Here's a review of the London Showcase from Unicorn @ UK Lambrits. It is posted on thier site.
Also, Angelina Kalahari was there, and will also write a recap, I will post it when I get it from her.
Enjoy!
UK Showcase Review - by Unicorn
I was fortunate enough to attend Adam's London Showcase with my Glam Nation travel buddy Claire and the wonderful Etty & Angelina. We arrived at the Arts Club in Mayfair around 5pm. The venue could not have been better - beautiful decor, intimate stage and a free bar! The doors had not been open long when we arrived, yet the room was already almost full. If there were any no-shows there can't have been many, as the room was packed. There were around 50-or-so attendees from magazines, radio and the record label, mainly milling around the bar until a guy from Sony appeared on stage to introduce Adam.
The Sony guy asked everyone to move forward to gather around the stage, so we obliged and went to the front but stood behind two excited young children who were there with their parents. The stage was tiny, with just room for Adam's stall, the band and sound equipment, so it was just as intimate as having Adam perform in your living room. The Sony guy gave a great introduction, quoting Brian May’s comment about Adam’s voice 'reaching out with sensitivity, depth, maturity and awesome range and power that will make jaws drop all around the world. The world of rock has a bright new star,' as well as giving some facts and figures that we fans already know and take for granted, but to a lot of the press and media who may not be as familiar with Adam's music must have sounded incredibly impressive!
Adam then appeared on stage (on time!) wearing a stylish black outfit and subtle make up. As much as I loved seeing Glam Nation Adam in his rhinestones and glitter backed by dancers and lasers, it was wonderful to see a stripped-back Adam with a simple set and chance to let his vocals shine. I was concerned that after a week of solid press interviews in Germany and the UK, Adam's voice might not be at its best, yet he did not dissapoint. Throughout the set he sounded flawless - I won't go into techincal details about his vocals as I'm no expert, but I spoke to Angelina about it afterwards and she had such wonderful things to say about the voice which I'll leave up to her to describe! The sound in the room was top-notch, and apart from one comment to the sound man Adam appeared happy with it too. I've been at other shows where the sound has been less than perfect and noticed Adam getting annoyed with his mix, but thankfully the Arts Club didn't let him down. The atmosphere was fantastic too - being an industry showcase I was concerned the crowd might lack that electricity normally found at a gig full of fans, yet Adam clearly had a number of press converted beforehand who were down the front getting very excited, and even the more reserved people who may not have known much about Adam beforehand were paying attention and getting into it. People were swaying and dancing to the upbeat songs, as well as respectful and not talking loudly over him during the slower songs.
He started with Fever, which had a really fun and energetic feel to it even without the usual dancers and backing track. Next up was Outlaws of Love, which Adam introduced with some touching comments about the uphill struggle of the LGBT community, which he called 'my community'. His vocals were haunting and he added some stunning riffs that need to be heard to be believed. Again, I'll leave it up to our resident vocal expert Angelina to sum it up properly!
BTIKM sounded really good acoustic. We were particularly impressed by Kevin’s piano and vocals and how they blended so well with Adam's, which we told him about at the bar afterwards and he seemed very touched to hear! This was followed by WWFM, which we've all heard so many times now but still managed to sound fresh. Then Adam closed the set with Trespassing, and all I can say is OMG! I hadn't yet listened to the version from Austria so it was the first time I'd heard it, and speaking to others afterwards who had heard last weekend's version said it was very different - perhaps because the crowd and energy was better in London so he could get more into it. Adam was clearly really enjoying himself as he performed it,
standing up from his stool and dancing/shaking to the beat and getting the crowd to along. Even acoustically it has a great groove to it which got everyone dancing, so I can only imagine what the album version will sound like! The lyrics were very catchy and clever and
the best part was the grunting/heavy breathing sounds Adam makes in the second half of the song - Trespassing is sure to be a fan favourite on the next tour!
After the performance was over, most people stuck around to mingle (and make the most of the free alcohol!) including Adam who was busy networking with various media people. Knowing how vital this opportunity was for his success in the UK, it was so nice to see such a huge group of important people all there for Adam and clearly buzzing about it afterwards. We chatted with various media people, all of them echoing what press have been saying throughout the week after meeting Adam and saying the same things - great guy, great music, great voice! We met a journalist from Fault magazine who had been involved with Adam's recent photo shoot, but would not give away any hints about the shoot other than that he'll be wearing very different clothes and it's going to be amazing Before we left we said goodbye to Adam and congratulated him on a brilliant performance and wished him well for the future. Before long he's sure to be back in the UK, playing these fantastic new tracks to a bigger audience of fans and gaining the success in the UK that he long deserves!
;D
