Let me preface this recap by saying that I am a complete, total, ‘why yes, the sun does rise and set on his ass,’  Adam girl. Think of the most over-the-top fantard you can imagine. Then triple that. That’s me. My friends going to the concert with me talked about bringing a defibrillator along just to resuscitate me after his set. I don’t think they were kidding. So I have an obvious bias toward Adam which makes it difficult for me to be anything other than a flailing, slobbering fool when it comes to his performance. He could have come out dressed as Little Bo Peep and sung a medley of songs from ‘The Sound of Music’  while dancing the polka and I would still have said he was better than the second coming of Jesus, Elvis, and Freddie Mercury combined.

Having said that, my love of Adam doesn’t result in an automatic bias against the other Idols. I don’t think my loving Adam with the intensity of 1,000 fiery suns means that I have to dislike everyone else. Margaritas may be my favorite drink and nothing else comes close to hitting the spot like one, but I still enjoy martinis and wine and the occasional shot. God, I sound like an alcoholic’ ¦ Anyway, my point is, I hoped and expected that everyone was going to be great and put on a fabulous show and I went into it primed for a good time.

We (four girl friends and me’”all of us in our 30s and thrilled about a night away from the kiddos) arrived downtown around 4:00. While walking to a restaurant across from the arena, we happened to see Danny out signing autographs across the street. At that point we saw no sign of the WBC protesters.

Around six o’clock we headed back over to the arena, and again saw no protesters. I’m not sure where they were. There is a smaller entrance on the east side of the arena and I thought perhaps they were there, but the KC Star said they were across Grand, which is where we came from. All I know is I am glad I didn’t see them. I’ve learned over the years that it’s worthless to engage them, but it would have put a damper on my evening just to see their hateful, nasty signs. And my four margaritas might have gotten the best of me and I would have been hauled away while beating Phelps with my five-inch stilettos (off-topic note to self: don’t ever wear five-inch heels to a concert again).

Our seats were third row on the floor, right side of the stage (if you’re in the audience). Fabulous seats! We had Adam fans in front of us, Kris and Adam fans behind us, and Danny and Adam fans next to us. As soon as we sat down I did a preemptive apology to all those around me for the fact that I was going to go batshit insane when Adam hit the stage. They all laughed and said it was okay, but frankly, I think I scared them.

Before the show started I took the chance to look around the arena and I would say the average crowd age was probably mid-40s. There were more men than I expected in the crowd. I saw many older women, including a group who had to be in their 70s or 80s–all of them sporting Adam t-shirts. The only Idol-specific shirts I saw were Adam or Glambert shirts, none for any of the other Idols. There were kids at the concert, but not as many as I would have thought, although there was a family of four in front of us who looked like they were in hell the entire night. Not exactly sure why they stayed. Before the show we chatted with two gay guys who were Allison fans. They didn’t like Kris (no reason given) and didn’t like Adam because he didn’t officially come out while on American Idol. Sigh.

I was going to try and keep this short, but you can see how that turned out. Sorry for the verbal vomit ahead.

Michael: I really enjoyed Michael’s set. I didn’t know if I would, but his voice sounded good and he just tries so, so hard. He’s clearly having the time of his life and he wants the audience to have fun as well. It’s obvious he’s giving it his all out there and that makes you want to respond in kind.

Megan: For me, Megan is the weak link of the show. It’s not that her voice is terrible, because it isn’t, especially on her first song. It’s that her attitude sucks. She looks bored. She looks like she’d rather be anywhere else than up there singing. Her whole demeanor was a real turn-off.

Scott: Scott bored me, I’m sorry. He sounded okay and I suppose his banter would have been funny if I didn’t already know what he was going to say, but I just can’t work up any enthusiasm for him or his singing. *ducks flying objects*

Lil: In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that I had to use the bathroom in a major way by this point (damn you, margaritas!), so I only heard Lil’s first two songs through the restroom speakers. I was back for ‘Single Ladies’  and that was a lot of fun. She had everyone on their feet and dancing along and it brought the energy back up in the crowd. Lil sort of reminds me of fat-free ice cream, though. It’s good for what it is, but you’re not fully satisfied; you still have a craving for the real thing afterwards.

Anoop: Anoop sounded great on ‘Always on My Mind.’  His voice is really rich and that song showcases it in an amazing way. Like I tweeted to Alison last night, I’m not a huge fan of the purple high tops or the porn ’stache, but I can’t argue with the voice. And ‘My Prerogative’  was a blast! We were all dancing like maniacs. My only real beef with Anoop is that I sometimes get the feeling he is emotionally distant from his songs’”almost like he’s coming at them from an intellectual space instead of an emotional one. That probably makes no sense outside of my own brain.

Matt: I’m not the first to say this, but Matt was the surprise of the night for me. He tore it UP on ‘Hard to Handle.’  He was fabulous’”so much energy and he owned that song. When he finished everyone around us was saying how great it was with sort of a stunned glaze in their eyes. I do think he lost the crowd a bit with ‘You Found Me.’  It’s just not the best showcase of his abilities and I think it’s a shame because his first two songs are so great. But I definitely think Matt deserves a shot in the music business and I hope he gets that chance. And his piano playing is phenomenal’”gave me goose bumps!

Intermission: During intermission we befriended a security guy (and by befriended I mean flirted our asses off’ ¦sorry, honey) and he took us into the restricted area of the arena and let us take a private elevator upstairs for beer. While in the restricted area, we asked everyone we saw if they had any extra meet and greet passes, but to no avail. Apparently our flirting skills are only good enough for secret beer runs, but not good enough to meet the Idols. Double sigh.

Allison: Poor Allison got screwed at the beginning of her set. They forget to turn on her microphone and she had a wtf look there for a second. It didn’t seem to throw her off much, but had to be distracting. I loved ‘So What’  and ‘Cry Baby’  and didn’t even care about the fake guitar playing. During ‘Barracuda,’  I thought Bandzilla reared its head for the first time that I really noticed. I don’t think that song serves Allison all that well anyway given her enunciation issues. But she commands the stage in a way I find amazing, especially for a seventeen-year old. She’s going to be a star.

Danny: Danny killed it on PYT. He was great. Everyone was up and dancing and the crowd seemed to love him. I still have a hard time getting past the stupid boots, but I tried not to focus on them. Danny has a good voice; I love the gravelly quality to it. But like many before me have said, I don’t think he knows what in the hell to do with it half the time. I actually thought ‘Maria Maria’  was his weakest song. It felt like he was trying too hard. He sort of reminds me of a high school teacher who thinks he’s cooler than he is, who is always trying to act as ‘hip’  as the kids he teaches. I think if Danny would stop over-thinking and worrying about how he comes off, he’d come off a lot better.

Adam: If this gives you any clue to what I’m about to say, my heart rate just spiked when I typed in Adam’s name. Me = pathetic. The crowd went nuts when the countdown for Adam started. Absolutely nuts. And the second he came out, total pandemonium. Here’s what was weird’ ¦during Danny’s set a few of us were saying how we were cold (the weather in KC has been totally schizophrenic this summer and it was in the 50s last night instead of the usual 80s or 90s). The second Adam hit the stage, I swear the temperature in the arena went up thirty degrees. Sweat was pouring off of me (nice visual, I know’ ¦sorry) and I saw people fanning themselves with their programs, wiping sweat off their faces, pulling their hair up off their necks. It was the wildest thing. Adam makes the world hotter; it’s a fact.

First the technical stuff. I did not hear any helium effect during Adam’s set. Neither did two of my friends. But my other two friends did hear it during ‘Starlight.’  So I guess it does depend on your ears. Also, during his set someone threw a white and black boa and two bras (one of which might have been mine’ ¦.ahem), but he didn’t pick anything up. Clearone, have you gotten to him?!

Now for the emotional reaction: I don’t really know what to say about Adam beyond the fact that I was totally mesmerized by him. You literally cannot take your eyes off him. He’s like a magnet’”a tall, glittery, beautiful magnet. He is this amazing combination of slinky-hipped, androgynous beauty and forceful, take-charge Alpha male, all topped off with a voice that has the power to take you out of yourself to another place. The minutes go by and you don’t even know what you’re doing or what’s happening to you; you are just floating along in this universe that he created right there in front of you. It is sort of like being abducted by a glittery alien, come to think of it.

When Adam disappeared into the stage it was like I came back to my body with a huge thud, sweaty and shaky (my legs were literally wobbling) and on the verge of tears. Which is sort of embarrassing to admit, but it’s also the truth. His set went by in what felt like the blink of an eye and I wanted to scream, ‘No! Come back out and do it again. It wasn’t ENOUGH!’  But I think therein lies Adam’s power’ ¦because it’s never going to be enough, not even when he’s headlining his own tours. He has that indefinable ‘thing’  that makes someone a superstar–it goes beyond his incredible voice and his beautiful face and his electric moves; it’s just an innate part of him. I only hope he’s ready for what’s coming towards him because Adam’s type of fame can be a scary thing to navigate.

Kris: I loved Kris’s set. I didn’t feel let down after Adam at all, but maybe that’s because I’m a Kris fan. I know a couple of my friends felt like his set was a big bummer after Adam’s, but I didn’t get that sense at all. I do think he would be better served by opening with ‘All These Things That I’ve Done,’  rather than ‘Heartless,’  simply because ATTTID, really got the crowd going and ‘Heartless’  didn’t have the same effect. But I thought Kris was excellent. A few people on the floor sat for a couple of his songs, but they got right back up again for ‘Hey Jude.’  And contrary to the KC Star review, I didn’t see people leaving in droves. Granted, I was at the front and had a limited view, but at most I saw a couple dozen people leaving in the higher seats.

Kris has grown so much, confidence-wise, since the beginning of the show last winter and I thought he seemed very comfortable and natural on the stage. His lower register is beautiful. I didn’t scream for him as much as I did for Adam, but he was a close second. I would go see him in concert again in a heartbeat.

After the show, three of my friends headed home. My friend who stayed and I went out to the barricades because (as I tweeted last night) apparently you’re never too old to make an ass of yourself. We were about three people back from the barricade, but had a great view of the Idols who came by. We didn’t want them to sign anything, we just wanted to see them (that sounds seriously dorky, I realize). Allison, Danny, Scott, Kris, Anoop and Michael all came out. They were all very friendly and after a quick run by, came back and signed autographs and took pictures. Random thoughts when I saw them: Anoop is very handsome; Allison is adorable and has more energy than a hamster on crack; Kris is gorgeous but so tiny (I had taken off my heels by this point and I was taller than him. I’m 5′6”); Michael is the nicest guy, talked to everyone; Danny called everyone ’sweetheart.’ 

After waiting a little longer, a black limo pulled out and drove away with Adam inside. We didn’t see Adam get in the limo, but a group of four guys who were standing there told us they saw him get in the car. They were bummed because they’d been waiting specifically for him (as were we all, boys, as were we all). By this point it was 11:30, so we packed it in and came on home.

For anyone who hasn’t gone to the concert yet, I highly recommend getting a ticket. It’s worth it. It’s a fun, fun night and there really isn’t a dull moment (or if there is, it passes quickly). And if nothing else, you can look back and say you saw Adam Lambert on his very first concert tour. I know for me, it’s going to be the first of many.

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