“For Ten Or So Minutes Before Adams Steps On Stage We Are Treated To A Full Size Car Flying Around The Arena Complete With The Words “So Happy it Hurts”
Multi award winning Canadian legend Bryan Adams brought his “So Happy It Hurts” tour to The M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool Wednesday night. The 62 year old guitarist, singer songwriter, composer and by the way talented photographer has sold more than 100 million records worldwide making him one of the best selling music artists of all time. It’s fair to say that everyone knows a couple of Adams songs instantly which is something very special.
This is one gig for sure we are really looking forward to and we are hoping for all the big hits being banged out on the stage at The M&S bank arena.
Tonight it’s going to be just Bryan Adams and his band alone. No support just pure Canadian rock music at it’s very best. Arriving at the M&S arena we notice that its mostly all seating except for a small section at the front for die hard Adams fans to stand at get close to their idol, which many did and the pit barrier was already pretty much occupied. Age range mixed from teens to 60plus year olds which says a lot about the influence Adams has.
For ten or so minutes before Adams steps on stage we are treated to a full size car flying around the arena complete with the words “So Happy it Hurts” scrawled on the side and the silhouette of Adams dog wearing a white scarf sat upright in the back . Who ever was flying that thing needs some credit !
A big, and I mean big, screen at the back of the stage shows an image of the car that had been flying around the arena and on that screen we see Adams getting out of the car and lifting the bonnet with smoke coming out. Then Adams walks towards the front of the screen totally blackening out the image and all the house lights go out for a second to plunge the arena into total darkness then the stage lights are hit and Adams with his band are on stage.
Adams declares to the Liverpool audience “Tonight we are gunna Kick Ass” and it’s straight into the first song from his new album “So Happy It Hurts” ……… “Kick Ass”
Adams looks the part in black jacket and black jeans and white basketball boots. This guy looks good, how the hell does he do it ? I need to know his secret. The crowd lap it up and Adams voice is impeccable. I always think it’s the sign of a great singer if they sound just as good live as they do on a record and this is certainly the case for Adams.
We get a really big dollop of his big hits as well during this almost two hours show from rock ballads like “Heaven” to full on popular rock numbers like “Back To You” We also get some chill time with acoustic versions of “When You’re Gone” minus Mel C of course and “Here I Am”. Amongst some of our favourites from a great night are “Its Only Love” with Adams lead guitarist Keith Scott plays some truly brilliant solos. “Not Guilty” which is introduced by Adams and he tells us is dedicated to Johnny Depp having been watching the trial recently. We can’t really not mention also “Summer of 69” which Adams plays near the end of his set. The audience instantly react to this in the first few bars of the intro and the reaction is none stop throughout the song with Adams running from one side of the stage to the other like a teen on redbull. The applause after lasts for at least two minutes, the Liverpool crowd really love this Canadian rock king.
Adams then tells the audience having recorded 16 albums it’s hard to remember all of his popular records so is open for requests. The band then play little snippets of requested songs which is just brilliant !!
Its then down to the last few songs which include the title track from his latest album “So Happy It Hurts” and acoustic versions of “Straight From The Heart” and lastly “All For Love”
What a great night and what a great performance and summed up from the Lyrics of “18 Til I Die”
“Don’t worry about the future, Forget about the past, We’re gonna have a ball, yeah, Gonna have a blast, we’ll make it last, 18 ’til I die, 18 ’til I die”
Rock on Mr Bryan Adams and stay “18Til I Die”
SET LIST
1/ Kick Ass
2/ Can’t Stop This
3/ Run To You
4/ Shine A Light
5/ Heaven
6/ Go Down Rockin’
7/ It’s Only Love
8/ On The Road
9/ You Belong To Me
10/ Woman
11/ Here I am (Acoustic)
12/ When You’re Gone (Acoustic)
13/ Everything I Do
14/ Back To You
15/ Not Guilty
16/ Rebel
17/ 18 Til I Die
18/ Summer Of 69
Audience Requests
19/ Cuts Like A Knife
20/ So Happy It Hurts
21/ Moments
22/ Straight From The Heart (Acoustic)
23/ All For Love (Acoustic)
FOLLOW BRYAN ADAMS
Warren is a live music and festival photographer based in Cheshire and covers gigs/festivals mostly in the North West of England. He has been photographing live music for over 10 years and has covered major artists and festivals
