The five things I learned from Adele

Adele is closing out her 10-show residency in Munich today. So I wanted to take a moment to honour her accomplishment.

I had to good fortune to buy a single ticket to see one of her shows and here is what learned:

?? If it doesn't exist, then build it...and improve it.

The stadium was purpose-built for the residency, an 80,000-seat outdoor arena equivalent to the size of 60 football pitches. It had all the usual features including a much-needed cup rest!

It featured a 93-metre and a 200-metre (660 ft) semi-circle stage, allowing Adele to get closer to the audience.

Backed by the largest screen of all time 220 metres by 30 metres high, designed to resemble an unrolled film reel, with a shape to guarantee good visibility for everyone.

?? Technology can be used to engage and connect, all generations and cultures.

Why waste a good screen? She added a QR code and offered anyone waiting for her to come on (there was no opening act) to get featured on the screen.

Messages of “celebrating my cancer-free mum”, “travelled to see you from Peru” and the cheeky “My boss thinks I’m doing home office” elicited cheers and applause from the crowd. As well as live feeds of people waving to the cameras.

This made the audience feel more connected and hopeful as the wait continued.?

?? AI is scary but it can also be fun, entertaining and distracting.

Along with sharing photos and messages from the crowd, you could also be featured on the big screen by posting your picture and being made to look like Adele in real time.

Funny (and not always a success), women and men could take a mug shot and be transformed into Adele singing on stage, in all of her finery, again eliciting a guffaw of laughter at every single transformation.??

?? Nothing beats people connecting in real life and having fun.

Only someone like Adele could create an “Adele World” immersive experience, that included an “I Drink Wine” bar named after her song.

But why stop there? A Ferris wheel, carousel, beer garden, and gastronomic area with 13,000 seats (along with a reproduction of the British pub Good Ship, where she did some of her earliest gigs) as well as a Spice Girls tribute act and karaoke for tens of thousands to sing her songs after the show!

?? Be cheeky and be yourself, it's the only way to connect authentically

To command and sustain the attention of over 3/4 million people night after night, rain or shine, and do it in her way, she is a legend.

...or as she famously said on stage the evening I saw her: "I was having a moment last night, feeling a bit overwhelmed, and then I thought, “Oh My God, I’m Adele!" and got over it!”?

Yes. Yes, you are.

And no one else could have pulled it off–with technology!–in quite the same way as you.

#technology #AI #concert #events #integration #adaption #education