Adele’s tour stop in Chicago included more than her shows at the United Center. The British singer and her son made friends with the beluga whales at the Shedd Aquarium.
Adele’s private meet-and-greet with the whales Monday afternoon was during an “enrichment session,” Shedd spokeswoman Andrea Rodgers said. The sessions are for trainers to feed, play and check up on the animals.
In an Instagram video taken by B96’s djnikki, Adele told her fans at her concert Monday night about “melon-kissing” a beluga whale. A “melon-kiss,” Rodgers said, is when a human puts their forehead against the fleshy melon on the top of a beluga’s head.
“I felt so at peace with myself when I did it,” the singer said in the video. “She [the whale] put her cheek to my cheek, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.”
Rodgers said Adele and her son also saw several behind-the-scenes areas and public exhibits.
Beluga whales are known as “the canaries of the sea,” Rodgers said. “So it was quite appropriate.”
Adele didn’t sing for the whales.