Bryan Adams - Wednesday 7th December - Brighton Centre

I remember seeing Bryan at the Brighton Centre in 1987 on the "Into The Fire" tour. After opening with a blistering "Only The Strong Survive" he seemed in a particularly bad mood - he told the audience that he'd had some negative comments about the bare stage set (it was drums, keyboards and speakers - no backdrops, flashy lights etc) before telling us that "If we'd come to see a lightshow, we'd come to the wrong ****** show!" and that they were just a no-nonsense rock band.

24 years later and a few things have changed. The band are still a great rock band. Bryan is trading licks with long term guitar partner, Keith Scott. (having thankfully abandoned a few years ago what Richard accurately describes as "the bass debacle"!). But I wasn't anticipating the massive LCD screen at the back of the screen which dominated proceedings. The mainly black and white graphics were stunning from a technology point of view, but from our view near the front were quite a distraction. I would imagine it will work better in larger venues.

The set was solid - slightly less reliant on ballads than some of his shows of recent years and the performance good. There was just a part of me harking back to 1987 when an angry younger man had delivered a pulsating 2 hrs plus of rock and roll in one of the best performances of what must be close to the 100 odd times I've seen him. Times have changed and we all get older...

Setlist
House Arrest
Somebody
Here I Am
All I Want Is You
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
I'm Ready
Thought I'd Died And Gone To Heaven
Hearts On Fire
Do I Have to Say the Words
18 'til I Die
Back to You
Summer of '69
If You Wanna Leave Me (Can I Come Too?) / Touch The Hand
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You
Cuts Like a Knife
It's Only Love
Depend On Me
When You're Gone
Heaven
The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You
Run to You
There Will Never Be Another Tonight
+
Cloud #9
+
The Way You Make Me Feel
Straight from the Heart
All for Love