Adele has been forced to delay her three-month Las Vegas residency after Covid hit the production.

“I’m so sorry, but my show ain’t ready,” the singer announced in an Instagram post. “We’ve been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and Covid. Half my crew … are down with Covid – they still are – and it’s been impossible to finish the show.”

The residency, titled Weekends with Adele, was due to begin on 21 January at the Colosseum in the Caesars Palace casino, celebrating her highly lauded album 30, which topped music charts in the UK, Australia and the US. Its first single, Easy On Me, broke records upon its release, becoming Spotify’s most-streamed song in a single day.

“I’m gutted and I’m sorry it’s so last minute,” Adele said. “We’ve been awake for over 30 hours now and we’ve run out of time. I’m so upset and … I’m so sorry to everyone that travelled to get [here].

“We’re going to reschedule all of the dates, we’re on it right now … I’m gonna finish my show and I’m gonna get it to where it’s supposed to be.”

Adele’s residency has been highly anticipated by fans and critics. The Guardian described her as a “slyly subversive fit for a Vegas residency”, bringing her trademark brand of heartbreak and vulnerability to a “place synonymous with light entertainment and celebrating adult milestones”. She joins a lineage of artists including Elvis Presley, Celine Dion and Britney Spears to take up the Vegas mantle.

Vegas will also mark a shift towards more intimate shows for an artist known for her chatty, conversational style of touring, with the residency taking place in a relatively small 4,100-seat venue compared with Adele’s previous world tours. In 2017 she revealed to a stadium audience in New Zealand that “touring isn’t something I’m good at … I don’t know if I will ever tour again”.