Adele Plays Oracle Arena

Adele Plays Oracle Arena

PHOTO BY ADRIAN LASSO-CC

Adele


Brit pop sensation is stateside with an Oracle Arena concert.

In the movie Skyfall, James Bond fell in a river, and everyone thought he was surely dead, because no one remembered the previous 22 Bond movies. But what people do remember is the infectious, unstoppable theme song sung by British songstress Adele.

Adele’s country-tinged Brit pop took the music world by storm, but in interviews Adele still thinks of herself as a random Cockney girl reeling from her unexpected smash success. Eschewing celebrity culture, she disappeared from the public eye after her initial explosion, first recovering from a damaged voice, and then busy with the birth of her son. Finally, after four years of anticipation, Adele is back.

Her third studio album, 25, is named for how old she was when she started work on it and reflects a more cautious world-weary Adele, wiser after four years of spiritual and artistic growth but still struggling with the peculiarities of fame and the pains of life. “Water Under the Bridge” is an understated, unsentimental love song about her relationship with the father of her new son, while “Send My Love” takes to task a former lover who broke her heart.

Now Adele returns stateside for her first North American tour in five years, bringing her unique brand of folk soul to the Oracle Arena. Aug. 2, 7:30 p.m. $41.50-$157. Oracle Arena, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, www.Coliseum.com.