What DID cause Adele's Vegas meltdown?

Adele’s claim that she cancelled her Las Vegas shows due to Covid have been thrown into doubt amid allegations that managers tried to make the ‘perfectionist’ perform with a 60-strong choir and the ‘anxious’ popstar’s ‘stage fright’ got the better of her.

Fans from around the world who spent thousands of pounds on travel and tickets are in uproar after the British singer-songwriter this week abruptly axed her high-profile residency in the US less than 24 hours before her first concert.

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 are dissatisfied with her explanation that ‘half’ her crew had tested positive for the virus and are demanding their money back.

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’.

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.

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.