Adele

While she was still walking the aisles, the band began playing the song and Adele sang it gorgeously, winding through the orchestra section to wave to different parts of the crowd and, occasionally, embrace her fans. She hugged an ecstatic Adele drag queen, and, at the soaring climax of the song, paper photographs of young Adele Adkins from Tottenham fluttered like confetti from the rafters. A diva, yes. But — in the right room, and for the right ticket price — the sort you can reach out and touch.

The most emotionally effective part of the night came near the end, when Adele performed the brassy, Streisandian slow-burner “When We Were Young.” To introduce the song, she (and a cadre of handlers) made her way through the crowd, asking a few lucky audience members about their favorite memories from their youth, and, in the process, making the case that she’d be a better-than-average Oscar host.

“Weekends With Adele” never quite felt like a promotional vehicle for “30,” though. Of the 20 songs on the set list, only five were from the new album, and its most emotionally wrenching material — the devastating vocal showcase “To Be Loved,” the searingly personal “My Little Love” — were nowhere to be found. Instead, she seemed to be most fully inhabiting the material from her breakout 2011 album, “21.”

“It might be a bit wobbly tonight, because me nerves are out of control,” Adele, in a floor-length black gown, warned the audience. That was most apparent on “Hello” and the next song, her 2021 hit “Easy on Me,” when she relied a bit too heavily on encouraging the crowd to sing her lyrics back to her. (She last toured in 2016 and 2017, in support of her 2015 album, “25.”) She settled in during the next pair of songs, the torchy, fan-favorite piano ballads “Turning Tables” and “Take It All.”

So there was cognitive dissonance when, in January, Adele canceled her much-publicized Las Vegas residency just 24 hours before opening night. Some ticket holders had already traveled there; others had booked flights and hotels around upcoming shows. The set and production design were not up to her standards, Adele told fans in a tearful Instagram video, placing some blame on pandemic delays. This was diva behavior, perhaps, hardly of the down-to-earth variety people have come to expect from Adele. But, in an August interview, she said it was still the right decision: “The stage setup wasn’t right. It was very disconnected from me and my band, and it lacked intimacy.” She called the debacle “the worst moment in my career, by far.”Adele, byname of Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, (born May 5, 1988, Tottenham, London, England), English pop singer and songwriter whose soulful emotive voice and traditionally crafted songs made her one of the most broadly popular performers of her generation.

Adele, byname of Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, (born May 5, 1988, Tottenham, London, England), English pop singer and songwriter whose soulful emotive voice and traditionally crafted songs made her one of the most broadly popular performers of her generation.

So there was cognitive dissonance when, in January, Adele canceled her much-publicized Las Vegas residency just 24 hours before opening night. Some ticket holders had already traveled there; others had booked flights and hotels around upcoming shows. The set and production design were not up to her standards, Adele told fans in a tearful Instagram video, placing some blame on pandemic delays. This was diva behavior, perhaps, hardly of the down-to-earth variety people have come to expect from Adele. But, in an August interview, she said it was still the right decision: “The stage setup wasn’t right. It was very disconnected from me and my band, and it lacked intimacy.” She called the debacle “the worst moment in my career, by far.”

Adele, byname of Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, (born May 5, 1988, Tottenham, London, England), English pop singer and songwriter whose soulful emotive voice and traditionally crafted songs made her one of the most broadly popular performers of her generation.

So there was cognitive dissonance when, in January, Adele canceled her much-publicized Las Vegas residency just 24 hours before opening night. Some ticket holders had already traveled there; others had booked flights and hotels around upcoming shows. The set and production design were not up to her standards, Adele told fans in a tearful Instagram video, placing some blame on pandemic delays. This was diva behavior, perhaps, hardly of the down-to-earth variety people have come to expect from Adele. But, in an August interview, she said it was still the right decision: “The stage setup wasn’t right. It was very disconnected from me and my band, and it lacked intimacy.” She called the debacle “the worst moment in my career, by far.”Adele, byname of Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, (born May 5, 1988, Tottenham, London, England), English pop singer and songwriter whose soulful emotive voice and traditionally crafted songs made her one of the most broadly popular performers of her generation.

Adele maintains a degree of remove around her personal life, especially between albums, but her public persona and her relationship with her fans are also predicated on the idea that she is someone with whom you could share a glass, or perhaps more accurately a bottle, of wine.

Adele Returns to the Stage in Las Vegas, Resolute and Reflective

The pop star’s “Weekends With Adele” residency began after nearly a year of delays, with a design that emphasized intimacy and a set heavy on her 2011 breakout album, “21.”