7.3.14 Q+AL CONCERT THREAD -- LA Forum, CA USA

• Confession here - even as an avid Lakers fan from the old days of Kareem and Magic, I have never been to the Forum. It's notorious for being in a bad area and was closed for a while after the Lakers left. I found it to be well - Fabulous.  They don't lie. What struck me the most was that EVERYONE we came across working there were so nice! No bullying ushers, "of course you can get a cup of ice on the side", "The capacity?  Oh let's see, I have a little sheet of facts with me, let me see if that's on there" "Wait a second before you use the porta-potty, I just cleaned it up but I want to spray this in there to make sure it smells nice." (it did, they were really clean and plentiful, lined up along the outside walkway behind a green topiary-like screen to  ease the lines inside.) We were in the first tier and the seats were stacked so that the folks in front of you were far enough down that they wouldn't block your view when standing.
  
  

• As momtomany commented re: her section in San Jose, the section we were in did not stand during most of the show. Neither did most of the other upper sections from what I could tell.  That concerned me for about 2 songs, but the crowd was really into it nonetheless. There was love and joy in the Forum last night for sure.

• I took my ear plugs and reminded friends to do the same, but found they distanced me from the show.  Took them out early and left them out. No ear ringing after and no chipmunk effect. I think someone else mentioned earlier in this thread or another that they did the same.
  

• The stage setup and production is wonderful.  Lights, lasers,  beams dancing over the audience like colored fireflies, smoke, fireworks, confetti,  the raised cages on either side of the stage, the thrust (of course) and the video screens. The center one in the Q is everything!!  We were 4 rows back in the 100 tier, only a little over from looking straight at the stage (Sec 133) and we got wonderful sound and the whole effect of the production. I worried about the seats, but they were great. We will be closer up at another show, but I'm really glad we got the experience of the whole effect.  Only WTF? was the Q lowering, slowly, slowly.  And then it went back up. What?  Didn't really add much as far as I could tell.  LOL  Thought they would go in it for some effect or something. But no, it just inched it's way back up. Did I miss something??  Anybody?
  

• A couple of friends were in the second tier a little more towards the stage than us, pretty high up but not really nosebleed area. They are not avid fans of Queen or AL but big concert goers and did see GlamNation at the OC Fair, - he's a very successful DJ (weddings, parties, graduations) and music lover.  We hung out with them before the concert and checked out each others seats (because the ushers were okay with that!). He (the DJ) hadn't heard much about the tour, asked me how many of the band members were originals and said his friend wanted him to check out the Queen shirts that didn't say Adam Lambert on them.  After the show she called me before we even left the stadium. Ecstatic. He was trying to add comments while she was talking into the phone. He bought a shirt with ADAM LAMBERT included! on his way out. All the usual gushing we hear from the people that were caught unaware of what was about to take place, but she said something that I saw on one Twitter comment as well.  That was that the place was so big but the show was put together in a way that made it feel really intimate.  On Twitter I think they said it was "personal".   Apparently even folks that don't follow all this as we all do, notice this.  I think that the way the personalities of Adam, Roger and Brian come through is amazing, but also Rufus and the others are included in the antics and staging.  My friends go to A LOT of concerts. In her case, she often doesn't know the band or the songs, but loves going anyway. They were gob smacked.  Clearly.  I'm sure I'll talk to them more later today and add more of their impressions, if newsworthy, later.
  

• Compared to London, my other live show, I thought Adam was more willing to wear the mantle of Front Man in his own right. I don't know if it's the acceptance of the group, the accolades for the show or maybe unique last night because his home town really did show him a lot of love (we really did! YAY). Just my humble opinion, YMMV.  Also of note, Brian was visually touched by the love he got.  The crowd would not quit cheering when he came forward to speak the first time. It would start to die down, and then start up again.  Very good later for Roger, too, but no where near the same.  The crowd was really, really appreciative.  We had a great view of the whole floor.  Of course they were all standing and IN TO IT, everyone, through the whole thing.  Often (at the right times) the whole stadium was singing along and the cheering and clapping for the encore never trailed off as far as I could tell.   Only blip in the final whooping and cheering was when they started playing God Save the Queen.  We Americans didn't know if we should stand still and be quiet or what. But we weren't done cheering and the lull was brief and all hell broke loose again as they left the stage.  LMAO
  

Can't believe this got so long.  If you're still reading, thanks for letting me re-live it just a little bit.  One last thing though, leaving the parking lot I saw a large "social media" message sign lit up that advised folks what hash tags to use on Twitter etc.  I Tweeted that Adam and the band were great and the Forum was fabulous.  The Forum Tweeted me back a Thank you with 3 exclamation points!!!  My DH and friend that rode with us were duly impressed.  I'm such a techie.  LMAO FOFL

As the Jersey Boys would say.....OH WHAT A NIGHT!!!!