Thursday 17 August 2017

Adventures With A Wheelchair 1 : Bryan Adams Get Up @ Nostalgie Beach Festival 2017

Hy guys and welcome to a new segment on this blog : Adventures With A Wheelchair!

These posts will be written by me and my friend Shannona as we go to events all over Belgium (and maybe abroad) with a lot of courage, enthusiasm, hopefully good weather and of course her wheelchair. 

Here's a bit information on why Shannona uses a wheelchair from time to time:
So umm, because of my physical disability I need to wear protheses on both my legs to be able to walk (and do other stuff, like driving, riding horses and so on...) But it takes quite a toll on me, so whenever we're talking about going big distances or standing for a long time, I definitely take my wheelchair with me.

So, this is how we're going to do this from now on: 
You guys will get a few details on when and/or where we went, what the weather was like, what we got for food, drinks... We'll try to put in a few pictures if we don't forget (no selfies though) of the place we went to, the event we saw. 

There also will be a score list on these 8 categories: 

  1. Weather - Eg. What's the best weather to do this in? (/10)
  2. Food & drinks (/10)
  3. Event (/10)
  4. Accessibility - Eg.: is the terrain in good state for someone in a wheelchair? (/20)
  5. Politeness, respect,.... (/10)
  6. Sanitary aka toilets and stuff - Eg. is there a toilet for someone with a handicap?(/10)
  7. Information in advance - Eg. where can we park? Do we have our own exit? (/10)
  8. General experience (/20)
Total on /100




Here is our review! Enjoy :) 

Event we went to and how we got the idea: I actually won 2 tickets to Bryan Adams 2 days before the event on facebook. Being a fan of Bryan since the Spirit soundtrack sure made me excited to go and see him live! The only thing was that I had no idea who to bring. But because Shannona was a big fan too, it wasn't a hard choice :p 
The event we actually went to was a show of his Get Up 2017 Tour during the Nostalgie Beach Festival in Middelkerke, Belgium. The supporting act was K's Choice. Probably known best by their greatest hit, Not an Addict. So I can't say I was dissapointed XD

How we got there and how long we had to travel:
Shannona's parents came all the way from East Flanders, picked me up and dropped us of at the event at Middelkerke. So in general, they had to drive for 1 hour. - around 88 km. (S: yes, they are very lovely parents! ;) ) I only had to ride along with them for about 45 minutes - around 40 km. We got at the event around 5 pm. (K's Choice started at 8 pm, Bryan at 9.30 pm) Unlike a lot of other people, we did not have any problem with the traffic. Tbh, we didn't have to look for a parking spot but the general idea for events like this: JUST BE ON TIME. If we did go on our own with on of us two driving, I would have parked in Ostend and take the Coastal Tram to the event. 

The amount of people at the event: 16.000


OUR SCORES

Weather : 9/10



It was lovely weather. not toooo hot, not to cold. Well... that was until the sun set. The wind came up and we cursed ourselves XD (no but seriously, we wished we brought a warmer jacket)

Food & Drinks: 8/10

Good, a lot of variation but expensive! 8€ for a medium size pasta. €3.50 for a simple Coke.


Event: 7,5/10

Bryan Adams & K's Choice were amazing, those two on one evening = great!
The merch was a bit small... And with small I mean that a lot of people wanted the hoodie but there weren't enough. I got the long sleeved tshirt which wasn't even sold out at the end of the night, the hoodies were. 

Accessibility: 12/20

Probably the most important part. The terrain was okay, thank god Shannona is used to rolling her wheelchair around difficult places. But it could be a lot better. Because we didn't have the chance to save us a seat on the wheelchair podium, we were 'forced' to find a place on the terrain itself. Not that we would have used the podium, but you get my point. Thank god we had our own exit way when the show was over. a few slopes would have been welcome. + tbh, that wheelchair podium was WAY to close to the main stage. I did not want to be those poor people eardrums. Thanks to my old science teacher, we got front row seats through facebook live XD

Politeness,...: 9/10

Very friendly people! 

Sanitary: 8,5/10

It was good.. until we found out that the handicapped stall was locked. When I went to the people and asked if they could unlock it, they told me that someone was on it. I went back but Shannona was tired of waiting and used the normal toilet (a bit difficult for her). When I was waiting in her wheelchair, two employees opened the door and asked me if I needed to use it. I told them I wasn't the person in the wheelchair. When they went in, I saw that their backpacks were all stored in there. Lovely.

Information in advance: 4/10

Okay, we got our tickets 2 days in advance (MERCI ZES! :D) and did not have the chance to reserve anything (parkingspot, wheelchair podium...) but there was NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING that explained us what a person in a wheelchair could do in case of that, if they were allowed to use the special entrance or not....

General Experience: 14,5/20

It was a great first concert for Shannona. And I just loved seeing Bryan Adams for the first time live. We are both big fans so it was a good day! But there could be a lot better!



Bryan Adams Get up @ Nostalgie Beach Festival : 72,5/100

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