Adele forced to restart George Michael tribute performance at Grammys

The British singer, who struggled with sound problems during her Grammy performance last year, took to the stage to sing a slowed down version of Michael’s single Fast Love.

But mid-way through the performance, Adele swore and asked the band to play the song again.

“I can’t do it again like last year,” she said.

“I’m sorry for swearing and I’m sorry for starting again. Can we please start it again? I’m sorry, I can’t mess this up for him.”

Adele appeared close to tears at the end of the tribute to Michael, but received a standing ovation from the audience in the Staples Centre.

After winning song of the year for Hello, Adele said: “I really do apologise for swearing. George Michael, I love him. He means a lot to me.”

The swear word was bleeped out on the televised broadcast in the US.

Adele had earlier opened the Grammys with a flawless performance of her single Hello.

During the 2016 Grammys, she sang her hit All I Ask, from her album, 25, but minutes into the performance the sound seemed to disappear.

She tweeted after the ceremony explaining the technical hitch: “The piano mics fell on to the piano strings, that’s what the guitar sound was. It made it sound out of tune. S**t happens.”

There were more sound problems at this year’s ceremony as Metallica and Lady Gaga performed Moth Into Flame.

The microphone used by the band’s frontman James Hetfield was not working at the start of their performance, forcing him to share Gaga’s microphone.

Adele paid tribute to George, 53, after he was found dead at his home on Christmas Day.

Backstage, Adele said she was “devastated” that she had to restart her rendition of Fast Love and revealed the former Wham! star’s family initially did not want a tribute to be included in the show.

“I had a bit of shaky rehearsal today but I’ve been working really hard on this tribute for a month, literally every day,” she said.

“I was devastated on Christmas Day. I had to go for a walk on my own and just read for a while.

“On Boxing Day I said to Simon, my partner, ‘I have to do that tribute’. They didn’t want a tribute at first, his family. They came back and very specific that it had to me.

“I was like, ‘Great, I have something in the pipeline, if you want me to do it I’ll do it’.

“I found him to be one of the truest icons because a lot of the time, people who are that globally known and famous, there tends to be – not fakeness in a bad way – but they put on this massive bravado, this alter ego, to protect themselves.”