The second weekend of spectacular live music at American Express presents BST Hyde Park continued today with Adele taking to the Great Oak Stage for a flawless 18-track headline set.
The London-born singer came ‘home’ to perform at Hyde Park, wearing a black Schiaparelli floor-length gown. She told cheering fans, “I’m so excited to be here! I’m back at home. The amount of times I’ve been out there drunk singing at other artists… It’s so strange to be in front of a crowd again.”
Delighting her audience with her immense portfolio of records, Adele performed several highly-acclaimed tracks from all four of her albums, 19, 21, 25 and 30 – opening with Hello before launching into hits Rumour Has It, Someone Like You, Rolling In The Deep. She also had fun with the crowd, launching t-shirt cannons into the masses – each of which contained £50 “to buy yourself a drink”.
Adele brought her incredible two-hour show to a climax with When We Were Young and Love Is A Game to a roar of applause from the 65,000-strong crowd.
Celebrating 30 years since the release of her era-defining number one hit Dreams, singer-songwriter Gabrielle was second on the bill for the Great Oak Stage. The Hackney-born songstress dazzled the audience with her silky-smooth vocals with other renowned tracks, including Rise, Sunshine and Out of Reach. Her iconic set ended with Dreams.
Earlier, London-born Motown singer, Tiana Major9, opened the Great Oak Stage. Her powerful vocals warmed up the excited crowd with her Grammy nominated single Collide from Queen & Slim among other beautiful songs. Soon after, 24-year-old singer-songwriter, Mahalia, took to the stage. Mahalia told the audience: “I have to just say thank you to Adele for having me on this stage. With so many other incredible, incredible artists. Adele 19, the album, is the whole reason why I picked up a guitar in the first place and started writing. Without her, I don’t know if I’d be here.”
Then came American songstress Kacey Musgraves, who performed at BST Hyde Park in the midst of her Star Crossed: Unveiled tour. Kacey performed her popular tracks High Horse, Slow Burn and her own rendition of Dreams by Fleetwood Mac. “This is so beautiful, there are so many of you here. Holy shit!” she exclaimed. “We’re going to have fun today even though I made a very depressing album.” Over the last 10 years, Kacey has supported many of the world’s top artists, including Harry Styles, Little Big Town and Katy Perry. Her performances this weekend mark her final dates in the UK before heading to the US, Australia and Japan.
The day kicked off on the Hard Rock presents Rainbow Stage with singer-songwriter Chrissi – followed by alternative rock singer Nilüfer Yanya. Finally, Rebecca Lucy Taylor – known as Self Esteem – brought the Hard Rock presents Rainbow Stage to a close with a string of tracks from her albums, Compliments Please and Prioritise Pleasure.
Another extraordinary night of great music at this year’s American Express presents BST Hyde Park. Roll on tomorrow.
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