Legendary Canadian artist Bryan Adams made his way through the Buffalo, NY area this past Tuesday night. He is on tour in support of his 15-studio album “So Happy it Hurts.” Adams has had the same set of musicians accompanying him since 2016. They are Gary Breit on keyboards, Solomon Walker on bass and longtime members Mickey Curry on drums and Keith Scott on lead guitar. This is his first appearance in the WNY area since he played Darien Lake in August of 2019.
Before taking the stage, an inflatable car circled the arena with Bryan Adams letters taped to each side. There was also a peace and love sign taped to the bottom of it. Once that disappeared, a video intro played before Adams and his band took the stage. Of course, if there was ever a more appropriate song to start the set it would be “Kick Ass” from the latest studio effort. For this song, the band performed in barrage of red lights. A few songs later, “Shine a Light” was played. During this song, everyone mimicked the good old days where lighters were the theme to now where cellphone lights are the fashion. Taking it back for me was when Adams played “Heaven.” That was my junior prom theme and for the 1st part of it, the crowd sang the entire first verse before Adams took over. It was just him performing the song solo and via his acoustic guitar. He would do this twice more for “Lonely Nights” and the last song of the night “All for Love.” Adams described his relationship with the late Tina Turner. He described her “as a powerhouse of a woman and that he got to sing at her wedding.” The only thing I wished Adams did instead of just mentioning Tina Turner by name that they showed video of the two performing live on the screen while he performed “Its Only Love.” Adams right hand man Keith Scott did an extended guitar solo at the end of this track. Scott was all over the stage throughout the show showcasing his talents as well. “You Belong to Me” had the house lights on as they scanned the crowd finding couples. The crowd really went nuts for “Summer of ’69.” They stood up and you can barely hear Adams’ sing as the crowd took over singing pretty much of the entire song. It’s been 40 years since his landmark album “Cuts Like a Knife” was released. So hearing this track defiantly took me back to the good ole days of MTV.
Legendary artists like Adams can find it a challenge to balance incorporating newer tracks with the classic hits. This is due to the amount of hit songs that Adams has. I think he did a good job of incorporating new and old. 2019 was the first time I saw Adams live. We review a lot of shows and to me, that was the best sounding concert I attended that year. Well, Adams is already in contention for the same accolade in 2023. The sound was impeccable as his range and tone still sound like he has lost nothing from his voice. This is only the 5th show of the tour so there is plenty of time to get out there to see him live. Check the tour dates on his website for more info.
Setlist:
Kick Ass
Can’t Stop This Thing We Started
Somebody
Please Forgive Me
One Night Love Affair
Shine a Light
Heaven
It’s Only Love
You Belong to Me
I’ve Been Looking for You
The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You
Here I Am
Lonely Nights
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You
Go Down Rockin’
18 till I Die
Summer of ‘69
The Best Was Yet to Come
Cuts Like a Knife
So Happy it Hurts
Run to You
Can’t Take my Eyes Off You (Franki Valli cover)
Encore:
Straight from the Heart
All For Love
Editors note: Joan Jett opened the show but didn’t allow photographers so we passed on reviewing her portion of the show.
We would like to thank Ron Perks from Livenation for the credentials to review the show.
