With superstar DJs including Paul Oakenfeld and David Guetta operating residencies at dance clubs, the city of Las Vegas tends to present this as a dynamic shift towards the modern centre of pop culture. But in truth these are just new oldies for a tourist demographic that is getting marginally younger, with the average visitor age dropping from 50 to 45 over the past two decades.
The purpose-built shows tend to be genuinely spectacular, with jaw-dropping ticket prices to match, and plenty of merchandise to help pay the star’s mind-boggling fees (Adele is said to be in line to earn over $500,000 a show). But the underlying impulse of Sin City remains the same as when live entertainment was viewed by casinos as a loss leader: parading big attractions to keep the suckers coming to the slot machines. Hey, it’s the American dream.
If you want to see Adele up close and personal, then Vegas is the only place to go. She will be playing at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace Hotel to a mere 4,100 people a night. The last time I saw Adele, I was high in the stands at Wembley Stadium in 2017 amidst 98,000 others. To be fair, she made that soulless stadium about as intimate as it could be, but it certainly wasn’t cocktail hour in a hotel lounge.
And good luck getting a ticket when they go on sale on December 7 (for which you need to register as a verified fan via Ticketmaster by this Friday 3). Over the whole of her Vegas residency (24 shows on Fridays and Saturdays from 21 January to 16 April) she will perform to a total of 98,400 people travelling from every part of the world. Meanwhile, she has already sold out 130,000 tickets for her London open air homecoming shows at BST Hyde Park in July.
The most curious thing about Adele’s Vegas residency is that she is currently the biggest star in the world, at the very height of her powers, promoting a global smash hit album. She could play anywhere, command extravagant fees and perform to vast numbers of adoring fans, so why head to a small theatre in the Nevada desert?
