'Spectacular:' Adele fans rave as Vegas shows finally start
LAS VEGAS - An “incredibly nervous” Adele kicked off her Las Vegas concerts on Friday, 10 months after she angered fans by postponing the shows at the last minute.
People who attended the chart-topper’s first Weekends With Adele show at Caesars Palace said they were thrilled to finally see the Grammy-winning singer live on stage and seemed to forgive her for the postponement. The audience greeted her with a standing ovation.
“Thank you for coming back to me,” the British singer said.
Fans said the show felt intimate and they were moved by her performance of hits including Hello (2015) and Easy On Me (2021).
“Adele brought it like she always does,” said 49-year-old Nicole Quinn. “I laughed, I cried, I screamed, I jumped, everything. And so did she.”
“Amazing. Spectacular. She was the bomb,” said Ms Sally Hoffman, a fan from Philadelphia.
Adele, 34, faced a backlash in January, when in a tearful video she said she could not perform the shows because half her crew had Covid-19 and the pandemic had caused delivery delays.
She said then that her team had “tried absolutely everything” but it had “been impossible to finish the show”.
The concerts were due to begin the next day and some fans were making their way to Nevada, or already there, when they got the news.
Ms Shannon Tupper, 55, said she had been “incredibly disappointed” at the time but, after seeing the show on Friday, felt it was “worth the wait for sure”.
“She was amazing. I’ve been to a lot of concerts. I can’t even describe how good it was,” Ms Tupper said.
On Thursday night, Adele shared a picture of herself in rehearsal against a backdrop of childhood photos on social media.
“I’m highly emotional, incredibly nervous but can’t sit still because I’m so excited,” she wrote.. “I always get scared before shows, and I take it as a good sign because it means I care and means I just want to do a good job.”
Known for ballads about heartbreak and nostalgia, Adele made her musical comeback in 2021 with her fourth studio album, 30. It is nominated for the coveted Album of the Year award at the 2023 Grammys.
Easy On Me, from the album, is up for four awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Adele is scheduled to play in Vegas through March.
“She was wonderful,” said Ms Alisha Wilburn, a 39-year-old from Tennessee. “And I can’t believe she gets nervous. Like, why does she get nervous for peasants like us? We just revel in her gloriousness.” - REUTERS
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