturday June 27, 2026. Three nights, 75,000 capacity each, sold out across the entire row in two presale waves. Face value sat at 79 to 199 euros for the proper tickets, which is roughly $85 to $215 USD. Two SoFi lower-bowl resale stubs in the US are running $1,100 to $1,800 right now. Long before kids, I was an au pair in Munich. I lived with the Bauers in Bogenhausen for fourteen months and I went to my first stadium concert there. The version of this trip where you fly Theo and Margaux and walk them around my old neighbourhood is the trip I have wanted to write since I started this column.

Theo is 4. Margaux is 6. Neither of them is going to the actual concert. I want to be honest about that and I will get to the lyric piece below. But the Munich-with-kids piece, before the show? That part is genuinely beautiful and worth the flights all by itself.

The Show: Production, Language, the Lyric Conversation

Three nights at the Allianz Arena. Doors at 18:00. Playboi Carti opens around 19:30. The Weeknd is on stage at roughly 20:45 and the show wraps just before 22:30 to comply with the Munich event-noise ordinance. The Allianz turns its outer skin red on event nights and you can see the building glowing from the U6 train as you approach.

The production scale on this tour is the largest of his career. The After Hours staging - 50-foot moon prop, fire towers, drone formations, the deconstructed cityscape stage set - is reportedly being retired at the end of this run, and they are not phoning it in. The Munich production team confirmed in a Süddeutsche Zeitung interview last month that the Allianz nights are getting a small additional pyro budget because the venue has the right ceiling clearance for it.

Performance language is English. Playboi Carti's set is also English. There is no German singalong moment.

I want to be careful and clear about the lyrics. The Weeknd's catalogue is explicitly adult. Songs like Often, Earned It, Wicked Games, Initiation, House of Balloons - these are not children's listening. The references include sexual content that is graphic in a way I would not want my four-year-old absorbing in a stadium. He does not perform radio edits live. He plays the actual album versions.

Why hadn't anyone told me how seriously to take this when I first started watching Weeknd performance footage? Because moms talking honestly about pop concert content is rarer than it should be. So here I am. Theo is staying with the Bauers for the Friday June 26 show. Margaux is having a Marienplatz pretzel and an early bedtime. My husband and I are going to one show. The kids are not. If your child is 14 or older and a fan who genuinely knows the catalogue, I would let them go - this is a one-of-a-kind production they will remember. Younger than 14 and you are putting a child in a stadium for content they don't need yet. The Olivia Rodrigo show was different. This one is not. Plan accordingly.

Where to Fly Into

Munich Airport (MUC) is one of the great airports of Europe. Excellent kids' play areas, fast S-Bahn into the city, and the Lufthansa kids' meal is genuinely good. Sample fares for late June 2026 round-trip economy:

• JFK to MUC - $640 to $880 on Lufthansa direct and Delta-via-amalgamated-routes
• Newark to MUC - $660 to $920 on Lufthansa and United
• Boston to MUC - $720 to $980 on Lufthansa and Icelandair via KEF
• Chicago to MUC - $740 to $1,020 on Lufthansa direct and United
• LAX to MUC - $880 to $1,180 on Lufthansa direct and one-stop options via FRA

The Lufthansa Kids' Meal is genuinely good. The chicken nuggets are real chicken, the pasta is the right amount of cooked, and they pack a Steiff bear with the under-6 meal. The Iberia equivalent is not in the same league. Pack snacks if you're routing via MAD.

Where to Stay

The Allianz Arena is in Fröttmaning, the northern Munich suburb on the U6 metro line, 25 minutes from Marienplatz. You don't want to stay near the stadium - it's surrounded by motorway and parking lots. You want to stay in a real Munich neighbourhood with U-Bahn access. Five neighbourhoods I'd actually book in:

1. Schwabing (the family pick)

The bookish, leafy neighbourhood where the university lives. Hotel Cocoon Stachus at 145 to 185 euros a night, ten minutes' walk to the Englischer Garten, three stops on the U6 to the Allianz. Brigitte and the Bauers' favourite bakery (Vinzenzmurr at the corner of Leopoldstraße and Hohenzollernstraße - the wurstsemmel is what your kids eat on the morning walk to the museum) is two blocks away.

2. Altstadt and Marienplatz

The medieval old town. Platzl Hotel at 220 to 280 euros a night, in the actual heart of Munich. Five minutes' walk to the Hofbräuhaus (yes, you can take kids there before 21:00 - the Festsaal floor is family territory). Six stops on the U6 from Marienplatz to Fröttmaning.

3. Maxvorstadt

The museum quarter, between the Pinakotheken and the university. Hotel Königshof at 195 euros a night. The Brandhorst, the Pinakothek der Moderne, the Glyptothek - all walkable. The kids will not run out of things to draw.

4. Haidhausen

East of the Isar, residential, beautiful, quieter than the centre. Hotel Opera at 170 euros a night. 12 minutes by U-Bahn to Fröttmaning via Karlsplatz. The Saturday morning Wiener Markt at Pariser Platz is genuinely the best market food experience in Munich.

5. Bogenhausen

My old neighbourhood from the au-pair year. The Bauers still live here. Hotel Splendid-Dollmann at 165 euros a night. 15 minutes by tram to U6 Münchner Freiheit, then six stops to the Allianz. The Hirschgarten beer garden is twenty minutes by tram and one of the best family beer gardens in Bavaria - the kids run, the parents drink helles, the chestnut trees are 200 years old.

Skip the airport hotels. The Bauers have stayed in three of them when family flew in for weddings and they will tell you all three were fine and none of them gave you Munich. You did not fly to Bavaria for an Ibis at the airport.

Getting to the Show: U-Bahn, Last-Train, German Pharmacies

Munich is a U-Bahn city and the U6 line goes directly to the Allianz Arena's dedicated stop, called Fröttmaning. From Marienplatz it's 25 minutes. From Münchner Freiheit (Schwabing), 15 minutes. Trains run every 5 to 7 minutes on event nights and the MVG runs additional service after the show.

The Allianz Arena's design includes pedestrian routes between the U6 station and the stadium that feed in from the south side. The walk from Fröttmaning station to your seat takes 10 to 15 minutes including the security gate. Build that in.

Last-train caveat: The U6 runs until 01:30 on Friday and Saturday nights and 00:30 on Thursday. Friday June 26 and Saturday June 27 - you are fine. Thursday June 25 - you have a window of about 90 minutes after the encore to get back to Marienplatz, which is plenty if you go straight from your seat to the U6. If you stay for the full venue clear-out and the second encore round, you might miss the last U-Bahn from Marienplatz to Schwabing. Plan accordingly.

Tipping rules: at restaurants, round up to the nearest euro for casual lunch and add 5 to 10 percent for proper dinner service. Hand the tip to the server when you tell them the bill amount - they will not pick it up off the table. The honesty-box farm stands work the same way and yes, the strawberry stands at the U-Bahn entrances will function on a 2-euro coin and a basket. Some Italian beaches charge for umbrella service by the hour - that's a different country, but it's the same warning energy: read the sign.

German pharmacies close on Sundays. If you need anything from a pharmacy - allergy medicine, a kid's fever reducer, that emergency tube of Bepanthen - buy it Saturday before 18:00. The on-call Notdienst pharmacy is genuinely available on Sundays but it is one specific pharmacy in a specific district per night and you have to look up the rotating schedule.

Pre-Show Food (No Chains)

Munich does pre-show food right. None of these are chains. All within 25 minutes of the Allianz by U-Bahn.

• Wirtshaus in der Au in Haidhausen - actual Bavarian dumplings (Knödel) made to order. Family-friendly, beer garden seating in summer, the Schweinshaxe is what Theo will tell you about for a year.
• Hirschgarten - the largest beer garden in Munich. Brings-your-own-food allowed at the picnic tables, just buy the beer. The kids run on the playground while you eat.
• Viktualienmarkt - the open-air market in the Altstadt. Stand-up bratwurst stalls, the cheese-and-bread combinations from Beckenbauer-Stand, fresh fruit. Pre-show snack heaven. 12 minutes' walk to Marienplatz U-Bahn for the U6.
• Café Reitschule in Schwabing - by the Englischer Garten, family-friendly, good schnitzel, fast service. Plan for 17:30 dinner if you want to make a 19:30 doors.
• Augustiner Bräustuben in the Altstadt - the actual Augustiner brewery's tied house. The Augustiner Helles direct from the wood barrel is, frankly, the best beer in Munich and Brigitte will defend that statement against any competing claim.

Day-Of Itinerary: 4 Munich Must-Sees

Skip the Glockenspiel show. Trust me. Pretty, but a 12-minute investment in tourist-density. Here is what I would do with Theo and Margaux:

1. The Englischer Garten

The 900-acre central park. Larger than New York's Central Park. The Eisbach surfers, the Chinesischer Turm beer garden, the Monopteros temple. Bring a picnic. Allow a half-day.

2. The Deutsches Museum

The largest science and technology museum in the world. The mining gallery (a full reconstructed mineshaft you walk through), the historic-aircraft hall, and the children's wing. 15 euros adults, free for under-6. Allow three hours minimum. Theo would not have left at age 4 and we had to buy him a Lego model from the gift shop to bribe a Kinderwagen exit.

3. The Tierpark Hellabrunn

The geographic-zone zoo - animals grouped by continent rather than taxonomy. South of the city, U3 line, beautiful Isar-side walk back into Sendling. 15 euros adults, 6 euros kids 4 to 14. Pack the lunch from Viktualienmarkt and eat at the picnic tables in the Asien zone.

4. Schloss Nymphenburg

The summer palace and gardens. Free to walk the grounds. 12 euros adults to enter the palace. The Marstallmuseum (the royal carriages) is what Margaux still mentions a year after our last trip. Allow a half-day with the gardens included.

Shopping Near the Venue and in the City

The Weeknd costume tradition - red blazer, red bandage over the bridge of the nose, black sunglasses, the After Hours visual - is a living XO fan ritual at every show. Munich has the right vintage-and-design infrastructure to put together a credible costume for under 80 euros. Where to actually shop:

• Holareidulijö on Buttermelcherstraße in the Altstadt - vintage and second-hand done with the kind of eye that the Bauers' daughter (now an art director in Berlin) used to drag me to in 2008.
• Vintage Kilo Sale at Optimal Records in Schwabing - rotating monthly pop-up sales by weight, not item. The red blazers are at the bottom of the bins.
• Manufactum on Dienerstraße - the German design store. Notebooks, leather goods, kitchen things you do not need but will buy. The catalogue alone is worth the visit.
• Globetrotter on Isartorplatz - the four-floor outdoor and travel store. Where to buy real rain layers if you are heading to a beer garden in Bavaria in late June and want to be honest about the weather.
• Loden-Frey on Maffeistraße - traditional Bavarian dress and modern Loden coats. Margaux has a small Trachten dress from there that she has refused to grow out of for two years.
• The Galeria Kaufhof at Marienplatz - if you need anything proper and modern. Stocking-up department-store stop. Kids' floor is reasonable.

The Concert-Mom Security Packing List

What I am actually packing for the Allianz. Affiliate links throughout - small commission for me, no extra cost for you, every item is something I would pack regardless.

• Pacsafe GO Festival Crossbody - slash-resistant, the locking zips have helped me twice in U-Bahn crushes during Oktoberfest, and the post-Allianz exit on a sold-out night runs about the same energy as Theresienwiese during the Wies'n.
• BAGAIL Clear Stadium Bag - the Allianz enforces a clear-bag policy on event days. Non-compliant bags go into a 9-euro coat-check line that adds 25 minutes to your evening.
• Loop Experience 2 Earplugs - the Weeknd's bass lines are punishing. 17dB protection without muffling. One pair per family member, full stop.
• Travelon Anti-Theft Classic Crossbody - my between-show day bag for the Englischer Garten and the Deutsches Museum. RFID slots, slash-resistant strap, locking zips.
• ANLOKE Mylar Blankets 10-pack - June Munich evenings drop to 11C and the Allianz is built for cold-weather Bayern matches, but the upper-tier exposure is real. One folded mylar in the clear bag.
• FuninCrea Hidden Money Belt - euros and the family's passports under the t-shirt. RFID-blocking. Brigitte recommended this exact one to me in 2019.
• Anker EU Travel Adapter - Germany uses Type F (Schuko). Anker's travel block has two USB-C and one USB-A so the whole family charges from one outlet.
• Skechers Go Walk 7 Slip-Ins - the walk back from Fröttmaning U-Bahn to a Schwabing hotel after a 22:30 show is six U-Bahn stops and a 12-minute walk. These shoes do that. My Birkenstocks did not.

No power banks - the Allianz security policy specifically lists external batteries as restricted. Skip them. Your phone will not survive a Weeknd set anyway. Dance, don't film.

The Red-Suit Tradition

The XO costume photo at the Allianz happens on the south-side pedestrian approach from Fröttmaning station, beneath the inflatable red ETFE panels. Fans queue from about 17:00. The costume photo culture is sweet in a way I find genuinely lovely. Margaux saw a group of teenage girls coordinating their bandage placement when we walked past for a 2022 Bayern friendly match and she still asks about it.

Note: don't put the bandage on until the photo. The June stadium humidity will lift the adhesive in ten minutes.

The Math, Once More

Two seated tickets at the Allianz in the 119 to 159 euro range, two flights JFK to MUC at $720 each, four nights at Hotel Cocoon Stachus at 165 euros, Brigitte's bakery breakfast budget, U-Bahn passes, and a few Manufactum splurges, comes to about $2,750 to $3,300 for two adults plus daytime kids. Two SoFi lower-bowl resale stubs are $1,800 to $2,400 for the seats alone, plus parking and a meal you'd be at $2,500.

The Munich version is barely more money. You get the Englischer Garten. You get Schloss Nymphenburg. You get Brigitte's pretzel breakfast. You get a 4-year-old asleep in a Schwabing hotel room with the U-Bahn humming three blocks away. The version everyone tells you to do - get a SoFi resale and skip the trip - is wrong. Book the flights.