Adele Dazzles at Homecoming Concert in Hyde Park: ‘London, I Love You So Much’

variety.com:

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFirst things first: Adele showed up.And in many ways, that was the biggest hurdle Adele had to clear on her way to triumphing at the first of two shows at London’s American Express Presents BST Hyde Park festival.You see, the last time Adele headlined a massive outdoor run in her hometown, in 2017, she canceled the last two shows of her scheduled four-night Wembley Stadium stint after damaging her vocal cords.

In fact, this was her first full live show since then.More recently, there was the small matter of her Las Vegas residency, scrapped at the very last minute, leaving many British fans stranded in Sin City.

So when Adele posted “Who’s ready for tomorrow?” on Instagram ahead of this huge show, many people’s retort might well have been along the lines of, “Let’s hope you’re ready…” Add in some complaints over the cost of some tickets for these two 65,000-capacity gigs (although they were hardly out of line with other major concerts) and the general feeling that Adele – once as London as jellied eels – might have ‘gone all L.A.,’ her adopted home, and you have reasons for the first flickerings of, well, not hometown fury exactly.

But definitely some good, old-fashioned British grumbling about the U.K.’s biggest star potentially losing touch with her roots.None of that stopped the scalpers coming out in force, their mantra of, “Tickets for Adele, buy or sell” echoing around the approach to Hyde Park.