‘Goodbye’ - Adele crushes more souls through heart-wrenching show cancellation

As life with COVID-19 becomes the reality, one would think artists would be able to live with the new norm. However, as Adele blames COVID-19 for her recent failure of an event, it holds true that the statement isn’t 100% there just yet.

Adele released her effervescent fourth album, 30, in early November. Despite an extensive amount of preparation time, Adele has had to cancel her upcoming Las Vegas shows.  The event was due to begin at The Colosseum, at Caesars Palace Hotel, on January 21; meanwhile, the singer made an announcement on Instagram on the 20th of January, a mere one day before the event, that snipped the heartstrings of fans. In the announcement, Adele extensively apologized to fans and said the people behind the event were “absolutely destroyed” by delivery delays due to COVID-19. 

The venue, Caesars Palace, tweeted in response that they “understand the disappointment surrounding the postponement of Weekends With Adele.” They failed to offer proper consolation to the fans of Adele, however. 

Adele choked back tears in an Instagram live as she stressed that she and her production team had tried “absolutely everything” to pull the show together in time. Be that as it may, their efforts fell short when it came to pulling the intricate event off. 

Nonetheless, when announcing the last-minute decision, she apologized to fans and promised that dates would be rescheduled. Under an eye of scrutiny, those disappointed with the news critiqued the fact that Adele was putting on this sort of an intricate show without a backup plan. Not to mention, Adele’s lack of preparation in many events is not a new finding. Shows in Wembley, as well as Hyde Park, have also been canceled relatively last minute. 

While some critiqued her, many celebrities came to her defense. For instance, comedian Kathy Griffin tweeted in support of Adele, insisting it wasn’t her fault. Singer Pink also sympathized with Adele in an Instagram comment, making sure fans understood that the pressure is immense and creating a show of this magnitude is incredibly complex. 

Nonetheless, Adele stressed that the cancellation was not her fault as more than half of her production team is down with COVID-19. Adele looked torn apart by guilt during the message. While it was not completely her fault, it is a huge disappointment that such an A-list celeb was unable to pull off an event with a decent amount of preparation time. More heartbreaking, however, is the fact that many fans who flew out to see her a few days before, are now left with a dent in their bank accounts and no concert memories to reminisce on. Nonetheless, the opportunity to see Adele still stands as all the events will be, fortunately, rescheduled.

By Cristi Isaula-Reyes

Oshkosh West Index Volume 118 Issue V