KK’s Steel Mill Wolverhampton Accessibility Review

Photo and Image Description Credit: Lizzie Iles. Image description: Photo from the access platform for Starset at KK Steel Mill on 2nd March 2023. Side-angle view of the stage, backlit by blue and purple light. The lead singer is silhouetted in profile, holding a mic with a Star logo outlined in pink light behind him. There are speakers and lighting rigs hanging from the ceiling and the side of the stage. Fans are silhouetted in front of the stage.

Back with another accessibility review. This time for KK’s Steel Mill in Wolverhampton from my visit to see Enter Shikari in February 2023 

(Disclaimer: I’m aware “accessibility” means different things to different people, as I said before, these are MY views on my experience of accessibility at this venue as an electric wheelchair user, I obviously can’t speak for others experiences but feel free to add your experiences in the comments!)  

Ticket Buying 

Ticket buying was fairly simple as I just bought a standard ticket online and emailed the venue to turn it into a wheelchair and carer ticket. 

Travel 

Travel was a train from Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton. We ended up having to miss a couple of trains whilst waiting for assistance which was irritating. From Wolverhampton station it was a 25-minute ish walk to the venue. 

Experience & Seating 

Once we arrived at the venue we were led through and up to a ramped section which led into the main venue area. Before you enter the main venue, area there is an accessible toilet to one side. This was a good accessible toilet, but I did notice the red emergency cord didn’t reach the floor when I went. Once we entered the venue, we were led to the access platform. It was quite a large platform but the ramp up was quite steep. It’s also worth noting that, based on the experiences of my friends who are wheelchair users and have attended other shows at the venue (such as the one in the feature photo at the top of this post), the size and location of the access platform can vary from show to show.  

I must give a shout out to the staff on the access platform that night who were very attentive and helpful in making sure I had the best night. 

But the biggest shout out must go to Rou Reynolds (lead vocalist of Enter Shikari) who appeared on the access platform at one point to sing part of a song. This was one of my highlights of the entire year. It’s very rare that artists interact with those of us in access seating or bring us into the show in any way (I don’t think it helps that access platforms are often at the back of venues). So having Rou on the access platform for a part of the show really made feel seen and like I was actually part of the audience. It was something I will never forget, and I really appreciated that part of the show. 

Overall, I found KK’s Steel Mill to be very accessible and would happily return for another show. 

Stay Invincible! 

Em (Invincible Woman On Wheels)