The Las Vegas plan is still ongoing, but a deal has reportedly been in the works for several weeks, sources confirm. The Las Vegas residence would cover all of their North American tour plans for 2022 as Adele’s booking team didn’t make reservations for major arenas or stadium dates in North America, sources say. Non-binding reservations are typically used by booking agents and tour operators to reserve a spot on a venue’s events calendar when they begin planning a tour.
A global world tour could easily earn the British singer $ 200 million in ticket sales and would generate far more revenue than a Las Vegas residency. Most arenas can hold 20,000 people per show, while a Las Vegas residence is limited to the Park Theater, which seats 6,400, or the Colosseum, which seats 4,100. Adele generated more than $ 150 million in ticket sales in North America during her tour in 2016, according to Billboard Boxscore, and broke a record in Australia by selling 600,000 tickets for eight shows in 2017.
She could potentially make even more thanks to the backlog in 2022, but touring a huge production around the world comes at a significant cost compared to a stationary Vegas show. Subtract those expenses and add in a bonus thanks to the exclusive, intimate nature of a Las Vegas residence and the difference between the salary Adele could take home from a Las Vegas residence versus a tour that can be attached to the ticket prices can be reduced.
Sources say Adele likes the idea of her fans traveling to see her in Vegas, where she can keep an apartment, avoid being apart from her 8-year-old son for long periods of time, and easily get back and forth from her home can commute here in Los Angeles.
Adele is one of the top-grossing artists of the past decade, and the decision to stay in Las Vegas for an extended period would set a new precedent for the city’s concert model. Developed by Celine Dion in the Coliseum of Caesars Palace in March 2003, the modern residence began a 16-year run that spanned more than 1,000 shows and grossed well over $ 681 million in ticket sales.
Since Dion’s debut, hundreds of artists have tried their hand at Vegas residences, most recently Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Usher, Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, Rod Stewart and Sting. Once considered the domain of past peak artists, today’s Las Vegas residency shows are big business, generating millions in sales. Adele would be one of the rare female artists to play a Las Vegas residency during a new creative high point in their careers. In fact, she has the potential to be one of the first artists to play the Colosseum while also having an album in the top 10 on the Billboard 200.
On Tuesday (October 5th), Adele announced her new single “Easy on Me” for October 15th and posted a 10-second preview of the song’s piano melody on her social networks. The song is expected to be the lead single of their fourth studio album, which may be titled 30, if the billboards and light projections around the globe last week are to be believed. This would be the British singer’s first new music since 2015, spending a staggering 10 weeks at # 1 on the Billboard 200 and earning a Grammy for Album of the Year. 25 sold 3.38 million copies in its debut week – the biggest week of sales for an album since MRC Data began tracking point-of-sale purchases in 1991.
After staying in Las Vegas, Adele would likely still be in great demand from fans who haven’t traveled to Las Vegas but are paying for a ticket to see them play in their own cities. Many artists, including Dion, have played exclusive residential shows in Vegas for several years and then went on tour successfully with a 20 to 30 day tour.
Adele is managed by Jonathan Dickens in September and represented on tours by WME.
