8.3.14 Adam News, Sunday Star TImes, 2015 Calendar Photos

I don't think we have this review?  It's a good and fun read.

Marilyn ‏@marilyn_AQ 7m
"Now I'm Here. A sort of statement from Adam Lambert, I presume. And man, he WAS there!" Funny excellent review - AC www.facebook.com/notes/paul-about-music/queen-adam-lambert-atlantic-city-nj-72614/758743450833619 …



QUEEN + Adam Lambert at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. on July 26th, 2014

My wife, also known as EmKay, had won us tickets to this show a few weeks ago. The seats were in the 200 section on side of the stage. Pretty good seats, especially when you consider the price. I was so excited for this show because I had never seen Queen before, not even when they came around a few years ago with Paul Rodgers. And then something amazing happened. A week before the show my wife sent me a text and said "you'll never believe what I just won! 4th row floor seats for the QUEEN show!!!" HOLY CRAP! (That was my actual text back to her) So now I was even MORE excited for the show.

The day of the show arrived and we made our way to Atlantic Shitty. I'm not saying that to be funny. It really is the shittiest place on earth. Just a terrible, awful place. And I wouldn't be fighting traffic and tolls to be in this hell hole if it wasn't a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Brian May up close and personal. It is for him that I sacrifice my sanity. I hope he appreciates it. (He did tweet later that the AC show was his favorite show of their short U.S. tour) Once we gave that human parasite Donald HeWhoCannot amed our $20 for the "privilege" of parking at his craphole casino, we made our way out onto the Boardwalk and into the dregs of human existence. Did I mention I can't stand Atlantic City? Oh, ok, moving on. We hung around trying to decide if we should abuse our bodies by feeding it Boardwalk food. Hmmm, hunger or possible hospitalization? Tough choice. I chose hunger. After she finally couldn't take it anymore, and sensing my shooting spree about to begin, my wife dragged my lifeless corpse of a body inside of the cavernous Boardwalk Hall. Once inside, I started to come back to life. Ahhhh, I was amongst my people. Music fans. Music fans of all shapes, sizes, colors and sexual orientations. I'm home.

We made our way to our unbelievably close seats and sat in awe of the stage. I couldn't believe how close we were. I was feeling pretty anxious, so EmKay popped a couple anxious pills into my mouth and forced me to swallow them. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, better. Looking around at the enormous crowd I was struck by how popular this band's music truly is. I mean, sure, there were many Glamberts in attendance and many young kids who were probably just American Idol fans but the majority of the crowd were my age and older. Queen, bringing out the old fogies by the thousands for a show. Nice!

At exactly 8pm the lights dimmed and the intro music started playing. I immediately stood up and began cheering, much as I can since the surgery to remove my thyroid ruined my voice. The band blew onto the stage with the awesome opener Now I'm Here. A sort of statement from Adam Lambert, I presume. And man, he WAS there! The dude really brought it. He was not a Freddie pretender! He had all the pizzazz and excitement of Freddie but he was his own man. And he had the pipes to back up the glamor. He sounded amazing! And he was really funny too. You could tell he was having the time of his life up there. I thought he was spectacular and I hope he stays with the band and they make some new music together. Something to wash the taste of The Cosmos Rocks out of our collective mouths. (I could write an entire book about how truly disappointing that album was)

Brian May was the true star of the show for me, as I expected. He was just incredible! His "Red Special" was singing all night long (even when he was playing another guitar). His solo was a real highlight of the show for me. He incorporated his solo guitar anthem Last Horizon into it but had many other textures in it as well. And his solo acoustic numbers on the small stage at the center of the arena was a real tearjerker. He played a beautiful solo version of Love Of My Life, which included a guest vocal turn from Freddie Mercury on the screen. Brian himself was even moved to tears by it. You can tell that playing this music again moves him and Roger deeply. He was joined on the small stage by Roger, as well as the other members of the band, which included Roger's son Rufus Taylor on percussion and drums, Spike Edney on keyboards (he's been with the band since 1984!), and new bassist Neil Fairclough, who did an admirable job filling in for the retired John Deacon. They played a great sing-a-long version of the Queen classic '39. They did several numbers from this stage which gave me a great view of their asses. Ha! Listen to me complain about being in the 4th row. #whitepeopleproblems

The shocker of the night for me came when, after we sang Happy Birthday to Roger, Adam announced they were going to do a special song for Roger's birthday. One they had never played on this tour so far. And with that they launched into my favorite Queen song of all time DRAGON ATTACK! Oh Adam, you can pretend that this was for Roger but in reality we all know it was for me. And I thank you for that.

The hits started coming in rapid-fire succession, so I had a feeling we may be winding down. Also, it had been over 2 hours. And with that the band kicked into their signature tune, Bohemian Rhapsody. No matter how many times I hear it. No matter how many parodies there have been. I still freaking love that song! I still sang along with my raspy Alec Baldwin-esque voice. It is pure pop genius. My only complaint is that it was a duet between Adam and hologram Freddie. Just let Adam sing it! But I get it. Sort of. After that the band took a short break and were brought back out for an encore of the requisite We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions finale. The band then took their final bows as God Save The Queen played over the P.A.

To sum up. Fantastic show! Sure, we went for free but I would have happily paid for that experience. I think the band need to strike while the iron is hot and get into a studio with Adam and create a grand finale of an album. They aren't getting any younger and this may be their last chance to go out in style. Amazing show by an amazing band. Freddie would have been proud.

Ditto! This article is a must read! They get everything right! We could write a book about how each of the 5 points would greatly benefit Adam. In summary:

1. Target adults, not kids.
2. Embrace complexity.
3. Improve the technology.
4. Resist tired formulas.
5. Invest in talent and quality.


P.S. I like Amazon Prime for on-demand movies & TV shows. It has similar, and in many cases the same, content as NetFlicks. Plus I get free shipping on items purchased form Amazon.

There are many lovely photos in tuke18 albums. I didn't see any album link posted in the news thread, maybe I missed them (or they are in the concert threads that I haven't had time to go through this week). In this case the pic links give you a way to reach the source by modifying the link - but in case you didn't think of that...

Here's the link to the source, tuke18 smugmug and her six albums of QAL concerts tuke18.smugmug.com/
Lots to enjoy there in addition to the examples posted earlier.

I almost posted that earlier because I hadn't seen it here. But like you i haven't been through the concert threads so i assumed it was in there. Her pics are OUTSTANDING!

I guess no one was interested in the Philippine Adam Lambert huh?