21/06/85 -MEADOWLANDS ARENA, EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ

Summary by Bryan King:
From May to October, 1985, BA did just over 100 concerts in North America and this was by far his most aggressive US tour ever. BA had two absolute peak times in America… One of them was late 1991/1992 during the Eveything I Do…/Waking Up the Neighbours period and the other was the summer of ‘85. He had a number one album (Reckless) and a number one song (Heaven) in the US. It would have to be argued that this was the bigger of the two periods seeing that MTV promoted Adams because there just weren’t enough video-friendly artists to promote back then.

This recording from the June 21, 1985 show is right in the middle of “Adams-mania”. “Heaven” was cruising towards number one and Reckless was at the top of the charts. With the exception of Bruce Springsteen who was THE top entertainment property in 1985 with the Born in the USA success, BA wasn’t far behind. He was 25 years old and on top of the world. This is last time in his career when he was bigger in the US than Europe. Judging by his relentless touring schedule in 1985, it’s clear that Europe was not a priority for the business people in the Adams camp.

The crowd is absolutely bananas for the band from start to finish. His audience at this stage is probably 90% teenagers and many girls. This is evident from the enormous energy coming from the audience. Listening to the reception the band receives reminds me of watching those old Elvis or Beatles concerts when the female fans couldn’t control themselves.

The venue for this concert is the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, NJ (also called “The Meadowlands”) just across the river from New York City. This venue is known mostly as “the house that Bruce built” seeing that Bruce Springsteen opened this venue in 1981 and has performed over 45 shows here. Being a Springsteen fan himself (it is reported that the two met for a visit together in October of 1985 when Springsteen had a tour stop in Vancouver), BA must have been thrilled to fill this venue for 2 nights in a row.

Without a catalog of material to cover as he has later in his career, BA's set lists in 1985 remained pretty much unchanged for the majority of his shows. Perhaps one or two songs would be switched around, but that was it. This second show in Jersey features the standard set list with a few twists. It didn't really matter then because each song gets a massive reception. Today, if BA played "The Only One" how many fans would go ape-shit over it as they did in 1985???

Setlist:
Remember
The Only One
It's Only Love
Kids Wanna Rock
Take Me Back
Cuts Like A Knife
Lonely Nights
Tonight
This Time
The Best Was Yet To Come
Heaven
Run To You
Somebody
I'm Ready
Straight From the Heart
She's Only Happy When She's Dancin'
Summer Of '69
One Night Love Affair
Long Gone
Hidin' From Love

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This was the 2nd show... it soldout instantly so a 2nd show was added for the day before as well!

This show can be purchased from bryanadamslive.net