7.9.14 Q+AL CONCERT THREAD -- Houston, TX USA

QUEEN
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ADAM FUCKING LAMBERT

The Texas Shows

Part 1 – Houston

On Tuesday, July 8th, I headed out to Houston from way out in West Texas, a 500 mile trip (one way) to see QAL in my home town. On I-10 East, about Sonora, I passed a white tractor/trailer with TRUCK N ROLL in small letters on the side, and I wondered if this was one of the equipment trucks for the tour. But it was all by itself, so it was either the front runner or coming up last, this was the day before the concert. Later, I saw some pics of their trucks before they had the logos painted on, so yeah, I saw one of the trucks!

There was a fabulous pre-concert party arranged by the Houston Glamberts, which are a tight knit group that gather for all kinds of Adam related parties throughout the year. Some good friends of mine were going, but I had invited my sister to the concert, and she is not a Glambert, so we passed on the party. I heard they had a great time.

Instead, my sis and I met up with Juniemoon and her sister, and were later joined by LindaG23 and her brother at the Chinese Garden, a 5 star restaurant right across the street from the parking garage of the Toyota Center. The food was great, and it was great to see them all, they live in Austin (except for LG’s bro), which is the closest group of Glamberts to me, and we have gotten together several times, most recently at Winstar NYE.

By the time we finished dinner and had a couple of drinks, we got to the venue and the line wasn’t too bad. I walked almost all the way around the arena to find where they sell the programs, I had to have one! Our seats were in the lower section, about the left corner of the back of the arena, 14 rows up from the floor. I had wanted to upgrade to floor seats, but my sis is not much of a music fan or concert goer, and she was not interested in that. She mainly wanted to go to see Queen and Adam and try to understand why I have been such a BSC fan for all these years. I will say that these seats were the perfect way to see the whole concert, all the lighting and staging, etc. The big O does a great job of capturing AFL’s performance most of the time.

I had purposely refrained from watching any of the streams and most of the vids before my shows. It was hard, but I wanted to experience the show in all its glory without foreknowledge, and I highly recommend it, if you can. As many have said, the vids don’t do justice to the spectacle that QAL puts on. I won’t go into all the particulars of the concert, y’all have all seen the vids by now, and it was incredible, mind blowing and much more than I could have even imagined it would be. Sitting in the back, there was no one standing up, other than for ovations, but the floor and the sides were mostly standing throughout the concert. That was a real bummer for me, because I would have been up the whole time if my sis had not been there. When I did get up to clap, the kids behind me (20 somethings) stole my program! I had put it in the back of my seat so it wouldn’t get damaged or wet, and all the sudden it was gone. Of course they denied it, several times, but left early, so I knew which ones took it. Kinda put a damper on my evening, but not by much.

The thing I noticed the most was the shit eating grin on Adam’s face from the get-go. AMW mentioned it as well, and it was very noticeable. Adam was literally glowing and grinning and flashing that gorgeous smile the whole night. I have a theory about that, and it made me very proud to be in Houston to see Adam blow the roof off of the Toyota Center at this show. One of Adam’s first major theatre performances outside of California was in 2004 in Houston at the Theatre under the Stars in Brigadoon, where he had a significant role. Remember this?


learn more here at:   adamtopia.com/thread/21/adam-lambert-timeline?page=6

When he played Houston again for Glamnation 2010 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, the same theatre where he had appeared in Brigadoon, it was the first music concert ever held there, and he had fond memories of his time in Houston. Now, this night, he comes back to Houston to play in it’s largest arena fronting Queen, it had to have been an amazing feeling for him, and that’s why he couldn’t wipe the grin off his face all night long. After 10 years, he is now the mega star that he probably didn't even know he wanted to be in 2004.  Back then, he was hoping to make it to Broadway, and here he is fronting the biggest, best Rock N Roll band EVER, and getting rave reviews, knocking it out of the park every night. Or maybe he was still on a high from his hometown performance at the LA Forum, and the Vegas shows? But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I LOVED the improvised song he did near the beginning when Brian’s guitar had to be switched out. Adam is so great at going with the flow and just started singing a little ditty about Brian getting his guitar going, so presh!!!!! It was such a joy to watch Adam slay all the Queen tunes and have a whole arena captivated by him, I was so damn proud to be a Glambert that night.

I am kind of in love with Roger Taylor now. Roger was fantastic on These are the Days of our Lives! His voice is so strong now, compared to the shows a couple of years ago. Plus, he was definitely a major hottie back in the day. I loved the vintage footage of the band that they played on the big O during his song. I thought he did great on Under Pressure with Adam, also. It was one of the highlights of the show for me. Adam is such a master singing with the other members of the band, the harmonies are always spot on, and he never overshadowed Roger on UP. Very much a class act is Mr. Lambert in that regard.

Another highlight for me was TSMGO, Adam was so intense, commanding, and dramatic, as the song should be sung, and he did an amazing job of it. I was really blown away by that performance. My sis was googling CLTCL at the time, and totally missed it! Like many people, she thought for sure it was an Elvis song. I was getting blown away by AFL and she is googling! Brian’s solo was also mesmerizing, but long, damn that man can shred a guitar. Of course, WWTLF and Love Kills were just as riveting, and all the songs he really slayed. He put on a really fantastic show for Houston. I loved it all, and I didn’t want it to end.

We were sitting next to some Glamberts that had just gotten in from Vegas, but those were the only ones around us that were. The ladies to the left of us had been to the Cher concert recently, and they might have been fans, cause one of them said, at the start of the concert, “Where there’s smoke there’s Adam.” But everyone else in our section just sat in their seats and watched the show, it was very much a downer for me not being on the floor, but I knew the next night I would be, so I tried to restrain myself. It was really hard! All I could really think about as we left was, tomorrow night I will be on the floor in Dallas watching Adam sweat and pour out the sex and song…………

My sis enjoyed the show, but still is not a Glambert, and couldn’t imagine why I would go to another show. She did think it was good. Much as I love her, she will not be going to another AFL concert with me, and sadly, probably wouldn’t want to. But the next morning, I was on my way to Dallas with two of my best Adam friends….

Part 2 – Dallas…………………….working on it……………………………..