My SAN JOSE concert experience- vid clips of Allison, Kris
First off, let me say that there's no juicy Adam moment in this story. So don't you go getting your hopes up
I tried not to.
I'll give ya the whole laydown, so settle down with a cup of tea and your fav Adam playlist. Oh, but if you're sane and don't want to read it all, the part about Adam is marked.
Warning: Some details may be muddled! Yeah, especially around Adam, I might have amplified things in my mind (:
Tonight was pretty effin amazing. My friend, her mom, and I arrived in downtown San Jose at about 5:20. We walked around downtown and saw tons of other teenage girls/other women that were pretty clearly there for the concert. We got a lot of strange looks (esp. me, in my full Glamsuit) walking down the street. We even passed a group of women at a street corner who muttered, "Those are Adam's girls." lol! We ate at this Mexican place, and the guy taking our order even asked if we were there for the concert.
At around 6:00 we walked back to the Pavillion. On the way, these guys hanging around the streets asking us if we needed tickets, and some guy shouted "Danny Gokey!" at me when we passed each other. XD On that stretch, we saw across the street a parking lot with tons of moving trucks. There were police outside, so we figured that was where the equipment had been unloaded. Here's the picture we took in front of it, with faces whited-out for your enjoyment:
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010819-1.jpg
It was a really sunny day! It made me strangely proud that they got to experience San Jose weather at its best! 
There were 2 big lines going around both sides of the Pavillion- we chose the one that was less claustrophobic, next to the blocked-off street. The protesters were there, but they didn't really bother anyone. Most people in line were just amused.
We went inside (after the guy at the door "checked" my bag and failed to notice the full water bottle), and I jumped when I saw the Program station. They're $25, but gorgeous and totally worth it. It's 11x13 and has 15 pages of full-color photos. The other things they're selling are glowsticks for $5, pictures of each idol for $5 (but they're really not bigger than an 8.5x11 paper), a shirt for Adam (but I don't think his face was on it), and a shirt for the tour with a group shot.
We got to our seats and settled in. We had pretty good seats, not on the floor, but the lower level, so that we could see straight across to the stage. The people on the stage were only 3 inches tall, but they had screens on either side of the stage, 2 strips on either side for the background, and 2 up higher for the close-ups. Here's the view from our seats:
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010821.jpg
We wanted to go into the floor section to check out the stage, but they wouldn't let you through without a ticket. While we were waiting, they replayed Carrie Underwood, David Cook, and Daughtry music videos, and also ads for the CD, and then just plain "Whoo! You're here at the concert!" clips. Whenever Adam's face showed up, there were screams around the stadium, which I joined in on.
Finally it was starting! There was a thingie thing about how you can compete in Disneyland to get into the real American Idol auditions... Adam was AMAZING in it, as he did most of the explaining on how the process works.
The concert started! Sarver came on and did his 2 songs. The crowd was pretty lukewarm, which I wasn't too surprised about, but they could at least have been excited about the prospect of the rest of the idols! Sarver's Closer was pretty good. I think I might actually like him a little. He's very... heartfelt.
Megan is GORGEOUS! Her voice was a little hard to hear though, so what we mostly got was the raspy, unique vocals... I love them, but after a while it's a bit grating.
Here's where the pictures come in. Yeah, so my camera's zoom really sucks, and I'm not pro with cameras (or any technology come to it), so I'm really sorry about not getting very good shots! But I really did try my best:
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010831.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010830.jpg
Next was Scott. Scott has completely won me over tonight. He sounded AMAZING! On the show he was always a bit iffy for me, but his songs were perfect for him. Also, he gave this really funny talk about high-fives and being visually impaired.
Here's another picture. My goodness, my hand is SO shaky! Sorry again.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010832.jpg
Lil' was next. I actually liked her voice this season, but the music was too loud to make out what she was saying most of the time! It was very entertaining to see the hand motions she and Adam talked about though. By the way, through all of this the crowd was very... non-committal. Most were sitting, and although they cheered and clapped, only the floor folks were standing for some songs, and they weren't out-of-their-minds excited.
I took quite a few pictures during Lil's set...
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010834.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010835.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010837.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010841.jpg
Anoop! My friend is an Anoop fan, so I was excited for her. The crowd liked Anoop- his set was good. He got the crowd pretty pumped!
Pictures:
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010847-1.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010848-1.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010849-1.jpg
Video clip: http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/?action=view&cu...
Matt was good. He really went for some high notes, and he kept the crowd at say, a simmering temperature. When he called us to get on our feet, about half of the audience did, but so many were still sitting! Oh well. I stood and shouted and clapped. Matt's great. (no pics, sorry!)
The group number was okay. It was black-and-white themed, and Megan had a really pretty dress. I think it was a halter, but the top part was white and had a cool design that looked sophisticated. The guys were in tuxes.
Intermission! My friend's mom and I had to go the bathroom, so we went outside, but there was a humongous line and I didn't want to miss any of Allison's. (The intermission is 20 min. long.) We decided that we would duck out during Danny.
Allison was AMAZING. Seriously, I don't believe that she's only a few years older than me. She has the voice and the presence; it's incredible. She had her multi-colored hair in these pretty waves, blowing all over the place. There was an awesome intro, with blazing fire on the screen and the works. So What was jaw-dropping and awesome!
VIDEO of part of it: http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/?action=view&cu...
(I hadn't quite gotten the hang of the whole zoom situation yet!)
Here's the youtube upload of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af5tyCXUNz0
Cry Baby was great, loved it on the show and loved it now full-length. I recorded it, but it's too long for Photobucket! I'll try Youtube or something.
Aha! And here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik89KeajR7o&feature=channel
Danny's set started, so we rushed out to the bathroom. Rushed because I didn't want to miss Adam! There were about 8 of us that ran into the bathroom during Danny, ha. We completely missed P.Y.T. and came in midway through Maria... his dancing was hilarious. I was torn between watching to see if he did the mic stand straddle and prepping my glowsticks- the glowsticks won.
So at this point, I started looking around for people to share glowsticks with. I knew the people behind and in front of us were Adam fans, but they were NOT into the show. They were sitting throughout. But there were 3 other teenagers sitting on our left, 2 girls and 1 guy. The guy looked friendly, and I'd definitely heard him rooting for Adam, so I offered them 3 sticks. They said thanks, but they barely used them. One girl was texting for most of the show, and the other girl turned out to be a Kris fan and wouldn't use my glowstick for him. The guy was kind enough to wave his glowstick though. (:
Anyway, back to Danny. His last song was actually really good. I still kind of hold a grudge against Danny, despite what the 2 of them said. It's just the way he talks, it bothers me. But on that stage, I sat back and really appreciated what he'd done, and I admired him for going up there and singing. +10 for Danny.
>>>>~~~~~~~***********ADAM!************~~~~~~~~~~<<<<
I can't even describe it. The whole experience was just surreal. Being so far away from the stage, it was difficult to connect the thought "I'm hearing Adam sing and seeing him on the screen" with "OMG he's standing in this room!" I couldn't figure out whether to look at the stage or the screens- on the stage I could see his little body with all the movements, but on screen I could see his gorgeous face! I stood and waved my glowstick like a madwoman and screamed and screamed. The floor section was on its feet, of course, and I saw the glowsticks around the stadium take on a new energy. But all around, me people were just sitting, like they were somewhat entertained by what was going on. I worried for a second about the people behind me, since I was standing and probably blocking their view, but really. If they cared enough about Adam, they should stand too. So even though I was the only one on my feet in my section, I loved it cause I was just in my own little Adam world. There was crazy screaming in the pauses and after each song, but I just wish people would have stood up!
Adam was... well, more than I ever imagined. He had his hair slicked up, Elvis-style. The spoiler pictures I've accidentally seen around here didn't do him justice at all. Need I really say anything about how beautiful he is?
But he is seriously incredible. I kept flashing back to all the interviews I've seen, everything about him that I know, and it was hard to fit it all into this one man, standing on the stage and singing. I was slightly detached in a way, being so far from him. But of course I enjoyed it immensely: WLL was incredible, and Starlight. Well, I've been listening to Starlight ever since I heard he was singing it, waiting to hear him sing it. I loved it. They projected stars on the ceiling and it was just breathtaking. It was great to hear Mad World again, and for once, the silence around the stadium didn't seem awkward. It's all a bit of a blur, but I know one thing: I loved every second of it.
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010857-1.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010858.jpg
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa237/Kitty_723/Lamby/P1010860-1.jpg
In between songs, he would talk to us, mostly just egging us on and getting our energy up. Believe me, it worked.
Slow Ride was amaaaaazing! Nobody threw underwear, thank goodness, and by then I had figured out that I should look at the screen while he was on there singing, then watch the stage while Allison was, to see his dancing. He pulled the same great moves as on the show, and then some new ones! Their faces were really close in some parts, it was sweet. Their voices are great together.
And finally, Bowie. I was so excited to see him to take the jacket off! Anyway. He came out, with Mars in the background, surrounded by mist, and absolutely jaw-droppingly... well, Adam. I loved the vocals- how he added the accent, how he savored the lyrics. His voice was amplified just right, so that it cascaded over your ears, but teasingly, so you felt like he was singing it right to you. He slunk around the stage, and then... HE TOOK THE JACKET OFF!
The crowd went WILD. We screamed, louder than ever. I squashed the small part of me that is the sensible middle-aged woman that would be embarrassed under normal circumstances and SCREAMED. Such a thrill.
And then, to make us even more insane, he started his hip thing! I was eating it up. I didn't dare take my eyes off the stage; I was worried they would censor it like on the show and only show from waist up. How on earth does he even DO that? (In some of the err... larger motions, I heard the murmurs of the older women who I guess were shocked by it. lol!) He has a great butt. In the most respectful, adoring, appreciative way. I'm so glad he didn't "tone it down" or anything. Goodness. And the singing was just as sexy. It was 5 minutes of pure fabulousness.
His whole set was just... wow. The vocals were FLAWLESS, you can see the videos. (I didn't take a video, sorry. I really just wanted to live in the moment, you know? And my video would probably suck anyway- I wasn't close enough.)
Alright, that's all for Adam. Sadly.
Kris. Great news- he got pretty much equal reception as Adam! I loved all of his songs- they all fit him, so glad I didn't have to sit through NB. He sounded great, and he had his hair spiked up YHA Adam-style! I took a vid of some of Heartless, but again, too long for Photobucket.
Here this is too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luwv9Ee7BLM
For Don't Stop Believin', my friend and I agreed to run for it at the end of the song to get a head start in the autograph lineup. When it hit the chorus, I knew the end was close, so we got up and started leaving. But there was some kind of confusion, and so we didn't leave until everyone else was! We RAN. We stopped at the Info desk to ask where it was, and they told us it was all the way at the back of the building. It was actually kind of hard to hear what they were saying because of how loud the concert had been! Anyway, we RAN all the way around the building to the very back. But there were only about 20 feet of barricades set up, and people were already waiting. We managed to get behind about 2 layers of folks before we got boxed in by everyone else.
Alright, so the people in front of us were a group of blond girls. They were all pretty and, well, a bit snotty. They didn't like one of the girls, who turned out to be a Danny fan, and kept smacking us in the face with her ponytail. They were bickering all the time... but I saw that a few of them in the front were Adam fans, so I worked up my courage, assuring myself that this was what Adam would do, and suggested that they put my poster out in front of the barricade so Adam would come here first. They turned around and gave me the look. You know, that look. The one the popular girl gives you, like they can't believe you're talking to them. But a few minutes later, they took out a poster that, well, wasn't as good as mine, and put it out front. Eyeroll.
We became sandwiched in. My window through which I might see Adam got smaller and smaller, and people kept pressing closer. The girls became more irritating. I stood there and just went into my head, to Adam world...
It became 10:30, and after half an hour of waiting, my friend started to get edgy. Her mom was waiting for us, and her dad, who was picking us up, was waiting in the car. I would have stood there for as long as it took, but she didn't want to make her parents wait. Someone had told her parents that the Idols wouldn't be coming out until 11:45. And I was a guest. So I turned away resignedly, and we fought our way out of the crowd. It was a long walk to her dad's car. But all the way, I fought back the bitter disappointment by telling myself, "Hey, I saw Adam perform. That's enough for me."
(:
It is now 2 in the morning... here I am, in my darkened room, still with all my makeup on, reliving it all and typing away. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment! (haha, feel like I'm writing a fanfic.)
UPDATES: Added an Anoop vid clip, 2 Allison, and 1 Kris.



Replies for this Forum Topic
You said people were sitting down most of the time even for Adam set. I wonder why?
I liked it!
That was really great to read. I was sorta worried about the energy at the show because I saw a video from row 4 front and everyone around him was just sitting there during Bowie I couldn't believe it. Alot of them were guys so maybe wives dragged them. Also I was wondering if Adam was spending the entire set on performance and not really talking to the people since he seemed to be looking up all the time and not really connecting by looking down. So I'm glad to read that he's talking in between songs. I think if he actually was directly looking down at the people they'd start screaming even more OR FAINTING all over the place.
I really appreciate when someone gets to go to the concert and tells us their experience. Glad you got to see/hear Adam....sorry about the mean girls.
Sorry you didn't get to meet Adam.
Hey all, thanks for the comments and the comforting!
caylin, that's hilarious! That's totally something my mom would do. Yeah, the seats were good, compared to the ones way in the upper section that they were selling officially on ticketmaster. San Jose was crazy to get good tickets for... the floors were going up to the thousands o.O It already took my mom a lot of convincing to shell out $100 for the ones we got from Stubhub.
jellybelly- great pictures! Yummy arms... =D
I love reading all of them.
i felt like- exaactly the same way hahah
<3ed every second :]
Heres an album of pics that I got of adam...
they're pretty good quality for the crappy seats i had
http://s583.photobucket.com/albums/ss275/jellybelly195/
i feel sorry for you that you had to leave so early,parents should have understood what this meant to you and be indulgent

At least,uve got ur precious memories,i wish u many dreamy replays in ur head,tx for sharing
Thanks for sharing - sounds like you had an amazing time.
i HATE snotty girls! that's all my school is, ugh. i thankfully got homeschooled because of them... lol. im sorry you didn't meet Adam! But as you said, you saw him live!
Thanks for the amazing review. Sorry to hear about the 'mean girls' you had to encounter. Ugh, I don't know why people can't just like the music and leave their insecurities at the front gate. You are so lucky to have been in the same arena with that amazingly talented Adam Lambert ::sigh:: Okay...enough daydreaming....LOL
Excellent review!!
i can't thank you enough for taking the time to type your whole story. i was fasinated and read the whole thing. its getting me so pumped for my concert on september 15th!! i don't know if i can wait any longer! i also saw your youtube videos, i subscribed to them. my username is TheBomDottCom. (its a channel with some of my friends).
it's ok that you didn't see adam up close and personnel, not a lot of people will. i won't either. if i went to see him before the concert, it would mean skipping school, and how awful would it be to miss a day in the first week of starting middle school! also, my parents said maybe we could see them at night after the show, but if they don't come out til 11:45 then, mayeb thats not the best idea lol.
your seats were actually pretty good! its so hard to get good seats, believe me, i know. i was pressuring my dad so much to go on ticketmaster.com the MINUTE they go on sale. he did follow orders, but all the good tickets were like, gone! i was a little mad at him because he said it offered him floor seats, but he said "i wouldn't like them" because i wouldn't be able to see over peoples heads. i was like "HELLO DAD OPEN YOUR EYES! i could run up and be so close to the stage when adam was on!" but he got seats that are first or seconds row, somewhere in the stadium, all i know is they are NOT close to the stage. lol.
you are so lucky to have gone with a friend! i'm going with the fam.. ugh! lol. but the important thing is, i am going, lol. i don't think my dad even wants to go, i think he is doing it for the family to make (me) and possibly my older sister happy. last year, i was a totally hardcore david cook fan, so we went. and season 6, hardcore blake lewis fan lol. last year, he actually brought earplugs. so embarresing! he said its to block out the screaming girls, so he can just hear the music. other dads were trying to buy some off my dad! that was funny!! but, there must be something he like about the concert, since he actually goes!
i totally wish that my mom or dad would say " i don't want to go" so i could bring my best friend, but i dont think that will happen LOL.
anyway, i hope you enjoyed my novel! and thanks again for posting your awesome experiance!
that will always be the case for as long as I live. But just the experience of hearing him sing in person and watching the performance is the best part.
I love reading first hand accounts... esp. when written so that I can feel what the experience was like!
Thanks for posting!
I enjoyed reading your review. I will probably have the same experience when I get to see Adam because my seats are about where yours were!! Oh well, I'm just glad to get to go and see Adam live!!
Wow....I read your entire post, & it was worth it! What an experience you had! Thank you for taking us there! It was really enjoyable! Adam's set sounded amazing, as expected! I can't believe there were people just sitting there!! I can't imagine being at the show, & not standing up & screaming at the top of my lungs for him!!
That was funny about the snotty girl, & the look she gave you...boy, do I know what you mean. Got "that look" a few times in my life! But, she ended up taking your advice after all. Sorry you didn't get to meet him! Maybe you will another time. Don't lose hope! He'll be back when he goes on his solo tour!!
Loved your take on the concert, sorry you didnt get to see Adam outside, hope I get my chance in Charlotte, we'll see, not a big togetherness person when it comes to large squishy crowds, and my husband will be with me........thanks again!
Loved reading it and what a great idea to intersperse photos. Thanks!
THANKS FOR POSTING AND THE PICTURES. THEY WERE GREAT. I AM GOING
TO THE TAMPA CONCERT, CAN'T HARDLY WAIT. JUST TO BE IN HIS PRESENCE
AND HEAR HIM SING LIVE IS AWESOME. ADAM IS THE BEST.
Omigosh that was YOU? Haha, I totally get it now! I saw you up there and I was like "Whoo! Go her! She's rockin' it!" And I saw your blue flower and I was like "Hmm I wanted one like that" and I remembered it vaguely but I couldn't place it...but you told me about it, that's why! Haha, sorry I didn't go down to say hi. Looked like you coulda used some company.
Update: have uploaded a few short clips I took.
Thanks everyone for reading & commenting! ♥
sorry to hear that you didn't get Adam's autograph. But at least you had a surreal experience listening to him singing! I could only wish I were there! The closest I get to him is by looking at youtubes and reading all your posts.
Even if it wasn't perfect (seats not up close and no signing), as you said, you got to see Adam perform! I'm going to see him in Washington on 4 August and write-ups like yours make me even more excited, so thank you.
Like you, I won't get to the autograph thing, because i'm a guest at my cousin's house and they are kindly giving me a lift there, will be waiting for me in a restaurant during the show and will give me a lift back. So as soon as the show is over, I have to go.
But for me, those signings are just a bonus. Maybe Adam won't even come out. Or he'll be so rushed, he'll just sign something without even looking up. So I'm more than happy to just be seeing the show.
I'm the crazy (older, middle-aged?) lady who was to your right and in the front row of your section - the one who was on her feet most of the time, dancing (hey, Adam's twitter asked us to do it!)
I had a great time, and stayed for the autographs - they came out about 11:30.
More later - including pictures, perhaps.
Too tired for now -
G'night (or, good morning?)
E
It's too bad that you had to encounter those mean girls and couldn't meet Adam, but hey, you saw him live! That's amazing.
Thanks for sharing!