REVIEW: Adele at Xcel Energy Center

The 23-year-old singer apologizes to--and makes BFFs of--her audience in St. Paul.

Image credit: Sony

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Pyrotechnics. Whipped-cream cannons. Confetti explosions.

The customary arena-concert gimmicks were absent at Adele’s Wednesday night show at the Xcel Energy Center. The 23-year-old crooner—admittedly apprehensive about performing in such a large venue—took a more personal approach for the sold-out concert, originally scheduled at First Avenue, which has a capacity of 1,500.

“I’m so sorry—I’m so sorry. Thank you so much for coming,” Adele said as she addressed the crowd of 10,000 in St. Paul after opening her show with “Hometown Glory,” a spotlight and her pianist. The stage, modestly adorned with Victorian lampshades, set an intimate tone. “I’m sorry it’s in a bigger venue—but I’m gonna make you feel like we’re at First Ave.”

She may have been sorry, but the extra people who were able to attend this show certainly weren’t. In the time since the May and June show reschedules, Adele has gone from being a great singer to an event. Her most recent album, 21, is the biggest-selling record in the world and was recently nominated by the British press for the Mercury Prize.

And so for 90 minutes everyone in the audience was a BFF—helping her wrap up the details of a hen party for her best friend in the U.K., trash-talking her latest ex-boyfriend (“This guy is a real fucking idiot…”), taking photos and gossiping about the custom Minnesota Wild jersey she received (“Is this a good bedtime shirt? It is if I start dating an ice hockey player!”). Even in singing about heartbreak, she made the crowd feel every move. Stationary most of the night, her entire being was distilled into her voice and projected on to the crowd like a vocal freight train. Free from Beyoncé’s militant theatrics or Christina’s overly dramatic audio gymnastics, Adele’s stage presence was more subdued without being any less powerful.

It is rare in an age of auto-tuned idiocy and lyrical nonsense to see an artist that uses her voice and words alone to move a stadium crowd to tears of joy. In a poignant moment on stage, Adele dedicated her cover of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” to the late Amy Winehouse (four years her senior), asking the entire arena to hold up their phones so that she might “feel the love from upstairs.” Adele’s opener, firecracker Queen of Rockabilly Wanda Jackson, performed a Winehouse cover (which is featured on her latest album and is a staple of her live shows), “You Know I’m No Good,” in “honor of Amy.”

Removing her shoes before the encore (which included “Someone Like You” and “Rolling in the Deep”), she reminded the crowd that behind the bouffant, the dress, the success and the voice, she’s still just a 23-year-old girl. “I’m not very good in high heels,” she confessed. Even superstars just want to be comfortable.