By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
When Amanda Bentley steps on stage to sing Adele, the existential question of “chasing pavements” no longer applies. Instead, she’s chasing the feeling that first made her fall in love with singing.
“I compare it to going to the vocal Olympics,” she laughs as she details the vocal challenges of singing the songs of the highly acclaimed English pop and soul singer-songwriter who is famous for her soaring choruses powered by a heavy chest voice with deft transitions to a gentle head voice.
“The work that I’ve had to put into learning the material has been vigorous, but it’s also been really rewarding, and it’s kind of rekindled my love of singing, which I had kind of lost for a while.”
For years, the Okanagan-based performer has made her living the way many working musicians do — slogging through late nights in bars, weddings, and private events. It paid the bills, but it slowly drained the joy.
“When you do it as a job, and you know, I’ve been kind of playing the bar circuit, weddings, private events, it kind of took away the joy because it just became this tedious job,” she says. “Diving into this stuff has literally made me love singing again.”
Now, that renewed passion is at the heart of a full-scale Adele tribute show that began as a gamble at the end of last year and has quickly grown into a touring production built in the Okanagan and aimed at soft-seat theatres across the region.
“We decided to launch it at the end of December,” Bentley explains. “It was when we said, ‘Let’s do this, let’s take a chance and see what happens.’”
That chance has already paid off. The seven-date tour around BC’s Interior (including Venables Theatre on June 13) kicked off with strong ticket sales for the 850 seat Kelowna Community Theatre and pretty much confirmed that the concept — a deeply personal tribute to Adele rather than a straight impersonation — resonated with the audience.
“The fact that we filled a giant theatre in Kelowna and had a really successful show… it feels like we’re really building something,” she says. “It’s a world‑class show. The caliber is so high, and for me to do that from the Okanagan is just, it’s a dream come true.”
The Adele Tribute is on Saturday, June 13 at Venables Theatre.
Contributed photo
Unlike many tribute acts that orbit larger centres such as Vancouver, Bentley’s project is rooted firmly in the Okanagan with every single member of the band calling the region home.
“Everyone is from the Okanagan,” she says. “A lot of them have never worked together before, but everybody knew of each other, because it’s all people who’ve worked at a very high caliber. This was sort of the first time bringing a few of them together, and it’s just been a love fest.”
The show follows a path carved by other successful tribute acts. “Watching what [promoter and musician] Mike Schell has done with the Elton John tribute, and I have friends in The Hip Replacements [the Tragically Hip tribute band], and kind of seeing what they’ve done from this area, it’s kind of paved the way for me to make this decision and say, ‘Hey, I can do this too,’” she says.
Her own career has included a substantial stint in Toronto where she worked with a wide range of top artists including Jully Black’s band performing with Harry Belafonte, Alicia Keys, Holly Cole, Rufus Wainwright and K’naan, as well as opening for Canadian music icons Tom Cochrane and Barney Bentall.
But that was then and this is now and the choice to base the new show in the South Okanagan is intentional. “I spent a big chunk of my career in Toronto, but being able to be in Penticton, raise my kids in a great community, and still have this great career in the music industry — it’s priceless.”
When asked if this project is a one‑off tour, Bentley (no doubt buoyed by the solid opening) is unequivocal: “We’re gonna keep touring this show,” she says. “We are pedal to the metal at this point!”
For non‑musicians, it’s easy to think of Adele as simply a powerful belter, but Bentley notes that’s only part of the story — and not the hardest part.
“People tend to go, ‘Oh, she’s a belter’. Yeah, she belts, but it is her transitions that are reminiscent of old school jazz singers, like Ella Fitzgerald – that is the challenge. If I just belted her stuff nonstop, that’s actually a lot easier than diving into the subtleties and the nuances, and that’s what I work really hard to do.”
Bentley has immersed herself in Adele’s catalogue to the point of near-forensic analysis. Repeated listening has revealed not just big emotional swings, but tiny technical details that most casual listeners would never consciously notice.
“The more you listen to it, you’re like, ‘Oh, she does this little flip at the end of this,’ or pronounces this like that, and you start to see the pattern,” Bentley says. “So then, when you’re approaching certain notes and words, you can anticipate what she does — but yeah, it was a deep dive.”
Some of Adele’s songs pose unique challenges. When asked about notoriously demanding material such as “To Be Loved,” she says it’s not on the set list this time, “but you know, I love a good challenge,” she says with a sparkle in her voice.
Her personal favourites to perform aren’t necessarily Adele’s biggest chart hits. One that stands out is the haunting ballad “Love in the Dark.” Even though it’s not a huge hit, “every time I sing it, I feel like I could sing it over and over,” she says.
Another highlight for her is “Set Fire to the Rain,” which took on added meaning at the Kelowna show.
“The song that I really enjoyed the most singing in Kelowna was ‘Set Fire to the Rain,’” she recalls. “It felt very cathartic, and, you know, it was sort of a sense of accomplishment in what we did putting together this show. It was like a good metaphor for our journey.”
One thing she is adamant about is that while attention to detail is important, she’s not trying to be an Adele impersonator. “One thing I refuse to do — I’m not an impersonator,” she says. “So I’m not going to be speaking in a British accent pretending to be her. We’re really paying tribute to the music.”
What sets the show apart, she says, is the emotional and personal layer she imbues to the material. The press release describes the performance as a “deeply personal tribute,” which begs explanation.
“When you go to an Adele show, you are in for a deeply emotional performance,” she says. “For me it’s making sure I’m being authentically myself on stage. The show is almost part comedy, because there was a lot of joking around and Adele does that too, which I kind of gravitated towards her because I naturally kind of have that kind of humor and sarcasm.”
That mix of humour and vulnerability gives her room to connect with the audience more than just mimicking Adele.
“When I’m singing her songs, I’m not just robotically going through the motions,” she says. “I am trying to connect. How do I interpret this, and how do I attribute it to my own life and my own experiences, so I can bring the emotion and the feeling, rather than just, you know, mimicking her vocals. I want to make sure the audience is feeling every song.”
“This is Adele: A Tribute to Adele” will be performing at Venables Theatre in Oliver on June 13 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $62.50 and available from the theatre website or at the box office.
