{"id":448691,"date":"2026-09-26T19:16:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T19:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/448691\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T19:16:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T19:16:33","slug":"review-adela-brings-sold-out-headlining-tour-to-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/448691\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Ad\u00e9la brings sold-out headlining tour to Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Slovakian pop star is a classically trained ballerina, so naturally, she brought a barre pole on Friday. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Photo by Madison Truscan for Dallas Observer<\/p>\n

You could see it on various pieces of merch scattered throughout the jam-packed venue<\/a> Friday night, a simple expression with vivid connotation: swaggerina.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those stuffed into the Echo Lounge and Music Hall for Ad\u00e9la Jergova\u2019s sold-out headlining debut inherently understood the viral phrase and how the 22-year-old Slovakian singer-songwriter and dancer standing on stage, sporting vibrantly pink hair, embodied that precise fusion of high and low<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Call it grimy, hard-edged electropop delivered with the most graceful of pli\u00e9s \u2014 Ad\u00e9la, embracing the mononym, as did her dance-pop forebears Madonna, Britney and Gaga (all of whom were heard over the PA pre-show), gave a relentlessly athletic, hypersexual and startlingly vulnerable performance on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Ad\u00e9la showed us why she\u2019s the prima ballerina of pop music. <\/p>\n

Photo by Madison Truscan for Dallas Observer<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Music newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n

THANK YOU!<\/p>\n

You’re all set.<\/p>\n

CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Ad\u00e9la was back in Dallas just four months after opening for Demi Lovato at the American Airlines Center in May, a stone\u2019s throw across I-35. This debut headlining run \u2014 christened as the Red Bottoms Tour \u2014 also comes on the heels of her first studio album, \u201cPRIMA,\u201d which dropped three weeks prior, to the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The at-capacity crowd, many of whom were bewigged in equally loud fashion and sporting crop tops reading \u201cThe Baddest Bitches are in Dallas,\u201d sang along at top volume to every song Ad\u00e9la showcased over the course of her roughly 65-minute set, which featured nearly all of \u201cPRIMA\u201d (save for \u201cHitachi\u201d) and multiple cuts from her 2025 EP, \u201cThe Provocateur.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Backed by a quartet of dancers, Ad\u00e9la opened with the throbbing \u201cKGB,\u201d fairly screaming the chorus \u2014 \u201cCall me the K-G-Biiiiiitch!\u201d \u2014 and paced the stage like a caged tiger, flinging her tresses and striking poses. Every move she made elicited a frenzied roar from the crowd, phones held aloft as others mimicked her posturing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The same day Ad\u00e9la came to Dallas, her viral hit, \u201cNicole Kidman,\u201d hit its biggest streaming day ever on the Global Spotify chart.<\/p>\n

Photo by Madison Truscan for Dallas Observer<\/p>\n

The sound mix fairly obliterated Ad\u00e9la\u2019s voice \u2014 when it did intermittently slice through the murk and heft, it was a pleasurable blend of delicacy and intensity \u2014 but if anyone was bothered by the backing tracks\u2019 heavy-handedness, it wasn\u2019t evident. The first 15 minutes climaxed with \u201cNastyDirtyGross,\u201d which saw the entirety of the Echo Lounge jumping up and down, the floor fairly vibrating with motion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The swift pace didn\u2019t leave much room for introspection, although Ad\u00e9la did pause before one of her breakout tracks, \u201cAin\u2019t in LA,<\/a>\u201d to reflect on her rapid ascent: \u201cI moved to L.A. with the dream and the goal of becoming a pop star,\u201d she said, as the audience shrieked its approval. \u201cI quickly became tired of L.A. and the celebrity culture \u2026 there\u2019s so many cool people everywhere. \u2026 The baddest bitches are not just in L.A., they\u2019re also in Dallas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

To drive home the point, she crowned Dylan, a fan from the audience as the night\u2019s \u201cBaddest Bitch in Dallas,\u201d and indulged in a little dance-off, before swapping out her ballet flats for boots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"On Friday, the \u201cAin\u2019t in L.A.\u201d singer confirmed what we knew to be true: \u201cThe baddest bitches are also in Dallas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo by Madison Truscan for Dallas Observer<\/p>\n

Ad\u00e9la, as many burgeoning pop stars before her, seems to intuitively understand the blend of sex, swagger and sensitivity \u2014 swathed in sparkles and screams \u2014 required for success.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is even a knowing detachment bordering upon irony to some of her lyrics \u2014 Ad\u00e9la is credited a co-writer on all of her songs \u2014 exemplified by the searing \u201cSexonthebeat.\u201d She cooed the song\u2019s lyrics, \u201cDo my dirty dance tonight\/Serve it on a silver platter, baby\/Make you think the choice is mine,\u201d as the lights dazzled and the crowd howled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If she can find a way to stand apart sonically (much of Friday\u2019s set began to blur into a homogenous smear of synth-pop and house rhythms) and bring more of her sly, raw perspective to the fore, Ad\u00e9la could join the ranks of pop music immortals. Pop music endurance relies on transcending the white-hot heat of the moment, which found its apex Friday with the night\u2019s final song, her viral smash hit \u201cNicole Kidman.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"In case anyone forgot the name of Ad\u00e9la\u2019s new record. <\/p>\n

Photo by Madison Truscan for Dallas Observer<\/p>\n

Before she sang the track, however, she knelt at the foot of the sparely dressed stage, which featured nothing more than a bright pink barre pole and a video screen which displayed her name all night, to indulge a ritual.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery night at the end of the show, I do a little manifestation,\u201d she explained. \u201cThese are the things I want to manifest tonight: I would love to do this forever and ever and ever \u2026 based on what I like, and not what other people want for me. \u2026 I would love and pray \u2026 to be a glamorous and talented person.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The room shouted its affirmations alongside her, suggesting that, perhaps, with their passion and her swaggerina vibes, the next time Ad\u00e9la conducts her manifestation ritual in Dallas, it may be in a significantly larger room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Slovakian pop star is a classically trained ballerina, so naturally, she brought a barre pole on Friday.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2171,102,104,103,4661],"class_list":["post-448691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-concert-reviews","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-pop-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}