Saturday 25 December 2010

A Whole Lotta Dutch Purple Haze


Wishing you all a happy festive season! And for the cynics, a joyous celebration of rampant consumerism! I hope you all have an enjoyable time no matter what you do. As a little something to say thank you for your continued support, I have present for you all. This edit had been sitting around for a while, half-finished because Terra had beaten me to it with her excellent version. I've managed to claim back some time to finish it after the end of Glam Nation and used some different angles to Terra. With countless videos of the event to watch through, it's the most time-consuming edit, and with 111 clippings, it's also the most complicated to date. I added a few effects to try to capture the mood of the music. Enjoy!



Paradiso is one of the most beautiful venues Glam Nation has graced so far, and I think it adds a sprinkling of magic to the proceedings. A converted church, coloured light glimmers in through the imposing gothic stained-glass windows behind the stage, illuminating the venue in a mysterious glow and bestowing a feeling of awesome gravitas.

The encore starts with Purple Haze and a kiss followed by some crotch grabbing. Sasha comes onto the stage handing Adam a spliff, 'Purple Haze, motherfuckers!', Taylor does the same for Tommy. After taking a few tokes, Adam continues to sing as clear and powerful as ever with soaring high notes. He has a bit more reefer as Monte lets rip for his solo, then blows smoke onto Monte's guitar and attempts a blowback.

It's to be a double encore and Adam requests that it has to be (in a low booming voice) 'Real sexy'. As the band prepares, he does an excellent job of simulating the opening guitar licks of Voodoo Child. Watch out for Tommy grabbing Adam's cheeks just after he changes guitar. It's a slow burner of a start, with sparse instrumentals, funk guitar and the ebb and flow of cymbals. The lag of the bass reminds me of Art 4 Life Crazy. It's quite hypnotic and could be the perfect trippy soundtrack to a den of debauchery. With Isaac breaking into a huge grin, there's some obscene mic action as Adam gives us a sneak peek of his fellatio technique. From the balcony where the glitter confetti fell during the band intros, Adam catches a feather boa. The pace gradually rises and falls in waves, the vibe slightly Eastern and recalling aspects of FS WLL. He ends up atop the steps, turning it into a primal mating call, creeping up to Tommy and giving him a slow, hot kiss. Tommy's bass playing freezes for a few moments as his hands go limp and Adam runs his hand up and down his fret board. The kiss gives an adrenaline shot to the performance and he throws himself with such vigour that he busts out of his waistcoat, buttons flying apart. A huge leap leaves Adam on his knees in backbend before he crawls and slides around the stage, feral but so natural. Tommy attempts to straddle him but it seems at that moment he is somewhere else. He comes to with a shrug of the shoulders and feigning of innocence. Spotting the minor wardrobe malfunction, he swiftly does the buttons back up. The last section is a mindblowingly climactic one, fierce, thrusty and orally fixated with staggering vocals. Sexy indeed. At the end, we can see him ease out of the performer persona to modestly thank the audience and bow.

Looking back to the earlier Glam Nation performances, we were going nuts over a bit of writhing on the stairs but we've come such a long way since then. The backdrop here lends extra power to performance and I wonder if it's the religious association that inspires Adam to want to push it that little bit further. The stairs are the altar upon which Adam sums up what he stands for - love and freedom of expression. For that, I'm a regular worshipper joining the congregation at the Temple of Glam.

Here's a little bonus for you. The acoustic EP cover was released just before this performance and this idea came to me instantly. The parody was begging to be done so I'm a little surprised that no one else beat me to it. If you obsessively watch the video, you might spot this image flashing subliminally within it for a split-second:

Adam Lambert Purple Haze smoking spliff cover

If you're missing Glam Nation, then please be sure to check out my Glam Nation compendium.

DOWNLOAD mp3 - 14.0MB
DOWNLOAD iPod compatible mp4 - 82.6MB
DOWNLOAD HD mp4 - 277.6MBDownload link screenshot

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16 comments:

  1. Your essay is as riveting as the video. And that's saying something.

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  2. alohaPF, thank you! Writing is taking a back seat to all the media these days but that was where I started out so your comment is much appreciated.

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  3. Bravo, another job well done (both in editing and commentary)! I am keeping my fingers crossed for either you or Terra (or both!) to do an improved version of WLL Cologne. As many times as I have seen him perform WLL, nothing, absolutely nothing, tops the minutes from the moment he shushes the crowd in the bridge, through the glory note, all the way to the end of the song, at least for me. Suz has the best angle, but others have better audio. If you end up having some time on your hands...

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  4. I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOUR VIDEO EDIT. But the download links for the full MP4 or via Tooble just don't work. Can you provide a MediaFire link?

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  5. travelibrarian, thanks! I remember following those concerts and being wowed by Paris, then came Cologne then Amsterdam. You'll be pleased to know that Terra has already done one of the Cologne encore here.

    mtnwomanbc, thanks! What's the problem you're getting with the download? Are you getting an error? It's too big for Mediafire.

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  6. Freakin EXCELLENT job!I was @ the Paris show (my 1 & only, from SAfrica) and could hardly believe my "virgin" luck when we got not only PH but WLL too! So I'm not disappointed in any way, but have to say Amsterdam was defnitely the ultimate WLL experience IMHO, with the Nokia final coming a close 2nd.

    Pity there's no dvd release of this with the spliff parody as cover. Would make an excellent collectors item. Where's an RCA rep when u need 'em????

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  7. As someone who has just dappled with this tech stuff to edit family vids and pics I so appreciate the amount of work it took for you to bring us this incredible performance. Adam continues to impress me every time but what is so amazing is his hard core fan base and followers who use all this fairly new technology to document Adam's rise to fame without any support from commercial enterprises. Its a curse and a blessing. There will be a point when his label will not be able to ignore Adam's success and they very easily could neutralize and PC even a performance like this one. We will all be yelling and cursing if that happens and I hope that it doesn't. My fantasy is that Adam's success snowballs into an avalanche so powerful that it knocks these damn so-called American puritans into the dark ages where they belong. In the meantime, thank you, thank you, thank you! njoy00

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  8. hottramp, what an amazing first gig to attend! Your journey from South Africa was well rewarded. I think Paris-Cologne-Amsterdam are my favourites from the tour and I'd love to get my hands on pro recordings. I doubt they'd use my cover though, can you imagine the amount of pearls that would be clutched as a result?!

    njoy00, I'm ashamed to even admit to myself how long this one took! There was such a big pile of raw footage to sort through. I don't worry about Adam's performances getting neutered though, one of the things I love about him is the fact that he's subversive. I guess the only concern would be if the material becomes too safe in order to secure commercial success. It's a balancing act Adam has had to deal with since AI so I think he'll be able to navigate it well.

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  9. Thank you so much for not only editing this great videos, but for making downloads available with such wonderful sound quality!

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  10. All I can say is "WOW" and of course, thank you. ~ phoenix_flying ^-^

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  11. I'm getting a message that says "server stopped, the server storing the file is currently unavailable.
    Please try again later" for the 2nd link (mp4 ipod compatible). Can someone help me with this?

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  12. fara1903, it's a problem with the file hosting site. They've said they'll fix it soon so hang on in there. Give it a couple more days - if it's not back by then I'll re-upload it elsewhere for you.

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  13. he was high as heeeeell hahahaa...

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  14. Anonymous, I wonder how strong those spliffs were. Would love to see him give more stoned live performances if they're as hot as this (as long as he doesn't ruin his voice by smoking too much).

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  15. Second best live WLL, first Fantasy Springs! Thank you for the edit, Lambosessed , I think you are one of the best editors of these videos.
    But to watch this performance made me think, what other artist can do this with a few notes of a song? To turn music into just naturally , sex. Adams sexuality exploded so much, his vest buttons came undone.wowz!!!
    Ok, 3rd best WLL, Nokia, then Paris , those are my top WLL. I'm a big fan of Adam's WLL, don't know why, sex?, thanks for being here , love, love, love your profile pic!!! Don't ever change it!!!! K

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  16. K, I love this one too! I prefer this to Paris, Cologne and LA but Fantasy Springs is still top of the list for me too for its simmering sexiness.
    This profile pic is one of my favourite Adam costumes ever!

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