Bryan Adams comes to the historic Fillmore West and delivers a stellar performance to a sold out crowd. What a night! You know you're thinking, Bryan adams, what ever happened to that guy. He's been working on and off since the eighties though, he did some soundtrack work for the film Robin Hood in 1992. But, the truth can't be denied, because, I can see you through the glass driving in your car on a saturday night. "Run To You" comes on the radio and your head is bopping and your screaming out all the words which you inadvertently know by heart.
Adams has an incredible history in R-n-R that would probably surprise you. In recent years, he has collaborated with world renowned female vocalists Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion and Tina Turner, helping Streisand co-write a song that was performed live at the 1997 Oscars. In the depths of rock and roll memories, you will find Adams work on albums, soundtracks, and rare recordings with varied and legendary musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, Neil Diamond, Carly Simon, Joe Cocker, as well as Kiss, Ted Nugent, Motley Crue, also, Sting, Rod Stewart, Roger Daltrey and many more. Like I said, quite a revered past in rock and roll for this guy. Bryan Adams is first and foremost a song writer.
The show was truly great, it started just after 8:00 p.m. with a classic rock-n-roll trio... guitar, bass and drums, it's all you need. The band came out in shirts labeling their job description, Bryan Adams wearing one that said "LEAD SINGER." The funny thing is that I always thought that Adams played guitar. Most of the night he played the bass, with the exception of a few songs he played on an acoustic guitar. I was surprised to find out how many of this guy's songs I really like. He played "Summer of '69" and "18 Till I Die" early on to get the crowd rocking right away. "Cuts Like A Knife" was fantastic, and then he did a couple of his love songs "Heaven" and "When You're Gone."
This is when it got interesting, Adams was looking to the audience for someone to accompany him on "When You're Gone." He grabbed a young girl down front on stage left and she seemed quite genuine. I don't think she knew this was going to happen even though it seemed to go very smoothly. Her name was Christina from Sacramento and she is currently attending Sierra College. This is info Adams asked her when she got on stage, then he asked her what she was studying and she said, "Probation," and everybody laughed. Adams replied, "That's all I ever did in school," and the laughter got even louder. Next, Bryan wanted to make sure she really knew the words before they got started. She assured him that she did. He said, "I hope so, because, otherwise, well you know, one word, "Probation." I was thinking "Embarrassment, " but probation fit the flow of the conversation and got a hysterical response from the crowd. They sung the song together and she did a great job. Not like a diva or anything, but steady backup vocals and she did indeed know all the words. Bryan offered her some T-shirts as she left the stage and the band kicked right into some blues. That was the high point for me, I think, when it got all twangy with some good blues riffs to sway the hips. They did "If Ya Wanna Be Bad-Ya Gotta Be Good" and a through the roof "The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You."
The show was almost two hours and ten minutes of solid rock and roll mixed with a lot of love songs. The encores were another highlight of the evening as Bryan Adams and his band gave the crowd their money's worth and ended the show with "Somebody" and "Run To You." They left the stage one more time only to return to the stage one more time as Adams closed the show out with a beautiful acoustic love song. Thanks for reading and we'll see ya at the shows.