Fang You Adam! - A Halloween Treat

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I decided it was time for a little seasonal Halloween treat. Remember last year's Party City fund-raising gig? Well when I was cut off from the online world, distraction-free and incommunicado, I got constructive. My perfectionism decided to sort out the videos with those wishy-washy colours and the sound that dribbled out of one ear, so we could enjoy it that little - but very important - bit more. I omitted all the footage that didn't include Adam, adjusted the picture, muted some of the screaming and created a synthetic stereo track. Here are a couple of before and after shots:

Adam sings without a band behind him and the venue doesn't appear to support the performance with the same level of professionalism as he's accustomed to. There are constant sound issues and the engineer is unresponsive to Adam's gestures so he has to interrupt his performance to give verbal instructions. As you can tell, this isn't one of my favourite gigs because I think this is one of the rare occasions on which Adam seems a little uncomfortable. It's like he and the audience - which isn't made of avid fans - aren't quite on the same level and that energy exchange he often mentions is somewhat stunted. He has to work extra hard to engage them and get them going. I feel his frustration that they don't afford him enough respect and he has to tell them to shut up at the start of BtbW.

All videos from this concert are now in this embedded playlist:



Despite all this, the vocals are brilliant throughout and the banter is charming. I love this longer version of RoF and this is the only time we hear him sing both BoW and BtbW outside of AI. It's been a while since we last heard this slow emotional version of MW and he manages to recreate those stratospheric notes of BtbW with aplomb. We get a triple helping of 'Baby', 'Woman' and 'Man' at the a capella ending of a high-energy, gyratory, rocking WLL. I miss this arrangement and would love to hear it before the end of the tour. It's hard to believe he does all of this whilst wearing fangs. Yes, he can still fucking sing amazingly well with big fangs in his mouth!

Get my Halloweeny Glam Nation design in velvety print on a T-shirt:

DOWNLOAD Ring of Fire iPod compatible mp4 - 19.7MB
DOWNLOAD Ring of Fire HD mp4 - 48.7MB

DOWNLOAD Black or White iPod compatible mp4 - 29.3MB
DOWNLOAD Black or White HD mp4 - 72.4MB

DOWNLOAD Mad World iPod compatible mp4 - 24.7MB
DOWNLOAD Mad World HD mp4 - 61.1MB

DOWNLOAD Born to be Wild iPod compatible mp4 - 29.3MB
DOWNLOAD Born to be Wild HD mp4 - 72.8MB

DOWNLOAD Whole Lotta Love iPod compatible mp4 - 36.4MB
DOWNLOAD Whole Lotta Love HD mp4 - 89.9MB


And here's a new Glampire pic from last night:

Happy Halloween!

Glam Nation: Honolulu II

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Adam starts off with big fluffy hair but as this set progresses, the heat and humidity claim it. Tommy perches on Adam's shoulder before the Fever kiss and we have a very intense performance of Sleepwalker. WWFM is happy smiley and bouncy, where Adam keeps looking at the audience and smiling, having to close his eyes near the end to keep a straight face. The we have Soaked. Halle-fucking-lujah! The crowd must've read my last post and STFU /delusional. It's beautiful, and so are the floaty vocals of Broken Open. The set finishes with a head-swinging-on-his-knees TCB encore. Here's my playlist:

Glam Nation: Honolulu I

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Adam has a spiky puffball hairdo at this concert and begins with a medley that includes FYE. Check out the crazy climactic dance during Fever followed by Sleepwalker's explosive vocals. He mentions that there are many stalkers repeat customers during the banter at the start of WWFM. After getting spoiled with all the reverent silences in Asia during Soaked, I wish Americans would shut the fuck up refrain from exercising their right to freedom of speech in the middle of the a cappella section. There's lots of freestyle riffing at end of SFW and MA sees Adam fluffing up Tommy's hair, whose side has recently been shaved. He looks like a boy scout with that scarf around his neck. The band intro has Camilla doing Axel F as her solo and the encore is a fast-paced TCB finished on Adam's knees. Here's my playlist:

Tongue-Diving and Floor-Writhing

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OK you asked for it so you get it! Here's my latest edit after what seems to be a very long time. Between catching up, doing T-shirts, blogging and generally being a fan, I've been spending time learning how to use my recent editing tool acquisition. Unfortunately my little laptop can't cope with anything else when I'm using it, hence the long periods of radio silence. This video's better quality than my previous efforts as there's less quality loss, and I think the fact that most of the videos are from the sweaty mosh pit really add to its feel. Enjoy!



This is the wild rock star Adam coming out to play, and instead of causing outrage and offence, I think he's like a mischievous imp indulging in a bit of naughtiness, testing how far he can push it. With hindsight we can see him prowling the stage scanning the audience for pretty people for potential pashing. He eyes them up, flirting, playing and loving how they go crazy. In the first of the tonguedives, we can see Adam lock onto his prey before going in for the kill but he's not quite as savage as his approach would lead us to believe. He's gentler than expected but it's only when the crowd starts to ravage him, clawing at him, trying to rip his clothes off that things get a bit wild. We then see modest Adam pull away and do his buttons back up, not wanting to reveal more freckled flesh than intended. He then continues to pick out another lucky person to lock lips with and elevate to the envy of everyone else in the room. It's shortly followed by a startlingly high and perfect glory note and plenty of thrusting just to make sure we know that he's on heat. For the frantic finish, the wildman gets down on his knees for uninhibited and primal thrusting, writhing like he can't handle it any more and is about to explode. Then he gets up with that butter-wouldn't-melt smile, telling the crowd with a nudge-wink tone that he lurves them. He blows special kisses to those who've already had more than their fair share, thanking them for being game.

Adam's tongue-diving and glory note tongue on a T-shirt I designed:

It's my Adam cover of the Rolling Stones logo. It was during Adam's cover of a Rolling Stones song that we first saw that infamous tongue snake out so I think there's a lovely symmetry to it all.

DOWNLOAD 20th Century Boy - HD mp4 79.3MB
DOWNLOAD 20th Century Boy - iPod compatible mp4 32.8MB
DOWNLOAD 20th Century Boy - mp3 3.3MB

Glam Nation: Brisbane

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I've only skimmed through these so far, but can tell you that there is a Fever kiss, a spectacular Sleepwalker vocal, and the piano introduction to Soaked is a little different to usual. It's more in line with the original melody but beautifully soft. Here's my playlist which I'll be updating as more videos turn up:

Glam Nation: Sydney

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Every once in a while during Glam Nation, Adam unleashes his mischief-making wildman and this is one of those occasions. We can see this starting to take shape at the end of Aftermath when he tells the crowd "Quit throwing shit up here," as a response to them throwing things up on stage. But it's during IIHY that the brazen rock star hand picks someone out of the audience to engage in a spot of tongue-diving. The lucky fans get to see Adam on fire for the TCB encore which has him lifting Cam's hair and licking the back of her neck, then writhing and squirming in orgasmic agony/ecstasy all over the stage floor.

Glam Nation: Melbourne Oz

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We're still missing a few bits and pieces from this concert but here's what I've managed to gather together so far. His glittery pompadour seems to be reaching skyscraper proportions. We have a fleeting Fever kiss and MW as the encore.

If I Had X Down Under

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One of the annoying things about having no internet the last few days is that I missed being part of a TV event with you all. I've dearly missed the AI days of having Adam regularly on my screen along with the excitement and anticipation that went with it and it seems that the last event that we could all watch together was years ago.



Having watched so many of the Glam Nation videos, it seems strange seeing Adam performing IIHY in the 'wrong' clothes. There's a little voice in my head that's saying he looks overdressed as he's not supposed to be wearing that coat for this number. But then I realise it might be because it's a costume meant for a live audience rather than TV cameras so it looks a bit much under the bright studio lights. We have some white leather gloves as an addition to the outfit and an enormous pompadour. Maybe I'm just a touch disappointed that there's no new outfit to inspect and discuss.

When I first watched this video hours after it aired, I still had to hold my breath as I was nervous. It had been a long time since a TV performance. Audio feeds straight from the mic leave nowhere to hide if your voice is tired or imperfect. My nerves weren't helped by the first 'boots' which sounds a fraction off but I needn't have worried at all. I should've had more confidence as Adam expertly breezes though the performance, voice super-smooth throughout the dancing and with that beautiful velvety-rich grainy texture I love so much. His camera interaction is spot-on and he even has a touch of that endearing lyric fail as there's a lack of 'Life would be a party, it'd be ecstasy'. After all those concert recordings which leave much to be desired in terms of quality, I'd almost forgotten how exceptional his voice is and how he controls it to pitch-perfection. This is a wonderfully pleasant surprise that far Xceeds my Xpectations.

Glam Nation: Auckland

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I haven't managed to watch all of these videos yet and we've not quite got complete songs but we have a Fever kiss and Adam ending up on the floor during MA. This one is all about the Enter Sandman encore though. Here's my playlist:



Monte has been teasing us with those Enter Sandman riffs for a long time and we finally get to see the full version on the special occasion of Tommy's birthday with it being one of his favourite songs. Adam admits to not knowing all the lyrics and as a result, performs much of it on his knees while reading the lyrics off pieces of paper stuck to the floor, where he also gets a bit frisky. Tommy gets an additional special birthday kiss. The thing that I love most about this performance is we get to hear a different side of Adam's voice that's more in line with his old Citizen Vein material with a much harder and heavier sound. His voice has added grit, a cutting Axl Rose wail and it's effortlessly powerful. In contrast to the Metallica growl, it's also surprisingly mellifluous and bright like a beacon, carrying a seemingly impossible amount of melody.

Glam Nation: Kuala Lumpur

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I've gotten just a little bit behind, having been deprived of internet access the last few days. There were protests against Adam in Malaysia so he decided to tone things down just a touch out of respect to the local audience. It's still a fantastic show in front of a huge crowd. Instead of kissing Tommy, he blows a kiss to the audience. There are minor adjustments to Adam and the dancers' moves and he slides onto his knees during SFW. He refrains from making lewd use of his cane during Strut and Tommy also refrains from basswanking after an extended solo. Watch out for the hilarious foot-grabbing Brooke dance. The set ends with a double encore of MW and TCB. I'm not sure Isaac's quite on the same wavelength as Adam yet as during TCB Adam seems to be a little distracted with getting Isaac's attention and spends too much of the time with his back to the crowd. As a result, I'm not really feeling this one, it seems to be lacking in the wild energy we usually get. Here's my playlist:

Glam Nation: Hong Kong

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I haven't had time to watch all of these yet, but here's my selection anyway. There's no kissing during Fever, Adam requests some male underwear instead of bras and there's a double encore of MW and TCB. Enjoy!

Glam Nation: Manila

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I watched this concert on a live stream which had a bizarre Barry White effect on Adam's voice, making it sound like a tuba. Nevertheless, he sounded wonderful and the added huskiness was pleasant. This event was on a different scale to any other so far, drawing a massive crowd of 16.5k+ people. Here's my playlist so far:



Adam's hair looks somewhat out of sorts compared to usual and Monte is strangely wearing a wig. FYE is kept in the opening medley. Tommy initiates the kissing with a peck during Fever. The acoustic section is stunning and Adam returns with a SFW where he slides to his knees. Brooke seems to have thrust out her rear a little too much during her dance as it collides with the Glambulge and Adam jokes about it by squeaking in a high-pitched voice. The encore is Mad World.

Glam Nation: Tokyo III

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I like this arrangement of FYE, it moves away from the electro-pop vibe and goes for a more laid-back funk-rock. We get that very powerful FYE belt that I haven't heard in ages which is followed up by a bit of lyric fail as Adam continues singing FYE instead of DTRH. We have a gentle kiss during Fever and no Brooke dance as she had to jet off before the concert finished. The highlight of the night though, has to be the return to the infamous steps for the acoustic WLL encore. It's a super-sultry floaty trip and I wonder whether Adam wants to rock out when he goes over to hit Isaac's cymbals, but it seems he's in his own world. During the performance, Adam picks up a rose, suggestively angling it before throwing it back out to the audience. It's been a while since a fully acoustic version and I love it because of the way Adam uses his voice. There is no better demonstration of how he masters it as a musical instrument.

Glam Nation: Tokyo II

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For the second Tokyo date, Fever has an additional pirouette dance move as Adam's shaking it. He changes a lyric to 'Put your little tongue in mine' for MA. At the end, we have a double encore of MW & TCB, after which Adam can be seen picking out some cute boys from the crowd. Here are my picks:

Glam Nation: Tokyo I

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There's still not much video for this concert but I was fortunate enough to be able to tune into the stream to watch from the front. Adam promised that he'd slay it and he didn't disappoint. His huge glittery hair was dazzling and a super thrusty Fever came with a big long smooch. The ripped 'peach' trousers didn't make an appearance though. The acoustic part of the set with its singalongs and silent mesmerised crowd was a highlight for me, especially Soaked and Broken Open. I prefer this sparser acoustic arrangement without any drums. Adam dropped to his knees for a fiery MA and there was some basswanking going on. The encore was TCB, complete with bra and wild (slightly epileptic!) dancing. Here's my playlist, I'm afraid we're still missing most of the set though:

Glam Nation: Osaka

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This second Japan concert will be remembered as the one where one of the concert-goers (@yammyyammy) saw Adam's 'peach' through ripped trousers. Now before you die of excitement, let me explain that 'thigh' and 'peach' in Japanese are homophones, and a simple input error caused this amusing mix-up. Adam's rear wasn't on display. Here's my selection thanks to our dear video ninjas:



This opens again with a medley that includes FYE. Monte's blazing guitar solos during Sleepwalker just seem to get better. Adam tells us he's hot at the start of WWFM and asks the crowd for fan. Again I'm impressed by the Japanese fans and their ability to scream considerately so that we can all appreciate and feel Adam's voice. During the silence at the end of Soaked, you can actually hear him breathing and it can't fail to give you goosebumps. This set includes a heartbreakingly beautiful acoustic Broken Open. Aftermath has the audience clapping to the rhythm of the song and serves an additional instrument of percussion. He can be seen fanning himself again during a blistering SFW before throwing it back into the audience. The dance with Brooke has Adam striking numerous poses in one of his most uninhibited yet, almost like a parody. The encore of the set is TCB where Adam can be seen playing with Tommy's bass and he mischievously goes up to the much-ignored Cam behind her keyboards to sing.

Glam Nation: Nagoya

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Despite the strict security measures, I'm thrilled our ninjas came through with video. There aren't any background visuals, just Adam and a spotlight. One of the things that strikes me about this concert is that everyone knows all the words to the songs and they're all singing along beautifully. I love to see all the hands in the air and screaming at considerate times, which does wonders for the energy. It has a club vibe to it. Here are my picks:



The set is extended with FYE nestled in between Voodoo and DTRH. There's no intro to Aftermath but it's great to hear the audience clapping along. We can hear a pin drop at the end of Soaked, one of the most beautiful versions so far. It must be hot - Adam doesn't put on his stripy coat for Strut where someone faints. He plays with a towel during much of MA and my heart swells as he shoos the security people out of the way to stop them obstructing the fans' view. We can see one of them attempting to crouch for a while before giving up. The Encore is MW. Adam's eye makeup is super-dramatic and Monte has a shaved head.