The music icon Adele is rescheduling her most awaited residency in Las Vegas. 24 hours before opening night concerts of her Las Vegas residency, Adele has called off all of her concerts in Las Vegas. The Grammy-winner singer spoke to her fans directly via an emotional video post on Thursday, mentioning the multiple reasons for delays including COVID-19 related setbacks. The bad news came out only one day before “Weekends With Adele” was set to go live.
Adele took to her Instagram account to share the news with her fans:
View this post on Instagram
In her social media video post Adele started tearfully addressing her fans, she quoted: “Listen, I’m so sorry, but my show ain’t ready. We’ve tried absolutely everything that we can to put it together in time and for it to be good enough for you, but we’ve been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and COVID. Half my crew, half my team are down with COVID, they still are and it’s been impossible to finish the show.”
She was supposed to perform the first of 24 scheduled shows at the venue of Caesars Palace’s Colosseum on Friday, 21 January.
The British singer continued saying, “I’m sorry it’s so last minute, we’ve been awake for over 30 hours now trying to figure it out and we’ve run out of time… I’m so upset and I’m really embarrassed.
Adele made a heartfelt apology “to everyone that traveled” to Nevada only so they could see her, she repeatedly said, “I’m really, really sorry.”
Earlier in November, Adele unveiled she would be staging two shows on each weekend starting from Friday, January 21, 2022, at Caesars Palace Hotel. The residency, scheduled for 12 weeks, broke the records for tickets sold in the presale. Some of the premium seats even went up to the $30,000 mark on the online resale sources.
30, the fourth studio album of Adele, was released in November, registering her third No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. It also became the biggest-selling debut album of 2021. The fan-favorite singer revealed to Rolling Stone that in the current circumstances due to COVID-19, it was not in her plans to take a tour this grand and all festive like she had for her previous album 25.
These Las Vegas concerts would have been the first live shows of her in five years. Besides the two shows in London’s Hyde Park last summer, these are the only concerts that she has announced so far to encourage fans to get her new bestselling fourth album, 30.
It’s not just Adele’s performances that have been postponed, Critic Choice, PGA, and AFI Awards, all rescheduled for March amid Omicron surge.
While taking it on Instagram, Adele revealed that she had been “awake for 30 hours” trying her best to somehow save the production, but as she completely “run out of time” that is not possible now.
“It’s been impossible to finish the show. I can’t give you what I have right now and I’m gutted.” She further added in her statement. “It’s too unpredictable, with all the rules and stuff. I don’t want anyone coming to my show scared. And I don’t want to get COVID, either.”
Adele made an explanatory apology to her fans also, who had already started to arrive in Las Vegas ahead of the opening weekend.
“I’m sorry, it’s last minute. I’m so upset and I’m really embarrassed and I’m so sorry to everyone that’s travelled again.” Adele also added, affirming her fans: “We’re going to reschedule all the dates, we’re on it right now. And I’m going to finish my show. I want to to get it to where it’s supposed to be [but] We’ve been up against so much and it just ain’t ready.”
While many of her fans are showing support and solidarity with her on this decision on social media, saying she did the right thing by making the right decision and wishing Adele and her team good wishes, some of the fans are not happy. As they have traveled so far and are facing the loss of hundreds of pounds due to the flights they took and the hotel bookings.
Made it, definitely will be back when it’s time! 🥲❤️ #Adele @AdeleAccess @AdeleResidency @adele pic.twitter.com/l9elEOAt6p
— Karlita (@kkarlajane) January 21, 2022
32 years old, Gillian Rowland-Kain, already hopped on her plane ride to Las Vegas from New York for Friday’s opening night show and that’s when she heard about the withdrawals of Adele from the event via social media.
She displayed her anger and said, “I was furious that Adele waited so last minute to make this call. I recognise it’s not a call any artist wants to make but she would’ve known yesterday that the show wouldn’t be ready by tomorrow.”
“Her lack of notice is astounding. I’m angry and frustrated,” she added.
Another attendee of the canceled event, Ms. Rowland-Kain, who was traveling from Brooklyn to Vegas along with her twin sister said that she is aware of the influence of Covid on the world around but this last-minute cancellation of the event felt “like a slap in the face”.
Josh Chavis, who is from Kansas City, says that his wife, Heather, spent almost $1,800 USD (£1,300) for her hotel and air travel to Vegas just to attend the show this weekend.
While Heather was on a call with the hotel company, she told the BBC that it was very disappointing for her to hear the news, and even if Adele announced the news a few days earlier “would have made all the difference” in order to get the refunds.
“We recognize that things are hard for everyone, but this is a huge misstep on the part of both the performer and those responsible for putting the show together,” Mrs. Chavis stated.
The music diva was forced once before as well to cancel the last two dates of the last tour she made in 2017 at Wembley Stadium after she damaged her vocal cords.
While on one hand Adele’s residency has been seemingly affected by production issues and illness within her managing team, other shows in Vegas have been going on as per their schedule.
On the contrary to what happened yesterday, three weeks ago, Katy Perry urbanely conducted her own residency on the strip, with positive reviews overall.
Perry has labeled her intricate and lively production “Perry Playland” which involves giant-size furniture, a dancing clock, a big red wobbling horse, and a bar serving beer through a tap.
The 2-hour show was defined by Billboard magazine as “part fantasy, part hallucination and thoroughly high-camp,” and a “glorious example of what an unbridled imagination can achieve” as described by Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The news came as a shock for the fans of Adele, as they were eagerly waiting for the concert to happen. A swift surge in the Omicron spread has forced the events to be postponed across the country. We hope that things come back to normal soon so that fans can go out and enjoy their favorite artists performing.
