The British Superstar better known as ADELE has outdone Robbie Williams and Justin Beiber to generate the biggest crowd in history to gather at Melbourne’s Etihad stadium causing traffic chaos in Melbourne on Saturday night as 75,000 people left the venue.
Many fans took to social media to document their slow journey home, describing it as a ‘mission’. The guests flooded the stadium’s exits after Adele’s last song, posting photos of the crowd walking shoulder-to-shoulder.
Meanwhile, Etihad Stadium took to Twitter to thank Adele for her record-breaking performance. Despite Justin Bieber performing at the venue earlier this month, they confirmed the Rolling In The Deep star had hit a milestone. ‘It’s the biggest crowd ever at an Etihad Stadium event. Thank you!’ read the post.
Etihad Stadium also tweeted their car park spots were ‘sold out’, despite fans being urged by Public Transport Victoria to take public transport. Early reports by the Herald Sun suggested overcrowding at Bourke St. tram stops amid real congestion at Southern Cross railway station as concert goers arrived early.
The publication claimed while Yarra Trams scheduled extra services for the event, the trams were already at capacity when they arrived at the packed stop. Adele has created traffic chaos during her previous Australian tour dates, forcing her to start 45 minutes late in Sydney earlier this month. The mother-of-one performed hits from her critically acclaimed album 25, as well as old favourites in her 18-song set list.
As she wrapped up the first of two Melbourne shows on the final leg of her debut Australian tour here is a woman who glides across the stage in a dusky pink sequinned dress from the gods, her voice big enough to match the sizeable stadium, delivering 18 songs flawlessly and with an effortless grace, punctuated with many a warm smile.
In an era where real girls next door are hung up on curating Instagram-friendly versions of themselves, Adele is keeping it real. “I have managed to avoid your paparazzi like the plague” she said, apparently thanks to some decoy vehicles which misled our snappers as to her whereabouts. “There hasn’t been one paparazzi shot of me in Australia, I think Justin Bieber got the lot of it.”
The bottom line is talent not just for belting out a tune but for connecting with an audience and bringing people together. This she has in spades and it’s worthy of the retro glamour she pays homage to from that drop-dead-gorgeous frock to the many influences in her music, from the tambourine-laden, ’60s soul ballad-inspired One And Only; to the upbeat, 70s Rock n Roll feel of I’ll Be Waiting.
It’s talent that should be celebrated, and shared, and basked in, and to that end, this concert went the extra mile. The adorable “kiss cam” singling out couples (especially gay ones) to smooch on camera, the inspirational notes written on confetti that rained down on the audience (a personal note once again stuck to the back of a chair in the nosebleed section) and the vision of Flinders Street Station and other City landmarks scrolled across the screen during Hometown Glory while the singer swaddled herself in the Australian flag. Adele will perform her last Australian concert in Melbourne on Sunday, before jetting to Auckland, New Zealand next week.
