O2 Academy Islington (26/6/2023 - The Warning)

 The Warning @ O2 Academy Islington

26/6/2023

The Warning are one of my favourite bands to see live; they have such brilliant energy, and they have outstanding stage presence and live vocals. I can't wait to see them again on 17/4/2025. The only thing I can hope is that accessibility will be better this time round.

Here it is! Unfortunately the time has come where I have to tell you guys about a not-so-good experience when it comes to accessibility. Luckily The Warning were so good that it barely made an impact on the enjoyability of my night. However, it did affect my opinion on wanting to attend events here again at The O2 Academy Islington.

First off, booking the tickets wasn't as easy as before at different O2 venues. This is because the staff at the O2 venue were unable to find my accessibility details I have registered with them, despite giving them my code from The O2 Academy Bournemouth. In the end the staff at The O2 Islington had to contact The O2 Bournemouth directly because they didn't have my details saved in their system, which it should automatically do. This was the only problem I encountered when booking my ticket and getting my companion ticket. However, it's important to remember this direct quote from an email from the staff at The O2 Academy Islington.

"It will be yes, it is sectioned off from the general crowd so you are able to sit and enjoy the show without any issues."

Which was the answer to the question, "Is the seating in the balcony area a separate seating area away from crowds?"

Anyway, it had come to the evening of the concerts, and we were once again let in early by talking to the security at the front of the general admission queue and then went to pick up my friend's companion ticket. For this concert we will be upstairs on the balcony, as I was notified by email when sorting out accessibility that the downstairs accessibility was already full. This is fine, as I have no problem with stairs. However, do you remember earlier when I shared with you an email that assured me that the balcony seating was sectioned off away from the crowds? Well, take a look at this photo and let me know what you think. I've circled my friend and me to help you out.

Taken from thewarningrockband on Instagram

Now I'm no expert, but you don't have to be to know that this isn't "sectioned off from the general crowd". The whole night I had people reaching and leaning over me with their phones. Whenever this happened, I got quite agitated, and my friend with me could see I wasn't myself. We did discuss trying to move somewhere else; however, there were rows of people next to and behind us, so it would've been a struggle to move past everyone with our chairs, and also we didn't know where else to go instead, so we decided to just try and push through it. Although I was getting gradually more and more overwhelmed and agitated each time someone would reach or lean over me.

Like I said earlier, The Warning was so good that I managed to enjoy myself and not let it get to me so much that I had a full-on meltdown. But at the same time, I shouldn't have to. I should be able to enjoy the concert the same way as everyone else without having to put so much effort into keeping myself calm.

And if this wasn't already bad enough, the security seemed very keen to get everyone out as fast as possible and away from the venue. The security would stand outside asking people to move away from the venue and to move down the road.

Overall, I do NOT recommend the O2 Academy Islington. They had problems when finding my accessibility information, lied when it came to their accessibility seating area, and their security personnel were way too pushy and eager to get themselves home for the evening.

All 3 taken by Me, O2 Academy Islington - 2023