~Go down the Rabbit Hole!~
Aug. 2nd, 2010 10:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12ADAM LAMBERT IS HOT. Ahem. AND HE ROCKS.
Kick-ass concert last night! The venue was The Marquee Theatre in Tempe -- first time I'd ever been there, though a friend told me what to expect. No seats, no food, just alcohol and soda. And they charge for parking, which is kind of a rip, but eh, $5, big deal.
I thought the concert STARTED at 7:00. It even says 7:00 on the print-out I needed for will-call. But no... that's when the doors opened. Concert at 8:00. I guess they say that to make sure people are there early enough to buy booze and aren't just rushing inside? Heh. I figured it would be like a baseball game, with the doors opening 2 hours early (thinking it started at 7), so I got there an hour earlier than that (4:00) only to find I'd be waiting outside for 3 hours. Well, okay, I drove around the block once trying to figure out where to park -- there was construction around there so they needed better signs to show people where to turn, methinks. But I was in line by 4:15. And lucky for me, yesterday was a beautifully overcast un-AZ-like day! It was NICE out. Overcast and rainy all weekend, it kept the temp down. I wanna say I didn't even break a sweat at all being out there for several hours.
Someone at work said I have cajones for going to a concert by myself. I laughed and said I do lots of things by myself. The way I figure it, I'd have to buy someone else's ticket and DRAG them along with me; what fun is that??? And no seats so they couldn't even sit like a lump through the whole thing :) unless they ditch me and go sit outside, but then why bring them at all?
So I plopped down, braving the ants on the ground in favor of not standing for 8 hours straight, and pulled out my teeny little iPod shuffle and pen + paper (what more does a girl need?). I chatted a little with others in line near me and did some people-watching too. It looked to be about 75% female... not as many hot young gay boys as I would have liked :) but there were some lovelies! All ages too. I was surprised at how many OLD people came out to see Adam. I know he has fans of all ages, thanks to his popularity on Idol, but to actually GO to a concert -- a standing-only concert -- is something!
One drawback to going alone is you have to get your T-shirt and drinks, and take potty breaks, without the benefit of having someone hold your place for you on the floor. I knew this, so my plan was to go get a shirt uberquickly while the 150 people ahead of me rushed into the auditorium, and maybe I'd only lose ranks to like 50-100 people. And I dehydrated myself so well during the day in order to not need a bathroom break; my rationale is that I'd rather be a little thirsty than have that awful I-have-to-pee feeling during the concert. And honestly, the way they packed it in there, people were having a hard time leaving anyway! I heard people debating going out for a potty break and then saying screw it cuz they'd never get back to their spot. Haha.
The Marquee looks like a big garage. It felt very "clubby" which I really like for an Adam concert... who wants to sit in a seat anyway when you can be up bopping around? The people on this website writing reviews of the venue mostly disagree with me. I did a search to see how many people it holds, and though they don't actually SAY, I'm thinking it's 1500 (one source says so... I heard someone else say 3000 in the crowd last night, but what do shmucks know?). Very small, I'm sure Adam could have sold out a larger venue, but maybe he likes the small intimate ones better?
We were jammed in there and I knew it would get worse when the music started. As an experienced concert-goer, I had my elbows at the ready! I'd say I was about 10-12 "rows" back. The first "push" came not in the way I expected... a fight broke out literally right next to me, slightly in front. I was getting more of a push to the side than to the front, but I managed to take advantage and gain some ground :) And by "fight" I mean these two women were trying to get right up in each other's faces but there was a guy between them not letting them get at each other. I didn't hear how it started but the younger girl (and she wasn't THAT young, probably like 30) seemed a bit drunk, and she grabbed the older chick's hat (she was probably 40s), which REALLY incensed the older one, naturally. She invited her to go outside so they could have it out. Ha! This was all quite amusing to me. The people around me were all like "are you fucking kidding me?" when they saw the two arguing too. I heard more of the younger chick's side afterwards... the older one had a problem with friends trying to shove through to get to be with other friends. Yes, it's annoying, but it's a concert! That's part of it! You have to try to keep your space and not let people past you but if it happens, it happens. I wouldn't have started a fight over it.
Allison Iraheta opened. She is so adorable. She came in third in Idol that year, iirc, and Adam kind of adopted her as his little sister. They sang well together on Idol during duets week and it would have been awesome to see them do one for the concert, but having reviewed set lists from other shows, I didn't expect them to. She rocked it! But this is when I noticed how many old people were in front of me. There were 60-somethings in the front row! Which means they must have camped out for AGES. That's fine, but if you're in the front, you need to be excited and moving, imho. If I saw any of the older people doing so, I woulda been like "FUCK YEAH!" but instead I was annoyed because they just STOOD THERE. The people around me didn't move much either. I know Allison was just the opening act, but it's a concert, people! I feared that Adam wouldn't see a very lively crowd and he'd get a bad impression of Phoenix and decide never to return.
After her set, the younger fighter really needed a bathroom break and had to take Male Protector with her in case someone followed her for ass-kicking purposes. Ha! This other guy and his girlfriend remained to hold their spot, and I laughed and said no way would he be able to hold it through the next push... he said he was [insert some football position here that I don't know but knew enough to know it was football] and he swore he would not only hold it, but possibly gain us ground. His girlfriend noticed that I'd been behind them before and now I was in front of them. She didn't seem pissy about it, just observant... I said yeah, every time there's pushing I make the most of it.
The guy DID actually hold the space, but Adam didn't start until just after the two made it back through, and I'd have been curious to see how they made out AFTER. Oh well. I gained another "row" so I was like, maybe 7 back! Awesome! (and I seriously didn't do any obnoxious shoving of my own to muscle through) I was right behind this really tall guy in a sparkly black sport coat (he musta been BROILING; it was hot in there with all those bodies pressed close together) and a hat. I remember him being in front of me in line and being kinda cute. I hoped Adam would notice him in the crowd, and then notice me over his shoulder. Ha! But nope, no eye contact moments for me, though he came close a few times.
It was really awesome seeing him SO CLOSE, omg. And I needn't have worried about people boringly just standing around. There was a lot more energy overall for Adam. He had a good mix of soft acoustic numbers and hot dance ones. Loved the lasers and the dancers. He didn't kiss any dancers or band members, though, unfortunately :)
I took more pictures than I intended to (by "more than" I mean I actually hadn't intended to take ANY... but the urge was too strong!). I just had my cameraphone, and lots of people were snapping away on fancy digital cameras (which supposedly aren't allowed into the venue but apparently isn't a rule they strictly enforce? I would think the mentality is like "why bother" since a lot of people DO have cameras on their phones, and who's going to say you can't bring your phone to a concert where the potential to get split up from your party is high? Never mind that we managed just fine back in "my day" - lolz, I'm so old). They didn't come out very well, though, so I only took a few. I know there are ten zillion concert pics of Adam I can look at online anyway.
Here's the set list, more for my own reference than because anyone cares :)
(For Your Entertainment wasn't performed, but was played as intro music)
Voodoo
Down The Rabbit Hole
Ring of Fire
Fever
Sleepwalker
Whataya Want From Me
Soaked
Aftermath
Sure Fire Winners
Strut
Music Again
If I Had You
Mad World (encore)
My favorite was definitely "If I Had You," as I predicted it would be.
Afterward, I shoved up front easily enough to try my luck at getting a set list or drumstick or something. (in one song, Adam threw a bra into the crowd! Heee!) I got nothin'. I went out and found where the crowd was gathering and waited in the hopes of seeing Adam come out. I figured I had a pretty good shot at getting his autograph since I was right behind this adorable little 6-year-old girl (who was pretty well-behaved considering it was 11pm and she hadn't had a nap before the concert). Really I wanted to just MEET him more than get his autograph; I wanted one of those killer smiles aimed at me!
The drummer came out for a while, and I probably could have gotten him to sign for me, but considering I didn't even know him at all I didn't try. An hour later, Adam came out... and HUGGED the teen girl right next to me! She was a better fangirl than me, giving him a little photo book to keep. So yeah, she deserved it. But I was jealous! And he passed right by me and the little girl, whose mom asked if she could get a picture and he said yes but to just take them -- meaning he wasn't going to stand around posing with people. He was very nice and smiley and I kept hearing his still-humble-sounding "thank you" just like it sounded on American Idol. Awwwww. WE LOVE YOU, ADAM!!!!
I didn't get to bed 'til after 1am so I'm glad I took today off, even though I still only slept about 6 hours. I'm sure I'll go to bed early tonight. My ears are still pleasantly ringing with Adam tuneage!
Kick-ass concert last night! The venue was The Marquee Theatre in Tempe -- first time I'd ever been there, though a friend told me what to expect. No seats, no food, just alcohol and soda. And they charge for parking, which is kind of a rip, but eh, $5, big deal.
I thought the concert STARTED at 7:00. It even says 7:00 on the print-out I needed for will-call. But no... that's when the doors opened. Concert at 8:00. I guess they say that to make sure people are there early enough to buy booze and aren't just rushing inside? Heh. I figured it would be like a baseball game, with the doors opening 2 hours early (thinking it started at 7), so I got there an hour earlier than that (4:00) only to find I'd be waiting outside for 3 hours. Well, okay, I drove around the block once trying to figure out where to park -- there was construction around there so they needed better signs to show people where to turn, methinks. But I was in line by 4:15. And lucky for me, yesterday was a beautifully overcast un-AZ-like day! It was NICE out. Overcast and rainy all weekend, it kept the temp down. I wanna say I didn't even break a sweat at all being out there for several hours.
Someone at work said I have cajones for going to a concert by myself. I laughed and said I do lots of things by myself. The way I figure it, I'd have to buy someone else's ticket and DRAG them along with me; what fun is that??? And no seats so they couldn't even sit like a lump through the whole thing :) unless they ditch me and go sit outside, but then why bring them at all?
So I plopped down, braving the ants on the ground in favor of not standing for 8 hours straight, and pulled out my teeny little iPod shuffle and pen + paper (what more does a girl need?). I chatted a little with others in line near me and did some people-watching too. It looked to be about 75% female... not as many hot young gay boys as I would have liked :) but there were some lovelies! All ages too. I was surprised at how many OLD people came out to see Adam. I know he has fans of all ages, thanks to his popularity on Idol, but to actually GO to a concert -- a standing-only concert -- is something!
One drawback to going alone is you have to get your T-shirt and drinks, and take potty breaks, without the benefit of having someone hold your place for you on the floor. I knew this, so my plan was to go get a shirt uberquickly while the 150 people ahead of me rushed into the auditorium, and maybe I'd only lose ranks to like 50-100 people. And I dehydrated myself so well during the day in order to not need a bathroom break; my rationale is that I'd rather be a little thirsty than have that awful I-have-to-pee feeling during the concert. And honestly, the way they packed it in there, people were having a hard time leaving anyway! I heard people debating going out for a potty break and then saying screw it cuz they'd never get back to their spot. Haha.
The Marquee looks like a big garage. It felt very "clubby" which I really like for an Adam concert... who wants to sit in a seat anyway when you can be up bopping around? The people on this website writing reviews of the venue mostly disagree with me. I did a search to see how many people it holds, and though they don't actually SAY, I'm thinking it's 1500 (one source says so... I heard someone else say 3000 in the crowd last night, but what do shmucks know?). Very small, I'm sure Adam could have sold out a larger venue, but maybe he likes the small intimate ones better?
We were jammed in there and I knew it would get worse when the music started. As an experienced concert-goer, I had my elbows at the ready! I'd say I was about 10-12 "rows" back. The first "push" came not in the way I expected... a fight broke out literally right next to me, slightly in front. I was getting more of a push to the side than to the front, but I managed to take advantage and gain some ground :) And by "fight" I mean these two women were trying to get right up in each other's faces but there was a guy between them not letting them get at each other. I didn't hear how it started but the younger girl (and she wasn't THAT young, probably like 30) seemed a bit drunk, and she grabbed the older chick's hat (she was probably 40s), which REALLY incensed the older one, naturally. She invited her to go outside so they could have it out. Ha! This was all quite amusing to me. The people around me were all like "are you fucking kidding me?" when they saw the two arguing too. I heard more of the younger chick's side afterwards... the older one had a problem with friends trying to shove through to get to be with other friends. Yes, it's annoying, but it's a concert! That's part of it! You have to try to keep your space and not let people past you but if it happens, it happens. I wouldn't have started a fight over it.
Allison Iraheta opened. She is so adorable. She came in third in Idol that year, iirc, and Adam kind of adopted her as his little sister. They sang well together on Idol during duets week and it would have been awesome to see them do one for the concert, but having reviewed set lists from other shows, I didn't expect them to. She rocked it! But this is when I noticed how many old people were in front of me. There were 60-somethings in the front row! Which means they must have camped out for AGES. That's fine, but if you're in the front, you need to be excited and moving, imho. If I saw any of the older people doing so, I woulda been like "FUCK YEAH!" but instead I was annoyed because they just STOOD THERE. The people around me didn't move much either. I know Allison was just the opening act, but it's a concert, people! I feared that Adam wouldn't see a very lively crowd and he'd get a bad impression of Phoenix and decide never to return.
After her set, the younger fighter really needed a bathroom break and had to take Male Protector with her in case someone followed her for ass-kicking purposes. Ha! This other guy and his girlfriend remained to hold their spot, and I laughed and said no way would he be able to hold it through the next push... he said he was [insert some football position here that I don't know but knew enough to know it was football] and he swore he would not only hold it, but possibly gain us ground. His girlfriend noticed that I'd been behind them before and now I was in front of them. She didn't seem pissy about it, just observant... I said yeah, every time there's pushing I make the most of it.
The guy DID actually hold the space, but Adam didn't start until just after the two made it back through, and I'd have been curious to see how they made out AFTER. Oh well. I gained another "row" so I was like, maybe 7 back! Awesome! (and I seriously didn't do any obnoxious shoving of my own to muscle through) I was right behind this really tall guy in a sparkly black sport coat (he musta been BROILING; it was hot in there with all those bodies pressed close together) and a hat. I remember him being in front of me in line and being kinda cute. I hoped Adam would notice him in the crowd, and then notice me over his shoulder. Ha! But nope, no eye contact moments for me, though he came close a few times.
It was really awesome seeing him SO CLOSE, omg. And I needn't have worried about people boringly just standing around. There was a lot more energy overall for Adam. He had a good mix of soft acoustic numbers and hot dance ones. Loved the lasers and the dancers. He didn't kiss any dancers or band members, though, unfortunately :)
I took more pictures than I intended to (by "more than" I mean I actually hadn't intended to take ANY... but the urge was too strong!). I just had my cameraphone, and lots of people were snapping away on fancy digital cameras (which supposedly aren't allowed into the venue but apparently isn't a rule they strictly enforce? I would think the mentality is like "why bother" since a lot of people DO have cameras on their phones, and who's going to say you can't bring your phone to a concert where the potential to get split up from your party is high? Never mind that we managed just fine back in "my day" - lolz, I'm so old). They didn't come out very well, though, so I only took a few. I know there are ten zillion concert pics of Adam I can look at online anyway.
Here's the set list, more for my own reference than because anyone cares :)
(For Your Entertainment wasn't performed, but was played as intro music)
Voodoo
Down The Rabbit Hole
Ring of Fire
Fever
Sleepwalker
Whataya Want From Me
Soaked
Aftermath
Sure Fire Winners
Strut
Music Again
If I Had You
Mad World (encore)
My favorite was definitely "If I Had You," as I predicted it would be.
Afterward, I shoved up front easily enough to try my luck at getting a set list or drumstick or something. (in one song, Adam threw a bra into the crowd! Heee!) I got nothin'. I went out and found where the crowd was gathering and waited in the hopes of seeing Adam come out. I figured I had a pretty good shot at getting his autograph since I was right behind this adorable little 6-year-old girl (who was pretty well-behaved considering it was 11pm and she hadn't had a nap before the concert). Really I wanted to just MEET him more than get his autograph; I wanted one of those killer smiles aimed at me!
The drummer came out for a while, and I probably could have gotten him to sign for me, but considering I didn't even know him at all I didn't try. An hour later, Adam came out... and HUGGED the teen girl right next to me! She was a better fangirl than me, giving him a little photo book to keep. So yeah, she deserved it. But I was jealous! And he passed right by me and the little girl, whose mom asked if she could get a picture and he said yes but to just take them -- meaning he wasn't going to stand around posing with people. He was very nice and smiley and I kept hearing his still-humble-sounding "thank you" just like it sounded on American Idol. Awwwww. WE LOVE YOU, ADAM!!!!
I didn't get to bed 'til after 1am so I'm glad I took today off, even though I still only slept about 6 hours. I'm sure I'll go to bed early tonight. My ears are still pleasantly ringing with Adam tuneage!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 09:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-02 10:42 pm (UTC)I really wish he would have performed FYE, the into was nice, but.. I guess that's the payoff for getting VooDoo (which was the intro when I saw him on the international promo tour).
It's too bad you didn't get to actually meet Adam though. He has mind erasing powers with that smile though.
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Date: 2010-08-02 10:52 pm (UTC)I would have loved to see him perform FYE too, it's such a good concert song! But I actually like Voodoo better so if that was the trade-off then so be it :)
Mind-erasing powers! Ha! So true!
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Date: 2010-08-03 02:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-03 02:39 am (UTC)I say your friend has excellent taste :D
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Date: 2010-08-04 03:16 am (UTC)That's why I didn't answer her
plus I'm lazy, I just commented on one of the posts she was talking about.Do you like the comment icon Deborah found for me?
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Date: 2010-08-03 11:52 pm (UTC)One drawback to going alone is you have to get your T-shirt and drinks, and take potty breaks, without the benefit of having someone hold your place for you on the floor.
I've found one drawback to going alone is you don't have anyone to look after your hold-all when you go into the toilet at the railway station so you have to take it in there with you and hold it in front of you because there's no room to carry it on your shoulder and then you can't see where you're walking and get your leg caught in the turnstile.
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Date: 2010-08-04 03:23 am (UTC)hawtgaytalented performer.Ohhh, inconvenient! Turnstiles in the toilets? Interesting!
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Date: 2010-08-04 12:41 pm (UTC)So you can't get in without paying, they don't turn until you put coins in.
Most public toilets are free but apparently that's too much to ask at Waterloo.
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Date: 2010-08-05 01:57 am (UTC)no subject
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