AO Arena, Manchester – 17/05/2022
A last minute dart over to Manchester last Tuesday night sees me arriving at the AO arena to see ‘Summer of 69’ hitmaker, Bryan Adams. I was really looking forward to this one, having seen him once before, I knew I was in for a great show.
With no support Bryan hit the stage at approximately 8.15pm, following quite the introductory voiceover! A little tongue in cheek, but it got a laugh from the crowd. The band emerged on stage and then accompanied by an almighty roar from the crowd, Bryan Adams ran on, with his guitar slung around his neck and strummed the first chord.
Opening up with ‘Kick Ass’ from the new album and tour namesake ‘So Happy It Hurts’, this is a rocker. He and the band really hit the ground running with this one. I love chugging guitar that perfectly complements Bryan’s country rock style vocal. We’re back to 1991 for the next offering, ‘Can’t Stop This Thing We Started’ and I have to say, Bryan hasn’t lost any of his vocal range, he’s sounding better than ever, in fact, this might even sound better than the record!
The setup in the arena was a little strange. On the floor, there was a barrier separating the front and the back standing people. It was a shame as the front only looked to be about half full, with the rest of the floor crowd gathered further back behind the barrier. I thought it was a bizarre choice, and so it appears did Bryan, who commented how strange it was!
A string of hits followed, ‘Heaven’ and ‘Run to You’, both fairly early offerings in the evening. I have to mention guitarist Keith Scott who simply blew me away with his guitar playing. His tone was out of this world and his soloing was extraordinary. A guitarist who we should be mentioning in the same breath as Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Rory Gallagher. Yes, THAT good. Why he’s not a household name, I’ll never know! It’s clear that Bryan thinks he should be, given the amount of spotlight he has given him. Just stunning.
Bryan’s interaction with the audience was great too, he really was a great master of ceremonies. His stage craft is second to none. At one point he gets the house lights turned up and asks the audience if they were ready to dance, as the best dancers would be featured on the screen during the next song, which got a scream from women of a certain age!! He launched into one of my favourite newer songs, ‘You Belong to Me’ and sure enough, the song was completed by some fan dancing broadcast on the big screens!
There were some deeper cuts too, Bryan explained that he’d done three nights at the Albert Hall and on each of the three nights he’d played a different album in it’s entirety and hadn’t played some of the songs for decades. ‘Rebel’ from ‘Into the Fire’ was one and what an amazing song, that seemed to resonate so well with everything going on in Ukraine right now. He also played ‘Not Guilty’ from ‘Waking Up the Neighbours’, with a precursor that he’s just joined Tik Tok and been watching the Johnny Depp trial, and that made him think of the song! A cheer of appreciation and solidarity for Johnny came from the crowd.
‘18 Til I Die’, ‘Summer of 69’ and ‘Everything I Do’ of course were brilliant, but a real stand out moment was ‘Have You Ever Loved a Woman’ – Keith Scott flexing his guitar muscles once again treating us to some flamenco! Again, what a guitarist, this guy can play anything!
All too soon, the band disappeared off stage and the crowd were chanting for more. In very Pink Floyd esque fashion, an inflatable car – The ‘So Happy it Hurts’ car in fact, was floating around the auditorium and then, Bryan and co. return to the stage for the encore, kicking off with ‘So Happy it Hurts’ and then ‘Moments’, both from the latest album and the audience were lapping it up. They were loving it.
The band then left Bryan on stage on his own and he picked up his acoustic guitar and sang the night out acoustically. ‘Straight from the Heart’, a reprise of ‘Shine a Light’, which got the crowd all shining their phone lights which was a very impressive sight and finally ‘All for Love’ brings the night to a close.
What a night it was, Bryan’s voice was out of this world and I have to mention Keith Scott again too, truly exceptional. I absolutely loved it and left with a huge smile on my face. If for whatever reason you haven’t seen Bryan Adams before, you are missing a treat! See him, you won’t regret it!
