I’ve always been a huge fan of Bryan Adams, I grew up with his music on in the house and he was always on the radio and in the charts so I know most of the songs he has. I still found myself saying “I forgot about this one!” during his 29 song set.
This is the 4th time I’ve seen him over the last 21 years, and he’s been incredible every time. Unlike Bruce Springsteen the other night, there isn’t much talking, just straight up classics for just over 2 hours.
Our seats were Row A in the lower tier, but we found that they were slightly obscured by the people on the floor, and everybody around us sat down for all but a couple of songs so it wasn’t ideal. But you could still just about see the stage and the sound quality was, as it always is for Bryan Adams shows, perfect. You can hear every note and make our every word, which is honestly not normal in an arena.
He might have a new album out, but only three of the songs played were from it. The rest were a mix of huge hits that everyone knows, to slightly lesser known but still big tracks.
After opening with recent single ‘Roll With the Punches’, 4 of the first 5 songs were the type that any artist would be happy having as their main ones, never mind songs you could throw away in the first 20 minutes. They were ‘Run to You’, one of my favourites ‘Somebody’, ’18 til I Die’ and a solo ‘Cloud Number Nine’, all sounding perfect. A new arrangement of ‘Heaven’ was good but I prefer the original, only because I like it so much.
There was some great audience participation where the camera was focusing on some hilarious dancing in the stands for ‘You Belong to Me”, with a short rendition of ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ mixed in.
The hits kept on coming with ‘Can’t Stop This Thing We Started’, ‘Please Forgive Me’, ‘Here I Am’, an acoustic version of When You’re Gone, an atmospheric ‘Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?’ and a loud ‘The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You’, mixed in with newer tracks like ‘Go Down Rockin’ and even a cover of ‘Whiskey in the Jar’.
The request part of the show, where he usually plays a local song, gave us a ‘Twist and Shout’ cover, and then it was onto the big ones.
I was too young to get bored by ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It for You’ spending so many weeks at the top of the charts, and have never bought into it being a cheesy or novelty song, I absolutely love it. He did the full version complete with all the instrumental bits, and it sounded every bit as epic as a song of that size deserves.
‘Summer of ’69’ and ‘Cuts Like a Knife’ back to back ended the main set on a high, with the audience stepping up a gear too.
Then it was time for the two acoustic songs to end the night, and our seats went from being a bit disappointing to being the best ones in the house as they were RIGHT in front of the B Stage. He played ‘Straight From the Heart’ and ‘All for Love’ right in front of us, and turned the place from an arena gig into an intimate club venue for those of us at the back. I love it when artists do that as it makes everyone feel included.
All in all, a great night and it reinforces my view that a set by him at Glastonbury one day would be one of the best, everyone would know every song even if they didn’t initially realise it.
I’d recommend anyone who likes even a couple of Bryan Adams songs, and likes straight up rock music with no frills, to see him live.
