Adele - Live in Paris

One and Only:

Someone Like You:

Make you feel my love

Rolling in the deep

Long overdue, Adele proves she's a star

ADELE
By James Reed

Globe Staff

Adele hadn't even finished her first song when the applause engulfed her last night at the House of Blues. It was deafening, and she seemed humbled. Two years ago, she was yet another popular British singer who hadn't made quite the same dent in this country. In 2011, Adele is finally a star here, with a new record perched atop the Billboard 200 chart for seven weeks and counting and her face gracing the cover of Rolling Stone.

Success suits Adele. It's been a remarkable ascent for an artist so uninvested in trends. While her peers in the pop world peddle artifice (Lady Gaga), sex appeal (Katy Perry), and moon-eyed innocence (Taylor Swift), Adele is on her own road, the one paved with little more than sincerity, talent, and a panoramic voice that's truly a gift.

Her House of Blues show, which sold out months ago, was old-fashioned by today's standards -- moving in its simplicity, flawless in its execution. Whether standing or sitting on a chair emblazoned with weiner dogs in homage to the one she has back home in London, Adele commanded the stage like a veteran performer (she recently turned 23). She was the driving force behind her five-piece band and two singers who filled in the few gaps that Adele's voice didn't.

Playing a cross section of her two albums, "19" and "21," she rode the ups and downs of her songs' various states of mind. On a dime, she switched from lovesick ("Take It All") to saucy ("Rumour Has It"). She saved the best for last, a roaring singalong of "Rolling in the Deep," which, she gleefully pointed out, is the No. 1 song in the US at the moment.

Her penchant for interpreting other artists was on glorious display, too, from the spectral piano rendition of Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" (complete with mirrorball) to the bossa nova breeze that wafted through the Cure's "Lovesong." The rustic Americana of "If It Hadn't Been for Love," originally performed by the bluegrass band the SteelDrivers, suggested someone needs to get this woman to Muscle Shoals to make a Southern soul record. ("Adele in Memphis"? Yes, please.)

The Civil Wars, the indie-folk duo of Joy Williams and John Paul White, took a similarly heartfelt approach to their opening set. Led by White on acoustic guitar, the pair exuded an intense chemistry that sometimes prompted Williams to wander over to White's microphone. Never mind that they were standing just two feet from each other: Their performance, just like the music, was strictly about intimacy.

Adele in Paris Live Concert at La Cigale - One and Only

Adele Adkins would give up career for love

The Independent:

Adele would have "given up" her career for her ex-boyfriend.

The 'Someone Like You' hitmaker - whose former love was the inspiration behind her second album '21' - admitted she will never forgive herself for not making the relationship work, as she would have put aside her musical aspirations for true love.

Asked whether she would trade success for romance, she explained: "I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for not making my relationship with my ex on '21' work, because he's the love of my life.

"I would still be singing in the shower, of course, but yeah - my career, my friendships, my hobbies. I would have given up trying to be the best."

Adele - whose debut album '19' was also inspired by her tumultuous love life - explained she will always be looking for a copy of her ex-boyfriend in future relationships because the couple were so similar that they were "almost like twins".

She added to Out magazine: "He was my soul mate. We had everything - on every level we were totally right. We'd finish each other's sentences, and he could just pick up how I was feeling by the look in my eye, down to a T.

"We loved the same things, and hated the same things, and we were brave when the other was brave and weak when the other one was weak - almost like twins, you know - and I think that's rare when you find the full circle in one person, and I think that's what I'll always be looking for in other men."