Adele’s charm shines through at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium

IT’S nice to report one of the highest selling shows in Australian history is also one of the most entertaining stadium concerts you could be lucky enough to attend.

Adele performs at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

• Record crowd says ‘Hello’ to Adele

ADELE was back in the box for her first Melbourne show. Despite stating Adelaide would be the last time she secretly arrived to her stage inside a pimped-out road case, the British superstar was wheeled into her sold out Etihad Stadium show.

Indeed she got her first premature cheers of the night when fans recognised the box and knew the precious cargo it contained.

It’s nice to report one of the highest selling shows in Australian history is also one of the most entertaining stadium concerts you could be lucky enough to attend.

It’s also refreshing that pure talent was the reason 75,000 people bought their tickets — to hear that voice sing those songs in the flesh.

Her success is proof people still connect with honesty and reminds you of when singers got famous because of their voices.

Adele performs at Etihad Stadium. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

Fans at Adele’s concert in Melbourne. Picture: Twitter/Tom Nickson

Being performed in the round improved the sound for a stadium show, while Adele’s banter between songs managed to make punters love her even more — and that’s saying something. It was like a mini comedy show at times, punctuated with her trademark cackling laugh and occasional salty language.

She apologised for her “miserable” songs in advance stating her show is “basically two hours of crying and songs about my ex boyfriend.”

The 28 year old also singled out a fan in the very back row of the nosebleed section and pointed out she’d left a personalised thank you note on the back of their seat.

“You had such sh-t seats I felt terrible,” she noted.

Before Bond theme Skyfall, recorded while she was pregnant, the singer said her testosterone levels meant she now has a white beard she gets lasered off “I was jinxed when I had my son.”

She then recalled singing the soundtrack theme at the Oscars spilling “bodily fluids” on her expensive dress because she was still “pumping and dumping.”

Members of the New Zealand Adele Fan Club were excited about the concert. Picture: Tony Gough

Adele also mentioned she was surprised how much she was enjoying her world tour, noting “I’m not much of a touring artist, I’d rather be home having a Chinese (meal) to be honest.”

The singer said Melbourne had banned the supersized T-shirt guns she’d used on other states, resorting to using a smaller model.

She praised herself for avoiding Australian paparazzi and said she hadn’t been “a recluse” while here but the photographers were “following Justin Bieber” instead.

The singer gave a shout out to the apartments overlooking the venue and invited a young girl named Sapphire on stage to sing an impromptu version of Hello.

There was discussion of the “insect graveyard” on her stage and broke into Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love while cooling off in front of a huge fan.

Adele performs at Etihad Stadium. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

A jubilant crowd greeted Adele at Etihad Stadium. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images

Her Australian tour will have sold a remarkable 570,000 tickets by the time it concludes with another Etihad Stadium show tonight — a handful of tickets are still available from Ticketmaster.

The songs from 21 — painfully documenting one of the most lucrative broken hearts in musical history — still hit the hardest. Although sadly Turning Tables has been jettisoned for the home stretch of her world tour.

While the anthems Rolling in the Deep, Rumour Has It and Someone Like You are immense, album tracks Don’t You Remember and Take it All remind you why 21 is a modern classic.

Earliest single Hometown Glory (complete with obligatory Melbourne video footage) still sounds as special as it did in 2008 while the newest material I Miss You, Send My Love to Your New Lover and of course Hello are purpose built for the masses.

And it’s remarkable to think that no commercial radio played her Dylan cover Make You Feel My Love (or anything off her first album) considering they’re now huge singalong moments.

If you can get a ticket for Sunday night’s show come for the incredible performances and enjoy watching her charm a stadium just by being herself.

Originally published as Adele’s charm shines through at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium