Guest Piece: ADA Venue Review UCF's Addition Arena: By ~ Krys Edmonds of Down the Rabbit Hole

On November 1,2024, I ventured into the big city of Orlando, Florida for WJRR’s annual Halloweenie Jam at UCF’s Addition Arena. Being disabled and going somewhere new is always an adventure. When I know I will be on my feet a lot, I use my walking stick. My disability doesn’t allow me to stand on my feet for very long as it causes my knees and hips to buckle. We had seats, so I knew going in this would be a better experience than at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg, Florida (10/1 for Dayseeker).

We got there early as we were doing Wage War’s VIP Meet and Greet. You never really know what to expect from these as they can be different. Sofar Sounds was in charge of this meet and greet. I must say Sofar did a fantastic job with their communications. We got there, got in and went inside to join the queue for the meet and greet. I immediately asked if I could sit while we waited, and the security guard gave me a chair to sit in. So far so good!

Finally getting us into the arena, Wage War’s Lead Photographer, Ana Massard, gave us directions to help the meet and greet session to run as smoothly as possible. My friend and I were in the middle of the line, more towards the back. I almost wanted to go last so we wouldn’t be an issue, but we noticed that they were giving people time to talk with the band before getting their photo made. When we finally got to the front, I had my gifts in hand. I laid my stick and bag on the floor to approach the band. Crazy thing ~ they remembered me from our first meeting in April.

To me that says something about my character, as I know they do meet a lot of people. I gave them all their gifts and then turned to clean lead singer, Cody Quistad, whom I had just given a copy of my first novel ~ Dirty Little Fairy Tale : Origin. The gifts I gave all of them were Hematite rings, which are magnetized ( a play on their song Magnetic), which they loved. I began explaining to Cody, as the other band members were listening on along with my roommate, that the book was mine and it comes out on 11/11/24. Telling Cody that they made my soundtrack and had a blurb on my acknowledgment page, he, Seth Blake (guitarist) and Briton Bond (unclean vocalist) got so excited.

“Congratulations, that is so amazing,” Seth said.

“How cool is that,” Briton replied.

“Wow. Thank you so much for sharing this with us,” Cody said as he reached in for a hug.

(sidenote ~ I was the only person they hugged during their meet and greet)

After Cody hugged me, Briton hugged me as well. We then turned for Ana to take our photo. Then I showed them my Wage War tattoo which included lyrics from their song, Gravity. They loved it and asked if Ana could take a photo of it. Of course, I said yes. All the while, UCF Addition Arena security were quietly standing by. We thanked them. They thanked us, and then we walked to our seats. This is where one of my gripes is.

Our seats were slightly obstructed due to band equipment boxes. Being a bit disappointed, we got lucky enough that our seat neighbors moved to new seats so we moved down into their seats and could see just fine. A few times, I got up and walked to the section to my right to basically be side stage. My other issue was actually with Wage War’s videography crew. My apologies, but I didn’t come see you perform to look at your videographer’s backside for the majority of your set! I teach people about situational awareness, because it’s such a necessity when dealing with disabled people.

Florida natives, Fame on Fire, came out first and delivered a solid set. I’ll be honest and say I did not know their music. We loved what we heard and saw. Another thing that impressed me was how fluid and time conscious the band crews were. Thrown, another band I don’t know much about  took the stage next. They were heavier in sound compared to Fame on Fire, but now a fan! Next up was one of my newer favorite bands, a band I have seen before, Alabama natives, ERRA.

I discovered ERRA through Bad Omens, surprisingly. Their clean lead singer, Jesse Cash, is a frequent collaborator with Bad Omens. The juxtaposition of Cash’s vocals with unclean vocalist, JT Cavey, is very attractive. Cash’s upper register vocals are an excellent contrast to Cavey. ERRA made sure that the crowd got involved and got the crowd surfers going! They closed with their song, Snowblood, and the surfers came in droves towards the front.

Pop Evil, a band that has not been a part of the STIGMA tour, was an added bonus for the Halloweenie Jam. I’ve known them for years and consider myself to be a casual fan of the band. Pop Evil has gone through several members, and this group seemed to really gel well together. Bass player, Joey Walser, was very animated and a joy to watch on stage. I’ve noticed that a lot of Bass players are like this. Lead singer, Leigh Kakaty, was on point for most of their songs. We came to the conclusion that it was an audio issue.

They introduced a new song, What Remains, which was co-written by Wage War’s Quistad. It was by far my favorite song of their set list. They closed their set with their song, Waking Lions. For the most part, we did enjoy Pop Evil’s set, with the exception of the audio issues. They kept right on a rolling like there were no issues, which to me shows the professionalism. One of my favorite photographs I took that night happens to be of Kakaty.

We were pleased when the road crew moved those horrendous boxes out of the way. Wage’s stage was pretty plain, but I did expect that because I knew they had an amazing graphic backdrop as well as pyro, smoke and more. Bond took the stage before the others as they opened with The Show’s About to Start. Starting the show with confetti? Good move. It didn’t take long for the arena to cut loose and enjoy Wage War’s 16 song set.

We chose to leave before their set was over to beat the crowd out. We were closer to the floor, and the female security guard let us leave via the floor because stairs are not the best for me. Unfortunately for us, the way we walked, took us straight to another backstage door. There were two security guards standing there, one young and one that looked like he was somewhere in his 40’s. I tried to explain to them that I didn’t feel comfortable walking through that crowd to leave. The younger one couldn’t understand my concern. After a bit more information, the older one got it and escorted me and my roommate through the crowd to the exit.

Overall, Addition Arena at UCF gets three out of four stars for their professionalism and kindness. Fame on Fire gets a B, thrown gets a B, ERRA gets an A, Pop Evil gets a B- and Wage War get an A++. I would recommend this venue to anyone with a disability as they will treat you with respect.

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