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12/02/09 - CONEXUS
ART CENTER, REGINA, SK
Review by Jeff DeDekker (Leader-Post):
It turns out that Bryan Adams doesn't need the all trappings of
stadium rock to put on an entertaining show. The 49-year-old superstar
rocker stopped in Regina on Thursday night for a solo acoustic show,
delivering an impressive performance in an intimate setting at the
sold out Conexus Arts Centre. Playing for slightly more than two
hours, Adams weaved his way through his extraordinary discography
while engaging the audience with interesting, and sometime surprising,
stories.
Taking the stage in jeans, a black dress shirt and sporting a faux
hawk, Adams opened with 'Run To You' before chatting about his
last visit to the Queen City.
"Do you remember the last time I was here," he asked
the crowd. "It was for the Grey Cup game and I thought it was
inside." When the laughter subsided, Adams broke into 'Tonight
We Have The Stars' and as he segued into 'Back To You', he was
interrupted by a male fan trying to make his way, along with an
armful of beer glasses, to his seat in one of the front rows.
"C'mon fella get to where you're going," Adams chided,
with a laugh. "You've got six beers. You'd better be sharing
those puppies."
Once the fan completed his long, embarrassing journey Adams returned
to the business of music. Armed with an acoustic guitar and joined
occasionally by pianist Gary Breit, Adams proved he didn't need
pounding drums, a loud electric guitar and an elaborate stage show
to deliver the goods.
Many of the hits featured different arrangements as Adams breathed
new life into the music. Breit's contributions to the evening "In
case you didn't get the memo, this is the band tonight," joked
Adams were notable but this evening was all about Adams. Despite
the music being stripped bare, the performance worked because the
material was superb, Adams' delivery was outstanding and his raspy
voice was stirring.
Perhaps the best way to describe the show would be to suggest that if Adams was to show up at your house, guitar in hand, offering to sing a few songs for you in your living room, this is what you would have received.
As the music continued to flow, so did the stories.
When introducing 'Here I Am'. which was written for the movie 'Spirit:
Stallion of the Cimarron', Adams explained to those unfamiliar with
the film that the song was written around the birth of a horse.
As the crowd chuckled, Adams said, "As a songwriter you take
inspiration wherever you can get it."
Adams also informed the audience that 'Summer of ’69'was his most
misunderstood song. "Most people think it's about a specific
time period but it's actually about a sexual position," he
told the crowd which responded with laughter, hoots and howls.
Adams'performance, which stretched through 27 songs, including two
encores, had something for every one of his fans. He satisfied the
hunger for the uptempo tunes like 'Run To You', 'Summer of '69',
'Somebody' and 'This Time' while also sliding through emotional
ballads like 'The Best Is Yet To Come', 'Heaven', 'When You Love
Someone' and 'Have You Ever Really Love A Woman?'
If the reaction of one female fan sitting behind me was any indication,
she literally cried her way through five or six songs in the middle
of the performance. Adams struck a chord with everyone in the audience.
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