Disabled day for me and OLD ANN today. I thought the disabled experience was fantastic- priority no queuing, much love for the pleasant but not patronising Josh, the Accessibility Co-Ordinator who came to check on us, the view was great, my Mum loved the whole thing. My only complaint is that with a wheelchair, it’s hard to do anything other than go to your seat- there’s nowhere to sit easily or perch where you’re not in the way of other people. (
@lolly for info). It was wonderful to see her enjoying herself- she waved her arms, sang along, clapped her hands and asked me to help her up for Dancing Queen at which she clung onto the barrier and teetered about dangerously for the entire song before almost falling over when she went to applaud.
It did make me cry a little bit- I always wonder if that’s the last time I’ll see her like that.
As for the show itself, you feel very “in it” in the disabled section, but it means you don’t necessarily see it all. What astonished me was how “real” the Abbatars look from the front- from the side it was a lot flatter, less 3D, and you could almost see the joins in a way. From the front it looked like entirely real.
I didn’t think the crowd atmosphere was as good for this gig- no one danced to Lay All Your Love On Me and Summer Night City, for example, but at ours they were up and going for it. This crowd seemed to prefer piano Abba- SOS, Waterloo went down so, so well- but the highlight seemed to be seeing the crowd properly loving Chiquitita. It became an amazing singalong experience sat behind the dance floor all waving their hands- the song never bothered me before, but it was great today!
Anyway, here’s me and the old girl at the station waiting for the DLR because I forgot to book blue badge parking. Remarkably smooth and easy- and she even enjoyed it, remarking “it’s been years since I’ve been on a train”. She also leant over and said “well that was a bloody waste of time” after the cartoon of Eagle and “oh not HIM AGAIN” at Voulez Vous, so 81 or not, she still knows WHAT’S WHAT and can give SHORT SHRIFT accordingly. My work here is done.
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