First night nerves and ‘severe bowel movements’ as Adele kicks off tour

ADELE performed her first full concert in five years last night — and admitted she was ‘sh**ting herself’.

Adele: ‘I thought I was going to die’

ADELE admitted she had “severe bowel movement” because was so nervous ahead of the first show of her world tour last night.

The brutally honest superstar, 27, revealed she had to take an Imodium because she was “sh***ing herself” so much before coming on stage for what was her first UK gig in almost five years — and the first arena show of her career.

After emerging from below a stage in the middle of the room to perform her chart-topping comeback single Hello, she told the sold-out crowd inside Belfast’s SSE Arena: “This is my first time in an arena ever.

“I have actually been sh***ing myself all day, literally. I’ve had severe bowel movements.

“When I came up that f***ing stage in the dark, oh my God, I thought I was going to die.

“I woke up this morning sounding like Arnold Schwarzenegger. My voice was so deep because I slept with the air con on.

“And then I had bowel movements because of tonight.

“Then Gatwick closed and I thought my boyfriend wasn’t going to get here on time.

“I’ve had an Imodium so it’s going to be alright.”

With the opening number out of the way, her nerves quickly subsided.

Over the two hours that followed, Adele, who was dressed in a sparkling Burberry gown, proved exactly why she is the most successful and celebrated artist of her generation.

After Hello she went straight into her 2008 ballad Hometown Glory, during which footage of London and the Tottenham housing estate where she was brought up played behind her.

As a nice touch she changed the lyrics to “round your hometown” and showed images of Belfast on the screen — much to the delight of the locals.

She later revealed how she has spent the previous day exploring the city, visiting attractions like the zoo and the Titanic museum with her three-year old son Angelo.

The reason Adele is so popular (her latest record 25 has sold 14 million copies worldwide in just four months) is down to the fact that even when she is performing in front of 11,000 people she talks and acts like she is down the pub with her mates.

Her incredibly frank chat ranged from how she was wearing “more make-up than a drag queen” to how she had to do “an emergency shave of her legs in her dressing room before the show.”

The mum-of-one joked: “I’m a working mother. I keep forgetting to wipe my a*** and shave my legs.”

She had the audience in stitches as she recounted the moment at the 2012 Academy Awards — where she won Best Song for Bond theme Skyfall — when she and Hollywood actress Jennifer Garner snuck off to the loos to breastfeed their kids.

She revealed: “Me and Jennifer Garner were pumping in the toilets while the show was going on because we had just had newborns ... Don’t tell anyone I told ya!”

Adele’s extended break from the stage has done her the world of good — as has that vocal surgery.

This was as polished and perfect as pop concerts come.

After her recent hiccup at the Grammys, her vocals were flawless as she soared though her back catalogue including tracks One and Only, Rumour Has It and Water Under The Bridge.

Her cover of Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love sounded as good as it did when it transformed her career eight years ago.

After singing it she poked fun at Simon Cowell who has made countless X Factor wannabes perform the song on the talent show.

She said: “I’m not giving Simon Cowell any credit for my career, I’ve worked hard.”

After paying tribute to boyfriend Simon Konecki, Adele returned to the centre of the arena for her biggest tear-jerker of all, Someone Like You, an ode to her ex-boyfriend Alex Sturrock.

Despite her fabled heartbreak, love was certainly in the air.

After her rendition she asked the female members of the audience to live up to the Leap Year tradition by proposing to their other halves.

One complied, but had a shaky moment when her partner hesitated before saying ‘yes’.

The grim Belfast weather seeped inside the venue for Set Fire To The Rain which saw Adele sing inside torrential downpour.

Adele saved her most rousing hits for an epic finale.

She silenced the noisy Northern Irish crowd with an emotional performance of new track All I Ask to the point that you could barely hear a pin drop in the arena.

The notoriously-private star let her guard down When We Were Young by showing a series of unseen pictures from her childhood on the screen behind her.

The candid snaps included Adele on family holidays, in her school uniform and in an East 17 T-shirt.

She told the audience: “I know I’m really private but you’ve got to understand that’s how I make music for you.

“So right now I’m going to let you into my past, I’m going to let you into my life.”

The crowd were on their feet as she finished with her stomping hit Rolling In The Deep as confetti with handwritten lyrics scrawled on fell from the sky.

With another 104 shows to go across 43 cities, Adele’s stage-fright will soon vanish.

But if she really is headlining Glastonbury in July, she might want to bring the Imodium just in case.

Set list

Hello

Hometown Glory

One & Only

Rumour Has It

Water Under The Bridge

I Miss You

Skyfall

Million Years Ago

Don’t You Remember

Send My Love (To Your New Lover)

Make You Feel My Love

Sweetest Devotion

Chasing Pavements

Someone Like You

Set Fire To The Rain

All I Ask

When We Were Young

Rolling In The Deep

This article originally appeared on The Sun and is republished with permission.

Originally published as First night nerves and ‘severe bowel movements’ as Adele kicks off tour