Monday, December 05, 2011 4:31 AM

Adelaide there is no easy way to say this. Sometimes you make a mistake so mammoth, so gigantic in size that you should be ashamed of yourselves for the rest of your days. Last night, most of you made such a mistake. I say this in all confidence because apart from the less than 2,000 in attendance, you missed seeing the incredible Sade in easily one of the best concerts of the year.

Originally planned as a Day On The Green event, the configuration of the Entertainment Centre into reduced, reduced mode caused some friction at the box office from several people unhappy with their re-assigned seats. However it meant everybody who was there, was close up and personal with the amazing talent of Sade.

From the very second that the giant curtains imploded out of sight, this show was completely breath-taking. The stage is completely empty and Sade emerges from the stage in silhouette into a square shaft of light. Then the eight piece band rises from beneath the stage as shadows playing Soldier of Love. The visuals are magnificent and it becomes quickly apparent that we are in for a lot more than just a singer singing some songs. There is choreography, moving stages, costume changes, breath-taking use of video, and there is that voice. A voice like warm honey, smooth, sexy and delicious.

Not a mere concert, it is more like a Broadway production or a Cirque de Soleil spectacular, Sade and her exceptional band created a magical atmosphere full of surprises, theatrics and spine tingling thrills.

Sade's debut album Diamond Life and the follow up Promise were the cool albums in the mid 1980s and a mammoth hit the world over. So when she plays songs like Your Love Is King and Jezebel, the place goes bananas. It fair to say most of this audience is here for the older material but the show is so staggering, each song hypnotic and experience so captivating newer songs are rapturously received like the old friends, the more popular songs have become. While it was quite a small audience, boy did they make some noise. Addressing this herself early in the show, Sade told us;

"It's cosy in here tonight. You are here and we are here. Which means everybody who should be here is here. There is absolutely nobody missing."

She was clearly telling us they would not be cutting any corners. And for close to two hours impossible things were made to happen. Not least of which was  realising that Sade is now 52-year-old, which seems like a mistake because she is still simply gorgeous. And the fact that she has only released six studio albums since 1984. She smouldered, danced, teased and thrilled Adelaide with The Sweetest Taboo, No Ordinary Love, Paradise, Stronger Than Pride and so many others.

The band is perfect. Stuart Matthewman (sax), Andrew Hale (keyboards) and Paul Denman (bass) have all been with her from the start. Matthewman in particular a huge part of the Sade sound, excelled at every solo.

If I had to pick highlights; the extended theatrical detective noir movie intro for and magnificent version of Smooth Operator was just outstanding. But there was a moment early in Is It A Crime when after Matthewman's solo stop dead and huge red drapes fall seemingly out of nowhere to completely change the entire stage set in a split second, it was electrifying.  

As a reviewer I see a lot of gigs and I am not easily impressed. But I was in danger of simply running out of superlatives in expressing just how mind blowingly magnificent Sade was.

(Words – Ian Bell)