Reality of `cancel culture'
Adele's Las Vegas debacle is symptomatic of music industry woes, James Hall writes.
On a personal level, it's hard not to feel sorry for Adele. The video she posted on Instagram explaining her decision to postpone her Las Vegas residency laid bare her disappointment. The 33-yearold singer said preparation for the show has been “absolutely destroyed” by COVID and what she called delivery delays.
“I'm so sorry, but my show ain't ready,” Adele said. Her team has been “up against so much” and they simply “ran out of time.”
Adele had planned a massive production befitting one of the world's biggest stars. Local reports suggest she was going to open her Weekends with Adele shows with her Bond theme Skyfall, backed by a 60-piece choir. Ticket prices for the planned 24-show stint in the 4,300-seater Colosseum at Caesars Palace reflected this ambition. Prices ranged from $110 to $6,160, including fees, and Billboard magazine reported that presales had hit $50 million.
The singer was said to be earning $685,000 per performance. Black market tickets were reported to be exchanging hands for $30,000. Although Adele said all the shows will be rescheduled, she didn't say when.
Adele has done this before. In 2017, she cancelled her final two concerts at Wembley Stadium at short notice, irritating fans who had already travelled to London. The two golden rules to try to follow when cancelling concerts are to cancel before people leaving their homes and to announce the rescheduled dates at the time of cancellation. The first saves people time and money, and the second softens the blow. Adele has done neither.
Her last-minute postponement is emblematic of what a complete nightmare concerts are these days. An industry insider says Adele's cancellations sound “genuinely like a case of a last minute disaster due to circumstances beyond her control.” Playing a Vegas residency was meant to be an easy, safe option for Adele and her fans.
But even Adele couldn't pull it off. Two years into the pandemic, and the live music world is still suffering. In the last month alone, Billy Joel, Wolf Alice, Rina Sawayama, David Lee Roth have all postponed or cancelled shows. This year's Grammy Awards have been postponed until April.
Touring incomes have been decimated, and 2022 was meant to set things right. Some might argue the Adele shows should have been more scaled back. Caesars Palace said “creating a show of this magnitude is incredibly complex.” Adele's weapons are her voice and her personality, and neither of these need a huge production behind them in order to be showcased. However, this is not the way of the world.
Adele's team is scrambling to rearrange her Colosseum shows, meant to run until mid-april. However, Rod Stewart is booked to play in the venue from midmay, with Sting then playing throughout June. Adele herself is due to play London's Hyde Park in July. There is a looming scheduling nightmare, just to add to the myriad other problems.
The pandemic is still causing untold havoc in the music industry.