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Adele postpones Las Vegas residency dates after voice ‘scare’

‘Someone Like You’ singer has cancelled 10 dates at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace after suffering a ‘scare’ with her voice last weekend

Kevin E G Perry,Roisin O'Connor
Wednesday 28 February 2024 10:08 GMT
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Adele describes ‘brutal’ Las Vegas backlash

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Adele has told fans that she will be postponing all of her Las Vegas residency dates in March due to illness.

The Grammy-winning British singer made the sudden announcement in a post to her Instagram page, disclosing that she had been sick at the end of her last series shows and “all the way through” her break between runs at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

“Sadly I have to take a beat and pause my Vegas residency,” she wrote. “I was sick at the end of the last leg and all the way through my break. I hadn’t quite gotten the chance to get back to full health before shows resumed and now I’m sick again, and unfortunately it’s all taken a toll on my voice.

“And so on doctors orders I have no choice but to rest thoroughly. The remaining 5 weekends of this leg are being postponed to a later date. We are already working out the details and you will be sent the information asap.”

In the caption of the post, she added: “I love you, I’ll miss you like mad and I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

Adele had alluded to an impending break from performances during her show on Saturday 24 February, where she admitted that she had suffered a scare with her voice.

“In the middle of last night (I’m sure you can hear it in my talking voice and my singing voice a little bit), your girl was tired,” she told the audience. ‘Your girl was tired. I didn’t sleep very well.”

She added: “I can’t hit my headnotes properly. I didn’t sleep very well and my chest is on fire. Straight after this show I am going on voice rest.”

With all of the 10 March dates of the “Hello” artist’s Weekends with Adele shows postponed, her next performance is scheduled to take place on Friday 17 May. Her Las Vegas residency was due to conclude on Saturday 15 June this year.

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Adele announced the extension of her residency in October 2023, telling fans that being “so up close and personal” with an audience again had been a “truly restorative experience” that she would never forget.

“All the hilarious, soulful, wild and heartbreaking interactions we’ve had are banked in my mind for life.” she said. “Mostly though – it’s just made me realize how much I really enjoy being on stage, that I’m bloody good at it and that it is 100 per cent where I belong!”

However, she expressed fears for her voice in December as she prepared for another demanding round of Las Vegas shows in the new year.

Adele performing at her Las Vegas residency show while wearing a custom Stella McCartney gown
Adele performing at her Las Vegas residency show while wearing a custom Stella McCartney gown (Raven B Varona/Stella McCartney)

“I get nervous about wearing my voice out [at the residency],” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s a lot of singing. It’s two hours. It’s a lot. And I f***ing motormouth and chat me ass off as well.”

This is not the first time the singer has postponed shows in Vegas.

Her residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace was originally scheduled to begin in January 2022. However, just 24 hours before the first shows were due to begin, Adele shared a video to social media tearfully explaining that the show was not going to be ready on time.

She later said that she was a “shell of a person” after the “brutal” reaction to the news.

Appearing on Desert Island Discs, Adele said she was “devastated” by the news, adding that she had “definitely felt everyone’s disappointment”.

Adele has won multiple Grammys thanks to her powerful voice
Adele has won multiple Grammys thanks to her powerful voice (AFP via Getty Images)

“I was frightened about letting them down and I thought I could pull it together and make it work, and I couldn’t,” she told Lauren Laverne. “I stand by that decision. I don’t think any other artist would have done what I did, and I think that is why it was such a massive, massive story.

“It was like, ‘I don’t care’ and things like that. You can’t buy me. You can’t buy me for nothing. 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 are going to lose loads of money. I’m like, ‘The show is not good enough.’”

The singer had previously been forced to cancel tour dates in 2011 after suffering a throat haemorrhage. She had to undergo a high risk laser surgery, and then teach herself to sing again.

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