The last time Adele was in D.C., it was to kick off the U.S. leg of her 2011 tour in support of her album 21 with a show at the 9:30 Club. Next time she comes around, it’ll most certainly be some place bigger.

The 23-year-old British songstress, returning to the spotlight after a three-month layover following throat surgery, cleaned up at last night’s Grammy Awards, winning six trophies, including a sweep of album, record and song of the year. And then there was that sensational performance—her first since her operation last November—of “Rolling in the Deep.”

It feels not that long since Adele played her first show in Washington, in June 2008 at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, a much more intimate venue than the big clubs and concert halls she inhabits now. Back then, Adele was a 20-year-old newcomer and emerging sensation on the jazzy allure of her debut, 19, and one of a vanguard of young, female Brits—Duffy, Florence Welch, Amy Winehouse most of all—blending a soulful 1960s sound with contemporary pop. Then-music editor Amanda Mattos was there to catch the rising star.

Of Adele’s show, Mattos wrote:

She was cute and gracious in her presence, telling stories in her thick (sometimes hard to discern) accent about how she’s homesick for her house and her mum, or about how the night before she’d gotten drunker than she’d ever been in her life and was crawling on the sidewalk singing her hit “Chasing Pavement” to her mates and dropped her hat in a puddle (which, as it sat on her head, was still a bit wet). She quipped about a song it’s hard to sing now because the friend it was about “turned a bit bitch.” She admired the remarkable venue (“The reverb in here is insane! I have like 4 different voices in here.”), and told us she was glad we were seated (“My love songs are really sad and mopey, so I’m very pleased you’re sitting down, because you can’t dance.”). Between her songs and her banter, she was genuine, lovely and incredibly impressive. If she keeps producing this caliber of music and performances, she’ll have a career that far outlasts most of her peers.

Glad to say we were among those able to see that success coming. Here’s a video of Adele performing “Hometown Glory” at that Sixth and I show: