From the gods of the Hydro three rows from the roof, I enjoyed tonight's Adele concert. Unlike the Marillion lyrics of my youth, I cannot recite the words to every one of her songs but most of the audience (girls, gays and boyfriends, mostly) could. She has a great voice and a genuine affection for her audience. The sound in the auditorium was really sharp, at least until the encore when a bit of echo crept in.
I noted a lot of the females around me (just generally) really felt touched (not by me) emotionally (drunk?), as if her words were really speaking to them and I don't mean the occasional 'shit, fuck' that peppered her between-song chats.
She is very open with her audience, wiggling waves at them while singing, engaging and friendly, even autographing a boy's chest on stage while his boyfriend took pictures, then selfies and hugs.
It's a deceptively simple show (no support act) focusing on her and her songs. She doesn't have a lot of dance numbers in her back catalogue which didn't stop one girl a couple of rows in front of me doing her best impression of a forecourt inflatable sign, arms flapping in the air randomly while holding a half-empty plastic beer cup; or the mother, whose seven (?) year old daughter brought her cuddly rabbit, who rocked and pointed like Mo Farah to the music at any opportunity. I mock them only because I am too reserved to show any dance moves beyond tapping my feet and occasionally swaying. Plus there was the fear of falling. And I have a cold. But I'm getting off the point.
She is who she is and she gave a good two and a half hours tonight. The staging was clever and not too showy. Not many 27-year-olds in the music biz can match her for personality, ability and talent. You wouldn't want to mess with her. So well done Adele.
Setlist
Hello
Hometown Glory
One and Only
Rumour Has It
Water Under the Bridge
I Miss You
Skyfall
Million Years Ago
Don't You Remember
Send My Love (to Your New Lover)
Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)
Sweetest Devotion
Chasing Pavements
Someone Like You
Set Fire to the Rain
Encore:
All I Ask
When We Were Young
Rolling in the Deep
No comments:
Post a Comment