To think Adele’s been shockingly unprofessional?

[AngeloMysterioso]

Adele was due to start a Las Vegas residency at Caesar’s Palace this weekend and cancelled the entire thing less than 24 hours ahead of time, saying they weren’t ready for a number of different reasons.

FIL had bought tickets to the opening night for himself and MIL as a 40th wedding anniversary present, they had pretty much just checked into their hotel when she announced it wasn’t going ahead, and the cost of that and their flights is now money down the drain. DH and I and BIL and SIL were planning on taking them away for a family weekend at Easter but have instead offered to pay for travel and accommodation when (if?) it gets rescheduled.

I get that covid is fucking a lot of things up for a lot of people, but surely they could have faced reality a bit sooner? Even one more day’s notice would have saved so many people taking flights and checking into hotel rooms that they could have rebooked or been refunded for.

Well, PILs have managed to get tickets for one of the Cirque du Soleil shows so it’s not a complete disaster.

What baffles me is that Adele’s shows aren’t typically elaborate productions. I saw her perform at Glastonbury and it was fairly simple- her, the band, a string section and some backing singers. The stage setup wasn’t anything outrageous either. I’m sure she could have found session musicians and singers to fill any gaps and Caesar’s would have found a way to get a lighting rig sorted. So like a lot of others I’m not sure I’m buying the whole “the show ain’t ready” thing. If that were the case why not just postpone the first week or two?

And if it is a case of stage fright or a similar mental health/anxiety issue- she’s had these problems for years now so why agree to do it in the first place? I know her management/label will have pushed it as it’s a massive money spinner, but she surely has enough clout by now to be able to say no to anything she doesn’t want to do?

@Honeyroar

She had a major sweary meltdown at me because I asked if she needed a landing card. Said someone had told her she fucking didn’t and now I was telling her she bleeding did and how was she fucking supposed to know!! (I’d only asked her politely like I had every other passenger). Her manager just took the form off me and said she’d sort it. She was meant to be a nervous flyer, so that might have added to it, but she certainly never made my list of favourite celebrities!!

Bloody hell.

@AngeloMysterioso

Well, PILs have managed to get tickets for one of the Cirque du Soleil shows so it’s not a complete disaster.

What baffles me is that Adele’s shows aren’t typically elaborate productions. I saw her perform at Glastonbury and it was fairly simple- her, the band, a string section and some backing singers. The stage setup wasn’t anything outrageous either. I’m sure she could have found session musicians and singers to fill any gaps and Caesar’s would have found a way to get a lighting rig sorted. So like a lot of others I’m not sure I’m buying the whole “the show ain’t ready” thing. If that were the case why not just postpone the first week or two?

And if it is a case of stage fright or a similar mental health/anxiety issue- she’s had these problems for years now so why agree to do it in the first place? I know her management/label will have pushed it as it’s a massive money spinner, but she surely has enough clout by now to be able to say no to anything she doesn’t want to do?

Personally I'd rather pay to see Cirque du Soleil than Adele any day.

It is shockingly unprofessional. A band I like had to cancel some shows during their last tour because the lead singer got covid, they rescheduled the dates and honored the tickets that had already been bought on the new dates instead. They went straight back to touring as soon as the singer got a negative test even though he was still really ill suffering from long covid.
In this instance the only person who really had to be well was Adele, she still could have pulled it off if she had wanted to.

I thought this when I saw her teary apology. Dreadfully late notice, when the signs must have been clear way beforehand. I'd be absolutely fuming! It's really not good enough from someone at her level, who can afford to lose whatever costs she's had in the run-up. She must realise that many people aren't just popping an hour or so down the road on the day. For many people, going to a 'big' concert really is an 'event' that plans are made around.

I don't know how she could suitably apologise/make it up to those fans, but I certainly hope that she and her team at least attempt to do so.

I hope they have a lovely anniversary regardless of this let-down.

I think the whole thing was so weird really, and completely missed the point that people wanted to see Her and not a show.

Her, someone on piano and a spotlight would have been amazing.

If, that’s something I can put on in my drama studio in a lesson, I cannot fathom it not being able to happen in Las Vegas.

My 8 year old believes Adele gets herself into these situations so she can whine about in a song in a few years 😂

When he heard about it on the local radio he said “typical Adele”

YANBU!

Sorry your PIL got caught up in this OP. How disappointing. Glad they got tickets to Cirque du Soleil though.
I would go ahead with your Easter plans. Adele has form with cancelling and not rescheduling.

Adele has been FaceTiming fans that turned up and saying she will do a free meet and greet when the concerts are rearranged. No offer to compensate them for the travel. I’m guessing she knows now that the concerts will not be rearranged so she can promise whatever she likes knowing she won’t have to follow through. It’s awful behaviour.

@Celticroseandsea

My 8 year old believes Adele gets herself into these situations so she can whine about in a song in a few years 😂

When he heard about it on the local radio he said “typical Adele”

YANBU!

Ha I love that your 8 year old is so cynical already

@Honeyroar

She had a major sweary meltdown at me because I asked if she needed a landing card. Said someone had told her she fucking didn’t and now I was telling her she bleeding did and how was she fucking supposed to know!! (I’d only asked her politely like I had every other passenger). Her manager just took the form off me and said she’d sort it. She was meant to be a nervous flyer, so that might have added to it, but she certainly never made my list of favourite celebrities!!

That's really disappointing. I always got the impression she was one of the 'normal' ones. Although I guess we should already know otherwise from her extortionate prices.

I’m guessing she knows now that the concerts will not be rearranged so she can promise whatever she likes knowing she won’t have to follow through. It’s awful behaviour.

It certainly seems that will be the case from her previous cancellations.

OP i'm glad your PIL have managed to find other plans and I hope they enjoy their trip despite the Adele situation.

She did this in Wembley a few years ago. I was flying from Dublin to meet family flying in from France. She cancelled on the morning. We lost to all our flights and hotels. No one travelled as no point. Raging I have to say. We were the first shows to be released for sale. Then she added more nights. She shouldn't have gotten greedy. She decided her voice wasn't able on the morning of the show. Not surprised she did it again. Very unprofessional and greedy.

@girlmom21 she had been perfectly ok for the six hours prior to that. It was really weird, came from nowhere. I stood there wanting to laugh more than be offended, it was just so unnecessary. We were about to land and she was doing her first US gig in years, so perhaps she was nervous. Who knows!🤷🏽

[quote Honeyroar]@girlmom21 she had been perfectly ok for the six hours prior to that. It was really weird, came from nowhere. I stood there wanting to laugh more than be offended, it was just so unnecessary. We were about to land and she was doing her first US gig in years, so perhaps she was nervous. Who knows!🤷🏽[/quote]
No excuse to be a dick to someone doing their job though! You sound very graceful but I'm guessing you've dealt with worse unfortunately

Maybe she asked Boris for tips on how to give an apology

It does all seem very last minute and not thought through for those dwho have travelled. I'm not being funny but I can't see why Adele would need to do a gruelling residency? I remember how much it took out of Elvis doing so many shows.

She seems to have been universally slated in all the comments on the news sites so she isn’t going to get away with this - or it will be asked about at any interviews she does in the next few months.

@Andtheyalllookjustthesame

After reading about the Katy Perry Vegas show. Now that is something I am sad to miss. Sounds like a real show of the life time.

I do like Adele's music, her voice to me sounds fragile even on recordings so I'm not sure she would be up to untouched live performance after suffering nodules previously. I do like oh my god and the video for that, this album seems very polished and a bit experimental at the same time. I like easy on me less. I can't see that she needed to cancel the whole tour. I do think there is a mental health element and she is well known for being an anxiety sufferer. Unfortunately some people have the talent and many skills to be a performer, but not the right temperament for the spotlight and reality of enduring herd work it is. Totally different than in the studio or making a music video.

She has a different talent from Amy wine house but same kind of era and a female singer as well, and although it's shit for Adele to cancel, I often wonder how different Amy winehouses story might have been if instead of being plied with alcohol and drugs to get through her shows she had just cancelled and looked after herself. Obviously we will never know, but when we take normal people and try to turn them into gods (or goddesses) we stop being able to see them as whole people who have their own issues

I think if I was Adele I might have a big fucking wobble too. Especially if the logistics were chaos, half the team had covid, i already had anxiety and stage fright and then to top it the stress lead me to 30 hours lost sleep and a bit of a sore throat. It's devastating for the fans of course, but she's just a person. Sometimes she'll be selfish and inconsiderate and useless and flaky and anxious and have a wobble from time to time. It's all got this level of extreme expectation. I couldn't be a celebrity for 5 minutes I know it would destroy me. I'm grateful to not have the kind of talent for anything that can propel you from normality to god like status leaving you struggling to catch up internally and crippled with imposter syndrome. It sounds shit. Maybe she needs to acknowledge she's just a studio singer now, but maybe she didn't know that until she risked it on a high stakes tour during a pandemic. Maybe she got caught up for a moment in believing her own hype and forgot to realise her fully human limitations until they got all too real.

I don't know. But I couldn't do it. Not for all the Money in the world.

That may be true - but why wouldn’t she pay for her mistake? With a goodwill payment, or something to acknowledge how fans were screwed over? A couple of gift bags aren’t enough…

Also does anyone know if it’s true that she was only going to get the 500k per concert if the tickets were all sold? Just wondering how much the lack of ticket sales has played into this.

I don't believe for a second Covid would have prevented Caesar's staging Adele. Not only are they a massive organisation, more than capable of sorting production issues, but they've hosted some rather big names in the past who pretty much knock Adele from Tottenham into perspective:

Frank Sinatraa_, Reba McEntire and Brooks & Dunn, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Teresa Teng, Count Basie, Dean Martin, Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks, The Moody Blues, Celine Dion, Ike & Tina Turner, Shania Twain, Bette Midler, Cher, Elton John, Liberace, Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli, Julio Iglesias, Ann-Margret, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, Judy Garland, Gloria Estefan, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Matt Goss and Deana Martin.

Went to see Don McLean at Newcastle City Hall and, for some reason he couldn't do his planned performance, so he sat on the edge of the stage with his guitar and just sang. It was brilliant and much appreciated.

Leonard Cohen, however, walked on stage and when we audience didn't fall into an adoring silence, promptly walked back off! He did perform though and massively did soften in his old age. Happy days.

@Snaketime same happened to me. Was meant to see a gig in March 2020 just as everything was closing down.
It ended up being rescheduled twice. We got email updates and tickets got re-issued automatically twice. Finally got to go November 2021 and it was worth the wait!

This whole situation is bizarre. By all means miss the first couple of weekends but why cancel the whole residency?

Given how ludicrously rich she is, couldn’t she have refunded her ticket holders their flight and hotel, and subbed their choice of another show? Bottle of champagne to the room, and some complementary gambling chips?

A goody bag is a bit of a slap in the face, tbh. Here, have this flimsy ‘reusable’ bag with four rubbish vouchers for money off things you don’t want, a plastic pen, a bag of stale popcorn, and a pair of polyester socks. Yay.

Also, dry-eyed crying? Hmmm…