I absolutely love Adele! I love her music but, more importantly, I love the fact that she is unapologetically herself and refuses to conform to anyone else's idea of what a pop star should be. When her album 21 was released, I was basically obsessed with the song "Rolling in the Deep" and I played it over and over. When the song "Hello" was released, I was even more obsessed with it! I downloaded 25 the first day it was available and listened to it on repeat for days. Adele is not usually a touring artist but I really hoped that she would tour with 25. I vowed that I would go to any city so that I could see her live! When her tour was announced, I thought briefly about Denver (I've done that several times) but Chicago worked better for my schedule. The tickets went on sale during one of my classes so I gave my students a big assignment to do on their own so I could get online. It took forever and all three concerts in Chicago sold out in minutes. Of course, I went to StubHub and was able to get two tickets for a lot more than Ticketmaster but such was my mania to see Adele! It was worth every penny because it was an incredible concert and I'm still on a high from it. She began with "Hello" on a platform in the middle of the floor and the crowd went absolutely crazy! For "Hometown Glory," she walked up to her stage which was shaped like a diamond with two large screens in the back and a platform in the front. She stood on the platform most of the time wearing a long black sparkly dress and her band, including a grand piano and strings, was behind her. During "Hometown Glory" she had images of London on the screens and at the end she put up images of Chicago which got the crowd cheering once again! Then she sang "One and Only" and pulled people on the stage for selfies with her! One older man was so flustered to be on stage with her that he couldn't remember where he was from! In between songs, she would tell stories and go off on funny tangents. I thought she was hilarious! She told the crowd that she had two upbeat songs, which she would sing next, and then after that we could all be miserable together! The two upbeat songs were "Rumour Has It" and "Water Under the Bridge." Next she sang "I Miss You," which is one of my favorites from 25. Then she talked about being asked to write "Skyfall" and how excited she was to win an Oscar! I loved the staging of it because she had very dramatic lighting. She did an acoustic set for "A Million Years Ago," "Don't You Remember" (which had a new country-sounding arrangement because she is now obsessed with Alison Krauss), and "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)." She talked about recording her first album 19 and how much she wanted to cover Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love." She sang it with so much emotion! Before singing "Sweetest Devotion," she talked about her son which was really endearing. Then she walked back to the platform in the middle of the floor to sing "Chasing Pavements" and "Someone Like You." She had scrims around the platform with images of her projected on them which was really cool! She complained that the cameras got too close to her face and showed her "spots." Did I mention that she was hilarious! During this set, she thanked the crowd profusely for supporting her and waiting so long for her new album. She said she had to live a little bit so she could have something to write about! I love her! For "Set Fire to the Rain" it looked like it was raining on the scrims then she disappeared into the floor! For the encore, she sang "All I Ask" and talked about the sound issues she had at the Grammys. After her performance she told her manager that she thought it went really well and he said, "Ummm..." She had to get In-and-Out Burger to recover! When she sang "When We Were Young," she had images of her childhood on the screen. She was a sassy little girl! She ended the concert with "Rolling in the Deep" which got the whole audience up dancing! I loved that she began with "Hello" and ended with "Rolling in the Deep" which are my two favorite songs! This is definitely one of my top five concerts of all time because, not only can she belt out a song (which I expected), but she is so funny and personable! It was a great weekend in Chicago!
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