Adam looks fantastic in off-horizontal stripes under a black jacket that still has a black armband. Here's a playlist of my video picks:
The set starts as usual with Trespassing which has a wow moment in that glory note that is so high and sustained. Kickin' In is very camp with OTT expressions, wiggly-ass dancing and great vocals. The sound of the bass on this version of Shady sounds most like the studio version and Adam includes a long bluesy riff at the end. WWFM has a certain grandness to it and is just beautiful, the backing singers are a very welcome addition.
Chokehold sounds a little different to the other versions so far and the bridge is amazing. Brian is getting in on the banter between songs as the band chemistry grows. Broken English includes a crotch stroke that makes the crowd lose their shit. The bridge here is an instrumental-only one without Adam's wailing over it. The high notes are unbelievable. A bouncy Naked Love sees Adam getting people to wave their arms as he gets friendly with the crowd, giving one of them a hug. The singalong is a lot of fun and I really enjoy this performance.
Adam tries to mobilise his troops to get NCOE on the radio and he really nails this one. Sung with freedom, it's a bit faster than usual and he's on such scintillating form with impressive high notes, ending on his favourite riff. There's quite a bit of banter before Cuckoo. He's really on fire for this with his dancing legs fully on, ass wiggling about. It's very discoey with the keys rather loud. For the first time, I really enjoy the band intros because of Adam's freestyle ad-libbing, which briefly goes off on a Chaka Khan tangent. Tommy's solo is also great but it's Adam's vocals that are incredible.
Despite Adam being unsatisfied with the sound throughout, this is by far the best concert so far from this era in terms of energy and vocals. He's back as the ringmaster, commanding and conducting the stage and the audience throughout. I can see that he's made a concerted effort to chat more with the audience, involving them and allowing his personality to shine through. He's also been building more of a rapport with the band, getting them to reveal more of themselves and as they all get to understand each other, the performances have become freer and significantly improved. This evolution is so satisfying to witness.
Damn! He was busting some VERY sexy-ass dance moves - especially in Kickin' In. I'm always in awe of his performance skills and the way he just pulls an entire audience under his spell. Simply amazing ...
ReplyDeleteLinda
Pan(of Thrace) 5/28/2012 7:08PM
ReplyDeleteI also think that Adam sounded good at KRZ'S... even better than at FRESH FM.... ,Chokehold, Shady, Broken English. BTW , TJR seems to be learning to play his guitar , I don't know how appropriate was that solo in that song, though. But the real gems are Kickin' In and Trespassing. Singing KI live has become kind of a challenge for Adam, initially a boring enough song due to its repetitive, monotonous rhythm,it provokes him to all kinds of vocal equilibristics, (my Rupert is warning me this word doesn't exist) , improvisations which make the song a lot better. Trespassing is also greater when sung live, those claps in the studio version sound... useless to me , when used in front of an excited audience are fun, ask for participation. Shady, um, I don't know. It's a favourite of mine , but I think Adam hasn't found its key yet.
I'm happy with the progress that Tommy's been making on lead guitar. I still think Kickin' In could do with a bit of an overhaul in structure to make it work but I appreciate the vocal tricks Adam lays over the repetition. I guess synthetic hand claps are never going to compare to the sound you hear when it's live. I disagree about finding the key for Shady though. I like the seediness of the vocals but that song's all about the groove for me. That said, I would like to hear him let rip a bit more towards the end, maybe work on some new runs with different note sequences.
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