Birthday surprise: Adam Lambert…and Elvis!

This past weekend is just one of those weekends that I’ll always remember.

As an early 30^th birthday present my husband, Jeff, surprised me and flew me to Palm Springs for Adam Lambert’s first full concert at the Fantasy Springs Resort & Casino! I couldn’t believe it! And he didn’t stop there. He amped up the cheese factor and brought me to the “Glamily Reunion” fan event beforehand! Can you believe it? Jeff is anything BUT an Adam fan. So as you can imagine, the last thing he’d want to do is pay money to fly somewhere and sit through a concert listening to this guy! So needless to say, I was over the moon about the whole thing.

The Glamily Reunion

Greeted by a torrential downpour as we arrived in Ontario, we raced to our hotel to get ready for the “Glamily Reunion” starting at 5pm. Upon entering the event, I immediately felt like I was crashing a high school reunion – class of ’79! It’s really interesting to see the demographics of Adam’s most avid fans. You’d think a twentysomething male glam rocker who wears black nail polish, makeup, and glitter would resonate strictly with teens or fellow twentysomethings. But interestingly, his avid fans are women in their 40s and 50s! The ladies at the event had a grand time talking, taking pictures, and grabbing Adam’s crotch...that is, the life size cardboard cutout of Adam – and his crotch. I even saw a woman with a tattoo of Adam’s head on her shoulder!! Jeff grabbed a quick pic of that for you! See more photos of the reunion here.

It's showtime!

After three hours of this event – and too many cocktails later – we finally were on our way to the show! Some girl opened for Adam and she was pretty boring. And then, like the rock star that he is – Adam made us wait. And wait. I was getting ancy! But he finally came on with a super cool green laser show singing “For Your Entertainment”. Much to my surprise, he was quite tame compared to what you’d expect for an Adam Lambert concert. I was picturing Lady Gaga-esque grandeur but he really pulled it back and did a quite casual concert. I suppose it’s ok because it puts the focus on the music and we know how great his voice and music is.

By far the standout performance of the night was his slow acoustic rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”. It was something like seven minutes long and it was pure magic! It was so reminiscent of classic Zeppelin that it sent chills down my spine! And when he finished the song, like music to my ears, Jeff said; “You know, he IS really talented”. My other favorite was “Broken Open”. It’s his next “Mad World” as far as I’m concerned. It’s so haunting and soothing that I could just sit and listen to it on repeat. Then there was “Sleepwalker” and "Fever" to round out my top faves of the night. I was looking forward to hearing “Aftermath” but he didn’t sing that so it was kind of a letdown.

In fact, the concert only lasted an hour (ok, an hour and eight minutes!) so it seemed way too quick. And he didn’t even do an encore! I think a lot of people were bummed by that actually. But according to his guitar player, Monte, the casino gave them an hour cap for the concert. Apparently they wanted to get people out in the casino spending money! What horse shit is that? How true that story is, I don’t know. I’m just the messenger! Our cab driver told us he had picked up people from Denmark, Sweden, and Japan to bring them to the concert. So can you imagine telling people; “Hi, I flew from Japan to see Adam Lambert sing for an HOUR!” Not fair!

Anyway, despite the length, it was a great concert and I loved getting a chance to see him live for a second time. I also got to see Adam during the “American Idol” concert tour in Oakland too, which was amazing! (If you haven't seen my review of that, you should! Read here.).

Just chillin’ at Elvis’ pad in Palm Springs!

I didn’t last too much longer after the concert and I was ready for pizza and bed! The next day I woke up with a mouth full of cotton balls and a screamin’ hangover! Ugh! It was the most beautiful day outside so we laid at the pool for about an hour before heading into Palm Springs for Mexican food and a plan to take a tour of Elvis Presley’s Estate!

We drove up the hill to the house and the sign out front said "Tour Times Monday-Saturday". CRAP – no tour for us! Fortunately, the lady that owns the house was watering her plants and she came over to chat with us. She was super nice and told us to come on in anyway – she’d give us a private tour! It was the coolest thing to sit on the couch and hear all of her Elvis stories from his time in this house and see all the cool memorabilia she had! The view from the backyard with the pool was breathtaking! Absolutely stunning! Our tour guide, Laura, kept taking my camera and getting pics of Jeff and I in each room! It was so much fun! Being the major Elvis fan that I am, this weekend couldn’t have ended in a better way. Jeff even walked away with a brand new "man crush" on Elvis!!! HA!

So ya, Jeffy did well. He did really well. I can say that I’ll never forget my 30^th birthday weekend. I mean, c'mon, Adam Lambert! Elvis! Palm Springs! It couldn't have been more pefect had I planned it myself!

If you attended Adam’s concert this weekend, I’d love to hear your concert reviews! Please add them in the comments section!

Videos from the night!

Tags: Adam Lambert, Elvis Presley

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Comment by Beth Compton on March 2, 2010 at 4:41pm: Happy Early Birthday Courtney dearie!!! Glad you had a great time and look how you'll be able to go back years from now and relive it on your blog! Jeffie is a Sweetie!!!

Comment by DoriHB on March 2, 2010 at 5:18pm: Happy early Birthday Courtney - it was great to meet you - and Jeff - at the Reunion party! I am still trying to re-enter the RW myself after that weekend. It was great.
I was looking forward to the crazy rocker Adam ala Kradison concert, but this concert was completely different, and just as good, if not better. He continues to surprise and switch it up. I agree on Broken Open - I think that was the one when I nearly started crying - sounds pretty corny, but it's true. And WLL I cannot stop listening to also. That was amazing; I could have listened to it forever. The vids don't do it justice. Whenever I hear people's description of Adam's live performances I think they are just being overly dramatic, gushing just a bit to much; that is until I hear it live for myself. The concert was way too short, and no encore definitely a bummer. But so glad to have been able to go to it.

Comment by Pat Humphries on March 2, 2010 at 5:36pm: Happy Birthday, girl! Someone talked to Longineu on Sunday and he said the band had 4 more songs ready for the concert! Crap! They did not expect an opening act and that was "thrown" at them at the last minute, thus the shortened time for the headliner! What? Was that girl a relative of someone who worked at the casino or something! Four more songs! I am so sad!

Comment by Cheryl on March 2, 2010 at 6:29pm: Court - so glad you had a truly memorable 30th birthday weekend seeing Adam Lambert and going to "Elvis'" prior home. How cool!! And I know how much you love Elvis. Jeffy really did a great job and I am so proud of him for thinking and doing all the planning. You need to post a pic of Jeff on the post - he deserves to be seen and appreciated by all the women. Of course they will expect something similar from their hubby on their next b-day. I hope you have a super awesome 30th birthday in a few weeks. Wish dad and I could be there but maybe we'll do another b-day when we come out!!

Comment by Courtney on March 2, 2010 at 11:09pm: It was nice meeting you too Dori! It was great getting a chance to meet people face to face that I've gotten to know through blogging! Ya, I think we expected this big explosion of sorts from Adam, but the fact that he could reel it in and do it casual is really cool too. He's no one trick pony!!

Comment by Courtney on March 2, 2010 at 11:19pm: Pat, you're killin me! I think we should all write a letter to the buttfucks over at Fantasy Springs and tell them they scewed us out of FOUR songs from Adam! We felt slighted and it was because of them! That boring little girl that sang is probably the hotel owners daughter or something! AS IF!

The general contact line is 800-827-2946! General email: info@fantasysprings.net! Probably need to get in touch with the Director of Operations or Entertainment, but this is a start! I never do anything like this, but I feel like I lost money! I paid for a full set! Well, Jeff did!

Comment by glittergal on March 3, 2010 at 7:21am: So happy for you, Courtney, and thanks so much for the videos - wish you had more!! Your husband is AMAZING!! Happy Birthday!!!!

Comment by Mira on March 3, 2010 at 4:54pm: I too attended the concert at Fantasy Springs, complements of my hubby (a valentines gift.) And it was the best gift he could have given me. Way better than candy, flowers of even jewelry!
I can honestly say Adam does not disappoint! Its one thing to hear him on tv or radio or even cd, but to here him sing in person is such an amazing experience! This man was born to sing. From Fye to DTRH I was totally in heaven....too bad it wasnt longer. I had the best time as did my hubby (much to his surprise.) He thought he might feel out of place because of our ages. He did not. A totally diverse group as I've ever seen at any function I've ever attended.
Courtney I'm sorry we didnt get to meet...I was so busy the week before the concert that I missed all of your tweets. But then there is always the next Adam concert! Yes!

Comment by Mira on March 3, 2010 at 4:57pm: Also, I have to add that my favorite song of the night was Broken Open.....It was amazingly beautiful, ethereal. I have fallen in love again.