Personal Narrative: Let Me Entertain You Tour

Let Me Entertain You… If Only We Could See ?

In October, Robbie Williams came to Sydney for his Let Me Entertain You tour, which was held at All Phones Arena. For non-Sydney people, All Phones are about 15km out of the city and is part of the Olympic site developed for the 2000 games. In my opinion, it’s miles away and a total pain to get to and from however for the sake of Robbie, I was happy to make the trip.

I was in charge of booking the tickets, organizing the parking, driving and all the other miscellaneous tasks involved in getting to the gig on time. I was Chief Organizer and Tour Guide.

The friend I went with is a huge music fan. He enjoys all genres, from David Bowie to Bloc Party and everything in between. We were both equally as excited about the concert and maybe a little less excited about the adventure out to All Phones.

My friend, Jamie, suffered a traumatic brain injury a few years back that has left him with significant cognitive and communication impairments. These impairments are bought to the forefront when he is in unfamiliar surroundings, new situations and in crowds. Fortunately he has less physical impairments

so he is able to walk slowly, stand for short periods and needs to have close access to the bathroom, as incontinence can be a problem.

Jamie has a Companion Card that enables him to access social events, such as concerts and movies, with a companion or support person at a no cost. He is unable to attend this type of event alone, so it is a fantastic resource which opens up many more opportunities for him do things he really enjoys.

As the Chief Organizer, I rang through to the Special Assistance booking line and booked the tickets and parking. I made the booking honestly, explaining Jamie’s care needs. He was able to walk so did not need wheelchair access but we did need to be close to the aisle and bathrooms and not have to negotiate too many stairs. The lady on the phone was very helpful and assured me that our tickets were the best available for his needs.

We arrived at All Phones Arena, in plenty of time to collect the tickets and have a quick bite to eat. There were thousands of Robbie fans all with the same idea, hurrying from one place to the other, talking, laughing, drinking and rushing past. What I noticed immediately was the impact this environment had on Jamie. He was suddenly clinging very closely to me, having great trouble hearing and looking very hesitant as I led him to the restaurant for dinner, found the bathrooms and the door to the stadium where our seats would be. We managed all of this in reasonable time leading up to the concert starting and made our way to our seats.

Our seats were great. We had a great side view of the stage and I immediately thought Jamie would be impressed that I had paid for fancy seats. The idea of the Companion Card is that the companion or support person has free or discounted access, however try explaining this to Jamie. He is of the view that he should be the one that gets in for free and far be it from me to take on a battle I would never win!

As we approached our row, I realized that when the lady on the phone helping me with the booking said, “a few seats from the aisle and close to the bathroom” she actually meant, “down a flight of stairs without a rail in almost the pitch black and half way across a row of 30 seats”. I was starting to think I had been too honest when I booked. This was not going to be great. Jamie and I had to walk slowly down the steps with him clinging to my arm and then we awkwardly stepped over people to get to our seats. Don’t get me wrong, once we got there, the seats were great. But my first thought on sitting down was, getting to the toilet will be nightmare.

Robbie started and the first song was great! He sang, Let Me Entertain You and the entire crowd were on their feet and singing along. Jamie stood next to me and seemingly looked to be enjoying it just as much as everyone else. After the first song we sat down, but as I looked around us, nobody else was sitting. I indicated to Jamie we should stand for a bit longer which he happily did but after the second or third song he needed to sit. The crowd around us stood, singing and dancing and this didn’t bother me initially, as I thought eventually they would all sit. Surely during one of the slower songs they would sit. Maybe when Robbie was just talking and making jokes they would sit. No. Wrong. They stood for the entire concert, all bar the brief times when Robbie ran off stage for a costume change/toilet break.

After a little while, of watching Jamie try to peer through the gaps between people and at one stage zone out all together, it got the better of me and I politely asked the ladies in front of me if they would mind sitting for a bit.

I tried to explain that Jamie had trouble standing and we couldn’t see past them. There response was a not so polite version of… ‘too bad’. Thankfully, Jamie was sitting with his earplugs in and couldn’t understand their response. I explained to him that the people did not want to sit down to which he replied quite loudly a few expletives, which I cannot repeat, here. The people in front turned with and looked down on us from with a strong glare to which Jamie was oblivious. He continued to tell me how ‘disgusting’ they were and I quickly changed the topic by showing him the photos I had

taken.

The rest of the concert was OK. Jamie sat for the remainder of the concert, We clambered over everyone to get to and from the toilets and then up and down the stairs in the pitch black. Thankfully, Jamie didn’t stumble and made it to the toilet in time every time…just!

The final song was My Way by Frank Sinatra. Jamie was very confused as to why Robbie Williams would be singing a Frank Sinatra song as his final song, we still couldn’t see and he needed to go to the bathroom so we mad a quick exit. Well, kind of quick as we once again stepped over 15 people and slowly made our way up the stairs to the bathroom.

In the car on the way home Jamie told me he thought Robbie had got very old and didn’t sound that great. Since the concert, I have heard Jamie tell others it was ‘not very good’. We had a great night, but it was hard work.

So, what did I learn from all of this?