O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire — Attraction in London

Dear O2 Management (FAO Radhika Dasa's team),

We were truly looking forward to this event with great excitement and hope. Unfortunately, our experience on the day was extremely disappointing due to the way it was organised and managed.

Our tickets clearly stated 7:00pm with seated allocation. However, upon arrival, we queued outside for around 90 minutes, which was already challenging for many guests – especially the elderly and those with serious health conditions or disabilities. There were guests who came from Holland, and guests like ourselves who had made travel arrangements and plans for the entire day to revolve around this evening. Once inside, the situation only worsened: • Staff on our level informed us that there were no seats available, and that it was first come, first served, despite our tickets specifying seating. • Requests for assistance or accommodation (such as additional chairs or rearranging space) were met with no practical solutions. • Many guests were visibly struggling — including individuals with a dislocated kneecap, breathing difficulties, and high blood pressure. • When we asked to speak to a manager, we were repeatedly told they were “busy” or unavailable.

When we finally spoke with other staff members, their attitude was defensive and dismissive. One insisted that we had “paid for an area, not a seat,” despite our booking email stating otherwise. When asked about the difference between our £50 ticket and the £30 standing ticket, no clear explanation was provided.

Even after escalating to a supervisor, we were told there was “no solution”, and that we would have to stand at the back on the highest level of the venue - well into the performance — despite having paid for seated tickets. Eventually, we were moved to a safer standing area, but this was still not what we had paid for nor expected.

Overall, the experience felt poorly managed, unprofessional, and deeply disappointing. No one seemed prepared to take responsibility or offer a meaningful solution. What was meant to start as a joyous and uplifting evening became stressful and uncomfortable, leaving us feeling let down — especially as we had recommended the event to family and friends.

We hope this feedback is taken seriously so that future events if held here can be better organised, with clear communication, proper seating arrangements, and more compassionate handling of guests’...

Great venue, great band, but appalling accessibility organisation.

The show we went to see was fantastic. The bands were great, the venue was clean and the sound was amazing. We sat on the first level at the front and the view was fantastic. No complaints with the venue itself, or the box office staff.

Security, however, was a completely different story. We had arranged priority accessibility entry and reserved seating, as I both am autistic and have trouble standing for long periods of time (getting these accomodations was a breeze, staff were helpful over email). Nobody on security seemed to know what was going on with it. We very almost did not get let in to the venue early as arranged despite being given wristbands by the person at the box office because security seemed unsure. We were given at least three different answers for when we would be allowed upstairs, and, when a security staff member did direct us upstairs, we were met with being told off when we got there. We were told that we had to sit on the floor or the stairs while we waited to go upstairs, as there were no chairs for access customers (for context - I struggle with sitting that low. One of the people we were waiting with had a cane and visibly was struggling to get up after sitting on the stairs). We had to keep asking staff members what was going on and we kept getting different answers. I struggled with all the confusion especially as an autistic person, and it led to me feeling overwhelmed and panicked before the event even began.

I have always had some issues with ShowSec, O2 venues and accessibility - it always seemed like the staff members had little knowledge of what to do with us, a couple of security members even seemed surprised when we mentioned we were accessible customers - but this night was the worst I've experienced at an O2 venue thus far. I'm sure the staff members themselves are not at fault as they seemed as confused as us, but it really isn't acceptable to be treating disabled customers like this. Security staff need to be more well-briefed and coordinated on accessible customers or there needs to be an accessibility team hired by the O2...

Guys. I'm not joking when I'm saying that I've never ever had this experience in my life. I'm 41, been to a thousand gigs, I'm paying my bills by working in the live music industry. NEVER had a similar thing happen to me. Let me try to explain: I arrive to the gig one hour after the time stated on my ticket and I was greeted with the faint sound of the support band already playing inside. I show my ticket to the security guy and I greet him. He proceeds to ask me where I'm from, if I'm there by myself and, I kid you not, to name my favourite song from the band. Naturally, (for context, I'm on the spectrum so you have no idea how uncomfortable this line of questioning from a complete stranger has made me) I get super weirded out by those questions, I tell him that I don't feel like small talk and that I just want to go see the band and he replies that I need to produce an ID (the gig was NOT an over 18 one, there was nothing in the T &Cs about the need to bring ID), I refuse to do so and then he tells me to get out of the que and to "wait for him there". Long story short, I had to fight back and forth with him and a supervisor who was insisting that "the way I was getting upset about it he didn't feel like letting me in", all that FOR EXERCISING MY RIGHT TO NOT DO SMALL TALK and to REFUSE TO SHOW ID TO A RANDOM PERSON THAT I DIDN'T NEED TO! Since when are random questions in the checking in process a requirement to enter a venue? What gives them the right to ask me for my information? I didn't cause any trouble, I didn't show up drunk, just two people on power trips decided to mess with me and act like authoritarians. In the end they let me in because we both knew that they couldn't keep me out based on what they were saying and I refused to get bullied by them or answer the questions but what would happen if there was a kid in my place that these bullies decided they didn't like the face of? Definitely killed my evening, definitely it will be the last time visiting the venue. Educate your security and don't employ wannabe...