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- The Guardian, Monday 21 July 2008
Her fans are audibly excited to see Adele but not, it would appear, as excited as Adele is to see them. She sprints on to the stage, flapping her arms and clasping her hands to her mouth: she looks less like a pop star than someone invited to "Come on down" by the late Leslie Crowther. When she reaches the microphone, the first thing that comes out of her mouth is not the famed gorblimey soul voice that's thus far shifted half a million albums, but a disbelieving snigger: "Ksssssssssh!"
Perhaps her hysteria has been brought on by the surroundings. She might affect a certain insouciance at the splendour of Somerset House - "Do you ever come to the ice rink 'ere? I don't. Can't skate" - but there's no doubt that, in the summer dusk, the neoclassical grandeur potentiates live music. A snide voice would suggest that Adele's music needs all the help it can get.
Her rise has not been without its vocal detractors: hers is one of those weird modern success stories that happens so fast and so smoothly, it seems almost creepily predetermined, as if the public have been browbeaten into liking her. Certainly, there are moments tonight when her sound seems a little too pat in its pursuit of a style you might characterise as low-alcohol Winehouse, or Ronson lighter. The drums thump Motownishly, the string section swirls, there's even a cover of a cosmic scouse indie track: in Adele's case, the Valerie role is taken by the Coral's Dreaming of You. Indeed, it is hard not to feel that the retro soul sound doesn't do Adele a lot of favours. She's infinitely more interesting when the band quit the stage and she accompanies herself on a bass guitar. She announces a cover of the Raconteurs' Many Shades of Black as "different from the sound on my album, so you'll probably 'ate it", but, in fact, that's precisely what's good about it: her voice seems more engaging and unique set against distorted guitars.
It is hard not to be charmed by her between, and occasionally during, songs, she is funny and abrasively smart - but there is no escaping the uneasy sense of an artist prematurely catapulted into the full glare of public attention. And maybe that is why she seems so disbelieving when she takes the stage: clearly a bright spark, perhaps Adele herself, knows she is not really ready to be where she currently is.
· At T4 on the Beach, Weston-super-Mare, tonight. Details: channel4.com/entertainment/t4
