The last-minute cancellation of Adele’s Las Vegas residency came after ‘explosive arguments’ over the staging and production of the show, sources have claimed.
It comes after the 33-year-old superstar told fans via a tearful video this week that her concerts at Caesar’s Palace would not be going ahead due to ‘half her crew’ falling ill with Covid.
It left her legions of fans devastated after many had flown in from across the world to see the Easy On Me singer – with some forking out up to £9,000 on tickets.
But sources told the Sun the shows were destined for trouble due to behind-the-scenes clashes between Adele and acclaimed set designer Esmeralda Devlin – with whom she previously worked on her 2016 world tour.
One source claimed: ‘In spite of the set costing millions to put together, Adele was unhappy with the result, and she made her feelings very clear to Es.
‘She was already nervous and the falling-out sent her spiralling into a panic because she was desperate that everything should be perfect.’
A second source said the dispute came after the production had already been thrown into chaos by ‘endless changes’ to the running order.
Sources told the Sun the shows were destined for trouble due to behind-the-scenes clashes between Adele and acclaimed set designer Esmeralda Devlin – who she previously worked with on her 2016 world tour.
A second source said the dispute came after the production had already been thrown into chaos by ‘endless changes’ to the running order. (Pictured: Set designer Ms Devlin)
Breaking difficult news: Billboards still promoted Adele’s shows on Thursday, despite the cancellations
Fears mount for sobbing Adele as she makes Vegas fortune without singing a note – thanks to frustrated fans snapping up £55 Adele wine, £11 socks and £7.50 tissues
By Lina Das in Las Vegas, Katie Hind and Caroline Graham for the Mail on Sunday
She cancelled her sold-out Las Vegas concerts at the last minute, leaving fans who had travelled and booked hotels devastated and out of pocket.
But Adele still managed to make a fortune without singing a single note as her official Weekends With Adele gift shop opened at Caesars Palace.
Disappointed fans descended on the store – which opened just before Adele had been scheduled to take to the stage at the famous hotel and casino – to buy official merchandise including £55 Adele wine, £33 T-shirts, £11 socks and £8.50 key rings.
Adele wine sells for $75 a bottle in the gift store
There were also £20 necklaces with ‘Hello’, ‘Married’ and ‘Divorced’ motifs, as well as ‘Cry Your Heart Out’ tissues for £7.50, referring to a song from 30, her new album.
On Thursday a sobbing Adele, 33, cancelled all 24 Vegas gigs, for which tickets were being sold for up to £20,000. Blaming Covid and ‘delivery delays’, she explained: ‘It just ain’t ready.’
The news was broken by Adele herself as she tearfully FaceTimed fans on a phone being held by a member of her management team.
And fears began to be expressed about her wellbeing. A source close to the singer, whose hits include Someone Like You, Chasing Pavements and Hometown Glory, said last night that friends were becoming increasingly concerned, adding: ‘She used to look so happy. There are times recently she has looked terrified.
‘Her comeback happened so quickly. One minute she was living so far outside the limelight and then next she was being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey.
A hoodie will set Adele fans back $90
‘Adele was in prime position for 2022 being a massive year. She was due to break more records. Now things seem up in the air. It is very sad to see her like this, she looks nothing like her usual self.’
Fans outside Caesars Palace theatre The Colosseum, which was surrounded by armed guards, agreed. One told The Mail on Sunday: ‘She was crying as she FaceTimed me. She had no make-up on and kept saying, “I’m so sorry. I love you”.
‘She looked pale and very emotional. A lot of fans are angry at her for cancelling less than 24 hours before the first concert, but a lot of us are worried, too. She doesn’t look right. She was crying and so were a lot of the fans she spoke to.’
One hotel worker said guards had been stationed outside because of fears ‘irate customers might cause trouble’. James Fox, 25, from Nashville, Tennessee, who spent around £2,000 on flights, tickets and hotel rooms, posted a critical message on social media. Adele replied, telling him to visit the store to enjoy items on display, including her Oscar for the theme song to the James Bond film Skyfall, two Grammy awards and the suit she wore for her recent Oprah Winfrey interview.
‘James, it’s Adele. If you’re still here at 6pm my store in the middle of the Caesars casino just outside the entrance to The Colosseum is opening up still,’ she wrote. ‘It’s not just a shop! There are fun and nostalgic things from my career.’
Fans who produced cancelled show tickets received a free Adele tote bag, T-shirt, key ring and four fridge magnets. The singer told one fan that she was ‘heartbroken’, adding: ‘I designed that store myself. I bled and f****** sweated and cried into it. I’m letting myself be sad. I’m really sorry I’m not there.’
Some items including T-shirts ‘sold out in minutes’. A drag queen Adele lookalike serenaded those waiting at least an hour to enter.
Adele has vowed to re-schedule the shows, which took £50 million in advance sales and were set to make her £500,000 per weekend. But that may not happen until 2023.
Teresa Whittle, 42, from Detroit, was doubtful, saying. ‘We all know how fragile she can be. She clearly struggles… to the point it seems to cripple her. I hope she reschedules, but it would not be a surprise if her residency never happens.’
Adele’s appearance at next month’s Brit awards is now in doubt. She had been in talks to appear from Los Angeles but sources are now ‘deeply worried’ she will no longer appear. One told The MoS: ‘Would it be a good look for her to do the Brits after cancelling these gigs? Probably not.’
There has been speculation about the degree to which Covid contributed to the cancellation. Industry experts said it was unlikely that her crew getting the virus would have derailed the concerts. One Vegas show runner said: ‘We have understudies for everything. I’m not buying Covid as an excuse.’
Adele, who is due to play two concerts this summer in London’s Hyde Park, has made no secret of her fear of live performing and admitted having anxiety attacks.
They added: ‘There was no real clarity around what Adele wanted for the show because of the endless changes being made to the production.
‘It seemed that while she has always preferred a stripped-back performance, she was under some pressure to come up with a huge extravaganza.
‘So there was a constant ricochet between those two versions of what the show should be, and it did cause some quite explosive arguments.
‘Most shows have teething problems of one kind or another, but there has been a feeling for some time that these shows were heading for disaster.
‘It is well known that Adele suffers badly with anxiety when it comes to performing live, so it’s hard to imagine her going ahead if she wasn’t happy.’
It comes after a statement issued by Caesars Palace last week failed to mention Covid, but read: ‘Creating a show of this magnitude is incredibly complex.’
The source added: ‘Adele was so excited about these shows. But when it came down to it, there was too much indecision and conflict for them to work.’
In a video posted to social media from a £30,000-per-night suite at Caesars Palace, Adele sobbed as she apologised for the 11th-hour cancellation and insisted that she had been forced to scrap the shows following a Covid outbreak.
But fans were dissatisfied with her explanation that ‘half’ her crew had tested positive for the virus and began demanding their money back.
Insiders previously claimed Adele clashed with Caesars Palace after a choir of 60 singers auditioned to perform the Skyfall opening number.
It is alleged that the venue had been planning a spectacular display, while Adele wanted the show to be much more ‘low-key’ and ‘all about the voice’.
She struggled to hold back her tears as she FaceTimed groups of fans who had jetted into Vegas to watch her perform.
She offered a free drink token to the disappointed concert-goers during one call, before hastily retracting her proposal after realising they were underage.
And despite ensuring ticket-holders would be given a free gift bag from her store in Sin City, Adele encouraged them to splash even more cash on her merchandise after they had already lost thousands on seats reaching $12,000, not to mention travel costs.
Inside the pop-up, the Adele-branded garments were priced up for more than some of the $85 tickets themselves, with sweatshirts ranging between $90 and $110 each.
An industry veteran branded Adele a ‘perfectionist’ who has a track record of axing her shows at the last minute, adding: ‘She has cancelled shows before — she cancelled two shows in London in 2017 which she said she would reschedule and she never did.’
Another source with a foot in Adele’s camp says that while there is no doubt that Covid has caused issues, there is bound to be speculation about whether her concerns over performing live were an additional factor in the decision.
While she promised on Twitter: ‘All dates will be rescheduled. More info coming soon’, she has made no secret of the fact that she hates touring and suffers from crippling stage fright.
She told one TV interviewer that live performances have her searching for the door: ‘I’m scared of audiences.
‘One show in Amsterdam, I was so nervous I escaped out the fire exit.
‘I’ve thrown up a couple of times. Once in Brussels, I projectile vomited on someone. I just gotta bear it.
‘But I don’t like touring. I have anxiety attacks a lot.’
She spoke of ‘constant panicking on stage, my heart feels like it’s going to explode because I never feel like I’m going to deliver, ever’.
It has been claimed that Adele was ‘in a panic’ before filming the Audience With show for ITV in October last year.
A source said: ‘Nobody cancels the day before.
‘You have more than 24 hours’ notice of Covid problems. I hear that Adele never wanted to do the Vegas shows in the first place.
‘I very much doubt that they will be rescheduled; I don’t think she’s up to performing at this level for this amount of dates.
‘She is a perfectionist and you can see that in the way she puts her albums back and back until she is happy with them.
‘But more than that she is a recording artist and not a performer and she should never have agreed to these shows in the first place.
‘She suffers really badly from stage fright, she hates being on the stage. For her to commit to going on stage every weekend for three months is madness.
‘The point was always going to come when she would decide she wasn’t going to do it.’
In 2017, during a concert in New Zealand, Adele said: ‘Touring isn’t something I’m good at — applause makes me feel a bit vulnerable. I don’t know if I will ever tour again.’
She has twice pulled out of US tours — once in 2008, when she was barely known, citing ‘personal family reasons’.
In 2011, she twice pulled out of tours in America, once with laryngitis and then because she had suffered a vocal haemorrhage. In 2016, she cancelled a concert in Arizona on account of illness.
From the start of this year, rumblings had begun to circulate in Vegas that Adele wasn’t keen on any spectacular staging.
Caesars Palace embarked on a complete overhaul of the dressing room originally created for Celine Dion — leading many to be convinced that Adele was in it for the long haul.
Many in Vegas believed that the plan was for her to keep on with the residency until 2024, potentially netting her up to £100million – £50million from performance fees and the rest from merchandising.
However, gossip columnist Roger Friedman was convinced something was awry by January 18.
Though the shows sold out instantly online during the pre-sales period and many tickets have since been sold again at inflated prices, Friedman noted there were still hundreds of tickets available on a resale website at around £400 each, and prices were said to be dropping.
Insiders have claimed that Adele clashed with Caesars Palace after a choir of 60 singers auditioned to perform the Skyfall opening number. It is alleged that the venue had been planning a spectacular display, while Adele wanted the show to be much more ‘low-key’ and ‘all about the voice’
Adele performing onstage at the Brit Awards 2016 at the 02 Arena in London, February 24, 2016
Fans were left angry and out of pocket when Adele opted to pull the plug at the 11th hour from the string of concerts that would have netted her £500,000 a show
Yesterday he wrote: ‘The whole Adele Vegas residency is a disaster.
‘But ‘We ain’t ready’ at the last minute doesn’t hold water. This isn’t the Rolling Stones stage show.
‘Adele live is her, an orchestra and some lighting. She’s not sailing across the theatre in a hook-up, there are no pyrotechnics.
‘Plus, let’s face it… this is only two shows per weekend.
‘If the show wasn’t ready, it could be postponed a couple of weeks, and the missed shows could have been rescheduled at the end of the run.
‘But they’ve scrapped the whole thing… so it’s not just a matter of not being ready… doesn’t make sense.’
Caesars Palace is closing ranks, and staffers have been warned that they will be dismissed if they speak to the media.
In a statement they said: ‘We understand the disappointment surrounding the postponement of Weekends With Adele.
‘Adele is an incredible artist, supremely dedicated to her music and her fans. Creating a show of this magnitude is incredibly complex.
‘We fully support Adele and are confident the show she unveils at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace will be extraordinary.’
Upset: Thomas Wright (pictured) flew from South Carolina for the opening night with a friend for the opening night. He told MailOnline that they spent $445 on each ticket
Dawn Sinko, designer from LA, spent nearly $4,000 on tickets and $1,500 on a room at Caesars for three nights
Adele said that ‘half’ her crew and team were off with the virus, which is indeed at the peak of a surge in Nevada
Last night it emerged that Adele’s residency could be delayed until June or even next year due to the singer’s ‘packed calendar’.
Insiders told The Sun: ‘There are two slots in this year’s calendar, from the end of February to the start of May, and from the middle of June to the middle of September. But if they can’t work then it could be 2023 by the time they’re rescheduled.
‘The rest of the weekend dates in the year are taken up by other acts including Sting and Rod Stewart.
‘She is expected to still be a part of The Brit Awards next month and she has two headline gigs at Hyde Park on July 1 and 2.
‘Adele’s schedule is mammoth and it makes rescheduling a challenge but she is devoted to her fans and will do everything she can to get them back in the diary quickly.’
Many fans have demanded the singer covers the cost of their Las Vegas flights and hotels after her ‘astounding’ decision to axe all her shows when many were flying in or had already arrived in the entertainment capital of the world.
MailOnline has been inundated with emails from people who had already jetted in from across the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK and Europe to see the star, who is making a record-breaking £500,000 per gig before merchandising.
Fans paying between $85 and $12,000 for a ticket — or up to $30,000 on the black market — had already travelled to Las Vegas for the opening gig tonight.
If they get tickets for replacement shows, most will be unable to go without more extraordinary expense and more time off work.
Ticketmaster are urging people to ‘hang on to their tickets’ for new dates but says they will give refunds if people apply online.
But many are already in Vegas having travelled thousands of miles to be there for the opening night, demanding the singer covers the thousands of dollars they have already laid out on flights and hotel rooms they have no hope of getting refunds for.
Many are questioning her reasons for cancelling, saying they don’t believe her claims that Covid and ‘delivery delays’ would require her to cancel all 24 nights and postpone them for months.
The songstress wrote that the dates for her residency — which would have started on January 21 and run through April — would be rescheduled
Mary Clare Donahue traveled to Vegas from Illinois with her family for the show. They were already in Vegas when it was canceled. Now, she says shortening the trip will cost them even more
Gillian Rowland-Kain, 32, was already on her flight to Las Vegas from New York with her twin sister when she found out about the cancellation via social media.
The attorney from Brooklyn said: ‘I was furious that Adele waited so last minute to make this call. I recognise it’s not a call any artist wants to make but she would’ve known yesterday that the show wouldn’t be ready by tomorrow. Her lack of notice is astounding. I’m angry and frustrated’.
Thomas Wright flew from South Carolina for the opening night with a friend for the opening night. He told MailOnline that they spent $445 on each ticket, $1,600 on flights and hotel as well as $100 on Covid tests. They also spent $400 each on new outfits.
He said: ‘I know I will not be able to get off of work to come back, I know I wouldn’t be able to afford to come back. This trip has been a collection of Christmas and birthday gifts plus saving for myself.’
Another fan, Gabriel, flew into Vegas from Quebec, Canada, and found out when they arrived in Nevada.
He told MailOnline: ‘We lost a large sum of money on plane tickets and hotels to come see her for nothing, pretty unacceptable that a multi-million dollar production team could pull the rug on the people who flew and risked getting Covid to see her because her ‘show’ wasn’t ready.
‘She is known for her voice not for her performances, for all I care I would’ve just enjoyed her sitting on a bench singing. Absolutely unacceptable, they have not mentioned anything about compensation for the travel expenses we had’.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk