from rockkstar135
I'm gonna go ahead and post the non-Anoop stuff in this review because it contains the epicness with dazz and tawnee from last night.
Pre Show
Let me just say, off the bat, the entire Manchester show ~goes here. In terms of all of the people from this comm in attendance, to the hilariousness, to the epic bromance moments, to what happened to me after the show, run ins with glamberts... this whole show freaking WENT HERE.
I finally got to meet the infamous vienna_sausages is such a celeb, Matt totally recognized her when he come to our section of the barricades. He ooh'd and ahh'd over ncgrrrl's "Oh My Giraud" banner, and gave everyone hugs and signed my piano wallet (FINALLY!). Matt and Charlotte were talking, when he leaned over and was like "I'm gonna get you guys passes for tonight. How many?" to which she said 5... and he totally obliged. So, now we (vienna_sausages , ncgrrrl ,
dazzleme18, @cincodemayo55, and myself), were headed backstage for shenanigans. I was excited.
I didn't have a ticket for the show, so the one I bought that afternoon was pretty far away, but it was right across from a bar, and was also on the "Matt" side of the stage. So I was happy. Needless to say, I do not have much more epic to impart on you from the concert outside of the tweets I left last night.
(except this one woman yelled at me for dancing during Matt's set. I, in turn, yelled back at her for standing during Adam's set. SCORN IS A 2 WAY STREET, BIOTCH!)
As R-Kelly once said, "And after the show it's the AFTER PARTY!...
So, after the show, me and the 4 crazy benches meet up and head to the AP. We're shuffled trough this door into a narrow hallway, where im expecting to be led elsewhere, but i look to my left and BOOM! There's Kris and Katy Allen! Since I Kris' illness scorned me in Bridgeport, I was excited to see him. He was nice enough to take a picture with me, and he let me talk to him for awhile. I made him laugh when I told him I called in too many times for him during the finale that I had gotten a call from Verizon company b/c of "suspicious behavior" on my account. I didn't talk to Katy, but she seemed really tired. I felt like bothering her wasn't in my best interest. I thanked Kris and turned around and..
...BOOM! A bouquet of flowers in my face, and Adam Lambert saying "EVERYONE TAKE A ROSE!" So, I did. Then, a huge line started forming for Adam.vienna_sausages and I had a nice spot right at the beginning of the line. Poor guy had to sign like 500 pictures for every Glambert that came up to him, and then take a picture where he is expected to look fierce-ass-hot. I, not being an Adam stan, and also being influenced by the Bud Lights I had purchased during the concert, decided that Mr. Lambert deserved fun. So, when it came my time for a picture, I turned to Adam and said, "I'm not a person who ever really looks good in pretty pictures, so can we just take a silly one?!" To which he laughed, and then immediately broke out a KRUNK FACE! I stuck out my tongue. It is the most epic picture of all time. I then smiled, and thanked him for his set (I believe the exact quote was "Dude, your set was freaking epic dude. Rock on!"), and we dude like a bro hi-five and hug. Proof, that an Adam meet-up requires little shaking and crying to be epic. He's a cool ass dude.
Then Allison came out, wearing a toupee wig and had red eyes, and clutching onto one of the members from the MFB I think. I felt bad asking her to take a picture because she looked so sad. Naturally, I complimented her on the toupee, and hi-fived her for an epic set. She laughed a little, which was nice. She seemed TORE UP over the tour being over.
Then we went inside and MATT was there, already chatting it up with ncgrrl CincoDeMayo55 and Dazzleme18. His face lightened up when he saw vienna_sausages and we all started joking. I confessed that I had been the person tweeting Matt Disney lyric questions ("hey @immattgiraud, Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?" being an example), and he was cracking up. He specifically remembered "Hey, @immattgiraud, "How high does a sycamore grow (being that you don't cut it down of course, because then you'll never know)?". This happened to make my life. I then hit him with my cheesy pickup line I had been working on ("Hey Matt, I think I died during the concert, because I swear your voice is heaven"), and he doubled over laughing. MISSION. ACCOMPLISHED. We all took a group picture with Matt wearing my purple fedora. He was so sweet. He thanked us all for coming.
...and after the party is the HOTEL LOBBY!
So, all of the crazy 4 benches told me to get my butt over to their hotel and party. All of the idols, and the contestants from SYTYCD Season 5 were staying at the hotel, so we camped out and waited for the idols to return from the show. It was late, and there was minimal flailing for the most part.
ATTENTION: THIS IS WHERE SHIT GETS REAL
So we were flitting between our room and the lobby when vienna_sausages gets a text message from, I think his name is Trent (if you went to any of the east coast shows, you know who he is. The guy in the pink shirt who is the BIGGEST Megan Joy fan of all time). He basically was like "GET YOUR ASSES TO THE LOBBY, BECAUSE MATT IS PLAYING PIANO DANNY, AND ANOOP ARE SINGING ALONG. ALSO, THE ENTIRETY OF SYTYCD5 ARE DOWN HERE TOO. GET. DOWN. HERE. NOW"
So we all flail, and run back down to the lobby to hear Matt doing this AMAZING stripped down version of "Human Nature". His piano playing was way more complicated and flowy. It sounded SO amazing. We camped out right behind the piano so I could get a good view of his hands. Let me tell you, this was my second best idea of the night.
Then, Matt starts playing "End Of The Road" by boys to men, and Anoop and Danny break into 3 part harmony. They sounded so awesome. Especially Anoop. When he's just singing, no flashy vocals or instrumentation to battle with, his voice is soooo round and textured. I basically died. Danny was awesome too, because he was riffing all over the place. The only downer that I could see, was that Randi, Jeanine, and Caitlin from SYTYCD5 were like, SHOUTING and singing along with them. I was like, benches, shut yo moufs and listen.
Melissa and I from SYTYCD5 also made eye contact. We smiled and "sup?" nodded one another. It was a ~moment.
Then, in an attempt to keep playing songs that they all knew, Matt broke into another BIIM song that I can not remember for the life of me. Yet again, it was amazing. Then Matt and Danny start going into gospel songs. Anoop was not taking these gospel-songs shennanigans sitting down, however. So as Matt and Danny are singing this one song, over the top of them Anoop is riffing "Don't sing gospellllll because it just makes everyone really awkwarddddd". This cracks Matt up, and he stop playing, and instead starts playing crowd favorites.
This is when Anoop spots someone outside, and he gives a smile and a nod. Then he leaves for the elevators, and we do not see him again for the rest of the night. However, 15 minutes later, Kayla from SYTYCD5 comes down from her room in her pajamas. I don't think anything happened between them, but it is up for speculation for anyone who cares.
I don't remember the order per-se of what he played, but here are the songs I remember
Great Balls Of Fire Matt did his thing where his voice gets all gruff and husky, and he is singing with so much soul. He didn't do much to the arrangement instrumentally (but what more can you really do to that song?), but his voice was very Hard To Handle-esque. During this, Jeanine and Philip from SYTYCD5 start wing dancing behind him. It was pretty awesome
Intro to In Da Club (50 cent) / Changes (2Pac) When Matt started the intro to In Da Club, Dany started to do some serious booty shaking / imitation twerking. Caitlin from SYTYCD5 is feelin his moves, and starts dancing back with him (which should say something. Honestly, DNW her dancing on the show, and if she thinks Danny's moves are good.... just saying). This begins the epic Caitlin/Danny being all over one another for the rest of the night thing. It was kinda cute. She seemed to like him. Matt also does not know the words to Changes very well. He basically rapped a different line from every verse. I am 22 years old and a woman. I know all of the lyrics to that song. This is one thing musically I do better than Matt. BOOM, BABY!
Benny and the Jets AWESOME. This is my favorite late-night song ever, so I was shaking and freaking out in my brain. Watching him improv during the piano interlude during the song was a religious experience. His hands, i think, touched every single key on that piano. No lie. He was allll over it, and it sounded so amazing. This is when Randi from SYTYCD5 asked "do you know Piano Man!??!?!". This is when i Face!Palmed very badly. His falsetto, might I add, was OUT OF CONTROL. So good when he's not trying to compete with anything else besides the piano. The complexity of his voice really shines in small groups of people. He has an instrument in there.
New York State of Mind GUH! Another one of my favorite Billy songs (and the song I would use if I ever auditioned for Idol). Another great one, where Matt's piano skills really shined.
Let's Get It On I BELIEVE THIS MOMENT GAVE ME CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE. He did a lot of complicated things on the piano, and took trips up into his falsetto range A LOT. The whole thing was way more complicated than the arrangement he did on the show AND his studio. It sounded so much better. At this moment, my faith in god and lowercase jesus was renewed.
Back At One Was a really REALLY pretty duet between Matt and Danny. They both sounded great, but Matt.... Oh. My. God. I hate that song, but when he sang it, it sounded so amazing. Really. It was so good, that everyone listening (including all of the SYTYCD5 dancers, for the first time, thank god) got so quiet and just listened to him riff all over the place. It was simple, his voice was quiet and not all "rocked" out, but it was LEGIT the most impressive thing I have ever heard him sing. Coming from someone who is a big fan of his, that is saying something.
oh, and then Matt went from being all "Mr. "I-Used-To-Play-Piano-At-A-Bar" and started playing some of his ORIGINALS.
LET ME REPEAT.
MATT. GIRAUD. ORIGINALS.
OH-MY-GOODNESS. You think you've seen him play piano on tour or on the show!? YOU ARE MISTAKEN. I have never in my entire life seen someone play piano like that. Never. It was unreal. This hands were all over the place, hitting keys and making sounds I didnt even know were possible. AND HE CAN'T EVEN READ MUSIC!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!! WTAF?! He was amazing, and the songs he wrote were REALLY good. I can not stress this enough, he is a gifted musician. And when he started playing his own stuff, his entire demeanor changed. He stopped being laughy and jokey, but got all serious and it was really intense to watch him. It was magnetic too, almost like you couldn't take your eyes off of his playing. malenalalala and I had a moment where we looked at one another and mouthed "OH. MY. GOD" at one another. It was in this moment that I thanked god for my spot behind the piano, because watching him play was a religious experience. It was like he couldn't get the music out of his body quickly enough to satisfy his need to be playing it. That's the only way I can really describe it that would do the whole thing any justice.
Then a handler or a hotel manager kicked us out of the lobby (probably because it was 4:30 AM and they were probably going to try to start setting up for breakfast), so everyone cleared out pretty quickly. So the 5 of us moved to a corner by the piano, and had a moment of "DID THAT JUST REALLY HAPPEN?!?" shock and disbelief. We were all sort of sitting there, jaws on the ground, when Matt walks over to us. His handler asked him if he wanted to leave, or needed him there, and Matt said to him, and I quote "IT'S OKAY. THESE ARE MY PEOPLE".
BOOM. MY LIFE. IS COMPLETE. WE ALL FLAIL ON THE INSIDE.
So he comes over to talk to us, and the first thing out of my mouth was "Matt. If your songs were on Itunes, I would buy them RIGHT NOW. I'd drop .99 cents for that shit" and his face went from this
to this
. He thanked us, and there was general praise for his songs across the board. He looks at us and smiles and was like "It was nice, because back at the bar, when I played my own songs nobody wanted to hear them". To which I reinforced "Your own songs were better than the covers you did. I would even drop the $1.29 for them .That's serious business". He seemed kinda in a rush to leave and get out of the lobby (i think his handler was a little
about him talking to us without security), and he thanked us all again, and left.
It was the single most incredible 2 hours of my entire life.
We run into Danny Gokey... and OF COURSE I fall flat on my face
So, naturally we are all shaking, crying, and gushing over all of the epic that just went down, and climb into the elevator. As we are all mourning the loss of our ovaries, the door opens and everyone exits. I am last, and in leaving the elevator, manage to catch my foot on the space between the door, and EAT SHIT like, face first right on the carpet. Nothing hurt, but my legs were all askew, and my dress was hiked up over my butt. There were light chuckles, but none of the uproarious laughter I was expecting. Curious, I look up from my tangled mess on the ground, and who is looking right at me? DANNY. GOKEY.
In this situation, I should be mortified. Instead I had a laughing moment to myself and look into his eyes and say, "oh, it's Danny Gokey. Hi Danny". I brush myself off, and totally compliment him on his awesome set (which is probably the most epic set on the tour with a slight buzz and with 2 more Bud Lights in your hands. Not gonna lie), and we do a bro hug as well. He then gives a shoutout to our girl devon_carrots , and peaces out into the elevator. Many LOLs were had.
We then did some light stalking of the idols over by the suites where the SYTYCD5 contestants were staying. Nothing serious, just being silly, and walking down the hallways, but giggling and running back when we got too close. They were pretty loud, but you couldn't really discern any voices.