Adele Live was the second concert tour by English singer-songwriter Adele. She visited Europe and North America, the tour supporting her second studio album, 21. Adele was backed by a five-piece band and backing singers. The setlist comprised all of her songs from 21, except for "He Won't Go", as well as selected songs from 19. The shows garnered positive critical reviews, many of which emphasised the show's understated, “unplugged” nature, as well as the singer's vocal performance and accessible persona.
Recurring health and vocal problems led to numerous adjustments and postponements to the tour itinerary. The first European leg of the tour was uninterrupted, however. For the first North American leg (which was originally scheduled to begin 12 May 2011 in Washington, D.C. and end on 22 June in Minneapolis), Adele canceled the last nine dates after she was diagnosed with acute laryngitis. These dates were rescheduled with some additional dates and some larger venues. The tour was sold out quickly across North America and Europe, and received positive reviews.
In September 2011, "continuing problems with a serious cold and chest infection" prompted the further postponement of seven additional dates on the second leg of the European stop. However, the tour was resumed on 13 September, and new dates for the missed shows were rescheduled. In October 2011, the singer again cancelled the remaining dates of the second leg of her North American tour—this time due to a vocal hemorrhage that caused internal bleeding near her vocal cords. Adele was forced to cancel the remaining dates of her tour to undergo emergency surgery for the throat hemorrhaging.
Background Production designer Rob Sinclair wanted the stage to be sparse so the audience would focus on Adele and her voice. The back wall of the stage featured a "distinctive" wall of 96 cone-shaped lampshades using 60-watt household lightbulbs to illuminate them. Each lamp was individually dimmed and the bulbs of each lamp were dipped in a special rubber solution so they wouldn't break. The rest of the show featured moving lights and much white light to focus on Adele at the center of the stage. The moving lights were designed so that they didn't appear to move from the audience's point-of-view and were powered by Jands Vista's next-generation Vista v2 software. The decision to focus on sculpted white light for the stage won "considerable acclaim."
The tour was minimalist in every aspect, from stage design to using each venue's own sound system rather than transporting a tour-specific system. The front-of-house engineer for the tour was Dave McDonald. McDonald carried an Allen & Heath iLive-112 with him during the tour and hooked it up to each venue's sound system with a Cat 5 connector. This allowed the tour to travel light and allowed McDonald to control the mix for each show using each venue's systems. McDonald used plug-ins to replicate the sound of vintage ENT plates for the sound. The tour chose to only use Sennheiser microphones. McDonald chose to have Adele use a wireless Sennheiser SKM 2000 system with an SKM 500–965 G3 transmitter. For the back-up singers, McDonald chose hardwired Sennheiser e 935s. The guitarists used Avalon DIs and the piano was a "gag piano", lacquered upright to look traditional but actually housed a Yamaha MO. McDonald's goal for the tour was, "I want the audience to forget who they are for a moment and be able to project themselves solely onto what's occurring onstage. That is, after all, why we go to shows."
The tour featured a 12-piece string section that backed Adele up, consisting of eight violins, two violas, and two cellos. During some performances, a 20-ft mirrorball (named "Mirrorball Mike") descended from the ceiling during the encore. A screen lifted up at the beginning of the concert to reveal Adele and occasionally descended behind her with images projected upon it. During "Hometown Glory", an image of St. Paul's Cathedral was projected onto the screen.
Opening acts The Civil Wars (North America, leg 1, select datesSmyth, David (2 October 2011) The Adele Effect. Retrieved 2011-10-18, from ThisIsLondon.co.uk and United Kingdom, leg 2) Plan B (North America, leg 1, select dates) Wanda Jackson (North America, leg 2, select dates) Amos Lee (United Kingdom, leg 2) Michael Kiwanuka (United Kingdom, leg 2)
Setlist
"Hometown Glory" "I'll Be Waiting" "Don't You Remember" "Turning Tables" "Set Fire to the Rain" "Daydreamer" "If It Hadn't Been for Love" "My Same" "Take It All" "Rumour Has It" "Right as Rain" "One and Only" "Lovesong" "Chasing Pavements" "Make You Feel My Love" Encore "Someone like You" "Rolling in the Deep"
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Notes
Shows
Date City Country Venue Opening Act Leg 1 – Europe 21 March 2011 Oslo Norway Rockefeller Music Hall 23 March 2011 Stockholm Sweden Debaser Medis 26 March 2011 Hamburg Germany Docks Club 27 March 2011 Berlin Huxleys Neue Welt 29 March 2011 Munich Kesselhaus 30 March 2011 Milan Italy Discoteca Alcatraz 1 April 2011 Barcelona Spain Sala Bikini 2 April 2011 Madrid Sala La Riviera 4 April 2011 Paris France La Cigale 5 April 2011 Brussels Belgium Cirque Royal 7 April 2011 Cologne Germany Burgerhaus Stollwerck 8 April 2011 Amsterdam Netherlands Paradiso 10 April 2011 Copenhagen Denmark Vega Musikkens Hus 12 April 2011 Dublin Ireland Olympia Theatre 14 April 2011 Leeds England O2 Academy Leeds 15 April 2011 Glasgow Scotland O2 ABC Glasgow 17 April 2011 Manchester England Manchester Academy 18 April 2011 Birmingham Digbeth Institute 20 April 2011 Southampton Southampton Guildhall 21 April 2011 London O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire Leg 1 – North America 12 May 2011 Washington, D.C. United States 9:30 Club 13 May 2011 Philadelphia Electric Factory 15 May 2011 Boston House of Blues 16 May 2011 Montreal Canada L'Olympia de Montréal 18 May 2011 Toronto Air Canada Centre 19 May 2011 New York City United States Beacon Theatre The Civil Wars 21 May 2011 United Palace Theater Plan B 23 May 2011 Royal Oak Royal Oak Music Theatre 24 May 2011 Chicago Riviera Theatre 28 May 2011 Denver Ogden Theatre Leg 2 – Europe 2 July 2011 London England Heaven 7 July 2011 The Roundhouse Leg 2 – North America 9 August 2011 Vancouver Canada Orpheum TheatreWanda Jackson 11 August 2011 Troutdale United States McMenamins Edgefield 12 August 2011 Seattle Paramount Theatre 14 August 2011 Berkeley Hearst Greek Theatre 15 August 2011 Los Angeles Greek Theatre 17 August 2011 Hollywood Palladium 18 August 2011 San Diego SDSU Open Air Theatre 20 August 2011 Las Vegas Chelsea Ballroom 21 August 2011 Salt Lake City Gallivan Center 24 August 2011 Saint Paul The Theater at Xcel Energy Center Leg 2 – Europe 13 September 2011 Leicester England De Montfort Hall 14 September 2011 Newcastle O2 Academy Newcastle 16 September 2011 Manchester O2 Apollo Manchester 17 September 2011 19 September 2011 London Hammersmith Apollo 20 September 2011 22 September 2011 Royal Albert Hall 24 September 2011 Edinburgh Scotland Usher Hall 25 September 2011 Glasgow O2 Academy Glasgow
Festivals and other miscellaneous performances This concert was a part of the London Pride This concert was a part of the iTunes Festival
Cancellations and rescheduled shows