Photo: Getty Images
Adele calls it the "worst moment in my career."
In a cover story for the September issue of ELLE magazine, Adele points relives the tear-stained video she posted on Instagram in which she is informing her fans that she was canceling her anticipated Las Vegas residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. At the time, information about what caused the abrupt cancellation just one day before the series was set to launch was scarce.
And in the five months since, Adele has not spoken publicly at length about the decision, but assures fans, “By far. I was so excited about those shows. It was devastating.” She shares that she had been up for more than 30 hours in the lead-up to the decision, “tormenting herself” over a choice that had been in the works for a week.
Though the Omicron surge of COVID-19 then raging had whittled down her team, and the livelihoods of her band and piles of money invested in the show up until that point, as well as the thousands of ticket holders who had made elaborate plans to join her in Vegas, Adele was “terrified” of letting them down.
She said of the original show, “There was just no soul in it". The 'Weekends With Adele' production that just didn’t feel right to her, originally slated to kick off on Jan. 21. At the time Adele chalked the cancellation up to production delays caused by COVID. Now she explains, “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.”
For the first few months after the announcement, Adele said things were “really, really hard” because she was “embarrassed.” But then her confidence grew because she felt that 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.”
As for what fans can expect for her reimagined residency, which kicks off in November?
Adele said, "I want to tell the story of the beginning of my career to now. 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!"
Source: Elle Magazine.
Photo Credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Adele.