Keith Urban has added four dates to his 2022 Las Vegas plans, booking shows on consecutive weekends in March and April to go along with previously scheduled shows in late May. The singer will perform at The Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace on March 25, 26 and 30th and again on April 1 and 2. His previously announced performances are still planned on May 27-29.
While notable independent of anything else, Keith Urban’s newly announced dates may be even more notable because four of the five take place on dates that had previously been part of Adele’s “Weekends With Adele” residency, which was postponed just before its first scheduled date last week by the singer, who cited COVID cases among the crew as the reason. In her original scheduling, Adele would have been on the stage at The Colosseum on March 25 and 26, then again on April 1 and 2.
The scheduling of other performances on top of dates previously held for Adele calls into question just how long her “covid” delay could last, and indeed whether or not the show will go on at all.
In the wake of the abrupt postponement of the entire run, rumors have been rampant regarding Adele’s residency plans, and what will come of them. Tabloid reports say that there has been excessive drama behind the scenes, including outrageous staging demands and emotional outbursts that have put the entire show in jeopardy.
“Adele’s been crying and couldn’t get through a single full rehearsal for the past month,” said a source linked to the management team at Caesars Palace, where the shows were to take place in a PageSix story published this week. . “Just constantly on the phone with [her boyfriend, Rich Paul] … loudly shouting and sobbing.”
“She has barely rehearsed because she is constantly in the middle of an emotional shootout.”
Despite the stated reasoning that COVID issues held up the production from being ready to go up, reports have said a myriad of production demands are to blame instead, including demands for a replacement of the venue’s entire sound system, installation of an enormous video screen, and plans for a choir of 60 to accompany the show.
“It’s a major implosion for [Caesars] financially, and the PR is terrible,” journalist Scott Roeben said. “They hired more staff at their restaurants, put more dealers on their casino tables. You’ve got people with disposable income coming to Vegas, and this huge machine is reliant on you showing up.”
Fans of Adele have been understandably upset by the cancellation, which left many literally stranded in Las Vegas after travelling to the city for the opening shows before the last-second cancellation. With the announcement of Urban’s taking four of the originally planned dates, the question now is whether or not Adele will perform her residency at all, and if so, when.
For Keith Urban, the additional dates in Las Vegas will provide him with additional warm-up for his lengthy North American touring plans in 2022. The Speed of Now tour runs from late June through the summer and into fall.