Bowie Medley – Flashback to Summer of ’09

by Jesha84, re-posted with permission. This is her blog post from the summer of 2009. We thought it was hot. Hope you do too!

From Rickey.org

Adam’s compilation of his androgynous predecessor and icon’s songs “Life on Mars”, “Fame”, and “Let’s Dance” easily sits near, if not atop, the list of the hottest and mind-melting performances in Adam’s career – including pre-Idol and post-Idol performances. It’s 5 minutes of vocal and visual sex. He starts with vocal seduction – a stunningly beautiful voice fills the arena with operatic power, takes us in soft, rolling waves of theatricality during “Life on Mars”, as he relates the tragic view of the world through a young girl’s eyes (again, this is my take on the song). Starting low, deep in his chest, his voice reverberates and the sound that reaches us numbs us, forces us to hear nothing else. Suddenly but smoothly it changes. His voice enters a higher register, and we feel the passion and power. He’s changing, still theatrical, but the gyrating of his hips as he sings “It’s the freakiest show-ow-ow” presents a foregleam of what’s to come. Arm lifts, a crescendo… I believe his voice leaves the arena and transcends to another realm.

Suddenly, without warning, a throbbing dance beat begins, the twangy sound of guitar funk of “Fame”. Just as suddenly, Adam changes. He’s not a chameleon; chameleons can’t change color as quicky as he does. He yanks off the Skingraft jacket, throws his head back, rolls it to the side… Effortlessly, he’s gone from the theatrical, ethereal creature to the wild, sexy predator, with a snarl and a look of hunger in his eyes that lets us know he will eat us alive and enjoy every second of it. He struts to the front of the stage and sings, no longer with soft easiness but with deep, langourous inflections that leave us screaming for more. His lithe body sways and moves as though he has not a bone in his body, fluid in evey sense. Chest jutting, rolling back, hips forward… are we still alive after this display? In what may be our dying moments, we take in as much as we can as he works his way across the stage, even though every bit of hip thrusting and body rolling is making our heart beat faster and faster, dangerously close to the breaking point. Are you human, Adam? Most of us only experienced this kind of high and yearning in the most intimate, private moments in our lives. How can you do it to us out in the open, when you’re on a stage and we’re so frustratingly far away? What would you do to us if we were alone with the predator side?

Change again. Not as extreme, but still there. As the opening notes of “Let’s Dance” emanate from the stage, Adam lifts his arms high, waiting for the moment to encourage us to now dance with him. He claps exuberantly, and we can’t help but go along with it. We have no control over ourselves anymore; we’re spent and exhausted, but can’t help but allow ourselves to be swept along with him. We have no intentions of going anywhere else. Still sexy Adam, but this time the predatory look is gone, leaving room for the Adam that is pure fun and wants everyone to join him in his party. His body still moves with the fluidity of a Slinky as he sings “let’s sway”, throwing his read to the side and his body follows suit. He joins the background singers, inviting them to “run away” with him. Returns to the front of the stage, gestures to the audience as he sings “if you should fall into my arms, tremble like a flower”. We’re not trembling, we’re in full-on convulsions, because of what you’ve done to us, Adam. “Dance with me and I’ll set you free” followed by a full body roll that completely obliterates what little, if any, inhibitions still remained in us. One final crescendo: “let’s DANCE”… and… it’s over??? We watch Adam sink into the stage, arm raised in triumph, a smile on his face. Why is he smiling? Is because he knows he was perfect? Because the crowd loves him? Because he knows he just ravaged us and left us half-dead and falling back into our seats, taking breaths deeply and quickly because we haven’t breathed properly in 5 minutes? Oh, you’re wicked, Adam! You knew exactly what you were doing the whole time….

And just because words are not enough, we can see it over and over and over here… ready to lose it again?