Last night was my first experience with the Auckland City Council’s multi-million dollar indoor entertainment venue, the Vector Arena, and I’m delighted to report that it was an incredibly positive experience!

I was there to see teenagedom idols Linkin Park, who were being supported by Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell. To be honest, Cornell is a bit before my time, and while the crowd seemed to be enjoying his set, you could tell there was a touch of politeness to it all; they were here to see one band, and one band only. Once the curtains came down and Chester Bennington ripped into the first track off their new album, Minutes to Midnight, it was the beginning of what was to be 90 minutes of earth-shattering, mind-blowing, and any other double-barreled adjective you can think of to describe what was the most intense, most incredible gig of my life.

Anyway, onto the more important stuff (hah! I would’ve crawled up 100 stairs if I’d had to in order to see these guys), the Vector Arena scores a near-perfect 10 when it comes to wheelchair accessibility. For a start, one of the entry doors was clearly marked “Disabled Access”, which meant we beat the entry queues and got inside literally straight away – fantastic stuff. From there, it’s a short walk to the lifts which were manned by a security guard, who calls it down, holds the door for you, and even tells you which button to press (even though there’s only two options – Ground and Level 1). You then are presented with another series of easily read, large-print signs with door numbers on them, which match with the one listed on your ticket. Those doors are opened for you, and you enter the – gasp, HUGE – stadium, and guided to your seats.

What’s neat about the ‘disabled’ seats is that they seem to operate on a two-wheelchair/one-chair-one-wheelchair pattern, in that you can either go with your buddy who’s also in a wheelchair, or an able-bodied friend. I think this is way cool, and gives someone with an impairment the power to choose who they go with, as most venues operate on a chair-gap-chair-gap arrangement. On top of this, the wheelchair area is situated at prime viewing location, to the side of the stage, halfway back, and about halfway up the stands – I couldn’t have picked a better spot! The area is bordered by a glass barrier which went up to about my waist – helpful for leaning on and shouldn’t restrict viewing ability whatsoever.

The toilets – have no doors! Kudos to the people who thought this up. This isn’t to say people can see you pee – there are no entry doors, which makes things so much easier – and hygienic! They’re well-signposted and plentiful too, and although there was some dickhead in the disabled one so I had to wait a bit, I found them spacious and well set up (gosh listen to me, it sounds like I’m describing a hotel room! Sadly there were no complimentary soaps..).

Overall, Auckland’s Vector Arena well and truly exceeded my expectations in regards to accessibility, and as such, will be awarded my first 5-star rating on this blog so far. I was even able to catch a wheelchair accessible train back to Kingsland at midnight after the gig. Can it get any better?!

(Well, we could’ve got free beer, but hey, there’s always room for improvement!)

• Click to read stuff.co.nz’s review of the gig
• Click here to check out my album of photos from the gig – all taken from the wheelchair accessible area!

THE LOWDOWN

• Well-signposted and easily accessible entry
• Not the slightest lip or step to speak of
• Wheelchair seating area was fantastically positioned, and well set out to allow multiple wheelchairs or fixed seats in succession
• Toilets were easily accessed (no entry doors) and well set up, with handrails and low wash basins
• Wheelchair accessible transport available to and from the venue
• Overall accessibility rating: 5 / 5