After a pair of false starts, Adele is ready for the ‘neon flashin’ and ‘one arm bandits crashin’ of Sin City. The singer is prepared to bring her bevy of hits and unmistakable voice to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace for her Weekends with Adele residency. Fans in the United States have been eagerly awaiting a chance to see Adele perform, especially since this Vegas residency will be their only chance to see her sing the songs off her latest album, 30. Here are the details of what we know so far.
Adele Las Vegas Residency Dates
Adele announced the rescheduled dates to her Weekends with Adele residency on July 25. “In addition to the 24 rescheduled shows, eight new shows have also been announced,” Ticketmaster posted in the official announcement. “Performances will now take place from November 18, 2022, to March 25, 2023.” However, like the first round of dates, the show sold out again.
“A select number of tickets will be available across all 32 performances. There will be two opportunities to purchase tickets for these shows. Access to each presale will be limited, with priority given to fans who held tickets for the original show dates or had previously registered and been waitlisted for the Weekends with Adele Verified Fan Presale. Eligible fans will receive an email invitation from Ticketmaster on Wednesday, August 3 with further instructions on how to participate.”
“Words can’t explain how ecstatic I am to finally be able to announce these rescheduled shows,” Adele shared in a statement on her website. “I was truly heartbroken to have to cancel them. But after what feels like an eternity of figuring out logistics for the show that I really want to deliver, and knowing it can happen, I’m more excited than ever! Now I know for some of you it was a horrible decision on my part, and I will always be sorry for that, but I promise you it was the right one. To be with you in such an intimate space every week has been what I’ve most been looking forward to and I’m going to give you the absolute best of me.”
What Is Adele’s Vegas Residency Going To Be Like?
“I want to tell the story of the beginning of my career to now,” she told Elle magazine for its September 2022 issue. “I’m not gonna give too much about it, but the show grows. The show grows. It’s all about the music, and it’s really, really nostalgic. It’s gonna be really beautiful… I haven’t got any bullet points, obviously, when I talk. That’s why my shows are so erratic. One time I gave, like, an hour speech about an aquarium!”
Why Did Adele Postpone Her Residency?
Initially, Adele was slated to kick off her Weekends with Adele residency on January 21, performing two concerts per weekend until April 2022. However, a day before the residency was set to open, Adele posted a tearful video where she said, “my show ain’t ready.”
“We’ve tried absolutely everything 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,” she said. “Half my crew and team are [ill] with COVID and still are, and it’s been impossible to finish the show. I’m gutted — I’m sorry it’s so last minute, we’ve been awake for over 30 hours trying to figure it out, and we’ve run out of time. I’m so upset, and I’m really embarrassed and so sorry to everyone that traveled to get here. I’m really, really sorry.”
In July 2022, Adele spoke about the impact of postponing the show. “I was a shell of a person for a couple of months,” she told BBC’s Lauren Laverne. “I just had to wait it out and just grieve it, I guess, just grieve the shows and get over the guilt, but it was brutal.”
“I definitely felt everyone’s disappointment, and I was devastated, and I was frightened about letting them down,” she added. “I thought I could pull it together and make it work, and I couldn’t, and I stand by that decision. 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. I’m like, the show’s not good enough.”
Adele also addressed the criticism she received over the months of radio silence on the residency. “Of course, I could be someone on TikTok or Instagram Live every day being like, ‘I’m working on it,'” she said. “Of course, I’m working on it! I’m not gonna update you if I ain’t got nothing to update you with because that just leads to more disappointment.”
She also spoke about the impact of canceling the residency in the September 2022 issue of Elle. “It was the worst moment in my career, by far,” she said. “By far. I was so excited about those shows. It was devastating.”
She also added a further explanation as to why she postponed the dates. The show had “no soul in it. The stage setup wasn’t right. It was very disconnected from me and my band, and it lacked intimacy. And maybe I tried too hard to give it those things in such a controlled environment.”
Following the cancellation, Adele said she endured the backlash the best she could. “The first couple of months was really, really hard. I was embarrassed,” she told Elle. “But it actually made my confidence in myself grow, because it was a very brave thing to do. And I don’t think many people would have done what I did. I’m very proud of myself for standing by my artistic needs.”
Will Adele Tour In 2022?
When the residency was first announced, Adele fans knew they had to get tickets because reports claimed that this concert series would “cover all of her North American touring plans for 2022.”
Adele reportedly “likes the idea of having her fans travel to see her in Vegas, where she can keep an apartment, avoid being away from her 8-year-old son [Angelo Adkins] for long stretches of time, and easily shuttle back and forth from her home in Los Angeles,” according to Billboard.
Another reason why Adele opted for a residency as opposed to a traditional tour: money. Adele reportedly generated more than $150 million in ticket sales with her 2016 North American tour, and she could “potentially make even more in 2022” due to increased demand.
Most arenas indeed hold around 20,000 people, while Her Vegas residency would be limited to 4,100 at the Colosseum. However, touring is expensive, and Adele’s team could not only cut down on overhead costs with a stationary show, but the glitz and the glam of Vegas mean getting away with charging more than your average concert ticket price.
One shouldn’t hold their breath, but there’s always the possibility that this residency kicks off a smaller North American tour in 2023. Many artists, including Celine Dion (the pioneer of the modern Vegas residency), follow their stints in Las Vegas with a 20 to 30-date tour. Plus, the 65th Grammy Awards are scheduled for February 5, 2023. Adele’s 30 will likely get a handful of nominations (and probably a few wins). Adele might want to take a short victory lap after concluding her Vegas stay.