Adele's Brits show-stopper nearly didn't happen

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Organisers feared the now famous version of Someone Like You, which left Adele in tears and an audience of millions mesmerised, would be drowned out by drunken music industry guests.

Instead the Tottenham-born singer, who will return to the O2 Arena tonight for this year's awards, went on to sell four million albums and last week won a record six Grammys in America.

David Joseph, chairman and CEO of Universal Music UK and chairman of the Brit Awards, said he took a huge risk by allowing Adele to go ahead with the stripped-back rendition. Tonight the singer, 23, will be accompanied by a full band. An insider said: "After last year's seminal performance, Adele thought it would be a bit foolish to try the same thing again. It will be a lot louder this time."

Mr Joseph said: "Adele played such a huge role last year. What she did and achieved definitely helped the Brits refocus the audience's mind that this is just about music. That performance and what happened afterwards has helped us secure the line-up we have this year. We used to be at Earls Court, which was quite a difficult room to do anything in apart from loud, brash performances.

"There was a huge risk taken with Adele, in terms of a performance that involved just a piano and a vocal. But she delivered spectacularly and the fans and the crowd were completely respectful of that moment."

Adele is up for three awards and the performance tonight will be her second since throat surgery.

Mr Joseph and host James Corden said they looked to the Grammys to reinvent the Brits after it moved to the O2 last year. Corden said: "We all look at how the Grammys are and go, 'Oh, why isn't our thing like that?' Well it can be. It's the mood that's set in the room - new venue, new award and new way of doing things." Blur, Coldplay, Noel Gallagher, Rihanna and Olly Murs will also perform tonight.

The Brit Awards are on ITV1 at 8pm. Full coverage in tomorrow's Standard.

Video and galleries at standard.co.uk, and for live Tweets from the O2 Arena follow @ESgoingout.