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04/01/00 - METRO CENTRE,
HALIFAX, NS Review
by Stephen Cooke (Halifax Herald): Top Canadian rocker Bryan Adams couldn't have asked for a better omen for the start of his cross-country concert tour than his show at a packed Halifax Metro Centre on Tuesday night. Our country's perennial Peter Pan of pop, whose motto is that he'll be 18 till he dies, showed every sign of achieving that goal during a two-and-a-half hour marathon meat-and-potatoes performance that was loaded with lean hits and little fat. Adams has just released a greatest hits album, The Best of Me, so the non-stop rampage through his chart history makes sense, especially since there are few commercial artists who wouldn't envy his track record. With Adams on bass and only two other musicians accompanying, guitarist Keith Scott and drummer Mickey Curry, the stage reminded me of John Lennon in his minimalist period; white clothes, white lights, white amps, white guitars, white drums and a white backdrop. The only thing missing was a cover of something from The White Album. The stripped-down sound served his songs well. Even without the layers of a massive Mutt Lange production, you realize how carefully crafted Adams' songs are. He makes cranking out hits look easy, but keeping it simple ain't for the stupid. It took a couple of songs for the chemistry between Adams' trio and the audience to click, but launching into 18 Till I Die seemed to cast the required magic spell, as the crowd shouted the chorus with abandon as Scott leapt about as if possessed by the spirit of Pete Townshend. The churning riff of Can't Stop This Thing We Started kept the party atmosphere alive, before Summer of '69 brought things to their first fever pitch, complete with standing ovation. Projectors turned the backdrop into a psychedelic kaleidoscope for It's Only Love, probably to match Scott's lead foot on the wah-wah pedal. The crowd provided its own lights for (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, which sounds even better acoustically than it does with an orchestra. Adams mentioned seeing the song, written for Kevin Costner's limp stab at playing Robin Hood, in the #79 spot on a "top 100 songs of the century" list recently, "which isn't bad for something that only took an hour to write." I wonder how many budding composers give up then and there when he tells that story? Adams has been living in London lately, and the influence shows both in the Britpop inflections of his last album On a Day Like Today's title track and How Do You Feel Tonight, and the traces of an English accent heard creeping into his speech. A few more days on the old sod should flush that right out of him. Adams' famous vocal grit sounded exactly the same while singing though, whether playing the tender lover of Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? or the rebellious teen of I Don't Wanna Live Forever. He did turn more back-up chores over to the audience for his signature hit Cuts Like a Knife, goading them into crooning "na na nah, na-na nah na-nah" like there was no tomorrow, and inviting Morgan from Tantallon onstage to sing and shake her rump during When You're Gone. By the time Adams wrapped up with a five-song encore that included Cloud Number Nine and Run to You, the audience was just as drained as he was, but true to his word, he delivered his best. ********** Pre show build-up & interview by Stephen Cooke: Few names in Canadian pop music are as synonymous with the term "superstar" as Bryan Adams. In a career that spans two decades, he's rock's Gretzky, breaking most of the records out there, like being the first Canuck to sell one million records in his home and native land. Adams' formula for success is a simple one, in fact it's simplicity itself; write the catchiest melodies imaginable, make the lyrics so basic anyone can relate to them, and if you're going to get sentimental, don't be afraid to pour on the syrup. It's worked for rockers like Cuts Like a Knife and Run to You, and on heartstring-stroking ballads such as (Everything I Do) I Do it For You and Please Forgive Me. Adams is in town tonight at the Halifax Metro Centre, touring in support of his recently released compilation CD The Best of Me, and he'll also make a rare appearance at Chapters bookstore in Bayers Lake Industrial Park this afternoon at 5 p.m., signing copies of Made In Canada. The new book is a collection of Adams' photographic portraits of well-known Canadian women - from Margaret Atwood to Sarah McLachlan - with proceeds going to breast cancer research. Along with this unusually public encounter with his fans, Adams is also granting interviews with the press for the first time in ages, albeit through the magic of e-mail. What follows are a few of the queries answered by Adams from somewhere in cyberspace.
A: "Of course! You forgot to mention we always come when it's winter! "Actually I get a lot of flack for starting there and not in St. John's, Newfoundland." Q: On a previous trip to Nova Scotia, you made your famous remarks about the whole Canadian content system of radio airplay, and as a result some badly needed changes got made. Do you think the system has been properly reformed, or do you think there's still room for change there? A: "Well it's been modified considerably since the good ol' days when I was crucified for working with an African producer. So at least out of all that nonsense something good happened that will benefit other artists wanting to work with foreign writers and producers. "For all I know, Canadian content may become the last bastion for Canadian culture on radio after all the stations get bought up by American media groups and are programmed out of Dallas or somewhere. . . Q: Regarding The Best of Me compilation, how did you set about selecting the songs? Was it more important what they meant to you or how they did on the charts? A: "It was all about putting out a compilation that ended this decade for me and set up the next one. Charts are of course influential for a 'best of', although, some of the songs that were chart hits this decade are not on here, like my duet with Barbra Streisand. It just sounded out of context." Q: There are some terrific images in Made in Canda. When did you start working seriously on photography? A: "I started getting into it a couple of years ago, mostly because I was interested in experimenting with a different medium. I started doing various self-portraits and documenting the recording sessions and videos as they happened, then using the photos for my CD covers (On a Day Like Today in 1998 was the first). "The theme of shooting a book of photos of Canadian women evolved from some pictures I had taken of model Linda Evangelista. "The choice of personalities was fun to put together, although there were two people I really wanted to get and couldn't. Yvonne de Carlo and Fay Wray, they're in California somewhere." Q: How does it feel to work in a different field, creatively? A: "Brilliant. I never thought I'd get so into it, but it's been a great diversion creatively. I'm going to do more, it's all a matter of creating different projects to inspire." Q: Just to end this on a slightly goofy note, I remember your first single Let Me Take You Dancing from when I was in junior high (I think I have the single with the picture sleeve somewhere). . .Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you performed it? A: "I performed it in Japan when we played there last a few years ago. In fact it's the only time I have ever performed it. It will never be a staple of my show, but it was a laugh to do." Q: How do you think you'll be remembered decades from now? A: "As a Canadian dishwasher that could write a decent song." | |||
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Bryan kicks off the show in Halifax
Bryan on bass |
