Part 2)
I arrived at the Wells Fargo Center with plenty of time for a quick meal, and luckily they have this restaurant pavillion right there were the three stadiums/arenas intersect. They were invitingly blasting all the Greatest Hits through their loud speaker system, so you could not miss it. Met a few Queen folks, mostly quite hesitant about Adam, it was their first Queen concert for all but one guy, who turned out to be a big Queen fan and immediately rattled down all the concerts from the 70s and 80s that he had seen, in the familiar 'Queen-fan-establishes-his-pedigree-and rank' - ritual, that most of us are by now familiar with. Anyhow, turns out, he was actually the guy most open to Adam. Had not attended QAL last time around, but had looked at some videos, he was actually down with Adam, thought that Adam could certainly sing his face off. The other guys and gals though, were much more reserved. But all were here to have a few beer and a good night out, and so our paths split.
I had a great, great seat! Level one, just above the heads down on the floor, and with nobody in front of me, total unobstructed view, a bit to the back, on Adam's side, and with partial view of the FOH box as well. Not only was the view great, the sound was even better. The WF Center can be a bit shaky when it comes to sound quality, but none of that tonight. This was the best sound I have had out of all QAL concerts that I have been to, and it would also beat the sound in DC the next day. It was neither too loud, nor muddled, no high resonance overlays, nothing, just the most perfect sound ever. What a delight! I was so happy about that.
Adam was in top form, in fact they all were. Adam is such a quick study and he read this crowd very quickly, you could see it in his demeanor or face for one brief moment, somewhere around SCC or so, there was a brief exchange of looks with Brian that was telling. This was a crowd where most were unfamiliar with him, so he had to prove himself a bit, but not too much, ultimately it was a crowd that was easy to please and could be won over by somebody as talented and friendly and hot as him.
Folks were here to hear the hits, they wanted to have a good time, they wanted to sing along, they wanted to party. Did I hear a few 'he is no Freddie' voices. Yes. But they were isolated. The majority seemed to relax within a few songs, realizing that Adam got this, and so they just settled down for a good time.
Tbh, this was not the crowd that would appreciate whether a high D or a high E was reached, sorry Philly not trying to insult you, but it's just true, and Adam, given that this was the first night of two, was holding back a bit anyhow, and that worked out totally fine. He would pull out all the stops and high notes the next night in Washington. This night, it was more a family night and sing along. He did not go down on his knees during GDML, no 'no shit' during the speech, little things like that here and there, things that you would only notice if you watched the videos a few times too many, just that little bit more reserved. I think he read that audience right, though.
He got huge applause all the way around, and tunneled his way into people's hearts. And actually, in some ways I loved it almost more than the next night, maybe that's me, but it just was a little less forced; and then I had the luxury of that perfect sound mix, I cannot even begin to tell you how much the sound melted together in my ears. It was superbly mixed.
Let me discuss a few highlights: This opener, wow this is quite something. It thundered with the arrival of Frank, and what a spectacular visual. Got a huge reception, of course. Adam was in charge from that first walk down the middle. In fact, he relented that control later a bit to Brian, but initially, he had it all focused on him.
I don't think the crowd really knew HtF, but SCC was a bit more known. Now I happen to love SCC, I know Talon does not, but I think that Adam sings that brilliantly, so sharp, so precise, I loved it.
Then AOBTD really got the crowd going. Everybody knew this one and sang along.
I have to say, that one of the only down sides to our seats was that our block stayed mostly seated, and during AOBTD it started to bug me a bit. But then, I was running on pure adrenaline the whole concert anyhow (due to my previous night shift), and so I decided that I was not going to take on the fight to stand, but rather be thankful as it was, and so I have to shamefully admit, that our section was mainly seated, contrary to the rest of the arena, which clearly did a better job at representing. Anyhow, I was secretly grateful, and declare myself guilty as charged.
FBG was good as usual, it has never been my favorite, so I can't really say much than just say, it was fine, and Adam left and Brian could soak in the thunderous applause that his solo got.
Huge laughter and later applause for Killer Queen as well as the speech, which in PHL, I thought had just the right tone, better than in DC, actually. I'll talk a bit more about that topic there. Here in Philly, I thought, the speech did exactly what it was supposed to. Got all those folks with concerns on board for the remainder of the concert.
cont....