Adele: 'I thought I was going to die before tour opener!'

Adele suffered from "severe bowel movements" before kicking off her tour.

The British singer but delighted fans when she announced her intention to tour with her comeback album 25, and hit the road for the first time in five years on Monday night (29Feb16).

But the prospect of entertaining 11,000 devotees at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was daunting for Adele.

"This is my first time in an arena ever," she shared. "I have actually been s**tting myself all day, literally. I've had severe bowel movements. When I came up that f**king stage in the dark, oh my God, I thought I was going to die.

"I woke up this morning sounding like Arnold Schwarzenegger. My voice was so deep because I slept with the air con on. And then I had bowel movements because of tonight. Then Gatwick (airport) closed and I thought my boyfriend wasn't going to get here on time."

She even had to turn to medication to make sure she could get through the show, adding, "I've had an Imodium (diarrhoea remedy) so it's going to be alright!"

And alright it most certainly was, as Adele kicked off the tour in incredible style.

She won rave reviews for her first show, with a reporter for Britain's Daily Mail newspaper writing, "She remains a superb singer with a powerful voice that she uses to brilliant effect", while a critic for The Sun added: "Over two hours Adele proved exactly why she is the most successful and celebrated artist of her generation."

Adele, who wore a custom-made black sequinned Burberry gown for the concert, made sure to keep her vocal cords well lubricated by sipping on her favourite beverage, a cup of tea, as she chatted with the audience in between tracks.

She will return to the SSE Arena Belfast for a second date on Tuesday night (01Mar16), before moving on to Dublin, Ireland on Friday (04Mar16). She wraps up the European leg of her tour with gigs in Antwerp, Belgium in June (16), before heading to Saint Paul, Minnesota to launch her North American dates in July (16).