3.23.14 How are hits made? Maybe you don't want to know!

Fantasy Springs in Feb 2010 changed the GNT paradigm.
RCA had ideas how many albums should be sold before justifying a tour and probably Adam did not have those numbers, even with FYE. He stated multiple times in interviews during Dec 2009 and Jan 2010 that he did not know whether there would even be a tour and that it was dependent on sales numbers. And the opening act scenario was tossed out as 'maybe' as well. It was all open.

Then Fantasy Springs showed up out of nowhere. I always believed that Adam paid for that upfront and sponsored that, however he pulled it off. The issue is not so much renting a venue, that is the somewhat easier part. The more difficult part is that you need to organize a ticket sales process and that you need to normally plan for promotion of the event, if you want anybody there. That is, if you are not Adam Lambert.

It was never publicly stated who exactly was behind FS. We only know that it was not RCA (even though RCA behind the scenes must have been informed about it).


RCA officially declared that they did not 'know' about the concert and it was never officially listed on the AO calendar. That actually set off a panic among fans, who asked on AO threads, because they were worried their tickets were not valid and asked for confirmation from RCA that this was really happening and RCA would not give that.
Much later, and only inside one of the threads, did a moderator vaguely suggested, that if we in the past had no reason to have doubts, then why have them now...or something along those lines, and fans had to take that as all the 'confirmation' they could get.

The casino multiple times confirmed that they had a valid contract with Adam, but never stated or named any promoter. 19M was quiet about it too.

Fans jumped the gun on any planned promotion, because somebody found a local announcement and anyhow, when the AL fan club (newly created at that time) announced the concert and later sold tickets, the whole thing sold out so quickly that whatever was allocated for promotion, was never needed.

For the concert itself, the band drove up with rented trucks and Adam drove his car (practicing WWL, as we all know). He had no manager with him, he carried his own bags, he personally settled the hotel bill. Jane was not helping with these things at FS.

Imo, Adam organized FS by himself, to prove to RCA that he had the ability to sell out venues, and obviously it worked, and then a budget for a 30 stop tour was put together, with RCA's financial support. It was very much on a shoestring...

And Q3 wrote already about how it expanded.

GNT was brilliant, in spite of all the organizational challenges of a growing tour, and I am pretty sure that it pissed off Adam royally, when the new RCA management ignored every evidence provided by GNT that Adam could sell out venues, and just refused him that TSP tour. Pissed off the fans too, but then, RCA never understood Adam's fan base, neither in numbers, nor in their interests, music tastes, or how to sell to them.  Nada.

Dinosaurs they are. Small ears, and big foot print.
Bean counting dinosaurs, that is.

Thank goodness it is behind us, and Adam has found ways to give us concerts at various occasions ever since, even without label. And obviously, now we all have tickets for a new kind of tour.

We shall see how it all works out going forward (beyond Queen).

Is this from iHeart???

Hi...been gone all day.  New pic?

Andrea Lambert ‏@pllglambertchic 3m
@adamlambert Y u mad bro lol. pic.twitter.com/KDkU7d6hqZ

Never saw this one before - it is now one of my favorites - Ohhhhh - just ........