Adele’s cancelled shows prove we can’t rely on reliable things anymore

Who’s sorry now?: Adele was forced to cancel her Las Vegas residency at the last minute

On Thursday night, I dreamed I was supposed to play Bruch’s Violin Concerto in front of a crowd. Half an hour beforehand, I realised there was no way I could actually do it; I hadn’t practised.

No amount of attempts at winging it could cover up the truth – that it just was not performable.

In a frenzy, I went in search of the organiser and, not being someone who likes to let people down, least of all last-minute, I was almost hysterical with nerves and self-loathing.

It was a classic anxiety dream, the contours of which I know very well.

So I was struck on waking on Friday that Adele had just lived out my anxiety dream on an enormous scale.

The day before her Las Vegas residency was due to begin, the singer called it off because the show simply wasn’t ready – she blamed Covid and production issues.

Many fans were mid-air when Adele dropped the bombshell.

Yet I sympathised with the horror that Adele faced as the moment of truth drew near. That horror at what cancelling the show would mean, the wild hope that maybe it would all turn out to be OK at the last minute.

Instead, she had gone through every anxious person’s worst nightmare, making the wrong calculation – and waiting to the last possible minute to make it – thus ensuring the worst carnage.

It seems events – namely, Covid-era logistics – overcame Adele.

One can’t help but feel that Covid has been terrible for those who crave certainty.

When the Vegas residency of one of the world’s least flighty pop stars can’t be relied on 24 hours before it’s due to start, then nothing can.