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.[1] 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.

Adele Live
Tour by Adele
Promotional poster for the tour
LocationEurope • North America
Associated album21
Start date21 March 2011 (2011-03-21)
End date25 September 2011 (2011-09-25)
Legs4
No. of shows
  • 31 in Europe
  • 20 in North America
  • 51 in total
Attendance111,874
Box office$2 million (10 shows)
Adele concert chronology

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.[2][3] 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.[4] Adele was forced to cancel the remaining dates of her tour to undergo emergency surgery for the throat hemorrhaging.[5]

Background

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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."[6][7]

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."[8]

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.[9][10]

Opening acts

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Setlist

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Adele performing "Someone Like You" during a concert in Seattle, Washington.
  1. "Hometown Glory"
  2. "I'll Be Waiting"
  3. "Don't You Remember"
  4. "Turning Tables"
  5. "Set Fire to the Rain"
  6. "Daydreamer"
  7. "If It Hadn't Been for Love"
  8. "My Same"
  9. "Take It All"
  10. "Rumour Has It"
  11. "Right as Rain"
  12. "One and Only"
  13. "Lovesong"
  14. "Chasing Pavements"
  15. "Make You Feel My Love"
    Encore
  16. "Someone like You"
  17. "Rolling in the Deep"

Source:[17][18]

Notes

Shows

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"As I’m sure most of you know I had to cancel over half of my US tour a couple weeks back. It was a devastating decision to make, but I really had no choice. I had to give my voice 2 weeks rest or risk permanent damage"
— Adele on cancelling part of her North American tour.[21]

Date City Country Venue Opening Act
Leg 1 – Europe[22]
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 HMV Institute
20 April 2011 Southampton Southampton Guildhall
21 April 2011 London O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
Leg 1 – North America[23]
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[24]
2 July 2011[A] London England Heaven
7 July 2011[B] The Roundhouse
Leg 2 – North America[25]
9 August 2011 Vancouver Canada Orpheum Theatre Wanda 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[26]
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 HMV 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
A This concert was a part of the London Pride[27]
B This concert was a part of the iTunes Festival[28]

Cancellations and rescheduled shows

Box office score data

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Venue City Tickets sold / available Gross revenue
Olympia Theatre Dublin 1,621 / 1,621 (100%) $66,942[37]
9:30 Club Washington, D.C. 1,200 / 1,200 (100%) $42,000[37]
L'Olympia de Montréal Montreal 1,851 / 1,851 (100%) $57,300[37]
Air Canada Centre Toronto 6,624 / 6,624 (100%) $322,594[37]
Beacon Theatre New York City 2,770 / 2,770 (100%) $118,141[37]
Royal Oak Music Theatre Royal Oak 1,700 / 1,700 (100%) $42,500[37]
Riviera Theatre Chicago 2,500 / 2,500 (100%) $85,000[37]
Hearst Greek Theatre Berkeley 8,189 / 8,189 (100%) $400,040[37]
Greek Theatre Los Angeles 5,856 / 5,856 (100%) $254,393[37]
The Theatre at Xcel Energy Center Saint Paul 9,443 / 9,443 (100%) $525,483[37]
TOTAL 41,754 / 41,754 (100%) $1,914,393

Broadcasts and recordings

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The concert at The Roundhouse (a part of the iTunes Festival) was streamed live on iTunes.[38] The event was followed with an EP release entitled iTunes Festival: London 2011. The album showcases an abbreviated concert with the songs; "One and Only", "Don't You Remember", "Rumour Has It", "Take It All", "I Can't Make You Love Me" and "Rolling in the Deep".[39] The album is an iTunes exclusive and was made available for download on 14 July 2011. A DVD/Blu-ray/CD entitled Live at the Royal Albert Hall was released on 28 November 2011. It features the entire concert along with behind the scenes footage.[40]

Personnel

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  • Adele: Vocals, guitar on "Daydreamer" and occasionally "My Same"
  • Ben Thomas: Guitar
  • Tim Van Der Kuil: Guitar[41]
  • Miles Robertson: Keyboards
  • Sam Dixon: Bass guitar
  • Derrick Wright: Drums
  • Kelli-Leigh Henry-Davila, Sharleen Linton: Background vocals
  • David "Zop" Yard: Tour manager
  • Pat Baker: Production manager
  • Rob Sinclair: Production designer
  • George Sinclair: Associate designer
  • Dave McDonald: Front-of-house engineer
  • Joe Campbell: Monitor engineer
  • Adam Newman & Adam Carr: Stage techs

Source: Adele's Official Myspace

References

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  1. ^ Roberts, Randall (16 August 2011). "Live review: Adele, Wanda Jackson at the Greek Theatre". Los Angeles Times. LA Times blog. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  2. ^ "Adele's North American Tour Canceled due to Illness". Adele.tv. 3 June 2011. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  3. ^ "Adele cancels North America tour". BBC News. 5 June 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  4. ^ "Adele cancels her tour due to vocal hemorrhaging – is it serious?". Los Angeles Times. 5 October 2011. Archived from the original on 22 October 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  5. ^ Nicolini, Jill (31 October 2011). "Adele Cancels Tour, Winehouse New Album". Good Day New York. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  6. ^ Moen, Debi (17 November 2011). "Jands Vista v2 Controls Adele's International Tour". PLSN. Archived from the original on 17 December 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  7. ^ "Adele". Jands Vista. 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  8. ^ Greg DeTogne (22 June 2011). "Enveloping The Audience: The Audio Approach For Adele in Concert". ProSound Web. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  9. ^ Whitney (24 February 2012). "Adele Behind the Scenes". Stephen Arnold Music. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  10. ^ Robert Heller (20 September 2011). "Adele Heads to U.S. With Heartbreak, Jokes, Concert Joy: Review". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  11. ^ Jackson, Josh (26 April 2011). "The Civil Wars to Tour with Adele". Paste. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
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  16. ^ Geoghegan, Kew (16 June 2011). "Michael Kiwanuka: Singing with his soul on his sleeve". BBC. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  17. ^ Herrero, Javier (2 April 2011). "2.500 Aplausos para Adele en su primera visita a Madrid en plena ebullición" [2,500 applaud Adele's first visit to Madrid in full swing]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 4 April 2011.
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  26. ^ Copsey, Robert (15 February 2011). "Adele announces further UK tour dates". Digital Spy. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  27. ^ Daw, Robbie (5 July 2011). "Adele Celebrates Gay Pride By Performing at Heaven in London". Idolator. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
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  29. ^ Riemenschneider, Chris (26 May 2011). "Adele cancels tonight's show". Star Tribune. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
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  37. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Billboard Boxscore: Current Scores". Billboard. 25 June 2011. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
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  41. ^ "Tim Vanderkuil official website". Retrieved 3 April 2016.
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