Adele has halted one of her shows mid-song to defend a standing fan she thought was being “bothered” by security guards.
The British singer, 35, who is part way through her Las Vegas residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, stopped singing Water Under The Bridge to speak directly to a male fan after he was approached by fellow concert-goers and two security guards.
The fan, Juan Pablo, who was filming himself on a selfie stick during the show, later shared a short video on TikTok of the moments before and after Adele defended his right “to have fun”.
In the video, a one female audience member can be seen approaching the fan, who is standing and singing along with the songs, and appears to ask him to sit down.
The fan does sit down, but a short while later – as Adele leads into her next song saying “you can stand up now darling” – he jumps up from his seat, at which point two other security guards approach him.
One guard says: “Look behind you, everybody’s upset,” to which the fan responds, “I’ll stay calm”.
His friend, sitting next to him, asks: “We can sing though, right?”
Elton John treated in hospital after falling at home in France
Eminem sends Vivek Ramaswamy cease and desist letter telling him to stop rapping his songs
Edinburgh Fringe producer at risk of collapse after Coventry’s City of Culture Trust went into administration
It’s at this point, Adele stops singing and intervenes, saying: “What is going on with that young fan there who’s being bothered so much since I’ve been on for standing up?
“Can you leave him alone, please?
“They won’t bother you anymore, darling. You enjoy the show.
“He’s here to have fun, all of you are here to have fun.”
At that point, the third security guard to approach the situation, appearing to respond to Adele’s request, tells the fan: “You don’t have to sit down, you’re fine, stay here,” telling the other two security guards: “It’s all done” and signalling for them to move away.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t respond’
Posting two videos of the incident on TikTok – of the same moment captured from different angles – the fan also gave a message to the singer, writing: “Adele thank you so much for this breath-taking night and for standing up for me, so that I could live your concert as it should be.
“I’m also sorry that I didn’t respond back to anything you asked me. you started talking to me and I literally stopped breathing.”
He went on to say he had been planning his attendance at the concert for over a year, and hit out at “the haters” who tried to make him sit down.
He went on: “I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that I was in the same room as Adele, sang every song with her, and she even stopped the show to defend me.
“I did not expect everyone in my section to be mad at me for having the time of my life and wanting to stand up and sing with her but I honestly did not care at all about what anyone was saying to me I just was in awe with the master piece I was watching with my own eyes. I did not have time for them haters.”
Click to subscribe to Backstage wherever you get your podcasts
Are badly behaved audience members on the rise?
He has since told US entertainment website TMZ he has no regrets about standing up, and that people behind him who were blocked should just have stood up too.
He also said he later had a selfie taken with one of the security guards.
Earlier this year, in a similar fashion, Taylor Swift halted mid-chorus during Bad Blood during a Philadelphia performance of her Eras tour to reprimand a security guard for their interaction with a female fan.
It comes amid a host of incidents during concerts, film screenings and play performances, with singers hit by objects thrown from the crowd, and audience members ejected from theatres due to loud and disruptive behaviour.
