Adam Lambert’s brings the Glam to Mystic Lake
Two Saturdays, two season eight American Idol finalists, two completely different worlds. I’m not sure if there are two people and two shows on earth that could be more different then one another then Kris Allen and Adam Lambert. I entered both shows not a fan of either (I was a Matt Giraurd supporter) and trying my best to keep an open mind. Thankfully last night went much better then last Saturday. Lambert has the exact things that Allen was missing last weekend – stage presence and star quality. Thanks to the flaming emails I received from Allen fans throughout the week I did discover that he was sick last Saturday. Best wishes to Mr. Allen and I do hope he is feeling better – it doesn’t change my review though – I call it as I see it. I do stand by him being a lovely person and I really look forward to his growth as an artist. With that said …
Adam Lambert truly light up the Mystic Lake Casino showroom with his edgy theatrical performance. I noticed two main things; #1 this kid can sing and #2 he will not compromise who he is. It is what is and if you don’t like it – too bad. While I am not a fan of Lambert’s big mouth and over the top antics I can ultimately respect someone who is true to himself and I walked out of the show with a new opinion and dare I say it, a fan.
The set started off in true Lambert fashion; outfitted in a deep purple long trench coat with feathers and a Mad Hatter style top hat with female and male dancers slithering up and down his body and across the stage. He finished his three song medley with the Johnny Cash cover ‘Ring of Fire” just as eerie and over the top as it was when he performed it on the Idol stage. Lambert managed to work his way to a good majority of his album including “Sleepwalker, “ his singles “Whatya Want From Me” and “if I Had You” Showing a bit of the softer side of his personality Lambert sat down on the stairs and chatted with the crowd about hitting a rough patch in life and finding a way through it – going into a fantastic version of “Aftermath” Lambert returned to the stage to close out the evening with a stripped down acoustic version of Mad World.
No matter what you think of Lambert he held the attention of every person in the room. With elaborate costumes and a fantastic light show this was one of the better “shows” I have seen all year. Lambert knows how to be a showstopper but still needs to grow before he tackles an arena setting. At times he lacked the stage maturity of the Carrie Underwood’s and Chris Daughtry’s of the Idol world.
If I had one complaint of Lambert and his show it was the time between songs for costume changes. Every time the energy was brought up there was awkward several minute pauses as Lambert exited the stage only to return in a different get up. It added very minimally to the overall production and was a bit ridiculous for a set that barely made it over the 60 minute mark.
Opening acts fellow American Idol alum Allison Iraheta and guitar phenom Orithani kicked off the evening with some real rocking “girl power.” Orithani lived up to all of the hype over her mad guitar skills but unfortunately the rest of the performance paled in comparison. Her twenty five minute set ended with her hit “According to You” which finally grabbed the interests of the crowd. Iraheta worked her way through her spunky 80’s inspired tunes from her debut album. I personally enjoyed Iraheta’s set the most and really recommend her debut album.
The most disappointing part of the evening actually had nothing to do with any of the artist but more to do with the horrible sound system. Every artist was muffled and it was difficult to understand a word they were saying. It was a distraction, with suck steep ticket prices I would have expected much better.
Adam Lambert along with Iraheta and Orithani continue on the Glam Nation Tour through the end of July.
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