This is one newbie where we really feel the hype is totally deserved. There's the usual preceding facts; only 19 years old, white with an incredibly soulful voice to rival the Winehouse's of the world etc. etc.
Tonight at The Royal College Of Music in Manchester she is humbled by the fact that the show has completely sold out and even before the first song has begun people are clapping elatedly.
Set list was as follows...
Her voice was truly immaculate, half solo and acoustic and half with a full band and string section, there wasn't a faltering moment as she worked her way through familiar songs, 'Daydreamer' 'Best For Last' and 'Chasing Pavements'. She used the gig to showcase a lot of unheard tracks, the Mark Ronson produced, 'Cold Shoulder' and the briefly Myspace previewed, 'Melt My Heart To Stone' and 'Crazy For You'. Her clumsy, funny and definitely endearing banter during songs made everyone see that you don't need to have a crazy/messed up private life to be a lady of soul, Adele can sing the blues without tabloid drama.
The Bob Dylan cover 'Make You Feel My Love' was carried off with total confidence including an intro to why she doesn't usually like doing covers ('I don't like singing covers cos it's hard to know what the singer was feeling, I don't usually understand what they were on about') The Jazzy stomp of 'My Same' would have had everyone out of their seats in a smaller venue and Adele, before closing the show with the epic and truly stunning 'Hometown Glory' said, 'Happy New Year everyone, hope you all had a good one. I know it's almost February but you know... BANTER' Legend.
