Adele returns to the scene five years later in a concert before a dedicated audience

Singer Adele, at her Friday concert in London.SONY MUSIC

A sigh of relief washed over London's Hyde Park this weekend.

After five years without facing a paying audience, with a voluntary exile from the ferocious steamroller of

and with her fourth album under her arm, Adele was back on stage.

And she did it in a big way, with two dates before 65,000 people each who had sold out tickets for one of the most anticipated dates of the BST (British Summer Time) festival for months.

Hence, when the opening chords of

, from his previous album, opened his performance on Saturday, the lyrics could not have been more timely: “Hi, it's me, I was wondering if after all these years you would like us to meet”.

It was a tacit acknowledgment, before his fans, of the shadows that have cast over his career in the last five years, from his evanescence from public life, to his resounding last-minute cancellations, such as that of his long-awaited series of concerts in Las Vegas. in January.

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Her reappearance was, therefore, almost a question of survival, of showing why she is one of the most sought-after artists and, above all, of shutting up many mouths that questioned her dedication.

With exquisite British punctuality, the first statement of principles was aesthetic, with the

that defines her public image: black dress with diamonds,

hairstyle (she said to wear her hair down in tune with the Pride celebration yesterday, Saturday, in London ) and jewelry whose value could be equivalent to the GDP of more than one country.

Accompanied by three choristers and half a dozen musicians, she didn't need more.

But, in addition, Adele played at home.

If her fans tend to always show a special empathy with the star's troubles, partly because of that extraordinary ability to identify with her and her misfortunes, Hyde Park is her private garden.

“It has been an absolute pleasure to be here, with a local fan, there is nothing like London in summer”, she declared to a mass completely delivered to the compliments of her muse.

The

as the English press baptized her, recounted that she had attended countless concerts in the London park and revealed her colossal alcohol consumption in many of them.

His description was in the purest Adele style, seasoned with expletives, a personal stamp that did nothing but increase the devotion of a public that wants to continue believing that, under the façade of a great music diva, the girl from Tottenham survives, one from the poorest neighborhoods of the capital.

Adele, at a moment during her performance on Friday in London.SONY MUSIC

Adele knows it, and she complies: her way of singing borders on technical perfection, and not even the overwhelming emotion that intoxicated her at times betrayed the power of her voice, but, after each song, she immediately transforms into the foul-mouthed and lewd friend that every fan craves in his life.

She is aware that the audience is as interested in her music as in her chatter, and she does not waste the opportunity to prove that, despite living for years in one of the most exclusive areas of Los Angeles, she has not lost her mark. North London accent, or her ability to appear surprised to be on stage in front of tens of thousands of people.

"Thank you for being so patient with me," he declared, referring to the controversy of his cancellations, to which he would allude several times during the hour and 50 minutes of an event in which he spared no effort to please.

"Is there someone's birthday?", "Is there a special occasion?", "Has anyone had test results?", any excuse to connect with the crowd was valid, proving to be an animal of the show that, despite his confessed stage fright, manages to display an unusual spontaneity, like the one that led her, in the middle of the performance of

, to exhort the security operation, to intervene among the public: “Can you go there to help those people, please? ?”.

And there are two Adele, the singer and the performer.

Her lyrics speak of broken hearts, unresolved breakups, and feeling overwhelmed by the chaos that life can be, but she also laughs at herself, acting as if she's much older than her 34 years, even asking for help getting up when pianist who accompanied her in some of the most emotional moments of the night.

Among the top five must be

, from her latest album,

, considered the song of her divorce, consummated in 2021 and, inevitably, a new source of inspiration for an artist who has turned heartbreak into a ticket machine.

The large screens that flanked the stage revealed the still open wound on her face, especially as she intoned, referring to her ex-husband and their nine-year-old son, “you can't deny how hard I've tried, I changed who I was to put you first. But now I'm giving up."

A similar sentimental tremor came with another of her classics,

, of which she admitted that she had "reduced her to tears" the night before and that she did it again on Saturday, especially when she let the 65,000 throats present do the choirs for her. .

The evening's repertoire touched on the different styles she has experimented with on her four albums, within Adele brand consistency, but she had the obvious cunning to save the main courses for the final fireworks.

The sweeping

, accompanied by actual rain courtesy of London weather;

the confetti for the tremendous

and the extra complicity generated by appearing with the rainbow flag, a symbol of Pride, for

galvanized the crowd;

while the finishing touch,

, was the foretaste of the classic tint that he plans to give his long-awaited residence in Las Vegas.

Because after her sigh of relief at home, Adele seems ready to conquer the world again.