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Adele wows Sydney but not without a few hiccups

ADELE saved the best for last in her second Sydney outing revealing she had broken a record in the harbour city.

Vanessa Brown, Natalie Wolfe and Benedict Brook
4 min read
March 12, 2017 - 7:31AM
Fans excited to see Adele

THE roads may have been jammed and the trains full to the rafters but Sydneysiders didn’t care heading to the second Adele concert in their masses. And the British powerhouse, who has proved she can shut down a city when she belts out a song, revealed she had surpassed herself in Sydney with a message to fans.

At the end of the concert the singer said Sydney was the largest crowd she had played in her whole career. Around 96,000 people packed into Olympic Park’s ANZ Stadium.

During the night, Adele also dedicated a song to a fan who had suffered a heart attack at the previous evening’s concert.

“I’d like to sing this song for her tonight,” she said before the ballad Take It All. “We don’t know if she’s OK yet, we’re trying to find out.”

The previous evening, a tearful Adele had halted the show as medical crews rushed to assist the ailing fan.

But the delays that have plagued her Sydney shows resurfaced after the concert finished with huge queues at the Olympic Park station with Sydney Trains estimating some 70,000 fans travelled by rail.

“ Adele concert was amazing but Sydney Rail ruins it again,” fumed one fan.

Earlier on Saturday, concertgoers had taken to Twitter to vent their frustration with one snapping a picture on Google Maps of the roads around the venue where the concert took place, all coloured red. That’s red for nothing is moving.

“It seems Adele broke Sydney,” Tweeted ABC producer and presenter Matt Bevan.

After debuting her Australian tour in Perth just over a week ago, the singer-songwriter finally rewarded her Sydney fans with a sold-out show last night at ANZ Stadium in Sydney’s Olympic Park.

But despite a stellar performance her Sydney debut wasn’t without its problems.

With the Homebush venue well and truly reaching its 95,000 capacity — traffic chaos erupted across the city, bringing Sydney to its knees.

Adele delayed the start time of her first Sydney show, as commuters battled to make their way to ANZ Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.
Adele delayed the start time of her first Sydney show, as commuters battled to make their way to ANZ Stadium in Sydney Olympic Park. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.

Tens of thousands of commuters suffered in “ridiculous” traffic trying to reach the venue via gridlocked streets before her first song started.

But with only 35 per cent of patrons arriving in time — the 28-year-old was forced to delay her concert start time by 45 minutes.

“Five hours in solid traffic to see Adele in Sydney tonight,” one social media user tweeted.

After the fans managed to make their way into the stadium Adele kicked off her Sydney concert with Hello before admitting, “Well, I’ve never seen a crowd this f**kin’ big, that’s for sure. Never, never,” she said.

Following the two-hour long show, commuters were left further frustrated as they battled their way out of the carpark following the concert.

“Waited longer to get out of the car park following Adele concert than the actual concert was! No traffic management!!” another Twitter user said.

Meanwhile an electrical fault also caused signal failure at around 7pm at Olympic Park Station, causing further travel disruptions.

With about 68,500 concert goers travelling by rail and over 9,000 by bus, this delay directly impacted two trains at the time, causing up to 20 minutes delay on other services en route.

“Engineers identified the cause of the signal failure and rectified the fault,” a Transport NSW spokesman told the Daily Telegraph.

Not only was there absolute traffic gridlock, ambulances were also called to the ANZ Stadium after a fan collapsed from a cardiac arrest.

Speaking to news.com.au, Ambulance NSW confirmed that a 47-year-old woman had suffered from cardiac arrest, and was taken to Westmead Hospital for treatment.

A spokeswoman from NSW Health was unable to confirm the woman’s condition on Saturday morning.

During the emergency, Adele seemed quite tearful after realising a fan of hers was hurt.

“She stopped the show after about a dozen paramedics came into the front area of the stadium,’ News.com.au Entertainment reporter Bronte Coy said, who attended the concert on Friday night.

Adele reportedly stopped her show after a woman collapsed and paramedics were called. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.
Adele reportedly stopped her show after a woman collapsed and paramedics were called. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.

“She could see them [paramedics] so she quickly told everyone to get out of the aisles.

“Then the next song started, which was Set Fire to the Rain, and the light show started. Adele yelled out ‘STOP WAIT’ and the lights came back on.”

It is understood Adele became quite emotional as the woman was treated on the scene.

“The lights came back on, and Adele burst into tears,” Coy said.

“Adele said ‘I’m sorry, I can’t, someone’s not well and I’m worried. There’s fireworks in this song and I don’t want to scare them.’”

It is understood Adele started the song again when she was given the all clear and the woman was escorted from the stadium on a stretcher.

Adele stopped her show at ANZ Stadium on Friday night after a 47-year-old woman collapsed. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.
Adele stopped her show at ANZ Stadium on Friday night after a 47-year-old woman collapsed. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images.

Commuters are bracing for #Adele-MageddonPART2 with a similar crowd size set to cram inside Olympic Stadium tonight.

Heralded as the biggest event since the 2000 Olympics, Transport NSW provided extra bus services and express trains to cater for the masses, but that did little to assist with crowd numbers.

“Traffic was extremely heavy due to the number of fans converging on Olympic Park by car, as well as the normal Friday peak,” Transport NSW Coordinator General Marg Prendergast said in a statement.

“While traffic is still expected to be extremely busy tonight, buses won’t have to compete with peak hour traffic.”

Authorities are advising fans to plan their journey and arrive well before the official 7.30pm show time, with track work set to impact parts of the Northern and North Shore train lines.

“The best advice for Adele fans heading to tonight’s show is to get there by public transport,’ Mrs Prendergast added.

“The ANZ Stadium carpark is already full so anyone who hasn’t pre-booked a spot should leave the car at home.

“Our message to fans is to allow plenty of time to get to the stadium tonight, and aim to arrive early if you can.”

Those coming from the north side of the city by train have been urged to allow up to three hours to get to the stadium, with buses replacing trains on the T1 Northern and North Shore line, as well as the Central Coast and Newcastle line and the Hunter line due to scheduled track work.

The works were planned well before the singer’s tour dates were announced and NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the works were running to a strict timetable and thus unable to be moved.

“You just can’t simply cancel $8 million of extensive works on the rail network at the click of your fingers,” he said.

Fans arrive at the Adele concert in Sydney's ANZ Stadium. Photo Jeremy Piper
Fans arrive at the Adele concert in Sydney's ANZ Stadium. Photo Jeremy Piper

Adele performs heads to Adelaide on Monday and then Melbourne next weekend.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/tours/adele-wows-sydney-but-not-without-a-few-hiccups/news-story/c187de96891756ba2bf4d36bd4961ae5