Adele at Wembley Stadium

Sometimes things are all about timing. That is definitely true about seeing Adele. The motivation for this trip was to see Phil Collins in Paris. Once I had the trip pretty planned out, Adele announced her concerts at Wembley Stadium for the same I would be in London. Well, I had to try, right? So, I scored two tickets for her first two nights. It was pretty hard to believe, even when I finally had the tickets in my sweaty little hands. And it's hard to say it out loud because people get really tired of you saying "I have tickets to see Adele in London". Anyway, the night soon arrived, and my seats was up in the 3rd tier, but still really good view of the stage; second night, I was down in the first section, almost on the pitch. No complaints at all. Both nights were amazing, and the set list was identical.

The night opened with "Hello"', she walked around the stage, waving at everyone; "Hometown Glory" with a video of London, much like she did for her tour, featuring each particular city, this
included footage of Grenfell Towers, which was very touching, then "One and Only". Finally, she addressed the crowd. She referenced her nerves a couple of times, due in large part to the fact that she as playing I front of some pretty massive hometown crowds, and she did mentione that she would be taking long break. One of the things that I love about Adele, and I got the feeling that most people there lt the same, is she really just talks to the audience, making fun of herself, or telling people "don't  f*!?** boo me, I'll walk off"and then just laughing, before she would talk about the next song, or maybe her love of Pinterest. Not kidding. She also joked about how her songs are sad and dreary and you can't really dance, but then the band jumped into "I'll be waiting", which is one of my favorites, and one that gets me chair dancing.

Then "Rumour has it", which is a great percussive song, and another one that I quite like to play on repeat. I want to mention before I forget that Adele was alone on the stage  and her band was on 

something like a turntable underneath, so sometimes you would see the drummer and percussionist, 

other times the pianist, etc. Quite a ballsy move in a lot of ways for someone so nervous, to be alone.

It totally worked, and allowed her to walk around the whole stage so everyone had some face time 

with her. "Water under the bridge" and "I miss you" were followed by "Skyfall" the award winning song from James Bond. Adele created some new videos to go along with some songs, so she gleefully shared the sacrifices she made for US in filming this video. There was also a male choir for this song.    "Don't you remember" followed, and apparently she often forgets the words, so she asked for a little help, we were happy to oblige. adele introduced the next song with a plea for donations to help those affected by the deadly fire at Grenfell Towers. What I appreciated, and I think others felt the same way, was that she acknowledged that people paid a lot for this evening, but that the beers people were drinking were more than the requested five pounds, but also that she was already working with the residents, and had visited several times and would be going back. There was substance and genuine feelings behind her request. The first night, over £1000,000 was raised. She then asked for everyone to the light on for their phone as she sang "Make you feel my love". Incredible. "Send my love to your new lover" and "Sweetest devotion", the latter about the birth of her son, were next.

"Chasing pavements"  and "Take it all" brought us to the show stopper, I think, "Set fire to the rain" which is so dramatic, just a perfect piece of songwriting, combined with stage fireworks. The live version is the shit, as we say. I think Adele would approve. 

That was the end of the main set. Strangely enough, there was a kiss cam between the end and the encore, but it was really enjoyed by the crowd. Adele came back and did "When we were young" and "Rolling in the deep" and she brought out here backup singers for a little dancing and a singalong.  Throughout the night Adele kept thanking the crowd, acknowledging people, seriously, that just blows me away, how much she really cares about her fans. The last song was "Someone like you" and just like when I saw her in St. Paul, the audience sang along, and it made me tingly. It's one of those moments that you think, wow, just wow. There were over 96,0000 people both nights, and they sounded amazing. I hope this really isn't it for her live performances, but if it was, what a way to finish. 

She swore like a sailor the first night, but tried to behave the second night because her mother and grandmother were in the audience, but that didn't  go exactly as planned.

It was amazing, she was amazing, and I will remember those concerts for a very long time.