Adele had Montrealers captivated by her beautiful voice and speeches during her two sold-out shows
Adele emerged from the floor of the secondary stage at the Bell Centre on Friday night, to say hello to Montreal for her first night of two sold-out shows.
Before appearing, her voice teased the audience with a breathless, “hello, it’s me,” and she dove into the first single from her album, 25. Following the fitting salutation from the song “Hello,” images of Montreal’s skyline glided behind Adele as she changed the words of “Hometown Glory” to, “your hometown”.
For the rest of the show, in between live renditions of her power-house songs, the singer-songwriter brought the audience back down to earth with humble monologues. She teased that she loves to talk, and the two hours of the show would comprise of telling stories about her songs and singing about her ex-boyfriends.
Adele managed to keep a Bell Centre show intimate, as if she were still playing at one of her previously small venue shows in Montreal, by interacting with fans. She stopped to sing “Happy Birthday” to one, invited a group of moms on stage to meet her and stopped to take selfies with fans. She graced the audience not only with her voice but with her bewitching laugh, hilarious honesty and true appreciation for her fans.
With no costume changes or fancy theatrics, Adele added to the intimacy by playing an acoustic set midway through the show. The set began with two musicians from her 20-piece band for, “A Million Years Ago.” As the set went on, more musicians were brought out for “Don’t You Remember” and her version of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love.”
The set list wrapped up with “Someone Like You,” as a turning point for intensity of the show and as Adele explained, a turning point in her career. When the last ballad was sung, Adele retreated back into the floor where she emerged and the Bell Centre roared until she reappeared shimmering in her gown at the front stage for an encore.
Her two-song encore ended with the smash hit from her album 21, “Rolling in the Deep,” closing the show with an explosion of crisp white confetti.
On what Adele said she thought was day 87 or 89 of her 109-day tour, she admitted to being somewhat unorthodox in the height of her career. She promised that she would disappear again after this tour to live a normal life with her son. But, she assured the audience that it was the only way for her to get inspired to write more music.
