Adele has hinted, in the form of a handwritten note, that she may retire from touring.
Her current tour, which has spanned 15 months and taken her through North America, the U.K., Ireland, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, will conclude on July 2nd at Wembley. The singer will have performed 123 shows.
Adele began her run of Wembley shows, dubbed “The Finale,” on Wednesday evening, opening the show, according to Variety, in the most Adele way possible: “F— me. I have never been so f—ing scared in all of my f—ing life.” This anxiety doesn’t come unwarranted: the first of her four shows at the London venue brought in nearly 98,000 fans, breaking a record that had been set by U2 in 2009.
Adele admits she struggled with touring
Known for her self-deprecating humor, Adele admitted that touring was not her strong suit. She took a moment at the end of Wednesday’s performance to address the massive crowd. After a particularly emotional rendition of “Someone Like You,” the singer, visibly choked up, told her fans:
For someone who was terrible at touring, who was unreliable at touring — I couldn’t even get insurance when I wanted to do this tour. It wasn’t until I did the U.K. and Europe shows that I finally got insured. I only missed one show. And, I swear to God, I actually had the flu… For someone who could never get passed about 40 shows without having a breakdown and now I’ve done my 120th after this next song. I have to give myself a massive, massive, massive pat on the back.
Adele shares a handwritten note
Adding to this sense of finality, Adele included copies of a handwritten note in the tour programs, which fans have taken to posting on Instagram:
“Touring is a peculiar thing,” the singer writes, “it doesn’t suit me particularly well. I’m a real homebody and I get so much joy in the small things.” She consciously chose London to be the final stop of her tour because she is unsure if she will ever do it again and wanted her last time “to be at home.” She graciously concludes her message by thanking her fans for their “ridiculous love and kindness,” adding “I will remember all of this for the rest of my life.”
The release of Adele’s 25 in November 2015 shattered the long-standing single-week U.S. album sales record previously held by *NSYNC. The album would win her a slew of awards, including Grammys for Album of the Year and Song of the Year for its first single “Hello.”