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29/01/04 - JOHN LABATT CENTER, LONDON,
ONTARIO Review by Sherry Pettovello: On display were all the guitars: Colin James and Bryan Adams guitars stacked on racks. By chance, we engaged in a discussion with a sound specialist and an usher, who was attending university to learn filmmaking, about the sound system. The front of the stage from one end to the other, four feet high, was sub woofers! Our seats were in the fifth row center stage, only ten feet from this massive powerhouse! After returning to our seats, I noticed the front row was full of young women. After some encouragement from my husband my curiosity got the best of me and I went up and asked one of them how they obtained front row tickets. Apparently, someone was handing out front row seats randomly to guests! “Of course, the front row is all women!” said my husband. “You can’t blame Bryan for wanting girls up front, since that would be my preference if I was a rock star! Some guys get all the luck or lucky!” Colin James, a local Canadian Blues Artist, opened for Bryan. Colin did a nice job and came back on for an encore. I might just go out and buy one of his CD’s. Next, Bryan’s crew came on to do the set up. They must have been having problems with the sound system, because Toe and Lance were running back and forth across the stage with different guitars. After the microphone check, at about 9:15 pm. it was show time. Bryan came out and opened solo with his acoustic guitar singing, “Depend On Me”. It was a wonderful opening. I was very thrilled and surprised to hear that song. That song is one of my favorites and it sounded more beautiful and true with Bryan singing it solo. Possibly Bryan came on by himself and sang solo because they were having problems with the guitars and it was already 9:15 pm.
The Band came out next and they started into One Night Love Affair, another of my favorites. Then the hits just kept coming and coming. Sitting up close was well worth the price my husband paid for the tickets. I could see Bryan eye-to-eye! There were times Bryan and I were looking at each other, making eye contact, singing together, especially on Cloud #9. My husband kept saying, “I think he is looking at you.” Cuts Like A Knife was fun. Bryan came to the edge of the stage, in the center, right in front of us. Bryan had the crowd sing the “na na na’s”. I can’t tell you how many times he stuck his thumb down, but it was a few times. I was getting really hoarse at this point. My husband started yelling “na na na”, and let me tell you he can be loud, and I believe Bryan heard him because he gave thumbs up after that. Thank you, Mark! Bryan was a little more talkative here than in Detroit in August. Bryan mentioned he was fighting a cold and forgot to take his medicine. There was a few times he would cough in between lines. He sounded great even though he was fighting a cold. He had the house lights turned and asked for someone to come up and sing with him. I was jumping up and down and then stood on my chair, because I was dead center to him. I was yelling, “I know the words”, he was pointing his finger very slowly then went to the right of the stage and picked a girl one row behind me. Oh so close. Bryan sang Doo Wah Diddy until she came to the stage. She gave him a big hug and was dancing around. Her name was Corrie, she taught pre-school and was from Chatham, Ontario. Her hips were going a mile a minute up there most of the time, but she kept her wit and didn’t stop talking. Bryan asked her if she had a boyfriend and she said “yes his name is Jeffrey who was in the audience”. She kept hanging on to Bryan and calling out to her boyfriend, “Jeffery”. Bryan turned around and told her boyfriend “If you don’t get it tonight, then you won’t ever get it”. Corrie was a dancer: at one point she got right behind Bryan and was rubbing up against him so Bryan gently pulled her back around to his side. Can’t blame a girl for trying. Bryan told her she was “BAD”. He came down off the stage onto the front isle behind the waist high fence and sang This Time. He moved across the whole front of the stage hugging and even kissing some of the lucky girls up front. The fans went crazy, touching and kissing him. All I could think of was that I wish I could have been in the front row too. Closing the show. Bryan sang a very heart felt and moving Straight From The Heart solo. He had the whole crowd standing and singing with him. I didn’t want the night to end, but at 11:15 pm Bryan blew kisses, waved and thank us for coming before riding off in the moonlight on a very cold Canadian night. We sat in our seats for a bit to watch the road crew take down the stage. They were very quick and had the stage packed in fifteen minutes. We headed out to our car and noticed about 10 fans standing around out back by the service entrance. We figured that is where Bryan was going to come out. Since I didn’t have my kids with me tonight, I told my husband “lets stand here for about 10 minutes’. It was very cold, around zero degrees Fahrenheit, and these fans were not dressed for cold. After about 30 minutes, my husband went and pulled the car up close so that I could sit in a warm car for a few minutes every so often. The security guard told us Bryan was still inside, but he was unsure if Bryan was going to eat first or just leave. Bryan arrived in a Ford Lincoln limousine and was supposed to leave in one. I talked to the driver of the van waiting in the
parking lot for a few minutes and he said he was taking some members
from the band, but he didn’t know which ones. He was going
to take them back to their hotel in Toronto, about a two-hour ride
from the London area.
Setlist: |
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® 2003 18 Til I Die.co.uk. All rights
reserved.
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Thanks to Sherry Pettovello for the setlist and pictures!
BA and Keith on form
BA and Corrie
BA on his strat
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