Adele Live at the Royal Albert Hall

As I expected, Adele's performance was nothing short of amazing. Vocally and visually, she is stunning. The musical arrangements, instrumentals/vocal backing and atmosphere was a joy to behold. I would have rated this DVD a perfect 10 except for the dizzying and confusing editing/direction. While I realize a certain artistry and visual interest is needed to make any video enjoyable to watch, in this case it was so over the top, that it detracted from Adele's unique talent, that being vocally as well as her easy repartee with the audience. The camera stayed on Adele for no longer than 5 seconds at a time while she performed. And sometimes even less. Switching from Adele to shots of the audience, the architecture, the stage decor, the musicians, and for some ridiculous reason, the chandeliers, with a dizzying speed that made my head spin. Rather than adding visual interest for the viewer, to me, it created nothing short of an irritation which lasted over 100 minutes. During a concert where Adele is the star, and her amazing voice and personality are on showcase, it amazes me that the director sought fit to focus the cameras on almost everything but Adele's beautiful face. Fortunately, the CD was included in the pack, which will be much more often listened to than the DVD. This is heartbreaking for me, because visually, Adele is wonderful to look at - but alas, this DVD direction and editing did not use her beauty and stage presence to best advantage,but rather focused more on the surroundings and decor of the theatre, rather than its amazing star performer.

Of all the concerts in the present music industry, this one was by far the simplest and that is indeed the highlight of it. The band was brilliant and the orchestra worked beautifully. Needless to say, Adele's voice sounded expectantly top-notch but her humor was something of a treat for the audience. It seemed less like a singer singing for the audience and more like a bunch of friends singing together and having a great time.

Talking about the much vexed topic of the camera direction: Although the footage was prune to frequent change of camera angles, it did not bother me much. In fact, for me, it worked more then just fine. I found myself fully realizing the augustness of the setting, audience, music and the moments that made this concert such an amazing experience. Every shot of Adele was nothing but gorgeous, graceful and well cute. The audience looked very involved and connected with whatever was happening up on the stage.

The two concluding numbers stole the show. Someone like you just made you shed uncontrollable tears while rolling in the deep made the audience sing their souls out! The sheer emotions of these moments just makes this DVD an actual ticket to Royal Albert Hall where you can experience the entire beautiful night on your screen.

So, all in all a pretty well directed concert footage which truly captures the heart of this act both visually and musically. So don't miss this one, sit back and let Adele do what she does best: Make you cry and laugh at the same time.

Rating 9/10

Review by: Usama Lali

I liked the bluray version but the problem I have with it is that you can only enjoy it the first to fourth time you watch it, after that it becomes evident that out of a 100 minute concert, she talks 40% of the time... so the first time it's new stuff it's interesting the things she says but by the third time the jokes and stories are boring... so you'll go back to the songs on youtube instead or will be forced to listen to the same old dialogue again. It would be nice if the bluray came with a "concert only" feature that would skip her complementing her friends in the audience and her stories about how she wrote a song, etc. I had rated it 7 but after writing this I actually downgraded it to a six.

A wonderful performance showcasing Adele's truly awesome vocal and song writing talents. Clearly the audience was in love with Adele, and her with them - a love fest. The emotion was palpable at times. Adele's beautifully lusty vocal cords, always filled with emotion, establish her as the best contemporary musician IMO. The blu-ray video was truly a treat for all the senses.

The only criticism of the performance was some of the camera work which moved around far too often, the average sound quality (Dolby Digital), and Adele's failure to acknowledge some of the other band members. Particularly Miles Robertson at the keyboard who IMO anchored her performance and added a beautiful musical depth.

I was really expecting to like this because I like Adele's music. Indeed, the musical part was excellent with the exception of a few shrill notes, presumably due to the medical problem with her vocal chords that required surgery recently. I would rate the music a 9 or 10.

Unfortunately, the visuals were totally overproduced. It seemed like they had cameras everywhere producing some very interesting shots. Apparently the director felt constrained to use every camera frequently. As a result, the visuals came across as though it had been directed by a hyperactive ten year old. There was a new camera angle every few seconds. Early on, I found myself silently counting: one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi and BANG, like clockwork a new camera shot appeared on the screen, usually totally unrelated to the last shot. The only shots lasting more than four seconds were taken using cameras that were in motion or zooming in or out.

At heart this was a simple show - a woman seated on a stool or standing at a microphone with an orchestra and backup singers behind her. Adele sings intelligent thoughtful songs. There were no dancers or big production numbers ala Lady Gaga, Beyonce or Britney Spears. If I had been there in person, I believe that I would have been focusing most of my attention on Adele and only occasionally looking all over the place. I wish the director could have done it simply and lingered with shots of Adele for at least ten seconds so but perhaps he felt he needed to manufacture some excitement. I feel that the direction was a disservice to the viewing and disrespectful to Adele and her artistry.

Personally, I found myself paying more attention to the constant camera shifting than to Adele and the music. I found the direction so distracting that I gave up after about 15 minutes and listened, rather than watched, looking only occasionally at the screen to see if the camera lingered on any shots of Adele. Needless to say, they did not

I gave this a 6 overall - 10 for the music but 1 for the visual. I would have been better off buying the CD.