A Evening with Adele

Last night The Beans had the pleasure of seeing Adele at a small show at Theatre de la Jeune Lune. We (that’s a generous ‘we’) found Adele on myspace.com about a year ago and were extremely excited to learn that she was making a stop in Minneapolis on the U.S. leg of her tour to promote her debut album, “19.”

Theatre de la Jeune Lune is located in the Warehouse District. Exposed brick walls and remnants where additional walls and windows had once been in the empty warehouse surrounded the nearly bare stage. The setting was a perfect complement to the clear and confident tone of Adele’s voice.

Alone on stage, the London based singer opened the show belting out the lyrics to “Daydreamer.” A guitarist joined her on stage for the third and fourth songs, “Right as Rain” and “Melt My Heart to Stone.” The highlight of the show, in my opinion, came after pianist joined them on stage. “First Love” is a simple song with heartfelt lyrics, which is just the type of song to showcase Adele’s strength: her voice, powered by raw emotion. Her singing on songs such as “First Love” is reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, Otis Redding, or, more currently, Glen Hansard.

Adele then went into a beautiful rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love.” That song holds a special place in The Beans’ hearts and was wonderful to hear live. She played three more songs before leaving the stage. After quickly gulping a bunch of water backstage, she returned to play “Crazy for You” on her own. I’m not sure we’ve seen a performer so charming as Adele; during the song she quietly burped and I think most of the audience, like us, actually found it endearing.

Adele and her backing musicians closed the show with an Etta James cover, “Fool That I Am,” and her own “Chasing Pavements.”

In all, the show only lasted about an hour, but it was incredible. Although she mentioned that she had a migraine and some pain due to her wisdom teeth, she sounded absolutely amazing. Her recordings do not do her justice. Adele will be coming back to Minneapolis some time this fall.