13 February 2016
Newsdesk
Adele wowed fans and celebrities alike at a pre-Grammy Awards gig in Los Angeles on Friday (12Feb16), her first in the Californian city for four years.
The Brit superstar announced the concert on Wednesday (10Feb16), and tickets were offered to people in the California area who were previously registered with her website.
The lucky fans were treated to an array of her old and new hits in the 16-song set at venue The Wiltern, with celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Tom Hanks, Emma Stone and rumoured new couple Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom also in the excited audience.
Introduced on stage by her friend and fellow Brit, The Late Late Show host James Corden, Adele opened with her recent worldwide smash hit Hello, her first single from the new album 25.
Adele chatted to the crowd in between songs including Set Fire to the Rain and Someone Like You, revealing that she'd been to Disneyland on Tuesday (09Feb16) with son Angelo, and then joked about the venue being far too hot. "I feel like my make-up's about to slide off me (sic) face!" she laughed, according to Billboard.com.
She then apologised for the $50 (£31.25) price of tickets, telling fans she wanted them to be much cheaper.
"Sorry if it was a pain in the a** getting the tickets. Did any of you pay more than $50 for any of these tickets?" she asked. "They (the record company) were all saying, 'Oh let's do $150 a ticket, oh yeah! So-n-so said that…' I said $50.
"I would have (charged) less, but my record label is paying for this. As you can see by the set, we've run out of money," she joked, referencing the sparse backdrop.
Before the last song of the night, Adele asked her fans to give a rendition of her hit Hello. Desperate to capture the moment on video, she ran backstage, still holding her microphone, and pleaded with someone to lend her a phone.
"I need some kind of recording device. Hang on!" she said. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Someone give me a phone! Oh come on, there's like 20 f**king people back here, give me a phone!"
Joining in at the end of the song, Adele told the crowd to thunderous applause, "That was f**king amazing. That was a whole f**king song! You are amazing!... That was amazing. Thank you."
She finished her triumphant set with her 2011 hit Rolling in the Deep, and an enthusiastic Jennifer Lawrence was seen dancing along to the song with Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Orlando Bloom.
Celebrities were quick to praise the Brit's surprise gig, with Tom Hanks posting a gushing message on Twitter. "Adele. What a show. What a voice. What a woman. What an artist. What a date! Thank you. Hanx," he captioned a photo of the singer on stage. His wife Rita Wilson later shared an image of her and Tom meeting Adele and her boyfriend Simon Konecki on Instagram.com, writing to Adele, "There are no words. Only thank you."
"I know you're gonna rock the WILTERN (sic) tonight girl," wrote Lady Gaga, while Josh Groban tweeted, "Finally got to see the transcendent @Adele tonight. That voice live is a world treasure... !!!!!!"
The singer's world tour kicks off in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 1 March (16).
