Before I begin my recap of QAL at Newcastle Metro Arena - reading the posts about what would strongly appear to be Adam’s cryptic clues about appearing in the new production of JCS, I suddenly realised I have my own small piece of synchronicity between Newcastle Arena and Jesus Christ Superstar.
The last time I went to the Newcastle Arena before QAL was 5 years ago and it was to see JCS, of all things!
A few months earlier there’d been one of those Idol-type casting shows on prime-time BBC TV to find an unknown to play the role of Jesus and thanks to all the publicity of the TV show, the ensuing tour was able to play to sold-out arenas rather than the usual theatres.
It was a great show, with Mel C (Sporty Spice, not to be confused with Mel B aka Scary Spice) in the role of Mary Magdalene. Judas was played to great acclaim by Australian Tim Minchin.
And so, 5 years on, here I was on my way to the Arena once again - much to my surprise.
I say surprise because when I was younger I went to literally hundreds of music gigs, I was a real rock chick, but somewhere around my mid 50s my interests started changing and I said goodbye to all of that. I stopped following all the musicians I used to like, stopped going to gigs in favour of a nice theatre matinee — a play or a dance show or suchlike. In fact, it’s very rare I even leave the house at night these days, let alone go to a rock concert! This is the life I’ve chosen and this is the life I Iove.
I only mention this to illustrate how absolutely bonkers it is that on New Year’s Eve 2014 I watched the Queen live show on the BBC (not even because I particularly wanted to, more because there was nothing else on. I’d never been a fan of Queen) and within minutes I was MESMERISED. I fell in love.
For me this was almost as weird as it would be for us now if we discovered Adam was dating a woman. Sadly back then it was only about 10 days after NYE until they were playing Newcastle Arena (just 35 miles from me) in 2015 but I wasn’t yet ready to “get back on the horse” and go to a gig again. So I missed the last tour altogether and my re-entry into the gig scene came with the TOH tour last year. Although Adam’s solo work is much more important to me, I was sad to think I’d perhaps missed my chance to see him live with Queen.
So needless to say when this tour was announced there was no way I was going to miss out and I went through the long-forgotten agonies of the Ticketmaster site during the fan pre-sale (last time I’d sweated like that was for Bruce Springsteen in 2002!) and got myself tickets for 4 shows, Newcastle being the first.
7 months on and the big day finally dawned. Two close friends had said they wanted to come too and with it being a Friday, we decided to make an occasion of it and stay in Newcastle overnight, despite it being so close to home. It’s a lovely city and the place we all go to shop from our smaller town.
Parking is expensive in the city so we decided to get the train - which was quite useful as the train passes right by the Arena, and at 2.45 p.m. I noticed with surprise that there were only about 6 people waiting outside.
Perhaps not such a surprise as it wasn’t many degrees above freezing. But how awful if they’d been there since early morning and then no one else turned up for hours so they needn’t have bothered.
We checked into our hotel and for those who are still traumatised by the tale of my big, full-size incontinence pants (not those flimsy pad things, we’re talking heavy duty here) from the TOH tour - well this was when I changed into them. (I should say that I’m lucky enough not to need them in normal life, in fact I didn’t need them this time either but better safe than sorry!).
There was a lovely fresh made-on-the-premises pizza place close by the hotel so we went to eat and stock up on carbs before making our way to the arena. We’d each bought our tickets individually and one friend had got herself a seat whilst the other was joining me in GA.
At 6pm sharp we left the friend with the seat in the restaurant and my standing friend and I walked the 15 minutes to the arena, wondering what size crowd we were about to encounter. It was slightly bigger than I’d hoped - I’m useless at calculating crowd size but maybe 300. But there again, with the addition of the Red Special thrust to the main stage there’s a much longer “front row” than at a regular show so I figured we’d still get a decent spot.
As expected, security was tighter than in the old days but sensibly they’d arranged the bag check outside the venue so you went through that before you even joined the queue and then they ran over you with a metal detector just before the ticket check so that once you were inside, there was nothing further to hold you up.
The doors opened promptly at 6.30 so we only had 15 minutes to wait in the cold, and once inside I guided us to the spot I’d already decided on in the months I’d had to think about it since the US tour. I’d wanted to be towards the end of the thrust close to the trapdoor where the tricycle and the drum kit come up, and of course where Adam does his Gaga walk-by.
Ideally we’d have been on the barrier but I guess you can’t be sitting in the warm scoffing pizza and get front row too but we got second row so that was still fantastic. It’s so funny for the first hour when everyone in that huge cavernous space is tightly gathered round the barrier while the rest of the floor area and most of the seats are still empty.
By just before 8pm the arena was full and as it turned out, our seated friend was sitting opposite our standing spot so we were able to wave frantically to her. The seated crowd then started a Mexican wave going round the arena, cheered and booed by those of us standing depending on how far round it travelled before fizzling out. After a couple of tries the whole seated area got involved so there was much cheering and good humour.
It was about 8.15 by the time big screen “splintered” and by then I was about ready to burst with excitement. Then all of a sudden, there HE was and OMG what’s happening - I can’t hear him! Suddenly memories of all the crummy gigs of yesteryear came flooding back - remembering how rubbish bands sounded compared to their recorded works. No, no, no, this cannot be - this is Queen, with a limitless budget for the latest technology and sound equipment.
I should say here that Newcastle Arena is known for its lousy sound quality. It’s fine for the popstars who sing over backing tracks but for old school bands like Queen where the mixing desk can make or break a show, it’s horrendous. Unlike some UK arenas which were designed with live music in mind, Newcastle is a multi-purpose venue often used for sporting events and I think when it was constructed, sound quality and acoustics were way down the list of priorities.
For the first few tracks I could barely hear Adam above the band. Things did get better but even on WWTLF where his vocals are completely front and centre, the sound was still “muddy”. Not once did I experience the clarity and perfection I’m used to from so many of the videos. The same clarity and perfection I experience at his solo shows.
Of course I know that the sound does vary depending on location so it may have been different from other vantage points but having said that, none of the videos I’ve seen so far have great sound.
That notwithstanding I’m not too concerned as I’ve got 3 more shows to go but I did feel a little sorry for my standing friend who was disappointed because she couldn’t hear Adam’s vocals as clearly as she would have liked.
In a perverse kind of way it’s maybe even better from my standpoint that there was something less than perfect because as ever, being in Adam’s presence is so transfixing that being overwhelmed by the beauty of his vocals on top of his physical proximity might have been too much for me to process. This way I KNEW that he was singing wonderfully even without the crisp sound I’m used to and could concentrate on just looking at him. At my next standing gig I won’t go for a barrier slot I’ll wander round till I find the best acoustic spot. Kind of like - I’ve seen him properly already, this time I’ll hear him properly!
On the plus side, our vantage point was quite fabulous - I never anticipated that in a crowd of 11,000 I would at times be as close to Adam, Brian and Roger as I was at Adam’s solo gigs, just 10 feet away.
When I saw the Instagram the other day from the hairdresser who’d cut Adam’s hair I thought “oh please no, nothing drastic before MY shows, not when he’s looking so lovely right now” but I needn’t have worried, I actually like his hair right at this moment better than ever before, the cut is fantastic. And as if by magic, he’s got rid of every outfit I don’t like to be replaced by ones I absolutely love.
The friend I was standing with was entranced - she whispered to me when Brian and Adam came up the catwalk “I can’t believe how close they are”. I think this is the closest she’s ever been at any concert in her life!
The crowd was really 3-generational but I would say the majority would be in their 40s and “ordinary” (as opposed to leather clad alt-rocker types). It was surprising that at 61 (until Sheffield at any rate!) I was older than most of the people who were there to see a band older than me. I have no doubt at all that this is down to Adam.
Interestingly, I would have said that many if not most of those at the barrier were Glamberts.
I suppose it makes sense that we want to be close to such a devastatingly attractive man. A Queen fan is probably more bothered about hearing the music than being within touching distance.
It was all very civilised with no pushing and crushing like at Hammersmith for Adam’s solo tour, when around 10 people had to be lifted over the barrier after fainting before Adam even came on stage. I’ll never forget that the people behind me there had to help me out of my cardigan - it was so crushed I couldn’t even move my arms. So this was a walk in the park in comparison!
Of course, being so used to close-up vids it was a revelation to see the show in all its glory, with the stupendous lighting effects and the amazing video screens. Although I could see them well enough on the main stage it was easier to look up and see them on screen in close up. My memories of video screens are with a slight time lapse so it looked as though the singer was lip synching - badly! Clearly technology has made huge strides and the screen was fabulous.
But needless to say my favourite parts were when he/they were right up close to where I was standing on the Red Special stage and that’s actually quite a bit. We were at a perfect angle for Brian’s singalong and STL and the trike.
I’m wary of projecting what I know about Brian being a little overwhelmed at the number of dates still left to go onto his demeanour but he didn’t add any local references to his singalong (like doing a bit of a Beatles song in Liverpool) as he did last time in Newcastle. It’s as though he was pacing himself and after all, this was the second of a 2-nighter. All three of us felt his solo went on too long - the word “self-indulgent” was used (not by me) but other than that there were no criticisms at all - other than about the sound. Roger looked really happy and enjoying himself, which I think is a reflection of how he is in general. I don’t think he suffers from the “black dog” of depression like his old friend.
Adam seemed happy, confident and enjoying himself but not in the bursting with joy way that SophieB mentioned from the night before. I guess if he HAD just had good news about JCS the initial fizz had worn off.
It was really hot in the arena which Adam commented on several times. I was glad because it gave me chance to strip down to my specially-printed teeshirt. (Grey with this image)
Adam did “see” me inasmuch as his eyes passed over me in that way he has of registering faces in the crowd (Brian is more of a skimmer) but there was certainly no look of “OMG, there’s that lovely AnnAdoresAdam from Adamtopia” on his face
During the Gaga barrier walk I managed to get my shoulder between the front row people and stick my arm through to touch him as he went past but he was too far away. He’d already done the hand-shaking and stopping to sing and was quickly making his way back to the steps by then. But it was fun to try.
I think if this had been my only show I would be gutted now and not because of the sound issues, rather because everything turns into a blur of sights, sounds and impressions. And I can say that despite having seen dozens upon dozens of vids of the US tour (kept away from the European leg to keep it fresh) so I knew exactly what was coming. As everyone here always says - one show simply isn’t enough. I feel as though I need to do it several more times to take it all in. And fortunately I am!
One thrill of course was to be at the debut show of THE CLOAK during the encore. It was hilarious because I had bought a pack of emergency blankets in case we got too cold in the queue (we didn’t) which look exactly like the cloak - so we were quite tickled at the
thought of Adam in gold tinfoil. It’s a wonderful addition and he looked so majestic striding down the catwalk and the disrobing was an absolute tour de force. I believe someone got a photo of the moment it hit the ground.
After the show we met our seated friend at the merch stand as arranged and went back to the hotel bar for a full debriefing session. And yes, two new Glamberts were born! Of course, for me nothing short of full-blown, there is only one singer in the universe worth listening to and no man alive who is more attractive will do. So by my standards they are not really proper Glamberts but very enthusiastic just the same.
One said unprompted (and with no knowledge of our discussions here) that there was a bit too much of the “Freddie’s so wonderful” stuff for her liking but I explained that it was a tactical move to disarm the haters. Both thought that Adam was doing a marvellous job of interpreting the Queen music as himself and without trying to be Freddie. They felt he was very natural and was being himself on stage, without artifice and was a born showman. They wanted to know all about his background and career so I was more than happy to hold court right back to the Halloween dressing up box, via the musical theatre productions as a boy, the singing lessons, Hair, Wicked, Idol, the story of Queen (the whole 5 years) ending up with the romance with Sauli. And I promise you their eyes didn’t even glaze over, they were genuinely interested in this marvellous man they’d just witnessed.
Apart from the show, it was a lovely experience for all 3 of us to be away together for the first time on a girls break. One of my friends, who’s been married forever, has never had a girls break before so it was really special for her. And as I’m going to the remainder of my shows alone, it was lovely for me to share this experience with two of my closest friends.
Just grateful I get to do it again, and again, and again - all being well!