Adele admitted the postponement had her feeling like “a shell of a person.”
Adele has recently spoken out about the reason behind having to postpone her planned residency in Las Vegas, originally scheduled to take place earlier this year.
The acclaimed singer returned to the stage this weekend for what was her first ticketed concert-show since 2017 and the first concert of the “30” era. The singer returned with a two-night bill at BST Hyde Park last Friday and Saturday night (July 1st and 2nd), however, no further tour dates have been confirmed with no update on when the postponed Weekends with Adele residency in Las Vegas will take place.
The singer-songwriter erased all wrongdoing at the BST Hyde Park shows as she put on yet another legendary performance. With the setlist scarce of any upbeat ballads, the positivity was flowing with her larger-than-life humour and instinctive ability to connect with those in the audience.
Adele wasn’t the only big name in attendance – with James Corden, Tom Cruise and Natalie Portman spotted in the crowd. The shows marked a triumphant and long-awaited return from the Tottenham-born singer. Adele was originally scheduled to promote her new release “30” by putting on a 12-week run of shows at Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace, titled Weekends with Adele, with the first of the shows supposed to take place back on January 21 of this year.
However, a day before the scheduled date, the singer took to social media to share a tearful video in which she apologised, explaining that due to delivery delays and Covid-19, it would be impossible to go through with the residency – leaving thousands of fans in disarray.
In the video, Adele explained:
“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, but we’ve been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and Covid”.
The singer continued to explain how gutted she was especially for the cancellation being last minute with the residency dates set to be rescheduled.
Almost half a year later, Adele opened up in an interview yesterday with Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio Four’s Desert Island Discs about the residency’s postponement and disastrous last-minute setbacks that caused the decision:
“I definitely felt everyone’s disappointment and I was devastated and frightened about letting fans down. I thought I could pull it together and make it work and I couldn’t. I don’t think any other artist would have done what I did, and I think that is why it was such a massive, massive story”.
The decision certainly caused quite a commotion with fans of the singer-songwriter but Adele defended the last-minute cancellation, stating that she would rather postpone the residency than go through with what would be “a half-arsed show”.
Adele shared how during the weeks that followed, she felt that she “was a shell of a person.” Struck by guilt for disappointing so many fans, the singer explained how she “had to wait it out and just grieve, it was brutal”
At the moment, there is still no update or insight as to when the Las Vegas residency will take place with the past two nights at BST Hyde Park being the only confirmed tour dates for 2022 so far.
As live music seems to be returning to a state of normality following the Covid pandemic and multiple restrictions for such events, the future can only look more hopeful for the postponed residency.
Following the interview, Adele hopes to have more news in the upcoming weeks as to when the Weekends with Adele dates will finally take place. However, she has reassured fans that when it does, it will outdo expectations.
“I’m not going to just do a show because I have to or because people are going to be let down or because we’re going to lose loads of money.”
The outcome may not have been the one wanted or needed, but one thing is for sure, the singer’s heart is certainly in the right place.
You can listen to Adele’s latest release “30” below: