Lewis Capaldi at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

I’m back with another concert post for you today as I recently went to see Lewis Capaldi at Scarborough Open Air Theatre.

I’ve been to Scarborough Open Air Theatre many times over the years but aspects of the disabled access seating changed so when Lewis Capaldi announced his gig both me and my Mum were keen to go. I’ve never seen him live so that made it even more exciting.

 

Booking tickets

Purchasing disabled access tickets can be a challenge for many disabled people, it can often mean that we miss out on going to gigs because procedures aren’t put in place, or it can often be a stressful ordeal.

Whenever a band or artist that I like announces a gig and I’d like to go, I always look for disabled access information online so that I know how to purchase tickets and to ensure that my access requirements will be met. If I can’t find the information I need, then I will contact the venue in the hope that they can answer any questions that I may have.

As a disabled fan, it’s certainly not a case of just purchasing tickets online the day they go on sale, it’s a lot more than that, it often requires a lot of research, communication and planning.

 

Lewis Capaldi announced that tickets would be available through pre-sale, I didn’t know if this included disabled access tickets or not so I contacted the venue to enquire. They told me that disabled access tickets would be available online through Ticketmaster during the pre-sale but the venue would be selling them themselves on the day of the general sale.

I also asked about disabled access seating as the information that I could find on the venue’s website wasn’t up-to-date.

 

On the morning of the pre-sale, me and my Mum followed the pre-sale link which took us to the Ticketmaster website where we could hopefully buy disabled access tickets. Whenever we tried to select tickets for the disabled access platform, we kept getting an error message. We tried on several devices and various browsers and had no luck. I was really frustrated, I thought that being able to purchase them online was a step forward in terms of purchasing disabled access tickets but it certainly didn’t seem that way.

Me and my Mum took to Twitter to share our frustrations, and the promoters actually tweeted my Mum back a couple of hours later. They asked us to explain the issues we were having, they apologised and arranged for Ticketmaster’s accessibility line to give us a call.

 

A short while later, someone from the accessibility line called us and we purchased the tickets! It was a very quick and easy process.

I was grateful that the promoters picked up our tweets and sorted it for us as that took away a lot of stress.

 

It would be good if the issue with the online booking form was sorted or if the venue just dealt with the pre-sale bookings themselves rather than giving it to a ticketing company, as I think that would make the situation a lot easier.

 

We were able to get a free companion ticket; this is something that the venue took away a few years ago so it’s great that they have brought it back. A companion ticket is a free/discounted ticket that disabled people can get if they are unable to attend the show without support from another person. This is something that many disabled people rely on, including myself as I would be unable to attend without assistance from a sighted person.

 

It was then time to count down to the show…

 

The concert

Saturday 20th July came around in a flash. We headed to Scarborough late afternoon.

We got something to eat before heading to the venue.

I was really excited about the gig because it was the first concert that I had been to since the launch of Access Matters.

 

Once we had something to eat, we drove down to the open air theatre and found somewhere to park. Once we were all parked up, we made our way to the venue.

 

When arriving at the venue, we saw that the queue was extremely long, we decided to ask a member of staff at the box office if they had any provisions for disabled customers. We didn’t mind queueing but venues often put provisions in place for disabled people which can include early entry or a different entrance to avoid crowds and queueing. The person on the box office told us that we could just jump in the queue as they didn’t have any provisions in place. Both myself and my Mum felt very rude doing this as people had been queueing for ages and we thought that provisions should be put in place for disabled people to enter and exit the venue, especially those who are unable to stand for a long period of time.

We got our bags searched, tickets scanned and were eventually in the venue. We made our way to the disabled access platform where a steward got seats out for us as that was where we were seated for the evening.

My Mum said that the view from the platform was ok, but it wasn’t great. There was a large crowd of people stood in front of us which probably didn’t help the view. If I had some useful vision then I don’t think I would have been able to see much as we weren’t that close to the stage.

 

I have previously been to Scarborough Open Air theatre many times over the years to see some fabulous bands and artists and the disabled access has always been great. To put it into perspective: disabled people had the chance to sit right at the front, meaning that we were directly in front of the stage, this is an experience that is often extremely rare when you have a disability.

However, the venue has changed a lot over the last couple of years, the disabled access area has now been made bigger, it is now a general admission standing area, meaning that the venue can get more people in. This is obviously a good thing for the venue, the promoters and bands and artists, I can’t help feel like disabled people had been disregarded and shoved further back. There is now two disabled access platforms behind the standing area. This may not be the case at all and I know that things change, but this was just my general feeling.

I felt like there could have been a lot more accommodations put in place for disabled people, whether this was a better viewing area or assistance from staff at the venue.

I’m always honest in my posts because I want to share my experiences in order to help other disabled people, raise awareness on the lack of access for disabled fans wanting to access live music and I of course want to shout about good experiences and give credit where it is due. I will never sugar-coat anything and I am always completely honest in everything I say.

 

Lewis had three support acts – Charlotte, Saint Raymond and Ward Thomas. Each act was unique and they did a different style of music. I had never heard of any of the performers before but they all performed an array of songs.

 

We got seated at around 7pm and had to wait over 2 and a half hours before Lewis came on stage. Out of all the concerts I’ve been to, the band/artist usually comes on at around 8:30 but Lewis came on at 9:35.

He opened with his well-known song ‘Grace’. He performed one or two songs from his EP and a range of tracks from his debut number one album ‘Divinely Uninspired to a hellish Extent’. He was accompanied by a fantastic band.

During the show, he did a lot of interacting with the audience and his banter was most certainly on top form!

 

If you’ve ever heard any of his songs then you’ll know that Lewis has a rather amazing voice, his vocals are extremely powerful and this most definitely shines through when he performs live! There’s no denying that he is a very talented guy, he sounded even better live than on the studio versions, his range and the notes that he can hit are amazing.

He performed some songs with his full band and some just with a piano, they were all equally as good, I really liked the range of both upbeat and slow songs, it really showed off his vocal ability. My favourite performances were Hollywood, Hold Me While You Wait and Someone You Loved.

The crowd sang the songs back to Lewis at various points of the show which I think he loved.

 

Some of the crowd unfortunately spoilt parts of the show which were out of Lewis’s control. Nevertheless, he put on a good set and you could tell that he loves being up on the stage performing.

 

Lewis has had a lot of success over the last year, he thanked the fans and acknowledged that he wouldn’t be where he is today without people’s support, whether it’s buying or streaming his music or going to see him perform live, you could tell that he is really grateful to be doing what he loves so much.

 

He finished the set with his number one single ‘Someone You Loved’ which was a perfect way to end the show!

 

I thought he put on a good set, I would have liked it to be a little longer but I have no doubt the more his career progresses he’ll be selling out arenas in no time and will be performing songs from several albums in a few years time, if not sooner.

 

Once the show finished, we made our way out of the venue. It was extremely busy to get out and people were pushing at times but we took our time. I think the venue should possibly put procedures in place for disabled people as it may have been quite daunting for some.

We eventually made our way out and were soon on our way home.

 

In terms of disabled access, it wasn’t my favourite venue and I think there are improvements that can be made.

In regards to the concert, Lewis put on a fantastic show and is wonderful live.

I’m so glad that I got to see him live and he’s most certainly one to watch out for in the future.

 

Are you a fan of Lewis Capaldi? If so, let me know your favourite song of his in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.

 

Holly x