Age: Older Kids-tweens
Time: Evening, 3-4 hours
Level: Special Occasion
Need your fix of female tweenage energy? I didn’t think so, but if you do, or you need a great first concert experience for your child, then Katseye is the way to go.
The music was pumping, the merch was flowing, and the pure dance energy excitement was there. Even the pre-show festivities outside the arena were pure innocent entertainment.
UBS Arena proved to be an excellent venue, offering good sightlines and a well-organized event experience. As with any large concert, however, there are a few things you'll want to know before you go. From transportation and ticket purchasing to merchandise budgeting and food costs, here's everything we learned to help you plan your visit.
Packing List
Funds in the bank; the merch is not cheap
Fully Charged Phone – tickets are on your phone
Phone Power Bank/Backup Battery
Credit card/Apple pay/Google wallet
Keys/glasses
Small purse or bag. Backpacks are not allowed
Empty water bottle
There are bag limitations for UBS, so please review the website for the details.
Bag Policy:
UBS Arena Bag Policy
Tickets
I would say that your biggest cost is the tickets to the show, but our merch was just as much which says something.
Tickets to concerts at UBS are purchased through everyone’s least favorite monopoly Ticketmaster. You get in an online queue and hope for the best. You will be competing with bots, as evidenced by all the empty seats at our sold-out show, so know where you want to sit ahead of time.
You need to have a Ticketmaster account first so set this up ahead of time. Once you log into your Ticketmaster account, you navigate to the tile of the event you are hoping to go to and set a reminder. The reminder will send you a link via SMS messaging on the day of that allows you to log into the queue(s).
Your place in the queue is a crapshoot.
By dumb luck I had a couple of things go my way.
First, there were two shows, and I accidentally logged into the wrong day. However, in doing so I learned you can log into multiple queues; I am assuming this holds true if the queues are for different days. I didn’t test it for the same day.
Second bit of luck, I somehow was number 94 in line for the day of choice and number 215 for the second day of choice. Why did I get two great places in line? Who knows, but I have theories.
Either way, I was able to get tickets to a show for which I was number 18,673 in the presale.
Now mind you, I was panicking because I was not expecting to get such a great spot, and there is a time limit for purchasing the tickets, but there were a couple of things I couldn’t figure out, and I am sure there is a way.
I wanted to get two groups of two tickets so I could go with my friend and her daughter. Once I selected my seats it ushered me to checkout and there didn’t seem to be a way to go back and snag two more.
I assume this is to try to keep the process fair, but considering that I was competing against bots/agents snagging up as many seats as they could, I was perturbed.
This was particularly frustrating since half the row we were in was empty and there were plenty of seats in our area.
Funny for a sold-out show.
Getting There
Now that you have your tickets in hand, you will wait patiently until the big day.
Once it arrives, you have three choices to get there:
Train
Car
Uber/Lyft
Some combo of those
Depending on where you are coming from you may be locked in to only one option so feel free to jump ahead if the choice does not apply to you.
Car
We considered driving, but the overall feedback from people who have and reviews online is don’t.
Bringing your car brings with it all the typical issues found at any large venue event. Parking is expensive and getting out of the lot is a nightmare.
I felt really bad for the family sitting next to us who were forced to leave right before the big finally so they could avoid the parking lot nightmare they would face if they stayed.
If you do decide to bring the car you need to purchase your parking pass via Ticketmaster and UBS themselves will tell you that prices increase during concerts.
Depending on where you park, of course, the prices change as well.
Expect to pay $30–$60 dollars and wait in traffic to get out.
No thank you.
Uber/Lyft
The other option someone mentioned that may be more viable is to park outside of the arena, not sure where though, and take a ride share to the arena.
This is fine, but you may face the same getting out of the arena issues as a car so I am not sure if there is any benefit to this. You will have to do a comparison.
The person I spoke with who parked her car at a friends house and ride shared there and back said it was seamless.
Other people have said the ride share option is a clusterpluck and not recommended.
The day of our event, the lines for the rideshare were not moving and I was glad we avoided it.
Train
For us, the LIRR was the clear winner.
We took the subway to Penn Station and then boarded the Long Island Rail Road. Tickets can be purchased through the MTA TrainTime app, and if you're unfamiliar with the system, don't hesitate to ask a station employee for help. I did, and it saved us nearly $40 on our trip. Ca-ching!
One added benefit? Food.
If you plan ahead, you can grab dinner at Penn Station and eat during the ride to the arena. Looking back, this is exactly what I wish we had done.
Before and after the concert, UBS Arena offers a shuttle between the venue and the train station. After the show we opted to walk instead because the shuttle line was long and traffic was heavy. The walk took about 10 minutes and ended up being faster than waiting.
The train ride home was crowded at first, especially until Jamaica Station, but it was still significantly easier than fighting arena traffic. From Penn Station, we took an Uber back to Northern Manhattan. The timing wasn't ideal because the Harry Styles concert had just let out, which drove prices up considerably. Still, the combination of train plus rideshare worked well, especially after a long night when an exhausted tween fell asleep before we got home. The Uber from Penn to Northern Manhattan has $75 with tip
Merchandise and Pre-Show
We got there early so we could get in line for merchandise and participate in the pre-show events.
Aside from a shorter line, there was no benefit to getting there as early as we did.
The preshow events were:
Chalk drawing
Bracelet making
A spontaneous group dance
Neither of which Abby really had much interest.
If I am to do this again, I will arrive after the doors open about an hour before the show begins and only that far in advance only because of longer merch and bathroom lines.
Merchandise Tent
One disappointment and benefit was the merchandise tent outside of the arena.
It was really great to be able to get their early and get the merch ahead of time, but I did not like about the setup is that anyone could go to the event and get the merch. What always made concert merchandise special was that you could only get it if you attended the concert.In this case, anyone could have gone to the venue and purchased items.
I felt like it cheapened the experience a bit, but who am I to tell the next generation how to do things.
Merchandise Prices
The merchandise itself was fine, expensive, but fine.
Will you feel ripped off?
Of course you will.
The band isn’t about the talent. It is about the merchandise.
You are able to see ahead of time what is available to purchase which is good for pre-planning but also takes away the surprise of what is available.
Light stick and charm: $100
Shirts: $50-$55
Hoodies: $80-$110
Hat: $55
If you are worried about items selling out, for a show like this, don’t be. They were selling even after the show ended and you could purchase many items online.
The light stick was fun as it lit up specifically for each song and added a lovely element to the experience.
K-Pop Demon Hunters had prepared me to know that the it was going to be the hot item so I was prepared, but what I was not prepared for was the band, essentially peer pressuring a vulnerable audience into getting one.
The pre-show recordings/commercials were of the band telling the audience to be sure to get their light sticks, and when they came out one of the first things they talked about was the “Eyelighter” and its role in the show.
The clueless Dad next to me understood the assignment and immediately went out and got one for his daughter. I bet you that was $70 he wasn’t planning on spending
The Crowd
I will say that the crowds at UBS are not NYC crowds.
I felt like I had stepped into an episode of Dance Moms as almost every young girl there was dressed to the hoochy mama nine’s and had their faces painted like they were going to see Jesus.
It was everything I had moved away from and reminder as to why I live in the city and not the suburbs. I don’t know if we stuck out, but our sweatpants and hoodies were not the dress of the culture.
However, with that being said, it was really lovely to see all the mommy/daughter combos and be reminded of the special relationship that exists between a mother and her mini-me. I felt like I was at one of our Girl Scout events.
I do want to give a special shout out to the moms who brought their sons to a girl heavy event.
I loved seeing them match the girls move for move during the pre-show dance-along and revel in the joy of the moment. My favorite mother/son combo was the family dressed in matching leopard print. I was very sad that I didn’t get a picture as you both looked fabulous. Thank you for supporting your sons and their interests.
Food
Let me make the mistakes so you don’t have to. Do not buy food at the arena. It is expensive and not that great.
If you missed my commentary in the section about the train, let me say it again:
Abby’s chicken nuggets, fries and 2 large drinks came out to $70!!
I didn’t catch this until I looked at the charge after the fact. If I had timed things better, we would have bought food at Penn and had dinner on the train.
Lesson: eat before the show not at the show.
Bring an empty water bottle and fill it up at the water station as well. I didn’t catch the price ahead of time and am kicking myself that I did not verify the drink price as it is the drinks and always the drinks that jack up the cost.
The Concert
I need to begin this section by explaining that I have been blessed to have seen many of the greats of my era so a manufactured girl band that sings along to a dance track and caters to pre-teens is not going to move me much. But this was Abby’s concert, not mine
For me, the best parts were:
The light show created by the “Eyelighters”
The joy on Abby’s face
It was the perfect first concert for my pre-teen and I am really glad we went.
Venue
UBS arena is very intimate for being a large concert venue. It is where the Islanders play and reminded me of the Barclays Center. Even though our seats were nosebleed we still had a really good view of the show, and we didn’t feel left out.
Section 317, Row 2
The only thing I might change about our seat location in the future is not necessarily the tier but maybe make the seats a more central. If we have to sit in the back again, I would be fine.
The Show
If you keep in mind the audience, the show was great.
There were:
Dancing
Costume changes
Decent vocals
The set decorations relied on projections more than props, which felt cheap, but again I come from a different era of concerts so maybe this is the norm.
While some of the lyrics and dance moves were not age appropriate for most of the target audience, the girls did go wild when Sophia did her signature booty shake.
A couple of highlights for the floor seats was the group getting off the stage and walking by the front row for autographs and selfies and Sophia calling up a young girl dressed as “Garbiella” and giving her a fake rose.
Aside from those moments, it was your typical concert experience but nothing to write home about.
Accessibility
UBS Arena offers a variety of accessibility services beyond standard ADA accommodations.
Features include:
Accessible seating throughout the venue
Accessible shuttle service to and from the train station
Designated entrances for guests requiring mobility assistance
Adult-sized changing tables
Sign-language interpreter services (advance arrangements recommended)
Three sensory rooms for guests who may benefit from a quieter environment
For current accessibility information and accommodations, visit the UBS Arena Accessibility Guide.
Hot Tips
✅ Eat before arriving. Penn Station is your friend.
✅ Bring an empty reusable water bottle and use the refill stations.
✅ Take the train if possible. It's often cheaper, easier, and less stressful than driving.
✅ Arrive about one hour before showtime. That's usually enough time for merchandise, restrooms, and finding your seats.
✅ Review merchandise options online beforehand so there are no surprises when your tween starts shopping.
✅ Set a merchandise budget before you arrive. Trust me.
✅ Upper-level seats at UBS Arena still offer excellent views.
✅ If this is your child's first concert, consider purchasing a light stick. It genuinely enhanced the experience for many young fans.
Final Verdict
Would We Do It Again? Yes.
While the evening wasn't cheap between tickets, transportation, food, and merchandise, Katseye delivered exactly what young fans were hoping for: a fun, energetic, and memorable first concert experience.
PlanITary Alignment Rating: 8/10
Great venue, easy train access, excellent sightlines, and plenty of excitement for tweens. Just make sure you budget for the merchandise and eat before you get there.
Photo Gallery
