4.18.16 TOH Tour Crocus City Hall, Moscow

New gig?
twitter.com/JeremyJoseph/status/722125194706481152

Jeremy Joseph G-A-Y ‏@jeremyjoseph
Can You Keep A Secret?
Ssssssssshhhhhhhh, don't tell anyone,
Sat 14th May, @adamlambert Is At G-A-Y
My Heart Is A Ghost Town

Guess no Eurovision Song Contest then. As the finale is in Sweden on the same night.

and LMD???

No TB either tonight, but they did get LD.

I’m back from my travels to London and Manchester and as one of the “hurry up with the recaps” Atopians I’d better put my money where my mouth is, hadn’t I?

I haven’t had access to Atop while I’ve been away and my last visit here was on Page 8 last Wednesday, shortly before the Amsterdam gig so I’ve many hours of catching up to do. If I try to catch-up before writing my recap I’ll probably run out of steam so this is without the benefit (or influence) of reading what anyone else has to say.

To give a bit of background before I begin, I was a regular rock gig-goer for many years but over the last decade my tastes began to change (more stately homes and gardens than head-banging) and I lost touch with the music scene entirely and never expected to attend another pop/rock show in my lifetime.

In my music heyday I followed several bands, bought all the CDs, went to their shows, even travelling to the States, but I’d never been so personally invested in the men behind the music and genuinely thought I was immune to obsessive fandom. (Insert hollow laugh here!)

But then came NYE 2014 and the live BBC broadcast and I fell madly in love with what I consider to be the best singer in the world today. QAL were appearing very close to where I live just a couple of weeks after I discovered Adam but it was all a bit too soon and I was still in the “I don’t do gigs any longer” mindset.

A year and 4 months later of multiple daily visits to Atop and a study of Adam the man and his music more intensive than any university degree and it went without saying that I would come out of gig-retirement to go and see him live for the first time, in both London and Manchester.

I was quite nervous because despite attending hundreds of gigs in the past, I had never been at the front for general admission (only at seated venues) and never queued. I’ve never felt inclined to put myself through the slightest discomfort to enjoy my favourite artists.

But this was different, this was ADAM FUCKING LAMBERT and I didn’t think I could bear it if I couldn’t see him close up in all his glory. But how to manage it when I was constantly hearing tales of fans standing in line from the crack of dawn to secure a prime spot? I wasn’t at all sure I was even physically capable - having spent all of my life in a seated position and probably the longest I’ve ever stood without a rest being 3 hours.

Luckily, my dilemma was solved when a couple of weeks before the shows the VIP packages went on sale and I was able to purchase early admission for both my shows.

I live in the North East of England, 250 miles from London, so with the 2 UK shows only being 2 days apart, it seemed pointless to come home in between and I decided to have myself a nice little mini-break in London. Booked myself a spa hotel in Chiswick with the idea of a day of rest and relaxation between the two shows.

Anyone who knows London knows that only the most intrepid would even think of driving there and as I live a mile from the railway station with a direct 2 hr 20 min service to London there was no contest.

So I strolled down to the railway station on Thursday morning accompanied by a friend to wave me off and provide moral support (I was very nervous) and set off on my adventure.

All went well and I just had time to check into my hotel, get changed and dash straight off to meet 5 of my fellow Atopians for a pre-show meal. This was very exciting for me in itself, being the first time I had met any other fans in person. And not just any old fans, we’re talking proper, card-carrying veteran Glamberts who’ve done it all, seen it all and had tales galore to tell. I was more than happy in my role of “rookie Glambert” to sit wide-eyed as they shared their stories.

However, not all of the stories were positive and I was disturbed to learn of nasty scenes and even violence among fans determined to secure a spot near the stage. On the other hand “knowledge put into practice is power” and despite doing nothing for my nerves, the realisation that it may not all be moonlight and roses at the front of the stage allowed me to formulate a strategy (more of which later). Oh, and I was also excited to learn that Sauli was going to be there. Apart from his looks, there’s something about him that really appeals to me.

As the only one of our party with the VIP package, I left the restaurant alone at just before 6 p.m. and crossed the street to the Apollo - where hundreds of people were already assembled. It took some time to identify the correct queue - there was one for general admission, another for photo ops and a third (mine) for early admission. I estimated there were about 70 people ahead of me in my queue.

Very fortunately there was a handy 3-foot metal bollard close to the end of my queue which I was able to perch on while I was waiting - figuring I’d save my legs till the very last moment. This was fortuitous as the line didn’t begin to move into the venue until about 6.45 p.m. (after the photo op people were let in). I had been the last to arrive at 6 p.m. and so I was the last VIP in - but that was fine by me as my aim wasn’t for the front row, simply to be close enough to see really well.

Once inside we showed our photo IDs to the American hostess sitting behind a desk and were issued with our VIP laminates and a very nice poster of Adam complete with poster tube.

This was my first time inside the Hammersmith Apollo (previously Hammersmith Odeon). I had been there once before maybe 15 years ago for a Deep Purple concert only to discover on arrival that it had been cancelled so I never made it inside. It’s a beautiful old theatre which has recently been restored to its former glory. Downstairs the seats are removable to make a general admission area with circle and balcony seating upstairs. Google tells me the capacity (with GA) is just over 5,000.

We were let into the GA area at just before 7 and I now put my strategy into effect. I had been hoping to find a husband/wife close to the centre of the stage along with people smaller than my own 5 foot 6. I figured that a man with his lady might be willing to afford protection to other nearby females so on finding a nice-looking not-too-tall couple standing centre stage I parked myself beside them and said how nice it was to have a man for protection. He said he wasn’t too sure about that but looked pleased just the same!

Oh, I should mention here that the front of stage area had been split into two with the right-hand side roped off with what looked like crime scene tape guarded by half a dozen security personnel ready for the photo op people who were still busy with Adam. The left hand side was free for us early admission people. I could have got front row further to the left but preferred to be in the 3rd row right in front of Adam.

About 10 minutes later the normal GA people began crowding in and before long we were packed together like sardines in a tin. A young woman who must’ve been 6ft tall wearing a rucksack (so much for the bag policy on the venue website) stood right beside me and turned to talk to her friend so that the zipper tags of her bag were inches away from my face and one sharp movement could’ve easily slashed my cheek open.

I tapped her on the shoulder and explained the grave danger to my currently unscarred facial features. She didn’t seem to share my concern and asked me what I thought she could do about it to which I suggested checking it into the cloakroom. She said that would mean losing her spot so we settled on her standing with the rucksack at her feet. Danger averted!

Many of you may remember the photo I posted a couple of weeks ago to much hilarity when I was trying out my incontinence pants for visibility so for those of you who asked the question, I was indeed wearing them and yes, I did take advantage of them. My tip is to use them the moment you think you want to go rather than waiting until you really have no choice. That way you don’t risk flooding them with too much liquid all at once. They worked like a charm.

We didn’t have long to wait till support band Lawson took the stage, a 4-piece pop/rock band of 20-somethings, great energy, great showmanship and catchy tunes. The crowd seemed to share my enthusiasm and responded accordingly. After their 30-minute set the anticipation really started to build - just 45 more minutes and Adam would be taking the stage.

Sadly, even before Adam came on the first casualties were being lifted over the metal barriers to safety after falling foul of the hot, crushed conditions in the packed auditorium. Considering my own trepidation I was delighted with how well I felt - not a bit dizzy, legs not aching and not bothered at all by the crush (now that the offending rucksack had been removed).

9.15 p.m. came and there he was. I wish I had Momtomany’s eloquence at putting emotions into words but the only way to describe my feelings is stupefied. Not quite what you’d expect, I know!

I think what it was is that in my entire life I’ve never seen so many pictures and videos of another human being. My brain had been literally saturated of images of Adam via a computer screen. But suddenly there was no computer screen, this was the real person, living and breathing and just 12 feet away from me. And my poor addled brain just couldn’t take it in.

I’m so glad that I wasn’t one of the fans (and I believe a couple actually managed it) who had avoided reading or watching anything about the concerts so as to be surprised, because had I done that the whole thing would’ve been a blur (even more than it was!).

At least now I knew more or less what to expect in terms of setlist, the 3 separate sections and the outfits so all my brain had to concentrate on was coming to terms with the fact that ADAM LAMBERT WAS SINGING ON STAGE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!

I just cannot comprehend that another human being can be so beautiful. So perfect in every way. I have never seen eyes so bright, so piercing. And that thing he does with them at the end of Ghost Town. What’s that about? How?

To explain what a state I was in - I’ve watched vids of at least parts of pretty much every show on the tour so far. It’s hard to pick a favourite but if pressed I’d probably say the Running medley. So at the Apollo he’s a few seconds into Running and I’m thinking “Oh, I know that song, what is it again?” - it took me half a minute to even remember what it was. Heck, I wonder if this is what senile dementia is like? Its name is Adam Lambert.

And the hair! Whilst I still think that the silver isn’t great as a street look, as a stage look it gives him an other-wordly, almost ethereal quality and is quite stunning, particularly with the red outfit (I bow to the wisdom of Pattihum here, who has previously stated exactly that).

And the outfits! Outfits which have been pored over and discussed at great length (not to mention following me round the Internet thanks to cookies in the shopping sites). So I was oh, so let me see exactly what fabric the red outfit is made of, oh, it’s the flamingo/grey suit he first wore in Miami, oh, that’s funny, the spiky black wedge shoes look so much better live than in the pics, oh good it’s the tie/dye combo not the shorts suit, ooh, and there’s the sparkly grey boots that cost an absolute fortune. Even just seeing the clothes so close up was mind-blowing to me.

I’m not very good at describing the sound but to my ears it was good but I would’ve welcomed Adam’s vocals being more prominent in the mix. He wasn’t drowned out by any means but a little more front and centre would’ve worked for me. You will all know the setlist already and know that we got Let’s Dance and These Boys. You’ll also know that Brian, Roger, Shosh, Sauli and Boy George were in the audience although I didn’t actually see any of them from my spot among the masses.

During Adam’s set more people were carried over the barrier, including a lady directly in front of me. She had left her poster in its tube on the floor and I retrieved it for her. I don’t think she’s a member here but I’ve put out a call on the UK Facebook group to let her know I have it and would like to post it to her so hopefully I can find her.

In what seemed like no time at all the show was over and I floated off back to my hotel, in a fuzzy haze of Adam-induced heaven. Dazed ecstasy I think is the best way of putting it.

Sadly, the ecstasy was soon followed by the agony, when I was rudely awoken at 6 a.m. by a churning stomach. A nasty case of food poisoning last year means that my still-recovering guts have adopted an almost Nazi-like zero-tolerance policy to any foodstuffs they regard as unsuitable. They enforce this policy quite stringently, using a double ejection strategy. And I now found myself on the receiving end of their disapproval.

Knowing that the “wrath of the guts” is not to be messed with, I had purposely ordered a nice bland meal of fish, potatoes and veg at the pre-show meal, without comprehending that we were at a Lebanese hostelry and so the potatoes were spiced to an eye-watering extent. But I was hungry and we were talking, so I didn’t give it a second thought and cleared my plate.

All I’ll say about Friday is that I didn’t leave my room. So much for the nice relaxing spa day I had planned. I genuinely thought I would have to give Manchester on Saturday a miss altogether, which left me with the dilemma of how I was going to get home as I was booked to go from London to Manchester and then home from Manchester on Sunday.

Luckily, by Saturday morning I was sufficiently recovered to feel able to make the journey to Manchester and I thought “I’ll turn up at the venue just before Adam comes on, stand at the back (foregoing my early admission) and at least I’ll have seen the show”.

By some miracle, the closer my train got to Manchester the better I felt, and by the time I arrived I had decided I was going to use my early admission after all and enjoy the full Adam experience as in London.

This time I had chosen my hotel not for its amenities but rather for its proximity to the venue (5 mins on foot). Once again I got ready and made my way to Manchester Academy for 6pm and once again, was at the back of the early admission queue. The Academy is very different to the London Apollo and is all general admission but with a narrow 1st floor balcony running right around the hall. This balcony is reserved exclusively for a limited number of disabled people or those unable to stand. I believe the capacity is 2,300.

My queue was next to the disabled queue and I was chatting to a guy with his teenage daughter who was in a wheelchair. He said that his wife also had VIP early admission like me but she had been queuing since 10 that morning. He then waved to her close to the front of the line. I innocently asked (remember, I’m still a novice Glambert!) why would she arrive so early when she had early admission anyway and he didn’t know (or maybe didn’t want to say) but I later discovered that it’s because some people are really keen to get front row and are willing to put in the hours in line to ensure that. For me, I’d rather turn up at the last moment and get 2nd or 3rd row but we’re all different and I can’t help but admire their dedication, which I don’t share, as much as I love Adam.

The admissions in Manchester didn’t seem as well-organised as in London but eventually we were in and it was the same procedure as last time, only this time they had roped off the left hand side of the stage for the photo ops, leaving the right hand side for us. I saw a guy at the barrier who’d been in the same spot in London (he came to Adam via Queen) and just behind him was a tiny woman just as high as my chin so I thought “perfect - that’ll do for me” and slotted myself in behind said tiny woman, telling her that as soon as I’d seen her I’d liked the look of her. She said yes, she did have her uses sometimes! So this time I was just to the right of Adam, again 3 rows back and again with an unobstructed view of him from head to toe.

It turned out that this same tiny lady was a huge Sauli fan and admitted that she loved him even more than Adam. So she was overjoyed to have bumped into him outside the London venue and had a photo taken (it was lovely) and was able to give him the birthday gift she’d brought in the hope of seeing him.

As we were waiting for the GA people to be admitted, there was an incident which moved me to tears. Close by me in the 3rd row was a lady with a walking stick. She had phoned in advance to book the disabled balcony seating but it was sold out and the venue had told her if she purchased early admission she’d be able to lean on the front barrier, as she wouldn’t be allowed to take a walker into GA. So on that premise, she had got the early admission but the venue hadn’t saved her a space at the barrier and because so many had queued up early, she wasn’t at the front of the line and ended up in the 3rd row.

She was shy and didn’t want to say anything but her friends explained the situation to the security guy at the barrier and he asked people in the front row if they were willing to let her in. They weren’t.

The lady was so dignified, standing there with tears running down her cheeks as the security guy tried to negotiate with the front row for about 10 minutes but they wouldn’t budge. In the end a compromise was reached with the front row people in that they would allow her to stand and lean on the barrier until the support act started, and then she would have to return to her original position. And that’s what happened. I had hoped that someone would be kind enough to take pity on her predicament and let her stay at the front but it seemed as though the obsessive compulsion to be in that front row was greater than the desire to help out a fellow fan with a medical condition.

It seemed all the more bitter as we are fans of the sweetest, kindest, most all-inclusive artist in the world today. What would Adam have done? We all know the answer.

I’m not judging or condemning, just throwing out the thought that when does a desire to be close to Adam become akin to OCD? As long as one can still see clearly, does being 2 feet further back matter? If any of you are reading this, please think about it.
On the bright side, the disabled lady DID make it through to the end of the concert and I know she enjoyed it.

There wasn’t nearly such a crush in Manchester and it was much cooler so I didn’t see anyone being carried out (or if they were, I didn’t spot them). I was able to stand without being in physical contact with my neighbours.

I enjoyed support band Lawson even more this time because their songs now had a certain familiarity. They certainly seemed once again to have some fans in the crowd and got a great reaction.

And so to Adam! Of course, the first surprise was his gorgeous new red leather jacket (I’m sure Red Panda will have fainted clean away when she saw it!). I haven’t seen the pic yet (first the recap then the catch-up) but apparently Adam had been shopping in Manchester with Terrance that afternoon so perhaps he bought it there, or maybe on Friday in London. I bet he wears it again with QAL was one of my first thoughts.

I was more compos mentis this time (second show, old hand already, haha) and made a point of looking for any new tattoos as soon as he removed the jacket after EITN remembering that he often seems to get a new one in London but I didn’t spot anything.

The setlist was the same as in London but the show must have been between 10 and 15 minutes longer due to the extended interaction with the crowd. The sound was good, although I did get a brief experience of the “chipmunk sound” so many of you have mentioned during the first verse of Ghosttown and the first line of Mad World but fortunately that was all and other than that everything was fine to my ears. More than fine.

I just thank everything that is holy, the universe, anything I can think of that I recovered sufficiently from being sick to witness this show right down at the front and that I had got over my initial “out of body” experience from the first show so that I could take this one in better.

I have heard Adam talk in interviews about feeding off the energy of the crowd but to actually witness this in action, from such a close proximity, is something I’ll remember if I live to be 100. You could literally see Adam opening up and blossoming like a flower before your very eyes. I have never seen anything like it. And nor have I ever heard such roars as after Let’s Dance. I have watched one video of it but it stops at the end of the song. The ear-splitting cheering continued for at least a minute afterwards - a wall of sound that almost knocked Adam off his feet. You’ll all have seen that almighty triple spin he did.

Of course by then he was totally buoyed up by the immense love and appreciation coming at him from the crowd. The London crowd was good but by nature they are more laid back - they’re in the capital city and obviously every artist on tour performs there as a matter of course, so there’s not the same appreciation as in the provinces. And Northern people are typically more outgoing and boisterous. From the very first song the whole crowd went nuts and so it continued.

As the show progressed Adam got sexier and more exuberant. You’ve probably all had the benefit of the videos etc. by now which I haven’t yet but he put in some extra “name-dropping” talk before the LMD/Shady/Fever medley that he’s never done before and was talking about how he’s not an alcoholic, just an alcohol enthusiast. There was also a spontaneous call and response singalong, something about Manchester, England which was all very silly and fun.

During IIHY he was jumping up and down while singing and that’s something I had never expected to do again at a show in my lifetime but I did, although I did land on someone’s foot at one stage in my over-enthusiasm.

And then of course as 11p.m. approached he seemed to be told in his earpiece that the plug was about to be pulled but he wasn’t having any of it and continued to introduce the band. What really cracked me up was when he was trying to introduce bass player Darwin as a prelude to AOBTD and rather than let him finish what he was saying, Darwin started playing the intro chord sequence (laughing his head off as he did so) and Adam had no choice but to shut up and sing the song. Clearly Darwin knew if he didn’t do that they risked not being able to finish the show.

It’s always special to see someone who normally looks quite serious like Darwin really laughing. And so what I think may be the longest show of the tour so far came to a rip-roaring climax.

And so endeth the story of my first Adam shows and an experience that exceeded all my wildest expectations. I already “got it” but now I REALLY “get it”.

The man is magic, pure magic and I am the better for loving and enjoying his artistry and his humanity. Thank you, thank you and thank you again.

And now I have almost 6 days of posts and vids to catch up on. I may be gone some time!!