After months of eagerly waiting, Adele fans were finally greeted with the opening night of her "Weekends with Adele" residency in Las Vegas on Friday. And it was more than just a "Hello" — as the show boasted a 20-song set complete with jokes, flames, confetti, and an array of classics.
The concert at Caesars Palace marked the first of 32 Adele shows at the venue, coming nearly a year after she postponed the Las Vegas residency in late January. At the time, she told fans that she "tried my hardest" to pull the show together in time, but fell short. But now, the show is seemingly right where she wants it to be.
"Thank you so much for coming back to me," Adele, 34, told the crowd, per The Guardian. "It looks just like I imagined it would, it's just perfect, thank you."
The packed venue of 4,100 fans watched, on walls of video screens at times, as the singer opened with No. 1 single "Hello," and played through other hits like "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)," "Rumor Has It," "When We Were Young," "Someone Like You," and "Rolling in the Deep." She also made sure to include some of her latest tracks off her November 2021 release 30, such as "I Drink Wine," "Love Is a Game," and "Hold On."
"I'm truly sorry for any inconvenience or any disappointment that I caused," Adele told the crowd, per Billboard. "But we're here tonight, together."
While the night included some apologies from the superstar, the theatrics of the show likely made up for the lost time. During "Set Fire to the Rain," fans watched a burning piano as raindrops fell on the stage, whereas during "When We Were Young," confetti featuring Polaroid photos of Adele during different life moments fell on the crowd, per Billboard. Also during the song, she walked around and asked fans what their favorite childhood memories were.
where tf did she go 😭 #WeekendsWithAdele pic.twitter.com/Mj0vYwAAGx
— Fred 🍷 (@FredAdkins_) November 19, 2022
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As for the sounds that fans were treated to on Friday night, Adele played her songs along with a six-piece band and, notably during "Skyfall," a 24-piece string section, USA Today reported. And she wasn't afraid to get funny, either, as she shot merchandise, as well as a handwritten note and $50, out of a T-shirt gun at one point.
Even under pressure, Adele pulled off a special show for her fans, before she disappeared on stage in what USA Today called "fairy dust." Just a day before the residency, which is set to run through March 2023, Adele revealed she was "incredibly nervous" in a candid Instagram post. As she wrote at the time, she was "highly emotional, incredibly nervous but can't sit still because I'm so excited."
"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," she said. "Maybe it's because I didn't start when I was supposed to. Maybe it's because it's opening night, maybe it's because Hyde Park went so great, maybe it's because I love the show. I don't know. But it's safe to say I've never been more nervous before a show in my career, but at the same time, I wish today was tomorrow!"
Adele announced her rescheduled dates in July after she canceled shows due to behind-the-scenes production issues. The revamped "Weekends with Adele" shows will now run through March 25.
"It would have been a really half-arsed show and I can't do that," the 15-time Grammy winner told Graham Norton in January. "People will see straight through me up on the stage. … I've never done anything like that in my life, and I'm not going to start now."
