Adele on stage fright: "it's actually getting worse"

Yesterday, following the release her new album 25, Adele announced details of a massive UK and European tour. The good news: she's not planning on playing "bashment versions" of 'Hello', 'Skyfall' or 'Rolling In The Deep'. The bad news: if anything, her stage fright is "actually getting worse."

After several years off from releasing music or playing live, Adele announced yesterday that she'll be playing four nights at London's O2 Arena as part of an extensive UK and European tour.

The news came as something of a shock, giving that Adele has repeatedly talked of her fear of playing huge venues. In fact, she told EQ a few years ago, "I'd rather do 12 years at the Barfly than one night at the O2."

In a recent interview with NPR, Adele was asked how she'd overcome this fear of large crowds. It turns out she hasn't. "In terms of like making it your own live, I get so nervous with live performances that I'm too frightened to try anything new," she explained. "It's actually getting worse. Or it's just not getting better, so I feel like it's getting worse, because it should've gotten better by now."

She continued, "With my stage fright, I just don't want to let people down. I get so nervous onstage that I don't have the guts to improvise or anything like that. But also, you know when you go to a show of someone that you love, and they play a record that you absolutely love, but they play it so many different ways that you can't even sing along?

"One of my favorite things about going to a gig and, doing a gig, is the singalongs — the crowd gets to sing with you and you get to sing with the artist. Like, that's one of my favorite things personally. So I would never want to perform a song completely differently. I mean, imagine if I started doing a bashment version of 'Hello.' Everyone would be like, 'What?'"

Either way, she still sounds like one of the best performers alive. Incredible voice.