My recap of Wembley
And so for the 3rd Friday in a row (Newcastle, Sheffield and now Wembley) it was off to the train station again - this time for a longer journey (although only a stone’s throw by US standards) of 250 miles to our capital city.
Actually, living close to the main North/South railway line it’s a really easy journey from where I live, one I’ve often done in a day and back for shopping or a theatre matinee but not this time, so it was straight to my hotel which I’d known was close to the arena, but hadn’t realised was literally 50 feet away! Talk about convenient.
The convenience continued in that this time, having a seat, there was no need for me to queue or get there early so with that in mind I’d decided to glam up a bit. It was a nice change to be a size smaller (no big padded pants this time!) and to exchange my sneakers for high-heeled boots.
(And hey, my 15 year old phone even takes pictures!!)
I’d seen my seat on the plan, obviously, but in reality I was delighted with it. It was to the right of the stage (opposite side from last week’s on-stage seat) where the main stage meets the thrust. It was just a regular ticket but purchased within minutes of the start of the fan pre-sale so one of the best ones.
Being at the opposite side of the stage from last week gave me a perfect view of everything I couldn’t see from the other side - such as Adam going up and down the staircase for his costume changes (and now I knew exactly where he was going, to the little makeshift tent I’d seen backstage) or Brian’s guitar tech standing side of stage.
Not being that familiar with arena shows, I hadn’t fully realised the beauty of seeing the show from different vantage points if you’re going to more than one. And it was purely coincidence that I was on the opposite side to the stage seats - I just took what Ticketmaster offered me. In future I would do deliberately what happened by chance this time.
Talking of the on-stage seats where I’d been the week before, I had a great view of them and there looked to be 10 or so people there. There’s no denying that as exciting as it is to be on-stage, you DO miss quite a bit with the restricted view from behind Spike’s keyboard. As others have said, it’s a fabulous experience but only worth doing if you have other shows as well.
And so to the show. Well firstly, this time I could see Adam (I believe Brian, Roger and a couple of others were there also) perfectly the whole time - particularly when he was on the main stage. When he went along the catwalk and was a bit farther away from me that was fine, because I’d been standing beside the catwalk in Newcastle so I’d seen that part of the show in close-up there, now I was getting a perfect view of the main stage, which I’d had to partially watch on the video screen in Newcastle. Video director Steve Price is a lovely guy but he does tend to give quite a bit of coverage to Brian and Roger rather than the 100% on the main man that I require!!!
But now, not needing the big screen, I could totally focus my attention on my beloved and clearly see what he was doing every moment.
I’m writing this before reading any other reviews or impressions of the show so as not to be influenced so I don’t know what the general consensus was about the sound but from my position it was absolutely superb.
The poor sound quality in Newcastle (due to the arena, not the band) had been an issue for me and whilst the on-stage sound was wonderful in terms of getting unfiltered Adam front and centre, this was the full package - the sound as the tech guys intend you to hear it - beautifully balanced and nuanced. And with every syllable of Adam’s clear as a bell.
This is just ridiculous - two days later and my eyes are filling with tears remembering the feeling of those notes (specially the WHY in Under Pressure, and, of course, STL) going right through my body and piercing my heart. It’s as though Adam’s voice goes right into your DNA. It was like a spiritual experience.
It’s as though after 5 years with Queen everything has come together and Adam has totally stepped out from Freddie’s shadow. His “I know I’m not Freddie” speech is becoming superfluous and I suspect the majority of the people who attend a show (average people (not like us!!) who go to to be entertained and don’t post on social media about it afterwards) have never seen Freddie live or have any strong affiliation with him, they simply love the music of Queen.
I couldn’t help but notice the difference in volume between the response to the “Do you love Freddie? Do you miss Freddie” questions (to my shame, I yelled “no” to both which wasn’t big and wasn’t clever) and the cheers that went up when Brian introduced Adam as the man without whom none of this would be possible. What a change from just two years ago and “what do you think of the new boy?”.
I have even asked myself if a 35 year old Freddie were fronting Queen today if his performance would be as well-received as Adam’s? Leaving vocal preferences out of the equation, I’m not sure that Freddie’s macho, fuck-you style would have the same mass appeal as gorgeous, goofy, personable Adam in today’s politically correct world. Even at the time there were many people (me and some of my friends included) who liked Queen’s music but didn’t care for them as a band because they found Freddie off-putting. I don’t think Adam polarises in the same way (to Freddie fans obviously he does, but I’m talking mass market).
Of course, Freddie’s genius as a song-writer isn’t in doubt and in that respect he can probably leave Adam in the dust as to date, nothing that Adam has written shows signs of becoming a classic that will still endure 40 years on.
And as a fan, my dilemma is that the Queen music is so much more suited to displaying Adam’s vocal range and his all-round talents than his own music….. But his own music means more to me because it’s his. It’s a moot point really because this is going to come to a natural end, sooner rather than later.
Getting back to the show, Brian had almost lost his voice and was barely able to speak, let alone sing Love of my Life but the audience participation was excellent.
Adam was on spectacular form. For the band, the London shows are their home gigs (Brian, “when I was young I always wanted to be able to say Hello Wembley”) and mindful of this, even though they’re not HIS home gigs, he always seems to go up a gear.
I won’t deny, my pleasure in the show was boosted even further by the knowledge of Sauli and co back in Adam’s house in LA - yes, that even crossed my mind mid-show. And I did notice that he wasn’t looking for someone to love! Although that part was cut quite short due to the need to keep Brian’s speaking parts to a bare minimum.
Another part of the show I was able to appreciate better from my seat was the lights - especially the lasers during WWTLF which were as stunning as the performance.
Someone posted a video recently of Brian’s guitar tech and another guy dancing to Kind of Magic and this is obviously a well-rehearsed interlude. As the song gets underway, the other guy joins the guitar tech in his little booth and they begin dancing in sync. It was quite a complex routine, obviously honed from show to show and pretty impressive.
At the end of Kind of Magic Roger threw his tambourine high into the air, attempted to catch it, missed and it fell to the floor and smashed. A lasting memory will be the sight of Brian, crouched down on his knees, picking up the broken pieces.
Another fun moment was when Adam comes up the stairs wearing his majestic cape which is being held aloft by the torch-bearing guy in a manner normally associated with a bridal attendant holding a train.
I don’t have much experience of being seated at a music show but chair-dancing is actually quite fun and the whole thing was nowhere near as passive and tame as I’d feared. Our whole section began standing at Radio Gaga and remained on our feet for the remainder of the show.
I was seated beside a mad-keen Glambert and her male companion/husband which was nice because I was able to cheer and scream as loud and as long as I liked at any time, knowing she’d follow suit. It was like we gave each other permission to let go, even though we didn’t discuss Adam at all, we just exchanged small-talk.
This show was my favourite because of the spectacular sound and the fact I could see everything at all times. I’ve been on a high after both the previous shows but this was on another level.
Consequently, getting to sleep was a challenge but I was pleased to nod off around 2 a.m., only to wake less than 2 hours later and find it impossible to get back to sleep again - the songs were still playing in my head and all my senses were on red-alert.
At 7 a.m. when I’d resigned myself to the sad fact that any further sleep that night was going to be out of the question I asked myself whether I really wanted to continue on to Birmingham as planned for the final night of the tour. And I decided, no I didn’t.
I know this may sound unbelievable to many of my fellow Glamberts since I had a train ticket, a paid hotel room and a concert ticket, all of which were going to go to waste. But I already knew that I couldn’t surpass last night’s experience and with a standing ticket at Birmingham and less than 2 hours sleep under my belt, the chances of my feeling faint were quite high. No way was I going to spoil my perfect concert.
A day later, and I don’t regret my decision. I had 3 wonderful concert experiences - the first with two close friends and a fun girlie weekend, the second on my birthday as an on-stage VIP and the third a triumph of perfect sound and vision.
Go out on a high, that’s my motto, and I think it’s one I share with Queen and Adam Lambert!