10/05/09 - HOYT SHERMAN AUDITORIUM, DES MOINES, IA

Review by Helen Barton:
Another great gig last night. Probably not as high-energy as Chicago, but the crowd got into it at the end with everyone standing up and moving down to the front. Bryan was in good form again, making lots of funny jokes and bantering backwards and forwards with audience members who were yelling stuff at him. Again he got some people from the balconies to come down and fill some empty seats at the front, joking that he was looking for two girls to hook up with the guys next to the seats at the front. He said something like they were pretty big fellas and that 'are there any girls up there who'd like a couple of big boys?'

He told the story of 11 starting out as an acoustic album and then he decided to make it a full band album, only now he likes doing acoustic shows, and perhaps that means he'll bring out a fully acoustic album next. He was taking the piss out of himself with his long titles ('Everything I do, I do it for you'; 'If you wanna leave me can I come too'), which got a laugh. He also mentioned again the weird and wonderful interpretations of the album title '11' that are floating around on the internet and invited us all to contribute ("just go to Wikipedia and make some stuff up!"). Various people were walking in and out of the venue all evening to get drinks...Bryan took them up on it almost every time, saying things like "glad you could make it", "have you got enough beers now..."

He was laughing about the fact that 'Des Moines' means 'The Monks' in French and asked if there were any monks in the audience. The set list was pretty similar to Chicago with the addition of 'You're still beautiful to me', and a medley of 'Kids wanna rock' and 'When you're gone', which were yelled as requests. This was at a point in the show when he actually called for requests and that's something I like about this show and gives it some spontaneity. Gary's solo on 'Not Romeo, Not Juliet', was unreal again. The man is a genius. I have to admit to shedding a couple of tears during 'Mysterious Ways'. It just got me like that last night. I blame the jet lag. One annoying thing about the gig was the woman next to me, who repeatedly screamed during nearly every song. Sure, enjoy yourself at a gig...but why scream?!

Setlist:
Run To You
Tonight We Have The Stars
Back To You
Here I Am
Lets Make A Night To Remember
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
I Thought I'd Seen Everything
When You Love Someone
Heat Of The Night
I Just Wanna Make Love To You
Not Romeo Not Juliet
Everything I Do
Cuts Like A Knife
Mysterious Ways
This Time
Please Forgive Me
Summer Of '69
Walk On By
Heaven
Cloud #9
Kids Wanna Rock
It's Only Love
The Right Place
The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You
Somebody
Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?
Never Let Go
Straight From The Heart
All For Love

© 2009 18 Til I Die.co.uk. All rights reserved.
Web site comments to admin@18tilidie.co.uk
The images and photographs of Bryan Adams are reproduced with the kind permission of Adams Communications. These images and photographs are not to be reproduced without the specific permission of Adams Communications (and, where applicable, any separate copyright owner).