6.18.14 TOMORROW!

exactly kamar I like your attitude!!!

I enjoyed the iHeart camera work because it gave us a look at these three. Rufus is growing a pony-tail and looked to be having a great time. Spike seems like a quiet, focused, intense individual. And Neil, well Neil has most of the qualities I look for in a bass player. Although you would think that I might put musicality first, you would be wrong. For me, a bass player has to in touch with their primitive core, it is not about flash but about rhythm. The drummer may be the keeper of the beat, but the bass player makes it throb. Neil has got that quality, he just stood over there and grooved the whole time. It might not surprise you, after this description, that I told my DH a long time ago, that if I ever left it would be with a bass player.

I'm loving the discussion so far:) But I won't add my two cents, for reasons stated below:)


Part of my preparations for their tour – and don’t you, oh you blessed ones who are going to see this gem live, think for one second that we, the less fortunate ones, don’t have as extensive and probably as nerve-wracking pre-concert activities – consisted of closing myself mentally to all the outside ‘noise’. It’s not that I am unfamiliar with the Queen catalogue, or that I am one of those who believe that ignorance is bliss, far from it; I just did not want to know how Freddie sang it, and especially, I did not want to hear any comparisons. I couldn’t see any point or use in it. I avoided comment sections and forums like plague, and remained deaf and blind to all the discussions on the topic. I went even further – ever since Adam has begun collaborating with Queen, I purposely haven’t listened to a single song by Queen which was not sung by Adam.



There is a bit of remorse on my part attached to that decision, to be honest. I did hear on a few occasions my conscience yelling at my ear, calling me names (“You ignorant, narrow-minded peasant!”), but I just waved it off as per usual when my guilty pleasures are involved. In my defense, I will say this: I am here because I love Adam Lambert and I have a vested interest in procuring optimal conditions for maximal enjoyment and appreciation of his voice and interpretation. Such radicalism may seem a tad harsh, but I can’t help it, I’m a hedonist by nature and I don’t want to mess with sources of my pleasure. Joking aside, I do like a clean canvass, or a fresh palate, if you like. But I’d be lying if I said that I was willingly subjecting myself to artistic celibacy for any other reason than the fact that I am shamelessly, pitifully and embarrassingly monogamous when my budding relationship with his voice is concerned.



The other part of my preparations was far more pleasurable. It consisted of closely following something which at first appeared to be just a randomly chosen Queen song for his American Idol audition, and turned into something … delightfully more. The name (another point of dispute, alas!) is irrelevant. It has turned into a collaboration between rock royalties with one of the most impressive music catalogues of all times and a vocal god – Zeus in a thong, as Rolling Stone called him – and it has felt like the Mount Olympus material right from the get go. It felt natural and right to so many people, if the ticket sales of Queen and Adam tour are anything to go by, but more importantly, it obviously felt right to Brian, Roger and Adam.



It’s been a journey, for Adam especially, from shaking in his boots in Kiev to devilishly stomping the stage into submission by the most epic boot dance ever since Nancy Sinatra’s, during their first iHeart Radio performance. His YSL studded heels beating in the rhythm of Another One Bites the Dust matched with Adam’s voice effortlessly capturing every note in its golden embrace and that stage didn’t stand a chance. He caught all of them, held them on the palm of his hand, calmly and expertly as the best seeker proudly opening his fingers around the Golden Snitch, its wings fluttering madly against his skin. But that’s what Adam does, he keeps getting better, he keeps moving and improving, and the most gratifying thing about us being able to see the process of it doesn’t lie in the flashbacks or heightened appreciation of the present, but in the giddy promises of brilliant future highs.



So, the iHeart Radio stage was revisited last night – it’s the seventeenth of June today and Adam and Queen had a 45-minute, eight-song performance there yesterday. It was wonderful and sweet, magical and surprising. What Adam gave me was a version of himself I am particularly fond of (because he has many, many versions, he is a constant surprise and a Christmas gift opening) – it was him on a small stage, in a sinfully fitted pants, jacket and shirt, his movements controlled, just him in front of the microphone hitting every note on the head like nobody’s business, and with every hit I was deliciously reminded of all the whys and wherefores. He was precise and intentionally correct, premeditated in his excellence, showing once again that magic doesn’t just happen or materialize out of thin air, it is created and built, learned and rehearsed… I feel like there is a deliberation behind every sound or word or move, born out of his deep thinking and preparation, and out of his reverent and complex relationship with Brian and Roger. (I would have bet you all that I have that he had asked them whether he could use the word ‘bitches’).



I’ve already heard him sing all the songs, but it’s never the same; he brings such variety into the game, making you remember and wonder and keep guessing, and just keeping you engaged to the fullest extent in every way imaginable. I’ve heard them all, that is, apart from one, Love Kills. It does. It did. I have a hunch that Brian chose that song for Adam. Or perhaps Brian and Roger together chose it, for Adam. If I hadn’t already been swept off my feet by those two British gentlemen, that would have done the job. The song provides the most marvelous showcase for Adam’s voice and only the ones who love and know his voice could have known that. I see it as a present and a declaration of love of sorts, a friendly and a chivalrous gesture. The song itself feels like a dialogue, almost like a battle between its low and high register, a rock ballad just made for Adam, and Adam takes it and makes it his like they belong to each other. It’s a beautiful reciprocal gift, from an artist to an artist, for art.



Once upon a time someone said that Adam can sing every note on a guitar and I never really understood what that meant until Brian’s guitar and Adam’s voice started playing off of each other in an elaborate and beautiful sound dance. I can hear it, the question and the answer, the push and the pull, going back and forth, switching roles and gears in this powerful musical conversation. I think, because they are both such masters of their instruments, but also because they both are who they are, because of the chemistry between them, that we can have this thing. It all matters, it’s never just one thing. They are good partners, and it shows. I can see their influence on Adam, because I know him better and can tell the differences. If I knew Brian and Roger, I’m sure I could be able to see the changes as well.



There is so much more to say, and it feels too much at the same time. It’s time to stop for now. This sounds like an introduction, not a conclusion, and it is. It is a beginning of this amazing story in sequels that is their tour. If it feels like an overstatement, for an introduction at least, well, pacing myself has never been my forte. I always let Adam take me sideways and slantways, long ways and back ways, until I lose any sense of direction and I just let myself float suspended in my mind’s palace, where I can choose the sounds and colours and images I am going to let in – and Adam’s have a lifelong pass.

Aleks, that was so beautifully written! And I must admit, I'm right there with you.