My Queen + Adam Lambert Experience

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ZIGGODOME - Amsterdam

Hi guys. I hope everyone is well. It's been a while. Just wanted to start this off by wishing you all a spectacular new year (very late).

As you may have guessed (obviously), I attended the Queen + Adam Lambert concert in Amsterdam last night. And what a night it was. I thought I'd document this experience for later in life. Even if it's not much.

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The day started off pretty rough. December was not a good month or me and January has been worse. After volleyball practice finished at 11 PM the day before, I fell into a familiar dichotomous state of being unbelievably tired but vividly awake.

By the time I got home at 12, I'd decided I'd put my energy into preparing myself for the long day at the concert venue. I made sandwiches, took a long-ass while preparing a heavy but delicious potato salad and cleared up the roaring mess that was my kitchen in the wake of the preparation.
Then I printed out my ticket and took a shower. Before going to bed at 3:45 AM I seriously contemplated what underwear I'd wear to the concert. For 5 whole minutes. Like a teenage girl plotting the loss of her virginity.

Adam wasn't going to see my underwear nor would he or I have any interest in taking it off at any point during the concert. Or in life. Yet my best pair of boxer briefs were applied to my skin after another brief shower 2 hours later. There is grand poetry here somewhere.

Feeling like a fucking slug, I forced myself into clothes, packed everything I had and around 7:15 I was on the train headed for Amsterdam. I don't remember most of the trip because I slept lightly through everything. But apparently I made all my change overs and arrived in Amsterdam around 9:30 AM.

It was fucking cold. Even with all my layers. I'm usually bad with directions but I made it to the Ziggo Dome (the venue) without a single detour. So proud of myself really.

When it came into sight I immediately recognised a red-haired Alex Morner (@AlexanderMorner) in the distance and got super hyped. I reached the group of 8 people already waiting close to the front door and gave Alex and other loveable familiar folk, hugs.

It is curiously special meeting people you only know through the internet in the flesh. And after the first 3 minutes of excited jabber I found myself deeply fascinated by this fact.
I chatted with people for a good while and then fell silent. Thoughts of the past weeks and months plagued my mind and I began to feel a bit dejected.

Which sucked because I had so much I wanted to ask everyone but my energy-levels failed me.
But I don't want to make it about that. In short I decided to at least conserve what energy I had for the concert so I mostly observed. It was refreshing being around people as passionate or more passionate about Adam than I am. To ensure that there was some level of fairness to everything, everyone was given a number.
The number idea was put forward to create some kind of order in the process of getting into the venue later in the day. It was a cool idea.

Adam and Queen songs were played through an iPod dock. Fangirls fangirled. The cold was a bitch. And time went by quite quickly. I often slipped out of the line to go sit in the warm confines of a near-by mall. Without this I doubt I would have survived. Also talked to a good many super Queen fans. And though I heard of some bitchy Adam-haters, they were for the most part super sweet. Many had great things to say about Adam and were super excited.

Eventually it was 6 PM and the line was much longer. Excitement reached a fever-pitch and a cheerful vibe settled in the air. Already-drunk fratboy-types screamed Queen hits with glorious off-pitch accuracy. Adam fangirls began eyeing the front door with alternating bug-eyed enthusiasm and stone-cold determination. Tickets appeared in every hand. Good stuff.

Around this time it began to snow. And kept snowing. And continued snowing.
To the point where the only thing I could think about was slipping inside into warmth.
Time slowed and it felt like we'd never get to go inside. I stood under an umbrella all the way at the front of the row with a gorgeous girl who was fascinated by Queen and interested to see what Adam would bring to the table. Also a big Lady Gaga fanboy who loves Queen and thought Adam was a legit force to be reckoned with. They were mad fun.

We got in and a good few from the group I'd been waiting the whole day with sprinted towards the faraway doors. It was the funniest shit ever.

There you had these young-adults with frozen feet and toes sprinting to the doors like penguins without a drop of shame. I took my time but accelerated half way through. Cuz no fucking way in hell was I not going to be in the front.
We got in and made right to the front of the circular stage piece (the b-stage?) where Adam sings WWTLF and everyone was so happy. Everyone had been super worried about getting good spots because there were early entry tickets. People with more money getting to go in earlier is the worst.

But I know the glam gods wouldn't let us down so I didn't stress at all. I saw an enthusiastic twitter fan in the distance (@margotjamnisek) who blowed kisses my way. She made me smile. I waved back.

The hall filled up and though I was still super down I began to feel quite excited. I hadn't seen Adam since the Glam Nation Tour of 2010 in Amsterdam.

It was jam packed! Don't know how many people were in there but holy shit. I was so proud of the dumbest shit. The Queen + Adam Lambert sign high up in the air was giving me life. Adam singing for so many people. I couldn't believe it.

Time flew and all of a sudden the lights dimmed and the show began.
Adam appeared behind the curtain being a dork and I smiled my wildest smile since forever. And then BOOM. Awesomeness.

You guys know the show quite well so there's no need to go into details. All I can say is that it was amazing. I am not a Queen fan per se and I enjoy select songs. But even the songs I didn't know or don't normally liked made me super happy and hyped.

A guy next to me who had brought a shitty hat to give Adam to tease him for being so offensively flamboyant was living for every second. "Godverdomme, hij kan het echt wel!". Which basically translates to "I'm a stupid bitch and Adam is a fucking superstar". Well kinda. But he was a real stoic conservative farmer-type so that he said this was amazing.

Adam slayed me with every song. He was so beautiful up-close. His eyes sparkle. Literally sparkle. And he's so damn tall. Almost as tall as I am I think. My faves were the performances I thought would be my faves. Killer Queen, STL and WWTLF.

Killer Queen was right in front of us and when Adam sang the lyric "Guaranteed to blow your mind" and licked his lips I howled with laugher. I laughed so hard at his campy ass.
The end of STL was so fucking stunning live. His belt is so amazing to hear live. It fills the soul, dammit.

WWTLF was breathtaking. I have no words for that shit. Adam kicked the hat the guy next to me threw onto the stage towards the end and I caught it for him haha.

And at the end of WATC, Adam hit some crazy ass note that was fucking nuts and I freaked out. It was so damn glorious. Expletives do no suffice.

With a belt like a whiplash (the good kind) and an angel voice, Adam further cemented my belief that he is the most exciting singer of our age and destined for great things.

I love him so much.

Gotta run!

@adamlambert

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