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Post by HoppersSkippersMiners on Sept 2, 2014 14:01:40 GMT -5
Awww.... Nikki - that was truly awesome. Thank you for writing.  |
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Post by betty on Sept 2, 2014 21:31:45 GMT -5
Recap of Sydney #1 and #2 concerts
It has taken me quite a while to be able to write this recap of the two Sydney concerts. I’ve commented throughout both concert threads in fragments as they’ve come to me and as people have asked questions, so I’ll also consolidate some of those comments here, so they are mostly in one place.
I’m writing this recap while listening to the stream from the Brisbane concert, so it might be loooong.
Fair warning.
Sydney #1
I think the first comment I made here after the first show was how unprepared I was for what happened. I only allowed myself to look at the same two songs and what has become known as the ‘Vocal Solo’ from each concert beforehand – and I am so happy that I restrained myself. Although I knew what was coming in the set and had seen photos and read recaps, it was wonderful to experience these two shows without any comparisons.
My companions for the first concert were two Queen fans – one was a ‘die-hard’ who almost did not want to come because of the infamous #FLD. The other was more open because I had introduced him to Adam with Trespassing and he liked the album, but he was still a bit nervous how Adam would handle the Queen catalogue.
Once the decision had been made to go to a concert, the first question on their minds became what to wear. They started with a vintage ‘leather’ look and after some trial and error eventually settled on something more ‘glam’. One wore a brocade overcoat with a black satin blouson top with an enormous brooch pinned at the neck. The other was blinged out in a gold lame jacket. They went to so much trouble and both looked fabulous. It really added to the fun and the whole experience. I wore a gold lame top and leather jeans in honour of Adam’s colour scheme and Brian’s gold cape in Bo Rap.
All of the people with VIP tickets on the floor went to a catered event before the show - with great food and an open bar for 90 minutes. There was a young american guy who I now think was part of the filming crew who was the MC for the event. He came right out and said that he wanted us all to have a few drinks (in fact he was encouraging us to get drunk) because then we would make more noise and the band would play better (and he could keep his job – so he said). He was like a professional 'warmer upper' before the show. At one point he asked the crowd how many people were here to see Queen and how many people were here to see Adam. It was about 50/50.
They also had two contests during the event. One for best tattoo (Queen or AL tattoo) and a karaoke contest - so they had us singing as a group before the concert.
I had the pleasure of meeting Japanese ‘Freddie’ and he was lovely. I have a couple of wonderful pictures with him. I wish there were more Atoppers in Sydney so that we could meet up before concerts – you all seem to have such a great time when you do, so hopefully, one day it will happen.
Two glasses of champagne later for me and it was time to take our seats. This many sound silly, but I actually had no real idea where I would be sitting in our section. I didn’t understand the seat number sequences – whether seat number one would be next to the stage or vice versa. My seat number was 39 and it was next to the stage. Almost parallel to the Killer Queen chaise longue with Adam facing me. By now I was getting breathless.
The pre-concert excitement for this show was more than I’ve ever experienced. I am a very visual person. I saw Queen on their last tour of Australia and can still close my eyes and see parts of it as if I am there again. There are certain parts of these two concerts that I am sure will be the same – some are a blur already because it was all too much to take in at once but others are still flashing vividly through my mind while I write this. The whole Queen + AL collaboration has seen a renaissance in my love for Queen’s music after a long respite after Freddie died. And to hear Adam sing this catalogue has been nothing less than spectacular.
One of the highlights of the first concert was the sound. It was pristine. The back of the Q was draped for filming the concert. The sound mix and acoustics were stunning. Adam's voice came through as incredibly 'sparkly' or 'bright' - that's the only way to describe it. Bouncing and ringing around the walls like an opera concert. I would bet a large sum of money that this concert was chipmunk free.
I have seen and heard Adam in an approximate 2,000 seat concert hall, in a small venue for 300 and now in a large arena (not sure how many) with about a 2-year gap in between each concert. I always think he will be as I remember him, but each time improving. Nothing prepared me for THIS Adam on stage. His voice is almost unearthly now in its diversity and richness and rocking power; its subtlety and capacity for tenderness. Perhaps the songs I last heard from Trespassing didn’t provide the same scope that the Queen catalogue does, but I don’t think that’s the only reason for the quantum leap.
One of the working definitions of ‘giftedness’ is that particular individuals perceive, experience and express life at heightened levels – it is not about just having more of some attribute, it is about operating qualitatively on different levels. Gifts range from creative ones like Adams, to intellectual ones, to other sensory ones. The degree of change I perceived in Adam’s voice spoke to me that he has shifted gears, again, like gifted champions do, when they need or want to find more, even though it seems impossible. They are their own diamond mine. The well of their reservoir, the source of their inspiration, what is available to be manifested is simply beyond understanding and quantifying in many cases.
I didn’t miss the intimacy of the smaller concerts. I thought I would, but that the spectacular staging, the lightshow, the increased energy of a larger crowd would compensate for it. I’ve written before that every time I see Adam performing live that he gives me a gift and this time it was the gift of seeing him larger still.
In theosgma's beautiful recap of one of her shows, she said so beautifully what I felt:
“… to share that unbelievable charge of shakti (Sanskrit word for primal power and energy - such a good word!). Standing there before the show started, I tried to imagine what it would be like to have Adam, Brian, Roger so very close but nothing prepared me for Adam’s first prowl down the cat walk to the thrust. Thrust - a perfect metaphor. Every part of him impacted - eyes, voice, body language, face, movement but above all that shakti, that charisma, that force of nature that is AFL. Every cell of my body got restructured.”
Yes. Completely yes. One image I will never forget is that first explosion of white stage lights when the curtain lifts and suddenly there is this overwhelming flood of reality that you are in the same room as Brian, guitar wailing, Roger, primal rhythm keeper and Adam. And that Adam has simply tapped into his essence and grown larger to suit the occasion; grown large enough to share the stage with the best and own his own place there, grown large enough to radiate to and encircle an arena of people with the force of his being and talent, bring them close and put them in the palm of his hand and the warmth of his generous heart.
To continue theosgma’s theme poetically (I am listening to Adam's voice you know), but certainly not literally, there is a beautiful description of Krishna, God of many things, but supremely of ecstatic and transcendent love dancing in a moonlit field with hundreds of women (gopis). He expands his being into hundreds of individual forms so that each woman has the experience that he is dancing with only them (Rasa Lila dance). He suspends time so that the dance continues for an aeon.
Adam talked about having to suspend disbelief, but one of the most striking things to me was how that force of nature known as Queen and Adam belonged together. Nothing jarred. Adam played the role of a guest out of love and respect, but the performance to me was that of a Queen concert, simply sung differently.
Everyone on that stage was radiating happiness. That night, Adam looked so refreshed, so relaxed and playful, just so damn joyful. Roger and Brian were beaming and energized and also looked incredibly beautiful.
The crowd at the Sydney #1 concert was awesome – the floor was standing from the first notes, it was loud and responsive. They sang every song. They got the Radio Ga Ga clap right. As Q3 has rightly said, the videos from this concert don’t lie. They will get incredible sound and fabulous crowd shots from this concert. They won’t have to fake it. It was real.
[The stream is now stopped during Brian’s solo, so I will get a hurry on]
My favourite part of this concert was the Vocal Solo, aka Gimme that Love call and response. Possibly because it is truly spontaneous. After a slightly slow start for the right-hand side of the crowd (“do you need some coffee?”) it was fabulous. There was a part where he was singing just “love” and the response back was lightening fast. It was electric. And at the end, I’m sure he tried to trick us – walking back upstage singing about 12 ‘gimmes’ before turning around and asking us to sing back. The sneak. He got a nice surprise. We nailed it. Loved, loved, loved it.
During this concert, it was clear, though, that they were playing to the cameras and very intent on getting the job done well. Unusually, for Adam, he gave very little eye contact to the floor section and was more focused on the middle of the arena where one of the primary cameras was. It took nothing away from the concert, just different from how he normally is.
There were two emotional highlights for me – singing LOML with Brian, his tenderness, the tenderness of the crowd singing brought me to tears.
So did WWTLF. This song is the best live vocal I have ever heard, bar none. I can only imagine what the version at iheart sounded like. I was close enough to see Adam’s sweat, every expression on his face. You could see his body vibrating from head to foot – the force and release as he expelled the glory notes. I don’t think there is an atom within him that he did not put into that song.
By the end of this concert my voice was cracking. After the second concert it took four days to be able to speak again properly. I was not meant to be in Sydney for the second concert on Wednesday night, so I had not bought a ticket to this concert. But my plans changed a few days before the concert. After this show, when I got home I went straight to my computer and bought a ticket from ebay. There were still 4 tickets on the floor left and I got one of them. They were gone by morning. It did not come with VIP goodies but I didn’t care.
At the end of this concert my two friends had become Adam fans. They were blown away.
Sydney # 2
Ah, yes the seemingly maligned concert of this leg of the tour. The Gaga factor and the crowd factor. Incredibly, my seat was the exact same seat number as the previous night, two rows closer to the front. I was on the aisle again.
Let me say at the outset that in terms of performance and vocals, this concert equalled the Tuesday night concert no matter what else was going on in the arena.
A big part of the problem with the crowd was that security would not let us go to the barrier like the previous night. They were forcing us back to our seats. We did eventually manage to get to the barrier later on. Overall, though, the crowd was a bit more of a passive, sit-down type.
I really noticed the harmonies in this concert - the first concert was about drinking Adam, Brian and Roger in. The harmonies are so good and the whole spectacle is so overwhelming that the harmonies seem simply part of the fabric of the concert. They were breathtaking. I also really like the fact that Magic gave Roger a chance to have the focus simply on him and his vocals. His voice was so strong and rich and he sang it with all his heart. It was truly beautiful.
The first highlight of this concert. A few seconds of direct eye contact with Adam. No, I am not imagining it. As I mentioned previously, he was barely looking into the front rows for these concerts, so it was completely unexpected. I can’t even remember the song he was singing at the time – I will have to have a look at the videos to work it out.
And the second. Brian smiling sweetly and almost shyly at us walking down the thrust.
And the third. AOBTD with Gaga - more like a jam and it was fun. It got the whole of the floor up from their seats, dancing and singing together for the first time. Adam was beaming like there was no tomorrow. He did not take his eyes of her. Gaga was going for it and she is very charismatic on the stage. She did her floorbert in front of Brian with complete abandon at the end of the song. They blew kisses to each other at the end of the night.
[The stream has been over for a little while now] And the fourth. Brian’s solo and the light show during this performance. On both nights it seemed so quick.
And finally, Adam’s dancing. He was in the mood to dance his ass off and he did. Dragon Attack. What more can I say?
The final image I have is the look on Brian’s face as he looked at the crowd for the last time, guitar raised. A bittersweet moment, acknowledging the fact that he is highly unlikely to ever grace a stage in Sydney again.
As you can guess from the length of this recap, my feet are not yet firmly on the ground and it has been a week since the first concert. I feel torn - I don't want this brilliant collaboration to end - when it is staged in Europe, I am really going to move heaven and earth to try to get there this time. As for Adam's music, I want to see him in an arena again, but I truly don't mind however it happens.
His intuition was spot on. This tour has been golden in every sense of the word.
Thanks for that wonderful and detailed recap, nikki!   |
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nikki
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Post by nikki on Sept 3, 2014 2:07:24 GMT -5
Thank you everyone for your kind words and appreciation.  |
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kagmel
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Post by kagmel on Sept 3, 2014 4:38:46 GMT -5
Nikki, your recaps are awesome! And so detailed...with all your emotions! i love, love reading them and experiencing with you!
Thank you...I have not been blessed for QAL to visit my country, and after reading your recaps feel so much regret as this can never be repeated..
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