the Adam Lambert show

Today I am tired, my head is sore, my ears are still ringing and it was totally and completely worth it. Last night I went to the Vancouver show of American Idols Live! tour. The idols put on a great show. I think each one of them had a moment but the show was clearly Adam’s right from the get-go.

At the very beginning a the faces of the 10 quickly flashed up on screen and when Adam’s pic was met with a deafening roar I turned to Kim and said “prepare yourself”. They guy wasn’t even on stage yet and the crowd was with him.

Throughout the show there were times when the crowd got to their feet. There were the first few rows that never sat down, but when Adam took the stage, the world changed. As the light’s faded on Danny Gokey you could almost hear the room take a collective breath and we all thought the same thing, “he’s coming”. The screaming started even before the screens lit up and it just got louder and louder.

And then, there he was, leather tails swinging on his custom studded jacket. The roars found a new decibel but he wasn’t done us yet. Adam reached out to the audience, waggled his fingers and mouthed the word “more”. At this point the screaming was so loud it started to sound like rushing wind in my ears. Adam hooked a finger behind his ear, an open request that surely he could have a just little more. We gave him all we had and with the satisfied smile of a man who just got exactly what he wanted, Adam opened his mouth and started to sing.

First up was “Wanna Whole Lotta Love” (which I just realized today is not, in fact titled “What a whole lotta love”). I have to agree with Anastacia, the man really is a human slinky. The videos do not do it justice. He moves in ways I’m not sure I’m supposed to know about. Whichever way he was sliding, he took the room with him. The entire crowd was in its feet and stayed there.

“Starlight” followed and I put my camera away. Other people have much better pictures, I just wanted to revel in seeing him in person and not through a screen. It comes as no surprise, but he can really sing, and he can move and he knows his way around both a stage and a crowd. He had us all in the palm of his hand and he so knew it. And it was a thing of beauty to behold.

He brought Allison out for “Slow Ride” – “here’s Allison Iraheta in a wardrobe change!” and clearly, they are still having fun singing that song together. When the pink bra landed on stage, Adam didn’t even break stride. Mid-song he reached down for it, displayed it to the audience on one finger, whipped it around a couple of times and launched it into the crowd, and he never broke stride, never missed a beat, just kept right on singing. It was just all part of the show. Shortly after another item of intimate apparel landed on stage, Adam sang the lyric “slow down” and seemed to pointedly aim his “slow down” gesture at a certain section of the front row. I have to hope the underwear thing doesn’t take off. Who would have expected us nice, polite Canadians to throw the first bra?

The Bowie medley was insane and really, what more can be said about it that has not been said already? I almost felt bad for Kris closing out the show. I think Kris is incredibly talented but no matter how good you are, Adam is the definition of a tough act to follow. For me, I was just thrilled to be in the same room as him for a couple of hours. Totally worth the price of admission. I have a feeling that years from now I’ll remember this, the first time I saw him live.