Hi, my name is Christina and I’m a 44 year old mother of two boys and Adam Lambert can turn me into a puddle of goo through the TV. So you can imagine what happened when I saw him perform live, AND, had him look in my eyes and smile at me as he signed a photo after the show. I shall try to reform myself to do a proper write up.
I went alone tonight which was such an only child thing to do, but I had a feeling I would not really be alone. Sure enough, when I checked on Adam’s official site I saw a thread about meeting before the concert at the Chilis restaurant in the arena parking lot. Since I wanted part of this night to be about watching and interacting with the fans, I thought that was a good start and I was right! I’d remembered a couple of the gals names and as I walked into Chilis I heard someone say one of the names so I immediately walked up to them and introduced myself and this wonderful group of similarly Adam obsessed women adopted me into their group. Most of us were more, ahem, mature so I fit right in. The first thing we noticed was that the restaurant was filled with Adam fans. Most of them were wearing classic Adam gear ‘ sparkles and belts and boots and jackets and medallions. One lady had this fabulous purse made from the covers of magazines! My good luck continued when Jan gave me an extra ticket she had which was in a closer section than my original one. Then I found out that she and her friend were going to hang out to get signatures after the show AND she offered me one of her amazing photos she’d printed out ahead. Well, of course I couldn’t turn that down! With such fun people to hang out with I knew the time would fly so I was all in for the night.
My seats were not great ‘ up in the terrace section but close enough off to the side to not feel like official nose bleeds even though we were one row from the top. To my right was a family of four with 2 kids under 10 who were Kris fans. Behind us were four young girls who I noticed stood and danced for just about everyone. To my left across the aisle was another little girl ‘ maybe 7 who was cute as a button and danced her butt off for Allison. Then there were the ladies in front who were older and, unfortunately, drinking the whole night. Ugh! Wanted to smack them as they talked all through Mad World, but I resisted.
Even though I had read about the fans squealing at every brief shot of Adam on the big screen before the show, it still made me laugh to hear it happen for real. Of course, pretty soon I was doing it too ’cause I’m easy like that when it comes to Adam.
I’ll just start out that in general, this is a very well produced show. Videos and production were very crisp and on point with the artist and songs and overall added to the performance. I do agree with those who complained about the words to Single Ladies scrolling behind Lil though ‘ quite distracting.
So, Michael ‘ as everyone has said, he is really really comfortable on stage, sounds great, really gets the crowd going and just seems to be having the best time. Personally I was thrilled with him because he responded to a tweet I sent at intermission! You can just tell he is soaking up every moment of this and trying to connect with as many people as possible. Now, my complaint would be that the Bandzilla overpowered him too much. Not sure how it has been at other venues, but I barely got a sense of his voice on its own.
Megan ‘ well’ ¦she’s cute! No, not cute ‘ gorgeous. And she does have a sparkly personality. But’ ¦well..oh the songs are just not good for her at all. The bandzilla thing was better for her and I could hear her more clearly and it’s not like she hit *bad* notes, she just..well..was not as smooth and comfortable with her performance as anyone else. But she’s charming and she truly smiles her face off during the post show fan fest as people take picture after picture. I’m thinking modeling or acting for her long term.
Scott ‘ blew me away! Vocally so so strong and MUCH better than anything heard during the show. He’s relaxed and delivers his songs really well and the sound was great for him. I played piano as a child so I have much respect and love for piano players like he and Matt and I loved how much it was used in the show.
Lil ‘ well, it is true what everyone has said that there is just *something*missing with her. Couldn’t put my finger on it, but maybe it’s just truly *owning* her songs? I mean, she was fun, good energy and vocally quite good though perhaps not AS good as I had expected. The bandzilla sound got wonky on her too, especially with Single Ladies and she was frequently drowned out. Her slow stuff was nice, but nothing to stop in your tracks over, you know? Just, nice.
Anoop ‘ well, he is Anoop dog all the way. My only complaint would be the glasses which I really did not like on him at all. Otherwise he has that soulful tone and really gets into his songs and moves a lot better than you would expect too. I really enjoyed him on stage though I was not surprised about it as he had been an early favorite of mine on the show too.
Matt ‘ OK, folks have RAVED about him before. So maybe I was expecting too much? His set was good, but I was not blown away by any means. Better than on the show? Yes, for sure. Again, relaxed, comfortable on stage and the songs were good for him.
Top 6 group number was more fun than I expected. LOVED Scott and Matt doing Tell Her About It.
Allison was the first to get me on my feet and dancing. That girl can ROCK. She had about 5 times more oomph on stage than anyone previously and sounded magnificent. No bandzilla issues for her! Cry Baby just blew me away. I know, I know, we’ve all said it and thought it a thousand times, but dayum..she’s only 17? That girl has me at her shows anytime! The audience rocked with her and was on their feet more than they had been all night.
Now, I have to admit I had a planned potty break right after Allison so yes, I ditched on Danny during PYT, BUT, because I went when I did there was no one in the bathroom and I was actually back in my seat before it ended. So, my Danny comment is ‘ this guy needs to figure out who he is. It almost seems like he’s taken bits and pieces of each Idol and put them in his act. When he had the black jacket on with the collar upturned it was so NOT him! But then he does an exaggerated stripping of the jacket which is so, well, Adam! However, then just in his short sleeved red shirt he looked more natural. Rascal Flatts is his genre for sure. He sounded good and the audience really responded well to it. His ‘sermon’ as it has been called was toned down and actually rather nice.
But, oh once he was done. The decibels hit a crescendo and the lights pulsated and then the band started in on WLL and then Adam pulsated onto the stage and well, as I texted to my new BFF Jan, puddle of goo on aisle 17 ‘ cleanup, STAT! Seriously, there was no one sitting down. Now, they HAVE toned down the lights on him as he oozes through the song and has his way with the microphone which is a damn shame IMHO. But those of us who saw the early videos know what he’s doing on that darkened stage and we LOVED it. Thankfully there were no bandzilla issues for him (as if they could drown out that scream!). Starlight was wonderful and vocally probably the best showcase of his amazing range. Mad World was haunting and beautiful as always. And just when he had you mesmerized with his slow stuff, he drove it right back to rock heaven with Allison and Slow Ride. The Bowie medley was a perfect blend of dance moves and vocal acrobatics that had everyone up and dancing again. Not that we sat mind you, we just switched from swaying to bouncing again.
Since I was off a little to the side of the stage it was a tad weird to see the drop cloth come down to block off the band behind Kris. But it was a wise staging move. Kris sounded wonderful and does a great show. But yeah, a lot of us sat down for it until he got to Hey Jude. I don’t think that’s a bad thing though ‘ that’s just HIM. He’s more understated and vocally really strong and I do love that he plays so many instruments so well. The band played well with him and I did love how they all came back onstage with him for the end of the song as if to celebrate everything with him.
Don’t Stop Believing is a favorite song of mine from it’s original version when I saw Journey sing it in 1983 at that same Sports Arena. That was kind of a fun full circle moment for me personally to bring back that memory from high school.
Sorry this went so long, but I had to spill this out of my goo filled brain before it all slipped away while I slept. Oh, and what brilliant words did I utter when Adam came by the line to sign the picture I was holding out? As he looked in my eyes and smiled that smile’ ¦I blathered ‘I just love you!’ Oof.
