Kradison Recap
So Caroline decided to cut class, so we could go to the show early. We got on a train and went into the city, chatting about what we thought was going to happen and just. Excitement all around. We didn't really feel it until we got out of the station and then the whole "Holy shit, we're seeing fucking Kradison"-ness sunk in. I got really giddy and we made our way through the Village, giggling at the abundance of gay men with little dogs with coats on, lesbians with fabulous hairstyles, and a lot of hipsters. And gay porn hubs. Anywayyy, we were on a corner and mentioned that we needed to find Felix and his friend and Shira and her friend eventually, and as we were looking around at a corner, I heard someone yell, "Donna?!" And whataya know, it was Felix. So we laughed and hugged and introduced each other and made our way to Highline.
By the time we were there, there was a decent line going on. We were pretty close, which was nice, but it was obvious that if we waited another hour or so, we would have been fucked. So we met up with Shira and her friend at the end of the line and we joined them. I called fictionnreality and I met up with some benches for a little while. They were really cool and it was awesome discussing _ai and kradam/lambliff/whateverthefuck with people that didn't need to either be primered on it, or just didn't care. I eventually left for Caroline and company, because I felt really bad that I left Caroline with people she never met before. It was a sacrifice lol. Seriously. We were sandwiched between some older glamberts, which at first, scared me. One woman bought a jacket that she saw Adam looking at when she went to one of the shows he lurked at. I was only half-listening. I want to say it's the really tacky one that he was trying on in that one interview for Access Hollywood, but rejected. I'm not really sure? Anyway, at first I was like, "Oh, fuck. I need to put up with these glamberts." Especially when one asked me if I was on any boards. Uh lol.
But in hindsight, they were really, really cool. There was a supermarket-place next to Highline Ballroom and she went there to get snacks for all of us. Another woman brought her high school-aged son and we talked to him a little. She joked that he had to be coerced into listening to Adam, but he said that he was pretty excited. Another woman got a hotel next to the building so her husband could hang out in there until the doors opened and he could go in with her. They were pretty awesome ladies. They just really liked Adam. In terms of creepiness, they were all right. They were nowhere near as bad as the women in the front that were on line since three am. Or the woman with a red boa that grabbed Adam's crotch. I don't know if I want to be as obsessed as them when I'm their age, but I do want to stay relevant in terms of music. Maybe be more like my mom, who has seen The Academy Is... twice and is still trying to see the day that AFI decides to tour on a day she isn't having major surgery and/or going to work. But she wants nothing to do with their crotches or their clothes.
Anyway, Felix and Isabel left for Starbucks to get some food as Caroline and I waited with Shira and whatserface. I think her name was Stef. Whatever. The more she talked, the more I had an issue with her. First, she said she was a Kris fan. Which doesn't really bother me. Whatever. Until she quickly hit the Krisbert level of fan. She said that she liked Allison, but hated the album (I agree), but as for Adam, she couldn't stand him. She said that he was screechy and he had to prove his worth to her before she could consider even listening to his album (Entitlement is not sexy, bb). And that she loved Taylor Swift. And that she was quality music over Adam. Uhm. Wat. I don't even know how to react to that. She apparently drove four hours to see Taylor Swift in concert. Bitch please, I haven't gone more than three hours out of my way for anyone hahah. I told myself to each his own... and decided to treat everything and anything she said as an invalid statement. It was fun.
Caroline and I were the last couple to go get food. We found this little pizza place that some hipster made eyes with me at as he was texting on his iPhone. We danced around excitedly and admired the Lichtenstein prints on the walls.
We ended up lurking in some weird burger bar place before we finally returned to the line around 6:45. When we got there we noticed that the line became so long, it wrapped around the block. Most of the line consisted of women, older women in particular. A few men. A few queer couples, which was kind of amazing. I got gay pride, whatev. I also saw a lady with a vest constructed of photos of Adam and I laughed until I cried. Anyway, we returned to our spot on line and we waited. When seven o'clock rolled along we heard really loud cheering, but we couldn't really see what was going on. I started yelled, "TOMMY IS HERE OMG TOMMY IS HERE OMG OMG OMG." And then the rest of the line started going, "Oh my God TOMMY THE GUY ADAM MADE OUT WITH TOMMY TOMMY TOMMY." When I got on the internet later, I realized that I wasn't wrong... I just didn't have very much validation behind my statement hahahah.
We finally got inside about thirty-forty five minutes after we were supposed to. A really nice glambert picked up my glove when I dropped it on my way through the ticket stuff. We didn't get our bags checked or anything, which was kind of unsettling. But whatev. Anyway, we put our jackets and bags in the coat/bag check and we went into the ballroom.
I'm not sure if you can tell by the pictures, but Highline is TINY. We got about four/five people from the front really easily. However, we decided to go into concert mode and try to shove our way through the crowd. Caroline took the lead and I did the whole "Wah, my friend is over there D:" act, and made my way over. When Caroline tried to cut into the middle, she had the displeasure of meeting Glambert #3569.
...I knew that the glamberts on line were way too sweet.
This lady went off at Caroline that ~I was here first! I can't seeee~ And if Caroline was in her way she couldn't film/photograph/what the fuck ever. Caroline groaned and returned to the spot by me and explained that front and center was devoted to those cray cray ladies that were on line at three am and have, well, I assume they have, never been to a general admission show. Which is kind of frustrating when you've only gone to one show that wasn't general admission, ever. However, the people we ended up near were awesome. One girl was like me, she was like, "Oh, please. I have been in mosh pits. I would punch those ladies in the face." Another girl was really tall and super bubbly. She just looked at all of us and asked, "You're all going to dance, right?"
So Allison took the stage and I just kind of went into total "Holy shit" mode. I got super giddy and when I heard her unautotuned voice begin to sing, I knew it was going to be good. I sang the words that I knew (I only heard her album once or twice before the show, sadly) and pumped my fist and danced around. She's absolutely precious. She's really bubbly and really goofy and you could tell that she's doing what she loves. When she sang in the wrong key for "Scars" she just said, "Okay, wrong key. Ahhh~" and decided to just restart it, which was awesome. Especially because, idk about you guys, but the fact that people know that they are in the wrong key or whatever and honestly comprehend music is super amazing. I really wish that the crowd was more receptive. I mean, seriously. She's young and has a lot of lessons to learn and all that, but she was really good. Her voice was deliciously raspy and she was damn good at what she was doing.
When the set was over, I decided that yep. I'm for sure an Allison stan. I've been relistening to her album, and when it's not too robotic, she really does sound amazing. I just hope that the record industry will give her a chance to make music that isn't so horridly autotuned.
So we waited in-between sets, pretty much shitting kittens. When Allison was doing the "Are you excited"-s she went Kris Allen, then Adam Lambert, which made us wonder if. You know. If Adam was going to go last. Because, I'm sorry. I'm a bitch like that. Don't kill me, Kris stans.
So we watched eagerly as the roadies set up and we all went ADLFJASLFJDSFLJ TOMMY'S BASS HE PUT UP ON TWITTER when the roadie set it up. So that kind of confirmed that Adam was up next. So then we went into aldjfalsdfjsdfj holy shit Adam's going on we're seeing Adam Lambert live ahhhh.
So we waited patiently. Or not patiently, rather. We danced around eagerly and sang Depeche Mode and David Bowie ("Lady Stardust", no less! Which is the song I wrote for queenbitchfest, btw /shameless plug) as we waited for the lights to fade. Everyone began to get REALLY LOUD. Like. Holy shit. Glamberts have quite the pair of lungs on them. And the Z100 DJs came on. Danielle from the morning show was there! Which was exciting in a lame way for me, because she used to be the voice of my mornings back home. And then they were like "omg Adam Lambert~" and wow.
It's just. Kind of surreal? I felt like this when I saw Patrick Stump/Fall Out Boy irl. And Davey Havok/AFI/Smith irl. It's this initial, "Oh my God, they're real?" kind of thing. Like, I was looking around and saying, "...That's Monte? And that's LP? And that's Tommy? And holy fuck, that's Adam?"
So I kind of went bonkers. And then saw that he had black lipstick on. And went even more bonkers. And "Music Again" started and I fucking danced.
I think by now most of the people that care about this concert have seen the videos. You all know that Adam yanked at Tommy's hair and dropped to his knees as one point and seems to be able to just let his voice go into that bizarre stratosphere of high notes that I didn't know a guy could since Freddie Mercury. But being there was crazy, guys. Absolutely crazy. He owned every square inch of that stage. He kicked and sneered and smirked and shook in such a raw way. I honestly don't think I've ever seen stage presence like that since, well. AFI. I can only assume that it's close to the same presence that a lot of pop and rock stars had back in the day. But what made him different from, say, Davey, was the sexual element. He looked like he could ravage anyone and everyone. For a solid hour I was like, "Yep. I'd totally be okay with you doing me right now." I can't even lie. It was awesome.
And then the glamberts began to pass out. Most of these women were dumbasses. They had their winter coats still on and most of them were wearing heeled boots. Basically, worse. Concert gear. Ever. And were too old to be able to handle the elements of a concert front and center. Adam stopped half way through the set and began to tell the woman that passed out, "Honey, honey, get some water and go in the back and watch from there. You can dance over there. Come on, honey." He had this really odd appearance about him during that moment. Like he broke character. He had this stare into the general area as he drank water and waited until he could continue the set.
But when that was over with, he began to perform again. Once again, without a hitch, he was on fire again. And just. It was amazing. I was super close, and he's tall so I didn't have to worry about missing things. Monte was really close to me and I was excited, because seeing him rock out to "Sleepwalker" was amazing. And they did "Down the Rabbit Hole", which left me very, very pleased. BTW, random, seeing him irl I've realized his body type is amazing. It's, like. Soft but not? idk if I'm making sense, but boy has to stop doubting himself. He looks fabulous.
Basically, if you ever get the opportunity to see Adam in concert, DO IT. You definitely will be entertained. And question your sexuality aftewards.
So Caroline and I went to get some overpriced water and watched some people leave, which sucked. A lot of older women had to be seated outside because they couldn't handle the crowd. We found the woman with her son that was on line with us and Caroline asked the boy if he was convinced of Adam's awesomeness. The boy nodded and said, "YEAH! DEFINITELY!" I smiled. I think he's straight, bbs. But no matter what, I'm happy that he found Adam awesome, even though I'm sure he could get shit for it, like what high schoolers do.
Caroline and I hung out in the back as Kris performed. His set was lovely and he got girls to go up on stage and do the "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeahs~" during "Alright With Me", which was really adorbs. Apparently his band is really, really good looking. At least Felix told me. But I was back to my ~normal self by the time he went on hahahah.
So at 11:11 Caroline and I wished for Kradam and then Kris left the stage. The lights didn't go on, so we knew there had to be something going on. So then we saw Monte and Kris's band and we were squeeing so hard. Allison took the stage and we freaked, because, well. ALLISON. And then we were like "Yeah, come on. Where's Adam?" And he took to the stage as well. And just. Seeing a kradison "Crazy" live? It's so amazing. Especially after being all KRADISONNN for a long time and not being able to go see them on the Idols Tour. We left soon with Felix, Isabel, that bitch, and Shira, and we just spun around on that high of Kradison.
Felix, Isabel, Caroline, and I went on the train soon after and came to the conclusion that we 1. got along really well and 2. needed to stay friends forever, especially because we all witnessed something really special live. We then discussed how amazing the show was so loud that some guy on the train had to yell at us to stop talking.
Basically, it was a perfect night. I wish I could live in that moment forever. For now, I'll just smile and know that I witnessed something that will probably never happen again. And I'll always be grateful for the friends and musicians that were a part of it.