Does anyone know if the car parks at the abattoir or the Mercedes buildings will be open for the Springsteen concert? And if so what time?

I was thinking of driving down around 4 park up but I'm guessing they won't open for parking that early.

Park outside Vermillion on Lord N Street if you're down there that early... it's free and allows for a quicker route out to the M60

Cheers pal, appreciate it

You mean on the actual Vermillion car park do you?

I'd advise you not to drive anywhere near the stadium.

On matchdays you can judge the traffic as everyone has their routine, and the traffic's about the same each game.

However, for concerts and other events, the traffic is a nightmare. This is because a lot of people aren't used to the area, so don't know where to go. Also the roads are shut for longer because there's more people moving around on the streets, so the traffic build up is quite bad. You're best off parking several miles away, then walking up/back from the stadium.

I tell anyone who's going to a gig at the Etihad to get public transport in via town. It's a 20 minute walk back to Piccadilly, with more transport options (bus, taxi etc) than around the stadium.

I'd second that. Compared to match days the Coldplay gig was far worse afterwards, rammed with traffic and pedestrians

Read the OP, and was just about to reply with the same thing that scall said above.
At the coldplay gig last weekend it was absolutely chaos getting away from the ground, for about 2 hours after it had finished.
After the gig we went into the 1894 lounge for a drink to wait for the traffic to ease off for an hour or so.
Got out and every road away from the stadium was at a standstill.
A lot of people we spoke to when we came out were asking for directions back to town/motorway/bus, train stations etc.
Absolute madness and glad we didn't drive.
It made getting away from the ground on a match day look like a piece of piss.

There are thousands more people at the gigs, than a game, and not many leave early either ;)

No mate, there is a road which leads onto the Vermilion car park...you can leave your car on this road (face it towards the train bridge)
and after the concert you can drive on under the bridge, take a left, and head towards Oldham Road (a62)
Hit the motorway from then on.

Cheers lads