Adele Opens Up About Postponing Her Las Vegas Residency – Billboard

Adele is addressing the backlash over her last-minute decision to postpone her Las Vegas residency earlier this year.

The 34-year-old British songstress opened up to BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs about the guilt she felt after abruptly halting the January through April run at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, but says she has no regrets about the difficult choice she made.

“I definitely felt everyone’s disappointment and I was devastated, and I was frightened about letting them down,” Adele said. “I thought I could pull it together and make it work and I couldn’t, and I stand by that decision.”

The superstar singer called off her Weekends With Adele residency in a tearful Instagram video just one day before it was scheduled to begin on Jan. 21, citing production delays caused by COVID-19.

“I’m not going to just do a show because I have to or because people are going to be let down or because we’re going to lose loads of money. I’m like, the show’s not good enough,” Adele told BBC Radio 4.

Despite being confident in her decision to postpone the residency, the singer says the aftermath of the ordeal left her feeling despondent. “I was a shell of a person for a couple of months,” she said. “I just had to wait it out and just grieve it, I guess, just grieve the shows and get over the guilt, but it was brutal.”

The Vegas residency had not been rescheduled as of press time.

“Of course I could be someone on TikTok or Instagram Live every day being like, ‘I’m working on it’,” Adele explained. “Of course I’m working on it! I’m not gonna update you if I ain’t got nothing to update you with because that just leads to more disappointment.”

On Friday, the “Hello” singer triumphantly return to the stage at London’s BST Hyde Park Festival, marking her first public show in five years. Her two-hour set included such hits as “Rumour Has It” and “Rolling In the Deep,” as well as the live debut of the 30 album track “Oh My God.”

“My God, I’m back at home,” the multi-Grammy Award winner told the sold-out audience. “It’s so strange to be in front of a crowd again. I get so nervous before each show but I love being up here.”

BST Hyde Park marked Adele’s first public show since a pair of performances London’s Wembley Stadium in 2017. She last performed at the Brit Awards in February, and appeared at televised events leading up to the release of 30 in November 2021.