Another TL:DR GMA Review
When we first heard that Kris and Adam would be performing at the Good Morning America Summer Concert Series, xbeyondinsanex and I had considered going. We could spend the night before at raemani 's and take the train into New York that morning. Then our sensible side kicked in and we decided we'd just content ourselves with watching the numerous videos and pics that ontd_ai was sure to provide.
Then we went to see the American Idols Live Concert in Baltimore.
We had such an amazing time that we were hyped up beyond all reason. And since our seats were not especially close to the stage, we still felt the need to prove to ourselves that Adam Lambert was in fact real... so on Thursday morning xbeyondinsanex and I sounded out our hubby's about the idea. Wonderful and supportive as they always are, they told us to go for it. We checked out the post on ontd_ai and discovered arriving at 5am was not going to cut it. Yes, the gates to Central Park, where the concert was to be held didn't open until 6am but people who had been to the event last year said fans had been turned away once capacity had been reached. We'd have to get there earlier.
We also needed to call raemani who was leaving work to drive south and spend the day with us. Thankfully, she was more than up for the change in plans. She came down anyway, and when she arrived we started consulting train timetables and figuring out cost. It quickly became clear that our best option was just to drive straight into New York and find somewhere to park the car close to Central Park. We printed out the helpful little map that the GMA website provided with the location of the closest entrance to Ramsey Playfield where the concert would be held, got ourselves all glammed up and at 11pm on Thursday night, jumped in the car and headed North.
Already exhausted from our long wait in the sun before the concert the day before, not to mention the excitement of meeting some of the idols and the actual concert itself, xbeyondinsanex and I kept ourselves awake by singing along to our Kradam CD's and filling raemani in on all out stories from the concert. She too was tired from a loooong day at work and much driving but like the troopers we are, we sucked it up and arrived at Central Park just before 3am. After some driving around, we stumbled upon a 24 hour parking service right by the entrance we needed and happily handed off our car to those in charge.
We joined the end of the not inconsiderable line of eager AI fans and then slowly watched it grow and the hours slipped by. Luckily, we happened to end up sitting by a very nice family, consisting of a grandmother, Cathy (who knew almost as much about Adam as we did), he husband, their daughter, Theresa and their children. I thought I recognised Cathy from the Baltimore concert, and sure enough she was there and happened to be interviewed by Fox 5, just as I was. I told her I'd seen the video up on their website and she was thrilled since she hadnt managed to find it yet. I promised I'd send her the link and she gave me her email address. We passed the time discussing our favorite Adam and Kris performances, snuggling under the blanket that raemani had thankfully had the presence of mind to bring along. We also chatted with a lovely lady on vacation from Costa Rica. She was a David Cook fan (he was to perform along with Adam and Kris). Since I too voted for David in the previous season of Idol, we chatted about his take on songs like Billie Jean and how he had paved the way for people like Adam and Kris to take chances with song arrangements and how allowing those who could play instruments, to do so had improved the competition.
At around 5:30am, security began letting fans into the park, to line up again, closer to Ramsey Playfield. We grumbled as a few impatient fans tried to cut the line, some successfully, some not so, but for the most part the crowd was well behaved. Security gradually allowed fans inside the playingfield small groups at a time which kept an all-out stampede from occurring.
We took up our spots probably around 6-8 rows back from the barricade infront of the stage, and were positioned just right of center. We had a pretty awesome view and you are much closer when standing as opposed to the seats laid out for the arena concerts. We were just behind Cathy and her family, and just behind us, we discovered some fellow ontd_ai benches - malenalalala and withoutmywingsx (I think - please correct me in comments with the right user names if I've screwed it up). We all wrote ONTA_AI on our hands with sharpies in case the cameras got close enough to pick up the text - we're already famous and shit, but it never hurts to represent!
The stage manager came out and told us when we could and couldn't hold up signs, what would happen with the cameras, that there would be sound checks with all the performers and that both David Cook's band and the MFB were going to play for their respective performers. I soon spotted Dave and Aaron from the MFB and cheered wildly.
It's Dave!! (On the left in the photo)
We were all on tip-toes trying to catch a glimpse of Adam and Kris backstage. Some people got pics but my camera was too far away to record the Kradam-y goodness so I happily just watched instead.
David was first out for sound check. We got to hear parts of "Come Back To Me" and "Little Lies."
It was cool to watch him get ready and he was interactive with the crowd which was nice.
Soon after, Kris and Adam emerged on the stage and the crowd went batshit crazy. They both seemed genuinely surprised at how hyped the crowd was to see them, Adam especially got all extra-smiley face and waved excitedly at the crowd before they both went back to the srs business of prepping for their songs. They listened intently as they stage manager and crew gave them instructions on what was to happen and then their sound checks began. A lot of fiddling with ear pieces occurred.
as a photographer captured all the back stage action.
There was always time for a little goofing off, though and it was clear to see how comfortable Adam and Kris are with each other.
Whatcha lookin' at there, Adam???
They did a practice run with all 3 of them singing "Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac and Kradam sang to each other.
They did this a lot throughout the morning... and when they weren't singing, they spent quite a bit of time looking at each other, and smiling at each other, and touching each other... you get the picture... or you will when I post them in a bit.
I was also beyond excited to see that Kris was still wearing the necklace I gave him on Wednesday. Everyone around me who had heard me tell the story earlier was happy for me and a couple of people, including xbeyondinsanex yelled out "I love your necklace, Kris!" I died of embarrassment but he did reply "Thank you."
Adam then took center stage, sitting on a stool. He picked specks of lint off his outfit which for some reason I found adorable (and maybe cause I'm just the same whenever I wear black).
He smiled happily at the crowd
and engaged them with charisma
Before beginning his sound check for "Starlight." They didn't feed his microphone though the speakers so we couldn't hear properly what he was singing but every so often little wafts of his voice reached us and we realised this wasn't going to be the version of "Starlight" we were used to hearing. I got very excited.
Later it seemed like Kris was still having issues with his ear piece not feeding him loud enough sound and swear that I lip read Adam say "Tell Them" as Kris imparted this info to him. Aww, I see you Adam, looking out for your Pocket Idol.
Kris was the last to sound check and we were treated to "Heartless."
The live segments were then taped, with Kris performing first. We cheered like crazy, waved for the cameras on cue and sang along unabashedly.
video courtesy of you tube user EdwinTV26
Adam sang "Starlight" next (a quick rehearsal, then the live recorded version), and OMFG, the acoustic version was so beautiful I actually teared up. Hearing his beautiful tone in the outdoors in a comparitively intimate venue was a moment I'll never forget. The changes to the song, the new runs gave me chills. I kept turning around to xbeyondinsanex and raemani squealing "is this real life?" It seriously felt too good to be true. I thought any minute now I was going to wake up and this would all have been a perfect dream. The only thing that could have topped it (pun intended) was if instead of Tim Stewart on guitar, they'd let Kris accompany him. I might not have survived that.
video courtesy of you tube user: adamlambert141
The next piece they filmed was Kris, Adam and David Cook all on stage, chatting and answering questions, including how they felt about Paula not returning to American Idol, prompting Adam to make pouty lower lip face and Kris to make the tear gesture with his hand on his face. I know you know the gif I mean... this one . Kris said that AI fans are the best and then Adam made his hilarious faux par about not having gotten any bra on stage today. When reminded by the GMA hosts that this was a morning show and a family show and that undergarments should stay on he laughed and backtracked quickly with "Good Morning America!" and then leaned into Kris laughing. Kris was also dying with laughter with an "Oh, Adam... trust you..." look on his face.
Then David sang "Come Back To Me."
Video courtesy of you tube user: liveontodayshow
He sounded great live and threw his pick into the audience at the end of his song.
The final taped part was a little more banter with the GMA hosts presenting a huge birthday cake to one of their team.
After the cameras stopped rolling, everyone chatted on stage for a while. This first pic is begging to be macro'd
They all seemed to get along well
There were some definite Kradam moments when Adam leaned in to whisper things to Kris
and then David, Kris and Adam all performed "Little Lies" together which was a cool thing to see. David took the lead, with Kris also getting some of the verses. Adam mostly just sung the chorus' but they all sounded great together.
Video courtesy of you tube user: AdamLambertLIVE
Adam watched while Kris sung his part
And Kris grooved along to Adam
Adam seemed to feed off Kris' energy, getting more into the performance
Then they did some more "let's sing to each other" (argh kradam cockblocked by annoying fan's hand)
Then they got the audience to participate
Time for a little David Cook appreciation
They thanked the crowd, Kris hugged D.C. and Adam shook hands with him, then they remained on stage talking with each other for a while. There was more Kradam ear whispering
and touching
Next they were all sat on stools in a row and were interviewed. We could see that Adam was intently watching Kris answer his questions, and Kris did the same when Adam was asked things.
I wish we could have heard what was being asked, but I expect the interview will be available on the GMA website eventually. We took some pics to prove to ourselves later that we were there
The interview came to an end and David took the opportunity to show Adam and Kris the KRADAMVID fan sign. They both looked highly amused.
Then they had the three of them pose for a group shot
As we were walking away from the stage we bumped into yet more ontd_ai girls including
x_serenade , forbiddenromanc , and
x_ifuseekamy (again, if I've forgotten anyone or gotten any names wrong, let me know in comments and I'll fix it). We did an impromptu Kradam prayer circle
and got a cool pic of
x_serenade with her sign
Just as we were leaving we spotted Rickey (for my non-AI reading friends, Rickey runs this website and hosts really crappy but essential cellcasts of each and every concert date the American Idols perform. The cellcasts usually make one's ears bleed the quality is so bad, and most of the Idols sound like they're singing underwater in mermish but for some reason we keep tuning in. Rickey keeps eveyone entertained by wearing bras on his head, dancing with Nemo stuffed toys and other crazy antics). We told him we were from ontd_ai and he recognised the name. I said that we listen to his cellcasts every night and he got very excited. He then posed for this pic with us:
Random Kradam extras:
And that about wraps up the day. We returned to our car after grabbing much needed drinks and proceeded to try to find our way out of New York at 10am with a severely confused and therefore non-functioning GPS. There may have been cheering when, thanks to xbeyondinsanex 's superb sense of direction, we located the Lincoln tunnel.
It was a truly amazing experience, the best night without sleep I've ever had, and something I'd repeat without a moment's hesitation. The amazing performances aside, it was a privilege to watch Adam and Kris interact and get a small glimpse of the beautiful friendship they so clearly have.
Then we went to see the American Idols Live Concert in Baltimore.
We had such an amazing time that we were hyped up beyond all reason. And since our seats were not especially close to the stage, we still felt the need to prove to ourselves that Adam Lambert was in fact real... so on Thursday morning xbeyondinsanex and I sounded out our hubby's about the idea. Wonderful and supportive as they always are, they told us to go for it. We checked out the post on ontd_ai and discovered arriving at 5am was not going to cut it. Yes, the gates to Central Park, where the concert was to be held didn't open until 6am but people who had been to the event last year said fans had been turned away once capacity had been reached. We'd have to get there earlier.
We also needed to call raemani who was leaving work to drive south and spend the day with us. Thankfully, she was more than up for the change in plans. She came down anyway, and when she arrived we started consulting train timetables and figuring out cost. It quickly became clear that our best option was just to drive straight into New York and find somewhere to park the car close to Central Park. We printed out the helpful little map that the GMA website provided with the location of the closest entrance to Ramsey Playfield where the concert would be held, got ourselves all glammed up and at 11pm on Thursday night, jumped in the car and headed North.
Already exhausted from our long wait in the sun before the concert the day before, not to mention the excitement of meeting some of the idols and the actual concert itself, xbeyondinsanex and I kept ourselves awake by singing along to our Kradam CD's and filling raemani in on all out stories from the concert. She too was tired from a loooong day at work and much driving but like the troopers we are, we sucked it up and arrived at Central Park just before 3am. After some driving around, we stumbled upon a 24 hour parking service right by the entrance we needed and happily handed off our car to those in charge.
We joined the end of the not inconsiderable line of eager AI fans and then slowly watched it grow and the hours slipped by. Luckily, we happened to end up sitting by a very nice family, consisting of a grandmother, Cathy (who knew almost as much about Adam as we did), he husband, their daughter, Theresa and their children. I thought I recognised Cathy from the Baltimore concert, and sure enough she was there and happened to be interviewed by Fox 5, just as I was. I told her I'd seen the video up on their website and she was thrilled since she hadnt managed to find it yet. I promised I'd send her the link and she gave me her email address. We passed the time discussing our favorite Adam and Kris performances, snuggling under the blanket that raemani had thankfully had the presence of mind to bring along. We also chatted with a lovely lady on vacation from Costa Rica. She was a David Cook fan (he was to perform along with Adam and Kris). Since I too voted for David in the previous season of Idol, we chatted about his take on songs like Billie Jean and how he had paved the way for people like Adam and Kris to take chances with song arrangements and how allowing those who could play instruments, to do so had improved the competition.
At around 5:30am, security began letting fans into the park, to line up again, closer to Ramsey Playfield. We grumbled as a few impatient fans tried to cut the line, some successfully, some not so, but for the most part the crowd was well behaved. Security gradually allowed fans inside the playingfield small groups at a time which kept an all-out stampede from occurring.
We took up our spots probably around 6-8 rows back from the barricade infront of the stage, and were positioned just right of center. We had a pretty awesome view and you are much closer when standing as opposed to the seats laid out for the arena concerts. We were just behind Cathy and her family, and just behind us, we discovered some fellow ontd_ai benches - malenalalala and withoutmywingsx (I think - please correct me in comments with the right user names if I've screwed it up). We all wrote ONTA_AI on our hands with sharpies in case the cameras got close enough to pick up the text - we're already famous and shit, but it never hurts to represent!
The stage manager came out and told us when we could and couldn't hold up signs, what would happen with the cameras, that there would be sound checks with all the performers and that both David Cook's band and the MFB were going to play for their respective performers. I soon spotted Dave and Aaron from the MFB and cheered wildly.
It's Dave!! (On the left in the photo)
We were all on tip-toes trying to catch a glimpse of Adam and Kris backstage. Some people got pics but my camera was too far away to record the Kradam-y goodness so I happily just watched instead.
David was first out for sound check. We got to hear parts of "Come Back To Me" and "Little Lies."
It was cool to watch him get ready and he was interactive with the crowd which was nice.
Soon after, Kris and Adam emerged on the stage and the crowd went batshit crazy. They both seemed genuinely surprised at how hyped the crowd was to see them, Adam especially got all extra-smiley face and waved excitedly at the crowd before they both went back to the srs business of prepping for their songs. They listened intently as they stage manager and crew gave them instructions on what was to happen and then their sound checks began. A lot of fiddling with ear pieces occurred.
as a photographer captured all the back stage action.
There was always time for a little goofing off, though and it was clear to see how comfortable Adam and Kris are with each other.
Whatcha lookin' at there, Adam???
They did a practice run with all 3 of them singing "Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac and Kradam sang to each other.
They did this a lot throughout the morning... and when they weren't singing, they spent quite a bit of time looking at each other, and smiling at each other, and touching each other... you get the picture... or you will when I post them in a bit.
I was also beyond excited to see that Kris was still wearing the necklace I gave him on Wednesday. Everyone around me who had heard me tell the story earlier was happy for me and a couple of people, including xbeyondinsanex yelled out "I love your necklace, Kris!" I died of embarrassment but he did reply "Thank you."
Adam then took center stage, sitting on a stool. He picked specks of lint off his outfit which for some reason I found adorable (and maybe cause I'm just the same whenever I wear black).
He smiled happily at the crowd
and engaged them with charisma
Before beginning his sound check for "Starlight." They didn't feed his microphone though the speakers so we couldn't hear properly what he was singing but every so often little wafts of his voice reached us and we realised this wasn't going to be the version of "Starlight" we were used to hearing. I got very excited.
Later it seemed like Kris was still having issues with his ear piece not feeding him loud enough sound and swear that I lip read Adam say "Tell Them" as Kris imparted this info to him. Aww, I see you Adam, looking out for your Pocket Idol.
Kris was the last to sound check and we were treated to "Heartless."
The live segments were then taped, with Kris performing first. We cheered like crazy, waved for the cameras on cue and sang along unabashedly.
Click to viewvideo courtesy of you tube user EdwinTV26
Adam sang "Starlight" next (a quick rehearsal, then the live recorded version), and OMFG, the acoustic version was so beautiful I actually teared up. Hearing his beautiful tone in the outdoors in a comparitively intimate venue was a moment I'll never forget. The changes to the song, the new runs gave me chills. I kept turning around to xbeyondinsanex and raemani squealing "is this real life?" It seriously felt too good to be true. I thought any minute now I was going to wake up and this would all have been a perfect dream. The only thing that could have topped it (pun intended) was if instead of Tim Stewart on guitar, they'd let Kris accompany him. I might not have survived that.
video courtesy of you tube user: adamlambert141
The next piece they filmed was Kris, Adam and David Cook all on stage, chatting and answering questions, including how they felt about Paula not returning to American Idol, prompting Adam to make pouty lower lip face and Kris to make the tear gesture with his hand on his face. I know you know the gif I mean... this one . Kris said that AI fans are the best and then Adam made his hilarious faux par about not having gotten any bra on stage today. When reminded by the GMA hosts that this was a morning show and a family show and that undergarments should stay on he laughed and backtracked quickly with "Good Morning America!" and then leaned into Kris laughing. Kris was also dying with laughter with an "Oh, Adam... trust you..." look on his face.
Then David sang "Come Back To Me."
Video courtesy of you tube user: liveontodayshow
He sounded great live and threw his pick into the audience at the end of his song.
The final taped part was a little more banter with the GMA hosts presenting a huge birthday cake to one of their team.
After the cameras stopped rolling, everyone chatted on stage for a while. This first pic is begging to be macro'd
They all seemed to get along well
There were some definite Kradam moments when Adam leaned in to whisper things to Kris
and then David, Kris and Adam all performed "Little Lies" together which was a cool thing to see. David took the lead, with Kris also getting some of the verses. Adam mostly just sung the chorus' but they all sounded great together.
Video courtesy of you tube user: AdamLambertLIVE
Adam watched while Kris sung his part
And Kris grooved along to Adam
Adam seemed to feed off Kris' energy, getting more into the performance
Then they did some more "let's sing to each other" (argh kradam cockblocked by annoying fan's hand)
Then they got the audience to participate
Time for a little David Cook appreciation
They thanked the crowd, Kris hugged D.C. and Adam shook hands with him, then they remained on stage talking with each other for a while. There was more Kradam ear whispering
and touching
Next they were all sat on stools in a row and were interviewed. We could see that Adam was intently watching Kris answer his questions, and Kris did the same when Adam was asked things.
I wish we could have heard what was being asked, but I expect the interview will be available on the GMA website eventually. We took some pics to prove to ourselves later that we were there
The interview came to an end and David took the opportunity to show Adam and Kris the KRADAMVID fan sign. They both looked highly amused.
Then they had the three of them pose for a group shot
As we were walking away from the stage we bumped into yet more ontd_ai girls including
x_serenade , forbiddenromanc , and
x_ifuseekamy (again, if I've forgotten anyone or gotten any names wrong, let me know in comments and I'll fix it). We did an impromptu Kradam prayer circle
and got a cool pic of
x_serenade with her sign
Just as we were leaving we spotted Rickey (for my non-AI reading friends, Rickey runs this website and hosts really crappy but essential cellcasts of each and every concert date the American Idols perform. The cellcasts usually make one's ears bleed the quality is so bad, and most of the Idols sound like they're singing underwater in mermish but for some reason we keep tuning in. Rickey keeps eveyone entertained by wearing bras on his head, dancing with Nemo stuffed toys and other crazy antics). We told him we were from ontd_ai and he recognised the name. I said that we listen to his cellcasts every night and he got very excited. He then posed for this pic with us:
Random Kradam extras:
And that about wraps up the day. We returned to our car after grabbing much needed drinks and proceeded to try to find our way out of New York at 10am with a severely confused and therefore non-functioning GPS. There may have been cheering when, thanks to xbeyondinsanex 's superb sense of direction, we located the Lincoln tunnel.
It was a truly amazing experience, the best night without sleep I've ever had, and something I'd repeat without a moment's hesitation. The amazing performances aside, it was a privilege to watch Adam and Kris interact and get a small glimpse of the beautiful friendship they so clearly have.