Adam Without Pity

OMG! Back at my friend's house after the concert. Our seats were FUCKING AMAZING! Adam walked/strutted over to our side of the state often and looked right into MY eyes. ;) more than a couple of times and he was THIS CLOSE! GAH!

Sound was really good, REALLY good! YEAY! Sorry if your stream didn't translate that sound, but rest assured that the songs all sounded great (although I still can't 'feel' Shady the way I do when I listen to the cd..something's missing for me)

He was gorgeous, of course, and quite conservative in his body movements--I guess for the so-called family-friendly fair crowd. He let the "F" word fly, though. He seemed to be in a silly mood tonight--kinda goofy and fun. He did do some talkin'--more than the usual "Y'all havin' fun?"--and was funny. And yep, took his shoes off and even referred to the rug that staff had taped to the floor.

But it went soooooo fast. No encore! The staff got up and lined the front of the stage as soon as the last band member disappeared and other staff started dismantling the instruments as the crowd yelled for more. Evidently, the venue has a 10 pm curfew because of noise regulations in the surrounding residential neighborhoods. He left the stage at 9:52, I believe, so he COULD have done one more song, donchathink? :(

And yeah! I was sitting next to dreadnaught, who leaned over to me after the first song and said, "Somebody needs to tailor those pants!" BWAH! That's for sure. No doubt they're expensive, but Adam honey--honestly! When you've got it, flaunt it. You certainly didn't seem to mind doing so in London!

Sigh. Another exhilarating Adamtastic experience. How is this my life? So lucky--will see him again Saturday and spend more time with my AWoP women, too! \O/

I just got home and would like to add that PTL is AMAZING live! They did a little mash up with Smooth Criminal and had a dance breakdown with Adam and the BU singers.

Adams banter was natural and so much fun. Never once did he say the words "Ladies & Gentlemen". He seemed to be so relaxed and having a great time.

Really great show, loved everything about it with the exception of Adam's pants - WAY.TOO.LOOSE.!

Awesome things tonight:

- Adam
- his band
- his sound mix
- his backup singers
- Ashley's heels
- his outfit
- Adam
- his lights
- his dancing
- his looseness and playfulness
- Pop That Lock
- every other song in the set
- his sweet comments about how humbled he is to have worked with Queen and how much he learned from the experience
- Adam
- his Michael Jackson sampling (Smooth Criminal) in Pop That Lock that I couldn't place right away
- his lulzy shoe-removal bit
- his vamping it up during the breakdown of PTL center-stage with the vajayjays
- Adam
- all the AWOPers I got to see all this awesomeness with <333

I love him.

:)

Everyone's asleep, but I can't yet let go of this evening. I had a BLAST at this concert! I dAnced and jumped and whooped and hollered. It was awesome :) i felt that the band was really in sync in a way that I did not feel at ALL at the radio show in Chicago. The music, and Adam, MOVED! The tempos for all the dance songs were on point. Pop That Lock, one of my faves was so much fun--campy, gay, dancey awesomesauce :). Shady has tightened and come alive.

Adam was so loose:so naturally chatty, and moving with such graceful ease across the stage. It all felt so comfortable and effortless.

I don't pay close attention to details, and have vowed to myself to never micro-analyze a fan video of any performance ever again. They simply can't do him justice, and it just doesn't feel fair to Adam or the band to nitpick from my armchair. I had such a wonderful night of dancing, singing and thoroughly being in the moment with him and the 5000 (give or take) who were there. I've been loving all the queen videos, but it was thrilling to dance to Adam's music tonight.

As Nicole and I were leaving the venue, we were on such a high---and so thoroughly in love with this man. I'm still high. And still in love. And I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep!

This is a little story that is TLDR, so just scroll at will. Also, I have not read AWOP since before the OC Fair, so it may be out of place and redundant, but I’m just throwing it in blind.

I call it:

Prequel to the OC Fair: the Tenacious and Generous AWOP Gals


This is dedicated to the wonderful AWOP group, with special love and thanks to boys3girls0 and dreadnaught. {{{bear hugs}}}

I know by now others have written about the OC show. This is the subplot of personal drama behind the scene. That AWOP is a force to be reckoned with. And a cautionary tale about jeans pockets.

OC Fair 2012 was a glorious gathering that included boys3girls2 (our faithful organizer - TY boys3!), dreadnaught, glitterbert, maeve, Mary, nic9701, open2it and her friend, and Susan L. Hope I haven’t forgotten anyone!

So on with the story. Around 5:00 we arrived at the fairgrounds. As we started walking in, boys3 handed out our concert tix. I decided not to put mine in my purse, wanting it to be handier, so I stuffed it down into my jeans pocket. Deep down. Really. We made the long walk to the entrance. We are all going in, and ... my TICKET WAS NOT IN MY POCKET!!! I yelled at the others to wait. Dreadnaught, bless her sweet heart, came back out. The two of us walked all the long way back to where we'd come in, searching the ground but knowing it had to have been picked up or blown away. You can imagine what I was thinking, here I've come all this way from Miami and I'll have to sit outside and maybe hear what I can outside the amphitheater, and not see him at all!! I was just in shock.

As we are walking, looking distressed, a scalper approached and said he could sell me an orchestra ticket to get me in, for $15. We told him what had happened and he said, since there is a group of you, just get in and then your buddies can come get you and move you to where you need to be. Okay, so I bought his ticket, at least I'd be inside, and we returned to the entrance and located the group. But then dreadnaught and I got separated from the others again, and decided to go on into the amphitheater. We tried to sweet talk the gate guys to let me go in with dreadnaught, but no, I had to go thru a different gate. I ended up with a seat that was right in the center, but way, way at the back.

Way down at the stage I could see dreadnaught being seated right.up.at.the.stage! I knew we had good seats but hadn't realized just how good! I proceed to feel sorry for myself that Adam will be an ant on the stage for me, whereas he could have been just a few feet away. Could this really be happening to me? Now I start trying to call dreadnaught to establish contact but by now the Very Loud opening act has started and we cannot hear each other. Neither could I reach boys3, and I knew she and the others would need to be seated too for us to work out any sort of swicheroo for me. I was standing at the back desperately trying to call and the nice security lady asked, “have you tried to text?” Duh! So that's how I eventually connected with boys3.

At this point the opening act had finished and Adam was due to start any minute. I was really starting to panic because my cell battery was dying!!! and we hadn't worked anything out yet. This just seemed impossible. Finally boys3 texted me to come down to their area. I headed there but was stopped at the chain where the guard told me I couldn't go there (y’know, can't have the peons mixing in with the elite!) Just as I was starting to explain, another guard appeared and put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I'm here to escort this lady down." !!!!! I could have kissed him! As we started down, he said to me, "your friends certainly are determined!" Me thinking: are you kidding? This is Adam, and we are AWOP!

So now I learned the drama that had been taking place. It seems a young guy had shown up at my seat with my ticket. Of course the AWOP group (there were 8 seats of us together) immediately pointed out to him that that was their friend's ticket. The young man said his grandmother had bought it for him and was a bit vague. He actually seemed like a nice young man and I felt a bit sorry for him, especially if he'd bought it from a scalper (as opposed from just finding it.) But anyone could see, we AWOP ladies are like peas-in-a-pod and he sure didn't fit into the middle of our demographic, LOL! Also the guard said he could check the computer to verify that boys3 had purchased the block of seats. Last I saw of him, the guard was still talking to him.

Meantime, I have arrived in heaven.

Because the seats are wonderful. Because of the way the stage is shaped, circular, at the side we were like in the second row. And probably 4-5 rows back from the center. It was such a surreal feeling, after thinking I would miss the show entirely or see it from a great distance and then to actually have the whole problem resolved. It was like an out-of-body experience to be in my seat. Seems boys3 and dreadnaught especially had been adamant that I be allowed into that seat. Boys3 said there was no way she was going to let me lose my seat. Bless her heart! I will forever love you, bb! I felt so foolish, embarrassed, and stupid at causing the whole problem. But the others said not to feel bad--that it was an adventure. Gotta love the AWOP gals! They could have just shrugged, and said, okay, stupid, your carelessness, your bad luck. Hmmwah to my selfless AWOP friends, you are the best!

Within minutes the lights were lowered and Adam Fuckin' Lambert came out.

And you know the rest of the story.
;-)

Orange County Fair
Costa Mesa, CA
July 19, 2012




Adam's tweet could be my entire recap. The atmosphere in the arena was upbeat, chill, open and loving. Glitterbert and I were in the fourth row, and the way the stage and seats were angled, we were about five feet from Adam when he came to our side of the stage. You've seen the photos so you know what he wore. It is true genius to wear a horse jacket to a county fair. The much maligned pants were IMO one of the best looks ever, fitting him perfectly and moving with his body. Hip rolls in drapey pants are hot - don't believe me? Watch the videos.

The persona that Adam inhabited that night was "Band Leader". The show had a retro feel; he was like an old fashioned entertainer. Adam was in total command, sometimes campy - lots of fluttery fingers and the ending of the show was pure theater queen. The pacing was great - he moved from song to song with just the right amount of banter, band interaction and music. The band was very tight. There were no miscues or missteps. It was hard to believe that Pop That Lock was a premiere performance because it was so polished. Some audience members described the show as "family friendly". I guess so, but he was still very sexy just not in your face. How family friendly is it when the vocal gymnastics in the Cuckoo breakdown are done to the lyric "crazy motherfu**ah? Best part is the VaJayJays doing the same with their lovely harmonies.

I had a moment during Broken English when I was drawn toward the stage by the sound of his voice and felt like Ulysses being lured to the rocks by the Sirens. Captivating.

We read with surprise that people were critical of the concert based on the videos (hold this thought as it will come back around in the Fantasy Springs recap), complaining about divas overpowering Adam's voice. That was not the case live. The sound was fabulous and his voice in that outdoor venue rose to the heavens. We danced our asses off.

Sometimes after an Adam performance I've been so spent that I need to lie down. When the concert ended, we were elated but not spent. It was in many ways a perfect show. At one point he said to the audience "we all know each other, right?" and it felt like we were old friends, hanging out in his living room. The vibe was just so warm. He seemed to feel it too, was relaxed and basking in the audience love.

One of my favorite shows ever. Maybe the videos don't do it justice, but as a live performance it was grand.

Omg omg omg omg!! What a fucking show!! I'm dead!

I was so glad Adam called out those people in the front row! I couldn't believe they were sitting down. Adam gave it to them good!!

I rubbed Adams sweaty arm for like a minute whn he came out to the audience. He was all sweaty and I saw and touched all those freckles up close. I was right there. My rings got smashed in the rush to get to him and so did my camera

Sauli walked by me at one point and I said "hi SaulI" and he stopped right in his tracks and waved to me and said hi. He's as sweet as Adam.

Adam was so on tonight. Was a little concerned when he left the stage for so long, thought he was sick but obviously not lol.

Everything was so great tonight. One of th best concerts I've been to so far. He sounded spot on great, was so sexy, and I finally got to see those shiny leopard pants in person!!!! And rubbed his arm for a minute!!!!!!!

I can hardly type on my phone. I'll get pics up 2m. Gonna show you a picture of my ring . Not sure if Adams hotness melted it or if if it got smashed by all those people lol!!

OMG . Hehe my first Adam concert!

What else can I possibly say.. What a show....leather lace up pants, sparkle zebra pants

Sexy, hot as fck Adam, gushy BF Adam, funny Adam, daring (going into crowd) Adam

HAWT Finnish BF, mom, Sutan and Terrance..

would have liked to tell Sutan to sit the fck down a few times..(dang he is tall ) haha

I was a few rows behind them and Sutan was right in my line of sight ...Sauli is just plain HAWT and adorable..how do they make itout of their rooms..

I am still processing all this but have to say parts of the show were very confusing..I really
thought there were some kind of techno problems at first..lol but Adam was just doing some things on a whim..


Yes open2it the level of SHE I felt in the hotel lobby was at a 10.. Very freaky..but observing it was like a train wreck..lol. So I ended up seeing Adam off stage..he looked 13..
So young. Actually not sure I would have recognized him.. Amazing

I was able to meet most of the awopers in the pic posted..EEEEEEEEE how fun..*wavestoawopgroup* so glad I got to say Hello!!! yAY!!! You are so lovely..thank you

Gotta go now..so tired..Hugs...going have some good dreams tonight..haha

This is a short account of Fantasy Springs show, for anyone that might be interested.

We could tell right from the first song that this was going to be different from Costa Mesa. He was VERY dramatic with his moves and his facial expressions. But then as soon as the song ended, he would break into this amazing smile. Early on in the show, he called out the first 3 rows for sitting down.

"You took those seats away from my fans, you better stand the fuck up."

I don't know if that was EXACT word for word, but pretty close. You could tell he was very much into the show and his fans.

Oh, and those people did stand up. lol.

I know there's some talk about him maybe being high or drunk. He definitely was not drunk. I'm no expert but he just seemed really, really energized. I'm gonna attribute it to being high on life. lol.

I guess about midway in the show, he said something about the security guards, asking if it was ok or something like that, then he invited the audience up to the stage. Me and @adamsmadams were at Row G and after some hesitating, and trying to get past the girls next to us who weren't moving, we ran our asses up there. We ended up about 3 people back from stage.

I can't even describe to you how close he was. I just can't. He doesn't favor the Tommy side of the stage (which is where we were) so he wasn't there very often, but often enough. He held his hand out twice and I was literally millimeters from touching it. But, omg, he was so close. I just can't even.

There was a moment with him reading someone's sign, and another with him giving a lady a hard time (but being funny about it) about her phone on stage. You guys probably saw all of this on the stream.

And then shit got real, cause he went out into the audience. Of course, not our side. But still, was amazing to watch. We were just standing there going, "what is even happening? Is this real life?"

All of this looked totally off script, cause the band didn't even seem to know what was happening. They covered well though.

He blew kisses to Sauli and said, "I love you, baby", and it was super sweet.

He bowed down before Tommy and they did that whole, sexy guitar sex thing. Then at one point, he was making love to one of the speaker stacks, grinding against it ... lol. It was nuts. I can't even with his energy.

Then it was all over and security told everyone to go back. @adamsmadams and I managed to stay during one more song by grabbing seats and playing like they were ours, but we got busted eventually.

It was the 2nd to the last song by that point. And then it was over. And it was glorious.

Oh, and his voice was lovely. It especially shone during Outlaws of Love. Just gorgeous. He was gorgeous. The band was gorgeous.

It was, quite simply, the BEST show I have ever seen him put on. It was like something out of a dream

And now, on to Indio.

Fantasy Springs - The Sixth Circle of Hell - Heresy

After our lovely evening at the Orange County Fair, we hung around Costa Mesa through lunch. My traveling companions were kind enough to wait for me while I had a date with my high school sweetheart (and that is another story altogether), then we drove in bad traffic through the desert, arriving at Fantasy Springs around 5:30. I was pleasantly surprised. The hotel was nice, the grounds pretty, the service good and it was uncrowded. We enjoyed dinner at a cool Palm Springs restaurant, anticipating our quiet day by the pool and then the concert.

Twelve hours later the scene was very different. Black and yellow littered the lobby. We headed for the pool, staying out of the fray. We were rewarded with glimpses of Brian and the divas going to rehearsal, and then Isaac and Ashley at the pool. We followed the happenings in the hotel on Twitter. It was surreal. While crazed hordes waited for Adam and company to arrive, we drank adult beverages and cooled off in the pool from the 108 degree heat. Dinner was pizza in the beautiful 12th floor lounge, with very good wines, where we were virtually the only customers. On the way back from dinner we bumped into Tommy in the elevator, and Susan L wished him a good show. We were incredibly sane and normal, once you discount the fact that we had traveled a collective 20,000 miles to see Adam. While waiting to go into the venue we saw Terrance, the Divas and Sutan. We maintained our composure.

And then, the show. I took my front row seat. I was pretty far over to the right side but had a great view of the stage nonetheless. I chatted with an EMT - this will become significant later - and my seatmates. Shortly before show time, Adam's entourage entered from the right and stopped near my row while security made arrangements for their seating. Leila, Sutan, Terrance, two other men and Sauli. Sauli. Sauli. Sauli. Sauli. But I digress.

The show started off with a high energy version of Trespassing. I had a great view although I wasn't in a good spot for the sound. It didn't take long for things to go off the rails. With his speech to the people in the center front section who were posing as Easter Island statues, Adam's crazy started to show. And it bloomed and bloomed throughout the night. There was more to the lengthy costume change than being mesmerized by the divas. Most likely scenarios are that he was ripping the sound guy a new a**hole, or fighting with the venue. Both Brian and Tommy could see Adam from their vantage point, and were staring to that side of the stage. The divas looked worried. Unfortunately, the pace of the show was disrupted, and would be disrupted again when he invited fans to move to the front, and when he decided to move among the people. It seems his intention was to have front row patrons move to the center, in front of the again-seated statues, but once he issued the invitation all hell broke loose. I went right to the stage and anchored myself with my elbows up, but within a minute felt the crush of the crowd. It was scary. Then security must have intervened because the pressure eased and I could breathe again.

So I was at the stage for most of the rest of the show. I was never more sad to be short. Like everyone else, I reached for him as he grasped fans' hands, but my arm was about five inches shorter than the average so he missed me on every pass despite my standing on my tippiest toes. There was a moment when I considered touching his boot, but reason prevailed. Barely. When Adam decided to do his romp into the crowd, I was farther away from him. If I had kept my seat, I would have been next to him. That also disrupted the pace of the show and caused another long delay without music.

Then, during NCOE, the security people began to clear the aisle. I was shoved pretty forcefully back, and told to exit up the middle aisle. When I complained that I had a front row seat, I was told to go up the center aisle and come back down. I was allowed to do that, but by them I was fairly far from the stage. I was close to speaker sex, and could see him from the knees down. Cuckoo was an incredible closing, and the crowd was going crazy, but at that point it was hard to see, and even to hear becasue of the shitty sound.

My immediate impression was that the concert was a HOT MESS. He was not in control of what was going on, was improvising to the point of discomfort for the band and although he seemed to be having the time of his life, was frenetic. I enjoyed myself immensely, but thought WTF????

Then, I saw the videos. The performances were off the chain. He was sexy, vocally masterful, shining like a bright like and was the HBIC. That's when it hit me. The videos show a performance, and Adam NEVER flubs a performance. They don't represent THE SHOW though. Individual songs were delivered beautifully (although I preferred PTL, WWFM and Cuckoo at Costa Mesa), but the whole thing didn't hang together for me. People loved it - Adam got down with his bad self - but there were glitches that threw off the timing and pace, and seemed to fire Adam up. My theory is that during the costume change he asked Security about moving the crowd and they said no. Once that happened, he was into Fuck It territory.

It's been very interesting to think about the live experience vs. watching videos. Adam gives so much in each performance that it's hard to take it all in live when you are surrounded by other stimuli. The videos isolate that and allow you to savor it. In a good venue, like OC, the sound is way better live, but that wasn't the case at FS.

Other random comments - Isaac is my favorite. He smiles from ear to ear at all times and seems to be having a blast. Brian wore a tank top with New York Fucking City on the front - all for me. And then there was Sauli. Sauli. Sauli. He left the arena to go backstage and walked by me while I still had my seat. We smiled. We had a moment. He is stunning and strong, giving the appearance that he will not take shit from anybody. Including the Glam God.

My love to the women who shared these experiences with me - glitterbert, Susan L, Nicole, boys3girls0, dreadnought, open2it, getoverit, mary, qoatg - it was a very special weekend, with special people.

P.S. The EMT, a woman with a masculine appearance and a stern uniformed presence, told me that she was very impressed with Adam at soundcheck. He was very nice, as was his partner. I went to find her afterward to thank her - they really did have a harrowing night - and asked if she had enjoyed the show. She broke into a smile and said "he's really hot".

Great recap, Maeve!--love the "normal" reference to us traveling fans. Why yes...I'll take that flight across the country to see Adam, thank ya!

I was sooooo thrilled with the Costa Mesa concert! The sound, the band, the background vocals--they all finally gelled for me. You'll remember I've had issues with what I'd heard so far from the live performances from this new combo of voices and musicians for Trespassing. (based on Kimmel and San Francisco) I was ecstatic over how tight and balanced the OC Fair show was. If I had to assign one descriptive word to this concert, it would be "professional". Everything was as if Adam and his band were in a competition and they would win! YEAY!

A Bohemian Rhapsody/Fantasy Recap

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
For the Fantasy Springs concert recap, I googled a definition of "fantasy" and read this:

I was grinning as I read each suggested way to capture the essence of 'fantasy' because I could apply every one to what I experienced at Adam's Fantasy Springs show. Ergo:

1. Unrestrained fancy? No doubt! No doubt that Adam was unrestrained Saturday night. The more I think about it, the more I can get behind the theory that at some point Adam was told 'NO!" by someone or some thing, and we know how he reacts to that word, don't we? ;) Maybe it was something before the concert. Maybe it was the lack of proper response from the clueless sound dude. Whatever. Adam does not like to be told 'NO!'

2. Invention? You betcha! Adam was inventing on the spot...again and again. Sometimes his idea didn't work--like the impromptu costume change that turned into an energy-deflating eternity of bewildered fans and awkwardly improvising band members. Not cool. I really felt that this lull was a major problem and I hope it doesn't happen again.

3. Oh yeah..."capricious" most assuredly captures for me the spirit of what happened on stage. We've talked about how controlled and "professional" the OC Fair show was; this "hot mess" was not. It was wild and wonky and whimsically wicked. For some, I imagine, it crossed lines of artistry and professionalism. For others, it all WAS a 'fantastic idea'. Dangerous? Capricious? Spontaneous? Ah, the connotations abound!

4. Daydream? Now this one...this one is how I've mostly lived with my Fantasy Springs experience--with a WTF? Did I really see/hear that? Huh? Then again, I regularly have mental images of AFL---sometimes daydreams, sometimes nocturnal ones that fulfill my psychological needs, so.... ;)

5. Improbable supposition? Damned if I ever thought I'd be dancing and singing along to Adam one moment, squeeing with boys3 that he was feisty tonight and we were in for a great show, yeay!...and then jerking my head around sharply to Pageturner the next moment saying, "What the fuck did he just say to those tribal elder peeps?" BWAH! and WTF?! An 'unrealistic or improbable' supposition? Ya think?

The sound sucked. My body was throbbing for all the wrong reasons, keeping reluctant time with the unrelenting bass and drum beats--which were the two dominant sounds during the whole track list, unfortunately. Adam's 'maestro' impression was in overdrive as he flipped his hands, fluttered his fingers, jerked his thumb up and down and probably threw in a middle finger from time to time to some poor sound guy , trying to get some kind of cooperation from the sound guy. I think he was as unhappy with the sound as some of us there were. I've been happy to see that the videos and their sound are much kinder to that guy's expertise than I was onsite.

But man, oh man. Adam was on FIYAH! Vocally masterful. Physically imposing. Glowing. So many of those killer smiles. So much love pouring out of that incomparable face! So much hotness rolling out of that drool-inducing body! So....much...Adam. I've honestly never seen him so 'full of himself'--for whatever single reason or combination of serendipitous joys and/or frustrations of his life--he was so very present and eager to communicate to his fans all the...'everything' he was feeling. I've never felt so connected to an entertainer.

And yet even now two nights later--while basking in all the wonder that is spending time with Adam Fucking Lambert and being so very grateful for all that he has brought to me--I catch myself recreating the look on my face when I turned to Pageturner and said, "WTF?" And then I just shake my head and smile.

Because I'm easy come, easy go, Little high, little low,
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me.

ILHSFM.

Real life and work has been kicking my butt since returning from the EPIC weekend of shows, so I haven't had time to write up a proper recap. As a recaplet, I'll say that I had an fantastic time with the amazing women of AWoP. It was such a pleasure to meet some for the first time and to reconnect with those I've met before. Our Kardashian Family Holiday Card photo was a very spur of the moment thing, and everyone independently sprang from the chairs scattered around the table to a perfectly composed layout in a matter of seconds. That still cracks me up. Booking two poolside cabanas was a brilliant idea and made for a wonderful day on Saturday. I'd share my self-indulgent photos of our 'Reserved for special guest xxxxx' signs if they didn't have my RL last name on them. :) Through the pure dumb luck of things like running back up to our room for my cellphone, exchanging an unfortunate drink recommendation from our waitress, or hocking extra tickets in front of the box office, I ended up running into and having brief pleasant conversations with Tommy, Isaac, Raina, Keisha, Bryan (just waves with him), Ashley, and Sutan. Tommy and Isaac were a few doors down from our room. Ashley is even more gorgeous and tiny in person, and she and Isaac very sweetly played catch with a couple of kids in the pool.

Food:
GRILLEDCHEESETRUCKOMFGHEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gah, I'm still drooling over this from the OC Fair. We also had an absolutely lovely dinner and post-feast stroll in downtown Palm Springs, and an impromptu pizza fest in the middle of the penthouse wine bar at FS. The complementary full breakfast at OC was very convenient.

Oh yeah, shows:
OC Fair was great. Adam was very professional and spot-on in his vocals. The sound was great, despite my forgetting to bring my pro earplugs. The baggy dress slacks weren't my favorite, but we had excellent seats and he was literally a few feet away from me on the rare occasion that he came over to the left side of the stage. He was so beautiful, it was like he was a marble statue. Mary and I each locked eyes with him at one point late in the show, and then simultaneously burst into flail. :)

FS was probably one of my favorite shows EVAH! I'm not tall and I get claustrophobic, so I usually despise GA shows. However, the spontaneity, insanity, and WTF-is-he-going-to-do-next??? aspect of this show made it all worth it. He was feeling it from the very first song, so we knew immediately that this would be very different from the OC Fair show. Yes it was a hot mess, but HotMessAdam is really fun!! I'm convinced that the desert does ~things to him. :) He was hot, sexay as hell, unleashed, unhinged, off the wall, off the rails, in control and then completely out of control, HBIC to the stuffed shirt VIPs, and sweet as could be to his fans. There were also the incredible leather lace up pants AND the sparkle zebra pants, which speak for themselves!

Back from Winstar...holy cow...Adam was on FIRE tonight and the crowd was insane. Awesome vocals - and shallowly, I loved the leopard print/star shirt he wore. When the lights came up after the show, the one word that kept coming to my mind re: Adam's performance was JOY. He just radiated joy tonight. Fantastic show - so glad I went!

Exhausted-heading to bed-what a fantastic night!!!

Recaps are not my forte, so just a few thoughts/tidbits about last night at Winstar:

As I said in my earlier post, Adam radiated JOY. He seemed to feed off the crazy, intense, joyful energy of the crowd...and the crowd LOVED him. I mean, REALLY loved him. I was sitting up near the front in the VIP section (on the side), near the speakers, and sometimes I couldn't even hear Adam over the roar of the crowd. Adam loved the crowd, and the crowd loved Adam. :)

I think it was during the first song, when my side of the VIP section left their seats and rushed to the stage in a "woosh" - security didn't stop anyone, and people seemed to be well-behaved. I stayed at my seat because I'm not comfortable in a crush of people, and my friend and I just looked at each other at one point, because our section was almost empty - the majority of the section had rushed to the stage to watch! I went down to the front during the encore, because I wanted to see Adam up close - and he looked divine even closer! :)

I didn't find the Vajayjays (sp?) overpowering or distracting - the only thing I did find distracting was the overpowering guitar and bass sometimes. Mostly, though, Adam's vocals soared, and the balance seemed good. I didn't notice him fiddling with his earpieces. :)

He was very happy/giggly all during the show - made a comment near the beginning of the show about how sometimes he's so corny (I can't remember what he was referring to, though!). Drank something from a mug (I think he said something about throat-coat tea or something like that), and later on something from what looked like a wine glass (no idea what was in it). Before one song (maybe Broken English or Naked Love? Sorry - I know - bad fan!), he gave a little intro to the song, and when the keyboardist/band started to play, they were playing something other than what he was expecting. Adam stopped them, and commented that it wasn't the right song, laughed about it being a "trainwreck" (far from it!! - but he and the band definitely weren't on the same page for a moment!), and then they got back on track.

Someone (sorry, can't remember who) mentioned earlier that they wondered if 2nd/3rd hand, etc. reports of possible poor sales before the show were just fans being worrywart fans. I personally believed that was the case even before the show, and believe it now times 100. I think sometimes some fans tend to think the middle of the country is a vast wasteland of no one/nothingness (especially regarding the arts), and project that onto how Adam will sell in middle America. Far from it!!! Only the very back section still had seats the last time I looked at Ticketmaster before the actual show date - and the place holds 3400 people, according to Winstar's website. By concert time, the place was PACKED (I think I read here it was a sellout or near sellout?), and the crowd definitely showed him the love.

Overall impressions of the show - he seemed really joyful, happy, and supremely confident (but not cocky) in his vocals and performance (he OWNED the stage!), and this show seemed much more professionally put together than the Glam Nation Tour a few years ago (re: lighting, pacing, and sound, IMO). Don't get me wrong - I loved that tour - but this one seemed on another level. I can't wait to see what he puts together when he comes back!