Over the weekend something magical happened. And its name was Adele. (I don’t want to give anything away to anyone who will be seeing Adele later on this tour, so consider yourself warned, um-kay?)
Mister and I went with very dear friends. That in itself was beautiful, as we just don’t see those folks as much as we’d like. (Everybody’s busy, don’t you know.) So we were already feeling the love. And once we made it inside Staples Center and found our seats, well, the good feelings multiplied. What you see above was a video loop. Mister and I had an idea as to what might happen once the show started, and we were right. Just as we heard Adele’s voice sing “Hello,” the eyes opened!
The woman is amazing. She’s utterly professional and at the top of her game. Witnessing someone with such command of her craft was a privilege. And if I let myself dwell on it too much, I’d become really disappointed in other artists who don’t work at their crafts with the same commitment. But screw those folks! I’m talking about Adele here, people!
She was so personable and funny. Early on, she made a joke about how much she would be talking throughout the show, saying something about how she’d only be singing ten songs and yet we’d be there for two hours. As it happened, it wasn’t much of a joke. That’s pretty much how it went down.
It was lovely to see the balance between her self-deprecating humor and her ownership of who and where she is in life. If any part of her is diva, I didn’t see it. I just saw a woman who knows what she’s capable of. A confident soul. And I respected the hell out of her. Truly. By the time we’d reached the end of the night, I was inspired and grateful and smiley as could be.
Adele, to me, is a rare bird. She’s a contemporary artist who can back up her smack. As a songwriter, she’s golden. As a vocalist, she stands alone. As a human, she is beautiful. As I type this and think about her, I can’t help but smile. And giggle. She really is the complete package. I am in awe.