Why Has Adele Canceled Her Las Vegas Residency At The Last Minute?
Adele canceled her Las Vegas residency just 24 hours before the opening night. Unless you were under a rock, you probably have heard the news and even saw her crying on Instagram, mostly blaming COVID for the cancelation. “Half my team have Covid and it’s been impossible to finish the show,” she said in tears. “It’s been impossible to finish the show,” she added. “I can’t give you what I have right now and I’m gutted.”
The Rolling Stones once canceled on us (Iman and me) in Vegas too, but that was different: Mick Jagger was sick… allegedly! Because you never know with these rock stars.
Adele’s residency was supposed to start on Friday, the first of 24 concerts at the Caesars Palace’s Colosseum. Needless to say, this is not small business: Adele is the biggest pop star in the world right now, and a performance that had probably hired thousands of people rarely get canceled at the last minute because “it’s been impossible to finish the show”? What does it mean exactly?
Imagine the disapointment of all these fans who had booked flights (or had already flown to Vegas), booked expensive hotels… imagine the deception and the waste of money. Adele crying on Instagram is not going to compensate for all the loss and anger.
I don’t believe a minute she had to cancel the shows because of COVID. A crew like hers must have been tested every day, every hour, and if the production had problems with deliveries because of COVID, couldn’t they hire more people? We are not in 2020 anymore, the world is somewhat functioning, and Adele has all the money of the world. So, what’s going on exactly?
Of course, the tabloids have the answer. According to the Sun (a story also picked up by Page Six), the residency was “heading for disaster” due to Adele’s “explosive arguments” with A-list set designer Esmeralda Devlin. Adele was allegedly “unhappy with the result, and she made her feelings very clear to Esmeralda.”
“She [Adele] was already nervous and the falling out sent her spiraling into a panic because she was desperate that everything should be perfect,” a source told the Sun. “There was no real clarity around what Adele wanted for the show because of the endless changes being made to the production,” the source continued. “It seemed that while she has always preferred a stripped-back performance, she was under some pressure to come up with a huge extravaganza. So there was a constant ricochet between those two versions of what the show should be, and it did cause some quite explosive arguments.”
It’s one thing to be a perfectionist and suffer from stage anxiety, but it’s another thing to cancel a residency at the last minute because you had a fight with your set designer about the size of the performance. Aren’t these things decided months in advance?. Some fans are not too happy, but if they are already in Las Vegas, the city has plenty of options. Plus they can, at least, buy an exclusive Adele shirt.
