Adele Could Headline Next Year’s Super Bowl—If She Isn’t Too Anxious
Super Bowl 2017 in Houston might welcome to the stage Adele for the halftime show—if she can get a handle on her nerves. As an NFL source told The Sun, “There is nobody bigger in the world than Adele right now, and organizers are doing absolutely everything they can to try to persuade her to sign up.”
You’d think that signing up for the 51st Super Bowl and following in the gloried steps of Beyoncé, Prince, Michael and Janet Jackson, Madonna, and the Rolling Stones would be a no-brainer, but Adele apparently gets super nervous before big gigs. “It’s Adele’s nerves that are the issue,” the source said. “It hasn’t been an easy sell.”
Adele’s first Glastonbury performance ever was this year, though she could’ve easily headlined past years. “Oh, my God, this is the best moment of my life,” she said onstage. “Glastonbury means the world to me, I’m not even lying. I’ve always wanted to do this my whole life but I’ve been too scared.”
In 2011, she told Q Magazine that such large crowds were a no-go for her, so something has shifted since then. “I will not do festivals. The thought of an audience that big frightens the life out of me,” she said. “I’d rather play 12 years at the Barfly [a small venue for indie bands] than one night at The O2! So I’ve made all those decisions and some people are pretty mortified. They think I’m mad.”
The same year, she told Rolling Stone, “I’m scared of audiences. I get shitty scared. One show in Amsterdam, I was so nervous I escaped out the fire exit. I’ve thrown up a couple of times. Once in Brussels, I projectile-vomited on someone. I just gotta bear it. But I don’t like touring. I have anxiety attacks a lot.”
Hopefully, she’ll continue to overcome her fears and play at the Super Bowl next year. As the NFL source put it, “She’s sold out every date on her tour, everyone wants a piece of her and they know they can bank on her bringing in the viewers.” Everything sounds as though it’s in place—now Adele just has to decide if she wants 111.9 million people watching her, as they did last year’s Super Bowl.
