Adele’s cancelled concerts sign of the times
On a personal level, it’s hard not to feel sorry for Adele. The video she posted in Instagram explaining her decision to postpone her Las Vegas residency laid bare her disappointment. The 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. “Half my crew and team are down with Covid, they still are, and it’s been impossible to finish the show.”
Adele had planned a massive production. Local reports suggest she was going to open her Weekends with Adele shows with her Bond theme Skyfall, backed by a 60-piece choir.
And while most of the 65,000 comments below her Instagram post
were supportive, some ticketholders were less than impressed. By cancelling just one day before the show, fans who had already flown to Vegas and checked into hotels face hefty costs.
“So disappointed!” said one. “Christmas gift gone pear shaped,” wrote another.
Others pointed out that fans may not be able to afford the time and money to reschedule a trip to Vegas.
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 when cancelling concerts are to cancel before people leave their homes and to announce the rescheduled dates. Adele has done neither.
“She takes all these things very much to heart,” says one music executive. “She’s clearly distraught that this has happened. But people have spent a lot of money.”
Fans should go easy on her, though. None of this is Adele’s fault. Rather, her last minute postponement is emblematic of what a complete nightmare concerts are these days. Two years into the pandemic, and the live music world is still suffering. In the last month alone, Billy Joel, Wolf Alice, Rina Sawayama and David Lee Roth have all postponed or cancelled shows. More will surely follow. This year’s Grammy Awards have been postponed until April.
This presents a worrying problem for the industry. Touring incomes have been decimated over the past two years, and 2022 was meant to be the year that everything went right. Huge tours, many already postponed numerous times, are planned from Guns N’ Roses, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Harry Styles, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lorde. These suddenly seem just a little less certain.