PSA: Concert and live show accessibility needs to get better; and staff need to be educated on the ADA laws. Also, people with invisible chronic illnesses are fans too, not just people with mobility aids and visible illnesses. We deserve a chance to see a show or concert without an obstructed view or sound machine being downstairs. Lastly, this is not the first time this has happened in Washington D.C to me All D.C venues need better accessibility in and outside of the venue.
As many of you know from my recent Instagram post and stories, I saw Maya Hawke live in concert at the 9:30 club in Washington D.C. My experience was very different from those who stood in line and ranted to the floor or the people on the balcony. Here, I'm going to give you a rundown of how my evening went from a chronic illness and diabetic's perspective. I feel like there aren't enough people who have invisible disabilities who talk about their experiences and stories online or in books. And that doesn't help me at all. I don't know what seats I'm getting or what the atmosphere is like till I get to the venue or place the show is. I understand, that the idea of the unknown also applies to able-bodied fans but my experience as a disabled fan is a bit different.
The very first thing that I do, is research. Before I even buy the concert tickets for the artist I want to see. I do all the research I can. I start always start by looking at if the venue has seats or can add seats for people with disabilities. Next, I look at the distance of the venue from my house. This part is important to me since I can't drive. My dad is my concert buddy and he hates concerts so it is basically a bribe to ask him if I can go. ( I really need a new concert buddy who gets me) After I look up the distance of the venue, I always look up the bag policy since I have to carry more items than an able-bodied person has to. (my glucose meter, food if my reading drops, my wallet and ID, my phone, hand sanitizer, and other essentials). If the venue cannot accommodate me or the items I need to bring in case of emergency, then I decide not to go to the concert.
After I've done the research, I am in charge of buying two tickets because no one else in my household knows how to use Ticketmaster or any of those other resale websites. My parents don't even buy me birthday gifts or celebrate holidays but that story is for another time. Sometimes, I get the tickets off of Ticketmaster and deal with the hassle and stupid verified fan things. And sometimes, I just pray to God and trust that resale tickets are not a scam like other fans do. In my opinion, I hate that I am responsible for the ticket-buying process because if I make a mistake or buy too many tickets, it's my fault. My dad always puts the blame on me or reminds me, weeks later about the mistakes I made.
It was easy to get two Maya Hawke tickets on Ticketmaster, and she didn't sell out of the second show till a few weeks later. So technically, I could have waited instead of buying the tickets on the day of release.
The next step that is always required for me to do, is to call the venue to see what their accessibility accommodations are like and how long the line is. For the 9:30 club, they recommend that patrons with disabilities call 2-3 weeks before their concert for seating since it is a standing-room-only venue. I did what their website said and called the box number on their website for accessibility two weeks before the show.
The first time I called them, I told them that I would need one ADA seat and they put me on a list and then ended the call. The second time I called was four days before the show, and I asked a different staff member how ADA seating works and how to get in. She specifically said that "You would need to stand in that long three-block GA line with all the other standing-room-only people. When you get to the venue tell someone who you are and they will send you to your bar stool, not a regular seat. And that your guest can't get a seat unless they have a disability too. She was also pretty rude and didn't understand my situation and talked really fast.
So after the tedious, ticket buying process, I have to plan the trip myself. My dad is the driver but he works more than 8 hours a day and I am an adult now. I have to plan every little detail from parking to dining to when the concert ends. Of course, no one knows when the concert will end but my dad always asks this because he is the one driving, not me. And as for dining options, I have to look for multiple places to eat and places that fit my dietary restrictions. Most times, we eat out before concerts because the venue is too far away from my house and I don't want to pay for venue food. And you can probably imagine that parking is expensive in the DMV area. I am in charge of looking up how far away it is from the venue since I can't walk far and how much it costs per hour. I know tedious, right? And I haven't even gotten to the venue yet.
We ate at Emmy Squared Pizza which was 2 blocks away from the venue and parking lot. They have really good pizza and Washingtonian Rated sandwiches. I recommend this place and LOL there are like 5 pizza places within a ten-minute walk of this restaurant.
Once I had food in my stomach and was positive that my glucose reading wasn't going to drop in the massive GA line to get into the venue, I told my dad that I was ready to walk to the venue. Now, keep in mind that the hills in D.C. are not pleasant and when I walk anywhere it affects my blood sugar. So I did what everyone else who was going to the concert did, I stood in that three-block line wrapped around 9:30 club and checked my blood sugar on my apple watch as I was walking.
Once I go to security, I was separated from my dad who is 6" since he wasn't carrying a bag. The first attendant looked through my purse and saw a plastic bag. He specifically said "What's this? You carrying weed, kid?" and I was like three people behind my dad. The security guy wasn't listening to me when I told him that I was carrying candy in case my blood sugar dropped and by ADA law I am allowed to have it in the venue. So my dad had to come over and hover over my small 4'11 body and explain it to the man who let me pass. Then after that 5-minute situation that should have been 30 seconds, I went through the metal detector and dropped my purse in a bag for another attendant to check. This man was nicer and let me pass without hesitation.
Once I got my tickets scanned, I had to get both my hands stamped since I could not drink. This lady was a bit pushy and was stamping my hands with ink, she treated me like a minor and rolled her eyes at me. But the 9:30 club is an all-ages venue. It took me about another ten minutes to explain to her that I called in advance for disability reserved seating and I was holding up the line to get in. She finally told me to walk upstairs and ask an attendant where to sit. That wasn't supposed to take that long to advocate for me!
This was where I sat. So basically the row in front of me was VIP and family and I was sitting at the bar with all the people drinking alcohol and eating dinner. I don't know if an able-bodied person would have enjoyed this seat because all I could hear was the middle-aged woman talking and the one other disabled person next to me saying that she needed a seat for her daughter who didn't need accommodations. In addition to the drinkers who were talking, I also had my hearing aids on. So my hearing aids picked up all the background noise of people ordering food and talking while I was trying to enjoy the concert. Even my 6' dad who has no hearing problems or disabilities couldn't hear the opener or Maya's lyrics very well.
When Raffaella opened the show with her set, I could barely hear anything she was singing. The two ladies who were talking weren't talking or eating and were trying to hear her sing too. This goes to show that accommodations may accommodate a patron with a disability but they won't give them the same experience as an able-bodied person on the floor would. I swear it wasn't my hearing aids! I have a valid reason to complain. I paid just as much as the able-bodied people did and I always need disability seating even if it is standing room only.
Raffaella came on at 8 and sang until 8:35. Maya was supposed to start her set at 8;50 but started at 8:55. It was really hard to hear her opening song. I recognized it because I listen to her album all the time on Apple Music but it was hard to make out her lyrics. Even the lady next to me was trying to watch and listen from her iPhone because there was better audio on there. That goes to show that people with disabilities deserve to have a good experience at live events, not a shitty one where they get the accommodation they need.
A few songs into the show, Maya introduced herself and I couldn't make out what she said besides the fact that she loves having sold-out intimate shows and that this was her first tour. I swear that she introduced her bandmates and said something about a duet but I couldn't hear her from the balcony. Then in the middle of the show, she picked up a cowboy hat from someone on the floor downstairs and I turned to my dad who was standing behind me. I told him that it wasn't fair that able-bodied people get to have those little interactions and give gifts to artists but I have to sit right there.
After Maya put the cowboy hat on, the lady next to me ordered fish tacos. And of course, they smelled greasy and made me hungry. Plus, she was talking to her friend next to her and the server. So all I could hear with my hearing aids in was her talking and eating. I wanted so badly to tell her to be quiet but she had every right to eat and talk because I was sitting in the bar. It really isn't my fault that disability seating was in the bar.
Instead of spoiling the entire concert for you, I am going to skip to the end of the concert. At the end of the concert, Maya Hawke's encore was something called "Song improv". She explained to the audience that she would pick someone to give a song idea suggestion and that she would improve the lyrics with her band. One of the girls in the VIP section one row below me who was about 16 years old shot out of her seat and raised her hand high in the air. But Maya picked a boy on the floor in front of the crowd, both the young girl and I were immediately jealous because we knew that people on the balcony had no chance of being chosen since Maya couldn't even see us up in the bar. As for the improv song topic, I can't tell you what it was about or what Maya sang because the audio was so bad from up top that it was just a blur of noise. It was not my hearing aids, again.
When the concert ended, my dad was immediately ready to go. And since I am only 4'11, my dad had to stand behind me while I walked down the stairs with a crowd of people behind me to make sure that I didn't get lost. Once we were on the D.C. streets again, it hit me that the concert was over and that I had to go back to my controlling and very strict Asian parent's home where I have no one to talk to about the concert. I watched many girls walk to their parking spots with either their friends or mothers or even fathers while talking about the concert. And then there is me, walking a few feet behind my dad who walks really fast and just wanted to get out of D.C. talking to him about what I did and did not like. I didn't have a friend to talk to our comforting mom. I had my dad who was focused on finding the parking lot instead of listening to me talk. I get why he did that but it made me feel isolated again and like an only child.
During those moments on the street on the way to my dad's car, I would not shut up about how bad the sound system was and how much of a better experience able-bodied fans got than I did. My dad even told me that I should reach out to the artist's team and say, "Hey, maybe you could do something for fans with disabilities and not prioritize the whole show over if a fan can stand for three hours." I know it's not possible to do that since there are millions of fans in the world but I wish that I could have talked to someone or even made a friend in line. I wanted to have the same experience as the able-bodied people who stood in line for over 4 hours to get front row.
And even during the 40-minute drive home, all I did was talk to my dad about everything and anything I could think of. From the latest gossip about Shawn Mendes to what song was playing on the radio. I just wanted someone to talk to. From my perspective, as an only child, anything I do with or without my parents can feel very lonely. But from a friend or reader's perspective, they may see that I get to go to dozens of events, concerts, and states. but they don't see how lonely I am and how I can't survive without my parents because I am 4'11 and need help with medical needs.
I really wish that I could have gone with a friend. I didn't mean to write this blog post and change it from past to present tense to make it seem confusing. But in reality, going to concerts for me is like living in the present at the concert and then coming back home to the trauma and place where my sister lived and got sick. And anytime, I get home from an event, it's just me talking to myself or talking to my dad who is like "ok." My mom doesn't listen to me and she doesn't understand anything about Gen-Z life. She doesn't even like going out or getting gifts so yeah post-concert depression sucks when you are an only child and it also sucks when the concert wasn't as great as u expected because of the audio.
I am really grateful that I got to go to the concert, even though it didn't turn out to be as I expected. I definitely recommend listening to Maya Hawke's music and Raffaella's too.
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