Adele - Live At The Royal Albert Hall Album Reviews & Song Lyrics

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Adele "Live At The Royal Albert Hall" album

- Release date : November 2011 -

Live At The Royal Albert Hall is a live album by English singer-songwriter Adele. It was released on November 25, 2011 in Australia, November 28, 2011 in the United Kingdom and November 29, 2011 in the United States. The concert was recorded as part of Adele's Adele Live tour at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The tracklist consists of songs taken from Adele's previous albums "19" and "21" as well as covers of Bonnie Raitt’s "I Can’t Make You Love Me" and The SteelDrivers' "If It Hadn’t Been For Love".

"Live At The Royal Albert Hall" album tracks and lyrics

"Live At The Royal Albert Hall" album reviews

There's a strange, beguiling contrast between the elegance of her singing voice and the cockney-barmaid tone of her introductions, littered with expletives, ribald cackles and self-deprecating discussions of Adele's personal life, but between them the songs emerge more meaningful. The set mingles songs from her two albums with a few covers – notably impassioned versions of "I Can't Make You Love Me" and "Make You Feel My Love" – and a new song, the soulful "I'll Be Waiting", in which the passing of time is again the main theme, building to a moving climax of "Someone Like You" and "Rolling in the Deep".

*** By Andy Gill, The Independent ***

Live at the Royal Albert Hall features British vocal sensation Adele performing at the storied venue during her promotional tour for her 2011 studio effort, 21. Backed by her rock ensemble as well as a string section, Adele runs through most of 21 while adding in earlier hits off her 2008 debut, 19, including "Chasing Pavements," "Hometown Glory," and "My Same." Primarily, however, Adele focuses here on material off 21, including such cuts as "Rumour Has It," "Turning Tables," "Someone Like You," the über-ballad "Take It All," and the funky hit "Rolling in the Deep." In perfect vocal form here prior to her 2011 throat surgery, Adele is the epitome of a burnished soul diva with a singer/songwriter's heart. Beautifully recorded and performed, Live at the Royal Albert Hall conveys all the drama of Adele's music and is the perfect companion piece to 21.

*** By Matt Collar, All Music ***

Backed by a live band, including a string section and backup singers, Adele brings the dramatics of her two albums to life, with a bit of humorous, cuss-filled banter in between songs. [...]

Opening song “Hometown Glory” immediately sets the tone, as she proves that her talent requires little else but a piano, and Adele’s soul-powered voice is enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall five times over. “Chasing Pavements” is a highlight from her debut, while the Bob Dylan-penned “Make You Feel My Love” serves here as a tribute to Amy Winehouse. Adele asks those in attendance to light up their cell phones in memory to the late singer. As a disco ball swirls across the starry ocean-sized audience, it’s a truly touching moment, especially as Adele herself has acknowledged the influence Winehouse has had on her career.

She covers The Steeldrivers (“If It Hadn’t Been for Love”) and Bonnie Raitt (“I Can’t Make You Love Me”) and both come across as heartfelt and stunning, yet it’s her own songs and self-deprecating, humorous storytelling found on the full concert DVD which find her truly connecting with the audience. Before launching into a “rare, happy song” entitled “I’ll Be Waiting”, Adele charmingly lets everyone know, “I’m pretty miserable, really.”

The bulk of the setlist centers around her record-breaking album, 21, which includes many of the real gems she’s got in her catalog thus far. She prefaces “Take It All” by saying, “It’s got some high notes, so bear with me. I’ve had a respiratory infection.” It’s a bit of a shaky performance, especially since it draws the listener back to her health issues, whether directly vocally related or not. “Rumour Has It”, a tongue-in-cheek, “takin’ the piss” kind of song aimed at her rumor-believing friends, brings the tempo up a notch, although it’s hard to deny that the hook of the song, performed late in the set, finds her voice sounding a bit strained.

The incredibly moving “Someone Like You” should have been the final number – while she listened to the audience sing back the chorus of the emotionally charged song, Adele was left in tears, revealing her genuine sincerity and gratefulness. Instead, “Rolling in the Deep” is played last, and is admittedly nasally, although the crowd’s hand claps and singing help to energize it into a fitting finale. Nonetheless, both of her last songs, which served as her encore, are moving moments and a definitive celebration of how far she’s already come.

*** By Brittany Flynn, Consequence of Sound ***