Orianthi Shines, Lambert Theatrical

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Written by Melissa Garcia

You might think that Adam Lambert would be a sweet, conservative boy from his first glimpse of fame as a contestant on American Idol. I thought the same thing, that is, until I saw him live. In fact Adam is the first openly gay mainstream pop artist to launch a career on a major label (RCA) in the US. Although he was runner-up on the 8th season, his career didn't end with American Idol. Actually, it flourished into a chart topping success, where his album For Your Entertainment (released in 2009) reached number three on the Billboard 200, and sold 198,000 copies its first week, trumping Kris Allen's (winner of American Idol season 8) success on his post-Idol album, in your face Kris!

Now, Adam is headlining his own "Glam Nation Tour" along side Orianthi, and Allison Irathea. I attended his show on Tuesday, July 27 at the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa. His show was sold out that night, and I couldn't believe my eyes. With so many middle aged women and those that were considered elderly who attended, I thought that I had stepped into a Barry Manilow concert. By the time I got their I had just gotten to see Allison Irathea perform a song before her set was up. She too was an American Idol finalist along side Adam. What intrigued me was her almost all-girl band, with a chick on the drums, and bass, and her on the mic it gave the audience a lil bit of estrogen to chew on.

I think all of us who watched the Michael Jackson movie, This Is It remembers the female guitarist who played like she came out of the womb with a guitar in her hand. Well, Orianthi was the second band on stage before Adam, and she blew me away. She came out with a hard feel and fingers that moved faster than I could catch up with. Most of her music is much more hard rock than her radio hit "According To You" (no wonder it's on the radio). This girl is the epitome of what rock and roll used to be like. Her solos are done with ease while she's in the face of the crowd. The track "Suffocated" proved that she's not only an amazing guitarist she's also a well endowed singer. She definitely made her mark on me as bringing back that 80's arena rock. While performing "Think Like A Man" her and her rhythm guitarist were face to face going head to head and after a minute of plucking out solos they started strumming on each others guitars. They both fell to their backs and while laying on the stage, she STILL shredded out a solo.

Her performance made it clear that she wasn't just another pop rock chick that just dances around the stage. She's all about the music and keeps it 100% rock n' roll. My favorite part of the set was how it went black, and suddenly you could hear the voice of Jimi Hendrix during an interview. The interviewer was asking about his song "Voodoo Child," and if he has seen anyone else play it, Jimi replies "No, no I haven't." Then blaring through the speakers as she comes back on stage, is the main riff for "Voodoo Child." When she finished singing the song, she resorts back to a 10 minute solo of epic proportion. It isn't cute anymore she's dangerous on the guitar.

Adam entered the stage walking down a small staircase, dressed in a long fringed coat, and a top hat lined with a red ribbon and two long feathers coming out from the back of it. His makeup shined bright with glitter and he bejeweled his face with different colored jewels along the top of his eyebrows. It all screamed "Boy George" to me, and I couldn't keep my eyes off of him. As he walked down the staircase dancers emerged behind him crawling down the steps like panthers on the hunt. After finishing his first song he did a dark and slow tempo version of "Ring Of Fire" by Johnny Cash, which didn't give the original any justice, it was just one dimensional and passive. Soon after, he played a catchy and kinky song "Fever." If you had any question about his sexuality he made sure you were well aware by the end of this song. In the middle of the song he grabbed his bassists face and licked his mouth. (Don't worry, his bassist was all for it.)

After a brief intermission with the dancers dancing to the drummer's beat. He returned on stage stripped of his coat and hat to reveal a new age Elvis Presley hair do. This time it was just him and his guitarist playing an acoustic version of "What Do You Want Me?" and then "The Aftermath." Then the the rest of the band returned to the stage to preform "The Sleepwalker." I appreciated the 4 dancers he had on stage with him, I haven't seen background dancers since I saw Brittney Spears in 2009. His whole performance was sexual and illusive, full of entertainment and his vocals were absolutely hair raising. Through out his set he gave inspiring words to his audience about love and relationships. Reminding everyone that no matter how much success, fame, or money you might have it doesn't mean a whole lot if it's not connected with love. He ended with "Strut," which will most definitely be downloaded and put in my iPod. He had wonderfully gifted band and his dancers were extraordinary. Who ever was in charge of the stage lights could well as be the same man who does DJ Tiesto's lights, they were superb. His fans, as old as most of them were, weren't tired yet, and kept yelling a cheering afterwards which lead to an encore.

His encore was where he really put his voice at it's upmost best. He wailed on the microphone for a great rendition of "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zepplin. Really, thats the kind of music his voice was made for.

Adam, I say ditch the club songs, and get with the rock n' roll!