Adele repeatedly breaks down in tears as she returns to stage for first Las Vegas show

Adele spent the opening night of her Las Vegas residency fighting through tears as she made her nerve-wracking return to the stage.

The 'Hold On' singer thanked fans for 'coming back' to her after they waited almost a year for the rescheduled gig.

Adele's Las Vegas residency was originally due to launch back in January, but was postponed last minute because of production issues and covid concerns among the singer's team.

The 34-year-old was met with a standing ovation on Friday night at Caesar's Palace Colosseum, but told fans: "I should be giving you a standing ovation.

"Thank you so much for coming back to me. I really appreciate it. You look amazing and it looks just what I imagined it would look like, it's perfect."

She added: "I don’t get to go off stage for about 50 minutes so I’m going to have a s****y face of streaked makeup for the whole first part of the show."

Admitting that stage-fright almost got the better of her, she continued: "I'm so scared and nervous, but I am so happy.

"I don't know what I was thinking putting piano ballads at the top of the set ... hopefully over time my nerves will disappear.

"I would also really like to thank Caesar's because there have been a lot of rumours and they never once asked any questions, they've been amazing."

And by the looks of things, Adele's new show is quite a spectacle, from an impressive fire show during 'Set Fire To The Rain' to a disappearing act in the grand finale.

It's no wonder, then, that Adele had to postpone her original residency dates when 'half of her team' had been struck off with covid-19 and weren't able to complete the production set-up in time.

Speaking about the cancelled residency earlier this year, she admitted to Elle that it was 'the worst moment in my career, by far.'

She recalled: "I was so excited about those shows. It was devastating.

"There was just no soul in it. The stage setup wasn't right. It was very disconnected from me and my band, and it lacked intimacy. And maybe I tried too hard to give it those things in such a controlled environment."

The 'Rumour Has It' singer continued: "The first couple of months was really, really hard.

"I was embarrassed. But it actually made my confidence in myself grow, because it was a very brave thing to do. And I don't think many people would have done what I did. I'm very proud of myself for standing by my artistic needs."

Thankfully, it all worked out in the end for Adele and she seems to have fully redeemed herself in the eyes of her fans after giving them the show of a lifetime.