Adele FaceTimed With Disappointed Fans After Postponing Las Vegas Residency
On Thursday, Adele announced that the opening of her Las Vegas Residency would be delayed, which she attributed to issues with COVID-positive staff and distribution delays. The first night of the
residency was set for the following evening on January 21 at the Colosseum of Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace Hotel.
The pop music star posted the news on Instagram, talking directly to fans and getting emotional about the change in plans. On Friday night, she spoke directly to fans again, this time via FaceTime, Variety reports. Video was taken of her chatting with people on the casino floor from a phone being passed around by her management team, apologizing and offering the group free merchandise, drink tickets, and possibly a free meet-and-greet whenever make-up dates are available. She took back the offer of drink tickets after realizing that some of the fans there were underage.
“I’m thankful for you being so graceful to me. I really appreciate that,” she said to one person. “That’s my manager right next to you… When you come back, whenever that is, we’ll do a meet-and-greet for free.”
The residency, “Weekends With Adele,” was announced in November of last year and would have had Adele performing twice a week until April of 2022. The singer has not done many live shows to promote her fourth studio album, 30. She has two dates in London Hyde's Park scheduled for next summer and did a CBS Special filmed in Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. COVID-19 has made touring a vulnerable proposition for many musical artists, so staying in one place for a run was seen as a safer alternative.
“I’m so sorry, but my show ain’t ready,” she said in her Instagram announcement that the opening night was delayed. “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. 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 [to the show]. I’m really, really sorry.”