Adele is postponing her Las Vegas residency, just one day before it was set to begin, following a rash of Covid-19 cases among her team and other hurdles that stymied preparations for the highly-anticipated show.
“We’ve been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and Covid. Half my crew, half my team, are down with Covid. They still are,” the superstar said on social media on Thursday. “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.”
The British singer said her team was working to reschedule her upcoming performances at the Colosseum of Caesars Palace Hotel. A spokesman for Adele couldn’t immediately be reached.
The postponed residency—one of the hottest tickets in the music business—is the latest in a wave of cancellations and plan changes among music concerts, awards ceremonies, film festivals and other entertainment events during the recent wave of Covid-19 in the U.S. this winter.
The Grammy Awards pushed back “music’s biggest night” to April 3 from its original date of Jan. 31. A slew of shows around the holidays, including concerts by Phish, LCD Soundsystem and the Strokes, were put off, followed by more events in January.
It was hoped 2022 would be a turning point for the live-music industry, with concert executives expecting potentially the biggest year ever. Artists including country star Eric Church have found novel ways to screen their crews for Covid-19 and construct “bubbles” to keep their shows on the road. In recent weeks, many in the music business have hoped the current wave of the pandemic would ease later this month, allowing for more of a return to normalcy in coming months.
Yet the beginning of the year has seen problems continue. Many music fans remain wary of shows, with an unusual number of ticket holders not showing up for concerts. Availability of key workers such as vaccinated truck drivers and rigging specialists remains a significant hurdle.
Now, Adele’s residency has been sideswiped, too.
The residency, titled “Weekends with Adele,” was supposed to run from Jan. 21 through April 16, with the vocal powerhouse doing two shows each weekend.
Unlike a traditional concert tour, a residency enables Adele and her team to minimize travel, costs and production hurdles. Her crew can stay in one place and don’t have to set up and tear down a stage every night.
Such residencies are also easier for performers themselves, who don’t encounter the wear and tear of grueling travel. That is especially important for Adele, whose show relies heavily on the health of her voice. Historically, Adele has opted to tour much less than most artists near her stature, underselling her performances despite huge demand.
Her latest album, “30,” which was released in November, has been a commercial blockbuster—though a smaller one than her past efforts, especially on streaming-music services. “Easy On Me,” her leadoff single, has spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 singles chart.
“We’ve tried absolutely everything we can to put it together in time,” Adele said in a tearful video posted on Twitter and Instagram. “My show ain’t ready.”
Write to Neil Shah at [email protected]
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Appeared in the January 21, 2022, print edition as ‘Adele Postpones Las Vegas Residency as Covid-19 Hits Star’s Team.’
