Adele asks security to stop 'bothering' fan in Las Vegas

Adele, in a black dress, smiles and holds a microphone in one of her outstretched hands.

Aug. 28, 2023 4:24 PM PT

Adele recently paused one of her Las Vegas residency shows to defend a fan in the audience who had allegedly been “bothered ... by security and the people sitting behind him.”

While playing the Colosseum at Caesars Palace over the weekend, the musician stopped singing in the middle of her performance of “Water Under the Bridge” to discourage people from allegedly pestering a concertgoer who was standing up during the show.

“Can you stop a minute?” Adele says in concert footage shared on social media.

“What is going on with that young fan there? He’s been bothered so much since I came on for standing up. What’s going on with him? ... What are you doing? Why are you all bothering him?”

The incident occurred right after Adele explicitly said, “Do not tell anyone to sit down, do you hear me?” before launching into her performance of “Water Under the Bridge.”

“Can you leave him alone, please?” she continued after cutting off the music.

“He’s enjoying the show. Leave him alone. ... He’s been bothered the whole show by security and other people sitting behind him. He’s here to have fun, all right? All of you are here to have fun.”

On Sunday, the fan in question (@juanp_lastra on TikTok) posted a video of what happened from his perspective and thanked Adele for coming to his defense. In the clip, the fan can be seen standing and singing along passionately to Adele’s performance when another audience member approaches him and says, “Look behind you. Everybody’s upset. Everybody.” The fan then sits down but continues to sing along.

Later, in the same video, the fan stands back up and starts screaming after Adele says from the stage, “You can stand up now, darling.” But it’s unclear who she’s speaking to until a security guard comes over and starts talking to the fan, prompting Adele to stop the show and call off the guard.

“Adele thank you so much for this breathtaking night and for standing up for me, so that I could live your concert as it should be,” @juanp_lastra captioned his TikTok video.

“I’m also sorry that I didnt respond back to [anything] you asked me. you started talking to me and I literally stopped breathing.”

The TikTok user added that he had been “planning to come to this concert for over a year and finally had the opportunity” to see his idol perform that evening. His video has amassed more than 2 million views so far on the social media platform.

“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,” he wrote. “I did not have time for them haters.”

Other Adele fans were quick to shower @juanp_lastra with support in the comments section of his video.

“I’m so happy you didn’t let those people bring you down and adele stood up for you,” one person wrote.

“I’m sorry you went through that experience,” another person commented. “I hope you got to Dance your heart out ... Yes Mother Adele standing up for true fans.”

Adele also made headlines over the weekend for reportedly revealing that she fell backstage during one of her Vegas shows due to a sciatica flare-up. Sciatica is a condition that causes pain to spread “from the lower back through the hips and buttocks and down each leg” via the sciatic nerve, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Adele reportedly told audience members in Las Vegas this weekend that her production team had to pick her “whole body up off the floor” after she collapsed backstage during a sciatica episode.

“I am going to sit down and rest my sciatica,” the Grammy winner said, according to the Sun.