If you ever wanted to know why so many of us love Adore Delano, have a read of the following stories from some of our twitter fam. They will tell you all about their experience meeting & greeting (& hugging because let’s face it – she gives the best hugs and everybody who’s met her will confirm that) the mermaid queen herself – ADORE DELANO.
(Caitlin @caitlindav15) from USA “The infamous meet and greet”
SO the infamous “Meeting Adore for the third time” journey begins! It started out with me getting to the airport at 4 and finding out that my flight that was supposed to leave at 5, wasn’t going to be leaving till 7. Now if this wasn’t already frustrating enough, as soon as I landed in Chicago I had to sprint to the other side of the airport to make my cab to Roscoe’s (luckily I was more in shape than I thought.)
So I finally get to my cab, and we began the 30-minute trek to the venue. Well to top it all off, we hit terrible traffic on the way. The drive took about 50/55 minutes; keep in mind I landed at 8 which is when the m&g had started.
Considering the previous m&g’s I had been to of their’s, it would take a hot minute because they love talking to their fans and such. NOPE, not this time! Roscoe’s promoters were shooing everyone through the line like crazy. As you can imagine, ya girl was absolutely LOSING it at this point because I didn’t think I’d make it there in time. I got super lucky though cause my friend Jazz told them I was running late and she stalled for me! I eventually got there after rolling out of the car and sprinting two blocks and into Roscoe’s (where they tried to stop me, but I had fortunately already purchased my ticket.)
I FINALLY make it to the photo setup, where they had already begun taking the staff pictures and single shots, and this bitch looks at me and screams, “YOU MADE IT!” I apologized profusely about my flight being delayed and such and they were super understanding.
They were like, “it’s not your fault, but I thought I was gonna have to kick your ass if you hadn’t made it in time.” They then pulled me in for a hug and did the whole pulling me back and saying, “your makeup is fucking beautiful! I’m stealing that look” gig. I was just like, BITCH WHAT??? STEALING A LOOK FROM LIL OLE ME?? I was dead, y’all. I was like, “go for it babes! It’s the Androgyny palette.” She was like “I can tell! It’s beautiful.”
I proceeded to give her the presents I had brought along. A few notes and a couple drawings from friends, and a small present from myself. When I gave her the box my present was in, they were like, “omg is it cat related?!” I was like, “bitch how’d you know!” and she got all excited and opened the necklace and commented on how cute it was and said thank you for everything.
I then asked them if we could take a Shining Twins picture and they were like, “bitch yes! Just tell me what you want me to do.” I just told them to stare dead faced at the camera, and they were like, “damn that’s easy! I got this! *insert lil nugget Dan laugh.” After the pictures were done, I gave them a final hug, told them I loved them, and thanked them a million times more for waiting on me. I left and cried tears of happiness; I had made it!
What really got me, is when my friend Jazz was telling them about how I had flown in from NC to see them. She had explained to them that my flight had been delayed and that I might not make it, and Adore straight up told her that THEY WOULD COME OUT AFTER THE SHOW TO SEE ME if that had been the case.
I have never been so grateful for a human, and the kindness, understanding, and compassion they showed me was unreal. I can never thank them enough for waiting on me, and for making me feel better about being so late and holding them up.
This was, by far, one of the toughest m&g’s I’ve EVER been to, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It was worth every hour of overtime, every sleepless night, and every tear shed over the fact that I might miss it all together. I love and respect this human more than I could ever put into words, and I hope they were able to pick up on those vibes. To a real-life angel, with the purest soul, thank you for existing. Thank you for being you. ❤
Hattie (@olivedelano) “Let’s take a picture” Dragworld, UK
I went to drag world hoping that there would be a chance I would see her but I wasn’t trying to get my hopes up.
I was standing at the back of the room, near the backstage bit waiting for my friend to come back, and suddenly Adore and John, followed by a security guard came out of the room and no fans had surrounded him yet.
They walked right my way so I said went up to them and said hi and she was like “hi my love! You’re gorgeous!” (SORRY WHAT) and she hugged me and I told her how happy I was to see her etc.
Then like the crowd started forming and even though at this point there was a lot of people surrounding her she didn’t break eye contact and carried on talking to me as if I was the only person there. Then she looked at me and said: “let’s take a picture!”
It’s blurry because I was being pushed but that was honestly such a happy moment because I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to see her, and it meant so much to me.
Day two of Drag World, I had been watching her meet other fans just because I loved seeing how happy everyone was to be around her energy. Really last minute I was lucky enough to get given an Adore m&g ticket (I may or may not have cried).
I didn’t have any gifts and hadn’t planned anything to say but I think that’s what made it so special. I went up and hugged her and she said: “Hi again!” And asked for my name. We talked about her birthday tour and that I’d be seeing her in Liverpool and she said she was really excited. I honestly can’t remember what we had said, but I think it was something like that. We then made another Snapchat video, like a remake of the one from DXP17 the first time I had met her!
When you’re around Adore her energy is just so magnetic and colorful, and for that moment you’re with her, everything just feels completely right.
Thank you Adore for simply just being you, and sharing your light, and making us feel so special.
Erin ( @Walkingdeadling ), 15, from England
“Can I wear your glasses?” – Meeting Adore for the first time at Dragworld UK
“So I got in early and as I was getting closer to her I was just admiring her beauty. When it was my turn I was about to go up when she said “wait let me take this bra off “ to which I laughed because I love how that was my first real memory of her. Then she turned around and we had a massive hug while she greeted me. I then showed her the poem I wrote for her.
When we went to take the picture, I forgot to take my glasses off. So I took them off and clipped them to my bra. Suddenly, Adore goes: “I wanna wear your glasses! Can I wear your glasses?” And of course, me being a human with a brain I gave them to her straight away. She put them on and we took the picture. My lip was shaking so bad it was unreal. Then we hugged again and I said to Adore that I love her and pulled away. Before I left she told me I had “beautiful eyes” and that she loved my glitter tears. It went by so fast but I’m so happy. Thank you Adore for giving me what I needed to keep me going.”
Louie (@hodgsonlouie) , 17, First time meeting Adore: 3/08/15
“So this was back in August 2015 and this was the day after the show, and we were shopping and that and getting ready to leave for our train. And I was saying things like “omg what if we see Danny and that” and we were walking down this street called canal street in Manchester, I had my black Adore shirt on and I was walking when I heard his laugh.. and I shit myself.. so I carry on walking and I spotted him, but he spotted me first and waved at us and ran over we were talking about EVERYTHING!! And we just chilled with him until we had to leave! But he was calling me beautiful, gorgeous every compliment under the sun and it was so amazing! I’ve never clicked with someone like that… I just have so much respect for Danny I really do!!”
Annie ( @Annie6smith), England – Flew to Las Vegas on her own
Before discovering Rupaul drag race and in particular Adore Delano I loved and enjoyed local drag queens but it was never a massive thing in my life. Adore changed that and so much more besides.
I have met so many people who I now call friends from all over the world and it’s not just chatting on Twitter, earlier this year I was tweeting with Aimee, an American, who was the driving force behind a fantastic project called “Project Adore yourself” which was inspired by Adore with the aim to spread the love and to support each other, this developed into a book of love which Aimee and others planned to give to Adore during her Vegas show in April, hearing them all talk excitedly about meeting each other and seeing Adore I found myself thinking “life’s a gift so enjoy it to the max” a few clicks on the Internet later and I had a flight and seven nights in Vegas booked.
Meeting Aimee and Rebecca in the club that night was like I’d always known them, Aimee being an old hand at it had us first in line for the meet and greet and the lovely Rebecca gave me the honor of asking me to be one of the first of many to sign her memory shirt.
Don’t ask me to tell you about my meet and greet that night I was such a nervous gibbering wreck I remember very little of it clearly, I do remember Adore’s smile and the first thing she said to me, she said “I know you, we talk on Twitter, aren’t you from the UK” I was so shocked I couldn’t tell you if I confirmed or denied it, hugging happened and photos were taken and it was over.
Watching Adore perform live for the first time was amazing during the first song she came down off the stage, I need to say at this point I am and always have been an incredibly lucky bitch because she walked off stage and walked straight up to me and hugged me, I told you, lucky!! The highlight was getting to see her sing Pretty boys cry, one of my favourites, OMG it was awesome the climax of the number saw her throwing off her wig, ripping her dress from the neck down and her stripped down to her G string underwear before throwing herself into a crowd surf all I can say is due to the G string as she rolled onto her back and her rolling directly onto me, I got so much closer to Adore that night than anyone could ever have imagined. Slightly awkward!!!
The rest of my time in Vegas I could be found tweeting anyone who would listen talking about how happy and alive the experience had made me feel and planning my next trip to see Adore wherever.
Nina ( @raspberryseason ), Sweden – Met Adore at the first gig of the 2017 Birthday Tour
“I’ve been watching drag race since early 2016, I remember I watched s2 and then a friend convinced me to jump to s6 because ”there’s a queen on that season called Adore Delano that I think you’d love”. I start watching, Adore enters the workroom and I no joke fell in love the second I saw her. I watched the entire season in two days and for months I didn’t listen to anything but her music. It was such an amazing feeling, coming into the drag community from the angle of Adore and her place in it at the time and now.
I’ve been trying to see her ever since then but since I live in Sweden opportunities were scarce. I missed bots Copenhagen, and when 2017 came around I promised myself I’d see her this year if only once, cost what it may. I got the tickets to the bday tour without knowing if I’d be able to go at all because of school and work and moving, but I’m so glad I did. She was my first drag show as well and I was looking forward to it so much in that aspect as well.
When September 21st rolled around and my best friend and I snagged front row places in the venue, it finally started to feel real. I remember that they took her up behind a parting beside the stage a couple minutes before she was going on and I caught a look of her green wig and just had a small meltdown because I couldn’t believe it was time. When she then came on, I was so overwhelmed – I’m used to seeing musicians and bands in bigger venues with stages larger than a tiny club stage so it was so overwhelming that she was right there centimeters from my face at times.
Right amid set, in-between Butterfly, and Negative Nancy, Adore was standing right in front of me. She looked down on me and I’ve never seen anyone look at me with that much happiness and surprise. She said ”Hi my love!” and smiled so wide and then sat down on stage and hugged me so so tight, saying ”I’m so glad you’re here” and kissing my shoulder. I felt so loved and overwhelmed, she followed me on twitter a month before and had seen my selfies and my art that I know of but I could never have expected her to recognize me just like that. If that had been it and I hadn’t had m&g, that would have been completely fine with me.
However; the m&g rolled around and I had a bunch of gifts for her – a key ring with a spaceship and an alien, a drawing, a pin that said ”picking myself flowers” and a birthday card. I brought them up to her, had to stand by the stage for a second as she was chugging her beer, and then when she saw me she said ”hi my LOVE!” again and hugged me tightly. She told me I looked beautiful (”I mean it!”) and then when I showed her the gifts she was stunned at the drawing (”Bitch. Did you make this. Bitch”) and loved the key ring so much! I told her I was so happy she’d recognized me in the crowd and she was like ”those selfies man” like I can’t believe she remembers all that stuff. We had the picture taken and then she hugged me so close and said ”I love you, okay? I love you. Have fun, okay?” and then she held both my hands before I walked off.
I’ve had celeb m&gs before and none of them have ever been like this. Adore is heartfelt, she cares so much about everyone, she took minutes with each and every person and it was beyond and above what I could ever have imagined to get. She made me feel safe like I was loved and respected in a way that I didn’t think an m&g could. I can’t wait to fly out to see her again, because mark my words, I’m doing that the second she comes back to Europe.”
We love a good m&g story, they show that whilst it’s shouldnt be the main focus of the show. Getting those few minutes with someone who brings such joy and an array of reasons personal is a feeling no one can take away!
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