Editor's Note: After this story published on Thursday, January 20, Adele postponed her Vegas residency with a tearful social-media video. Stay tuned to lasvegasweekly.com for further developments.

The rumors of an Adele musical residency on the Las Vegas Strip have been circulating for several years, quite astonishing considering the 33-year-old Brit didn’t emerge as the superstar singer and songwriter the world knows until her triple-platinum debut album was released in 2008. After winning two Grammys, including Best New Artist, the following year, it was almost as if the soulful performer had reached a sort of instant-legend status.

That’s why November’s announcement of the Weekends With Adele residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, which was originally set to begin this week and continue most Fridays and Saturdays into April, was the least surprising Las Vegas entertainment announcement in recent years.

Her fourth studio album, 30, had been released less than two weeks before the show’s unveiling, preceded by runaway smash single “Easy on Me” in October, an emotional ballad that spent seven weeks atop Billboard’s Hot 100 chart heading into Christmas. When warm familiarity washed over fans through the extraordinary vocals of “Easy”—her first new music in six years—executives at Caesars and Live Nation Entertainment were already on the cusp of closing the deal for one of the most anticipated headlining acts in a decade.

The intense format of the residency matches the bold ambition of Adele’s new album. She’s planning to take the Colosseum stage 24 times in three months. Despite the high number of shows, initial demand for tickets was so overwhelming, Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan sign-up process locked down every seat for every show, making a traditional public on-sale completely unnecessary. Megastars like Usher, Sting, Carrie Underwood and Katy Perry have opened their own Vegas residencies in recent months—while such returning headliners as Bruno Mars, Santana, Lady Gaga, Shania Twain have made their way back to the Strip—Adele’s are the most sought-after tickets in town.

There’s no question she’s a special artist, but the same can be said about any of the stars mentioned above. Yet the presentation of Adele’s singular talent and unique history, set against the backdrop of the current Las Vegas landscape, is nothing short of historic. Here are four reasons why this Strip residency could become one of the most impactful events ever for both the singer and the city.

1. Perfect Timing

Similar to the way Gaga began her two shows, Enigma and Jazz & Piano, at Park MGM just as she had stepped into a new career echelon with a critically acclaimed performance in A Star Is Born, Adele has moved into a new phase of creative maturity with 30. Rolling Stone called it her best album yet: “The more mature she gets as an artist, the more finesse and tact she brings to the microphone, without sacrificing any of the primal firepower that made her famous in the first place.”

Pitchfork awarded the album a score of 8.2 out of 10: “Life is messy and not always built for three-minute pop songs with perfect hooks. Adele was always more complicated than that, and now she has an album that ups the stakes and nuance of her artistry.”

Like a great new album does for any act, 30 provides a big boost for Adele fans who have been craving new music and the opportunity to see her perform these songs live . But she’s also landing in Las Vegas at a crucial time, when a fresh crop of diverse artists are also making their way to the Strip for residency shows, and when live music lovers from around the world are making plans to get back out there again and catch concerts after two years of staying home.

“I don’t want to say that Adele is necessarily the icing on the cake, but if you look at those artists that have been here and add her into the mix with the others that just came in at Resorts World, all of a sudden this city is the must-visit destination where you can see a concert one night and maybe go to a sporting event or a show like Absinthe or Cirque du Soleil the next night,” says Craig Nyman, head of music and live performances for Downtown Las Vegas’ annual Life Is Beautiful festival. “You are planning your weekend around your favorite artist, and you have so much else to do.”

Underwood and Perry recently opened their residency shows at the brand-new Resorts World Theatre, and country star Luke Bryan and Vegas legend Celine Dion are expected to open new shows there this year. Canadian crooner Michael Bublé is also set for a six-night run there in April.

After last year’s debut of residency shows from Usher and Sting at the Colosseum, John Legend announced a new residency coming to Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood in April. Live Nation is expected to announce some new and returning headliners soon—including official confirmation that Usher’s show is moving to Park MGM’s Dolby Live theater—only adding to the Strip’s current galaxy of stars, which also includes Keith Urban, Rod Stewart, Aerosmith, John Fogerty, Lionel Richie, Barry Manilow and Donny Osmond.

With that blend of legacy acts and legends-in-the-making of various musical genres, 2022 looks like a peak year for the modern Las Vegas residency show.

“It’s definitely exciting when you have that many superstars and talented musicians performing here, and seeing so many people coming and buying those tickets, my hope is this will continue in the future as the city is adding more theaters on top of it,” Nyman says. “Before the pandemic, the average person maybe went to one or two concerts a year, so now when you are going to a show, you’re really thinking about what that show is going to be. Is it your favorite artist or is it someone new? These are artists and entertainers people have been waiting so long to see, so it’s like, let’s do it.”

2. The Perfect Venue

First opened in 2003 for Dion’s first Strip residency A New Day… and renovated and refreshed in 2019, the Colosseum at Caesars Palace is easily one of the most important venues in the history of the Strip. It’s ground zero for the Vegas residency as we know it, also having hosted pivotal concert engagements with Elton John, Bette Midler, Cher and Mariah Carey.

Its original programming partner, AEG Presents, and its current partner, Live Nation, have driven the residency evolution and expanded concert events at larger Las Vegas venues through the years, including T-Mobile Arena since its opening in 2016 and Allegiant Stadium in 2020. But through this development and other important residency productions like Britney Spears’ Piece of Me show at Planet Hollywood in 2013, the Colosseum remains the blueprint and the grand dame of Vegas venues.

Last year, behind-the-scenes chatter had Adele playing at Resorts World, where AEG books the 5,000-seat theater. In a November Rolling Stone interview, she denied a Vegas residency was on the way “because there’s f*cking nothing available.” AEG officials told USA Today in December that it was in talks with Adele, but Resorts World Theatre was essentially booked up with its other headliners. Live Nation and Caesars Entertainment officials declined to comment for this story.

Whether or not Adele actually had her choice of Vegas venues, the Colosseum makes the most sense for aesthetic and historic purposes. Newer, larger theaters on the Strip would certainly accommodate an incredible production, but there’s a perfect story to the way this residency booking played out, a sort of torch-passing from Celine to Adele. And if you’ve been able to revisit the Colosseum since its pandemic-era reopening, you know it hasn’t lost any luster. For now, it’s still the room.

3. A Unique Format

Different people have different definitions of “residency.” During Dion’s first Strip run, she played more than 700 shows during five years—averaging 150-plus shows per year. She might have created the model for today’s resident headliners, but all the stars who have followed in recent years perform in Las Vegas far less consistently, maybe 30 to 45 concerts each year.

The Weekends With Adele schedule is unusual, because most artists spread their shows out throughout the year. Adele will be making the trip from her home in LA to Las Vegas every weekend, essentially taking over the town for three months. If you think the Strip was busy before the pandemic or during last summer’s Fourth of July reopening weekend, wait until the weekend of February 4, when Garth Brooks, the NHL All-Star Game and the NFL Pro Bowl join Adele in Las Vegas; or February 11, when Twain, Bryan and George Strait join Adele in Las Vegas; or April 1, when Billie Eilish joins Adele in Las Vegas.

Adele could stick with these sold-out dates and keep her residency as a limited engagement, but she could also add many more shows and rake in many more millions of dollars. At press time, nothing had been announced for the Colosseum from mid-June until mid-September, and nothing later than October, but Live Nation will likely fill those weeks with shows soon. It seems improbable that Adele will romance Las Vegas constantly for a few months and then just vanish forever, doesn’t it?

And what will her performance bring to the Strip? The stars of the big new productions at Resorts World have noted that their stage spectaculars were custom-built for Las Vegas, too complex to tour around the world. Will Adele build something similarly over-the-top at Caesars, stacked with singers, dancers and musicians, or will she strip it all away to accentuate her fabulous voice? Will she get bored, coming back every weekend, and change up the setlist, singing songs she has never performed live? With no big tour plans on the horizon during the extended uncertainty of the COVID era and only a few other concerts on the docket for later this year, Adele’s options for Las Vegas seem limitless.

4. A Unique Artist

“She’s never quite fit the mold. She’s always made it her own,” singer Janae Longo says of Adele. “Growing up, I always listened to older artists like Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Wynonna Judd—these big powerhouse voices—as did she. She came up writing music at a time when that was not expected from a 19-year-old. She wasn’t pop; she wasn’t Britney or Christina. She definitely created her own brand and sound and that’s why I love her.”

Longo will be making her Las Vegas debut next month in the longest-running production show currently playing the Strip, Legends in Concert at the Tropicana. It’s a new Legendary Divas-themed show, with tribute artists paying homage to Vegas residents past and present: Cher, Dion, Gaga, and now Adele. Longo is Adele.

“I was driving down Las Vegas Boulevard the day she announced her residency, going to work at 5 in the morning, and no one knew it was happening,” she says. “All of a sudden the Caesars [marquee] lit up with her face, and I thought, if that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.”

The Buffalo, New York, native took that sign and auditioned for Legends. And yes, Longo’s fully supportive of the idea that those who can’t scrape up tickets to see Adele should head over to the Trop to catch her take on “Easy on Me,” “Rollin’ in the Deep” and more.

“She’s always using her life experiences and what she’s going through. I found this quote that sums it up: ‘Let them see the cracks in your armor, because that’s how the light gets out,’” Longo says. “Every album, she’s done that to some extent, but this [new album] is on another level of honesty and vulnerability. Her music can connect with anyone. I’d challenge anyone to go through her albums and not find a song that just makes you feel like, I totally get it.”

One of the most fascinating aspects about Adele’s career is the way she has been able to create art that’s so deeply personal, exposing her most raw and real emotions through music, all while turning away from her celebrity status and maintaining her privacy. That juxtaposition endears her to fans who relate to her heartbreak and loneliness and unwillingness to play the games of fame and pop culture notoriety. Simply put, she’s the realest.

And the rarest. She famously dislikes touring and has eschewed untold opportunities in order to maintain that privacy and care for her 9-year-old son, Angelo. Adele onstage, any stage, is a rarity, and that’s another reason why the demand for her Las Vegas shows has been and will continue to be overwhelming.

“When she puts music out, the world listens,” Nyman says. “She’s one of those rare artists where if you’re 7 or 70, there’s a connection with fans, and there is a mystique because she hasn’t toured much but people have seen interviews where she’s so open and candid while also private.

“Of all the residency headliners we’ve had in this city, this is the artist that has probably played the least amount of live shows in the U.S. That’s really special,” Nyman adds. “I can’t wait to see, during these first shows, all the people coming in and walking out of the Colosseum so emotionally charged up from that experience, because those memories will not fade.”

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