Live Review: Adele

Sydney’s ANZ Stadium, the remnants of an Olympics over 16 years ago, is, for the most part, a vast empty space, but sometimes it is utilised how it was always intended; filled to the brim. And so, it was tonight, hosting British songstress and global phenomenon Adele for her first ever Sydney performance.

Carparks sold out, Friday afternoon traffic was gridlock and capacity trains rolled in constantly as Olympic Park prepared for its biggest crowd in some time. Inside the stadium, an enormous stage was setup in the centre of the ground. Performing ‘in the round’ is certainly the best positioning for any big concert, but the logistics are huge. A massive wrap around screen hid the stage from view with Adele’s closed eyes.

She started late, understandable when trying to fill a stadium this size, but then the lights dimmed, the eyes opened; “Hello…”. It’s the perfect concert opener.

We wait three songs before the famous Adele banter begins. “I’ve never seen a crowd this fucking big!” It’s true. In just her fourth stadium show, she was talking to her biggest crowd yet. “I don’t have many upbeat songs, so I’ll play them all for you now. Then we can be miserable for a couple of hours.” Rumour Has It got the crowd singing and Adele’s nerves appear to subside. “How many people were dragged here by someone else? It’s ok, I’m British, I don’t fucking care!”

The warm and authentic personality of the singer shines brightly throughout the set. Not just in her genuine stories, but also in the way she interacts with the crowd as she does her “7,000 steps” around the specially designed ring stage. She waves to people, comments on how they look and at one point halts the show when medics attend to a member of the audience. “Stop the show. I have fireworks coming up and I don’t want to scare them…”. She’s just THAT damn nice.

Her stage presence aside, it’s her voice that draws millions to her music. It’s astonishing how well she controls it all night, even when hitting the lower notes in Skyfall and then the higher notes in Send My Love (To Your New Lover). She never misses a beat and no burps tonight!

When she sings with just a piano in Take It All, we get the full Adele affect and it’s the highlight of the night despite the confetti, steam cannons and fireworks in main set finisher, Set Fire To The Rain.

We all feel like Adele’s friend tonight and it’s the little touches that really make us feel good. A personally written note is left on a seat in the back row, she shoots t-shirts from a cannon into the crowd containing a twenty dollar note as she declares, “Have a drink on me!” and she opens her heart to the 95,544 people like it’s an intimate room.

Finishing with Someone Like You, Adele makes her way out down the aisle and we prepare to queue for an hour in the train lines, but every part of the night was worth it. A superstar of our time.