Adele Performs Eight Night Staples Center Engagement With High Style

Stephanie Hernandez

The inimitable pop phenomenon that is Adele returned to the concert stage for the first time in five years for her “25” world tour. Los Angeles fans could scarcely contain themselves at the thought of the singers unprecedented an eight night take over. Kicking off August 5, the first of the eight sold out performances and her formidable pipes finally bid LA a fond farewell on August 21, bringing a passionate end to one of the most triumphant and purely exulting concert experiences in recent memory.

The British songstress has an awe inspiring ability to put abstract emotions to words in an empathic way that perfectly expresses their significance. That keen sense of emotional acuity and applied intimacy is exactly what the songstress brought to the Staples Center. Standing in a gorgeous gleaming ball gown, she opened with the heart wrenching ballad “Hello,” igniting the audience’s own passion. She continued to belt out her long list of hits, including the Oscar winning ballad “Skyfall,” “Don’t You Remember” and “Rumour Has It.” Yet in the midst of it all, she still found time to stop and connect with her audience, asking them questions and sharing personal anecdotes with them as if she was in her local pub and not in front of tens of thousands of people in a huge arena.

It is this genuine and authentic desire to relate to her fans that makes Adele such an amazing performer to watch, even in a sea of people she still makes you feel as though you’re the only one in the room. Her likeability only grew when, at the second show, she brought up her “doppelgänger,” RuPaul’s Drag Race season three contestant Delta Work to the stage. Wearing matching dresses and jewels Adele could hardly contain her excitement at “meeting herself” in drag.

The instrumentation carrying Adele’s lofty voice, a large band comprised of strings, brass and backup singers, was more than equipped to impress and captivate accompanying her, and provided breath taking moments of pure musical perfection. From the groove of “Water Under the Bridge,” to the silencing power of “When We Were Young” that featured large video screen projections of the singer with her 3-year-old son, as if she couldn’t tug at your heartstrings even more. “Hometown Glory” gained a collective cheer when images of Adele’s native London gave way to iconic shots of Los Angeles, while “Send My Love (to Your New Lover)” the entire stadium moving before sheets of water came falling dramatically down around her for “Set Fire to the Rain.”

Selling out eight nights at Staples Center sounds like a musicians feverish dream, yet for Adele it was not just reality but a truly unforgettable experience for each of her fans who made the pilgrimage. Adele’s seismic vocal performance filled the venue while still remaining accessible, displaying an intimate quality rarely felt in large stadium shows, Adele’s utter reign over DTLA is proof positive that fans have been craving music with relatable emotion.  In a world where pop music is offered as a disposable palette of homogenized trends, Adele’s commitment to an old school concept craft and style is a breath of fresh air and a reminder that true singers and songwriters are more than capable of blowing you away.

Adele performed at Staples Center Aug. 5-6, 9-10, 12-13, 20-21.