Cast your mind back to 20 January 2022. Superstar Adele was riding high on the success of her fourth album 30 (2021) and was due to start her Las Vegas residency the next day. There was a buzz. The 100,000 tickets for the entire residency (24 shows) had sold out in 6 hours and, atypical of acts who take up Vegas residencies, Adele was at the top of her game. Add to that the COVID-induced pent-up demand for live entertainment and the fact that Adele had taken a long break from concert appearances.
On 20 January 2022, a visibly distraught Adele released a video saying the residency was postponed. The blowback was immense. Then, with the dates for the Vegas residency still uncertain, Adele was up to headline Summertime in Hyde Park on 1 and 2 July. To add to the scrutiny, 5 years previously Adele had called off her last two London residency shows at Wembley, due to voice fatigue. She hadn’t played a concert since. How did she do? This is Adele knocking Someone Like You out of the park!
Adele was on the back foot for the first half of 2022. Everything changed when Adele stepped onto the big Hyde Park stage looking elegant. Variety comments: “The audience was fully on her side, the words to every heartbreak anthem echoing back along the seemingly endless rows of fans enjoying the evening sunshine.” As the twilight faded, Adele came to the song many consider her masterpiece, Someone Like You. Backed only by a piano, Adele relished having 65,000 fans singing along with her.
When Adele held the mic out to the crowd, tears of joy glistened on her face as the audience rose to the occasion, singing as one. Adele was back! It turns out that Adele stalled the Las Vegas residency as she wasn’t happy with the staging. Stufish Entertainment Architects was called in to help redesign it. Now, the critically acclaimed year-long 100-show residency is behind Adele. On 23 November 2024, the last night of the residency, an emotional Adele addressed the February 2022 delay. Watch:
In July 2022, soon after the Hyde Park Concerts, Adele spoke to Billboard about how devastated she was by needing to postpone the Las Vegas residency. Adele said that the reaction to the delay was brutal, causing her to become a shell of a person for months. “I had trouble moving on from the incident,” she said. The London Summer in Hyde Park concerts helped Adele fall in love with performing again.
Naia Aiello, who was at Hyde Park, comments on the Someone Like You video: “It was the best concert I’ve been at. She’s funny, witty, extremely talented, and entertaining. OMG, I had the best time EVER!” Chris Pussing writes, “The genuine tears welling down her face and the tremendous facial expressions as the audience sings her song for her are angelic.”
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