www.18tilidie.co.uk

27/07/96 - WEMBLEY STADIUM, LONDON

***"The difference with Wembley is that any event staged there is a big deal, whereas other venues are just part of a tour.

I always say that you haven't done a proper tour of England unless you've played Wembley Stadium. For major acts it is the place to be, without doubt." - Bryan Adams***

Review by Steven Stanley:
If there was ever a BA gig I'd wished I'd gone to...this is it. This is the mother of all BA gigs, and the best he has ever done. He has said that himself in numourous interviews since and even brought it up while playing at Wembley Arena a year later saying it was the best gig he had ever done...to this day that is still the case. The show went out live to 25 countries around the world and fans came from as far as Argentina, Brazil, Holland, Germany, Scotland, Australia to see the show. Bryan was apparently very nervous before he went onstage and during the first half on the first song he didn't look up at the crowd! After the support acts and a short wait Wembley errupted as the video screens came on and displayed Bryan and the band walking to the stage. Then Mickey's drum beat started.... 'bang bang bang bang' to 'The Only Thing' and one monster show was underway. (Below) Bryan seconds before going onstage

(Below) Bryan on the b-stage

There is even a b-stage in the middle of the Wembley pitch near the players tunnel and Bryan comments on it being like a marathon to get to it! When the b-stage part is over Bryan returns to the main stage to perform the best version of 'Summer Of '69' I think he has ever played. You can just feel the energy of the crowd and the passion in his voice as he belts it out. At the end of the show Bryan plays one last rocker with I Fought the Law, followed by an audience-led version of Heaven.

This show like so many others is available on bootleg CD...I'm only mentioning this one in the review because it's soooo awesome it's untrue...just get it! (It can be purchased from www.bryanadamslive.net) The show was originally meant to be released as a live CD and video... but due to the 'MTV Unplugged' album coming out this was shelved. Footage does exist of the show and it's about time it was released. There is going be a new campaign going on to get it released on DVD as it fully filmed professionally but never released or infact shown anywhere. There was only a shortened dubbed version of 'Let's Make A Night To Remember' released from this gig along with '18 Til I Die' that was shown on 'Channel V' in Japan....from which many of these screenshots are taken from. Bryan has been asked recently in chat about the chance of this show being released and infact denied even any audio having been recorded (despite the fact that half the show was on b-sides to his singles and Bob Clearmountain was flown in the from the US to mix the live radio broadcast which was going out around the world). Maybe he just likes focusing on the future and not dwelling on past successes. Either way - the audio & video most certainly exists from this show no matter what is said and it's about time the fans got to see the greatest show he's ever done. It would sell by the bucketload. I would have done a 10 year anniversary petition - but with the forthcoming release of 'Waking Up The World', theres no way Bryan, or more importantly the record company, would flood the market with 2 BA live DVD's. When the time is right - we'll do one.

Set List:
The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You
Do To You
Kids Wanna Rock
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
This Time
18 Til I Die
Have You Really Ever Loved A Woman?
Touch The Hand
Cut's Like A Knife
It's Only Love (Duet with Melissa Ethridge)
Somebody
Everything I Do
Run To You
Summer Of '69 (member of audience)
There Will Never Be Another Tonight
***b-stage***
Seven Nights To Rock
(I Wanna Be) Your Underwear
Wild Thing
It Ain't A Party If...Ya Cant Come 'Round
She's Only Happy When She's Dancin'
***b-stage***
Summer Of '69
All for Love
Lets Make A Night to Remember
I Fought The Law
Heaven

Review by Sylvie Simmons (NME):
THREE HOURS he played. Twenty-eight songs, most of them anthems, just a handful of the ones that make your Granny go soppy, and which are actually quite useful for stepping over swooning couples and getting a ton-up at the bar.

There are two things you can say about Bryan Adams (or three, if you count the fact that he should stop buying his clothes at Mr Byrite). Firstly, there's no one to touch him when it comes to sheer quality of instant, sing-a-long stadium rock songs. And secondly, the word "unassuming" was invented for him. In a near re-run of last year's 'Kerrang!' awards "where's your pass then" episode, he was almost turned away from this gig because security thought he was some punter.

Which could be why he's so good at communicating. Hardly five minutes go by where he's not picking out someone for a natter, dragging them up onstage to sing or dance, jumping into the pit to touch hands or - for the first of three encores - leaping about on a little stage constructed in the middle of the crowd, doing everything to turn a football stadium into an intimate venue and his band into an unpretentious rock combo.

Hightlights: opener 'The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You', 'All I Want Is You', '18 Til I Die', 'Summer Of '69', 'Run To You' and sleaze-pop classic 'Wild Thing', which see's the band bounding up and down like they're suffering from an outbreak of Pat Smear-itis.

Some inflatable undies flap around in the wind at the end, but other than that and a bit of dry ice, it's all down to the music. Class, crowd pleasing stuff. Thanks to Helen Barton for the magazine review

Keith puts his arm around Bryan and Mickey as the twin towers and 70,000 people loom through the stage door. It's high fives all 'round for Bryan as he acknowledges how far the band have come.

Bryan on his strat

The stage

BA leading the crowd

BA onthe b-stage

The K-man!

Surveying the crowd moments before dragging the bloke up who sang '69!

Rockin' out

Singing with the crowd