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19/01/06 - SAVE ON FOODS
MEMORIAL CENTRE, VICTORIA, BC Review
by Steven Stanley:
(Above) My ferry passes various islands on the way to Vancouver Island. It's a beautiful place. We all decided to get a big hotel room (suite) and stay in the same place... in the end we got an incredible deal and stopped on the islands best hotel at 'The Empress'... even Bryan didn't stop here he stopped next door! It looked out over the bay and was near the parliament buildings that illuminate at night. (see below our hotel on the left and the parliament buildings... yes i took that picture!)
...I headed straight to the venue once we had checked in to see if they had any tickets returned for the 2nd show the day after (as I had decided to come to Canada last minute I hadn't got one yet). As it happened they had some at the back of the stage 'restricted view'... they turned out to be awesome tickets but you can read that in the review of the second show! We had dinner at 'Milestones' then we headed to the concert. This time, Colin James was the support with his own brand of bluesy rock... can I just say WOW. This dude is amazing live. I'm so surprised he hasn't made it anywhere else other than Canada. Although I only have row 7 tickets, security just bugger off when the support comes onstage so I go and stand at the barrier and remain there for the entire evening!
Bryan hits the stage around 8.50pm... I didn't think he would get a better reception then Vancouver... but he sure as hell did. Victoria has been rocked starved since 1983! All 6,200 people were out of their seats straight away and a European-esque concert was underway. The setlist was exactly the same as Vancouver the previous night but the guys were having way more fun away from the spotlight of family, friends and media. Like Vancouver, the arena is packed full of young people who have come without their parents of their own free will. It's a great crowd and all call/response songs like 'Cuts' and 'The Only Thing' were amongst the best I've ever heard.
Usually I diss 'When You're Gone'... A - because it's getting old, B - because he could play better songs, C - it's been done way too long and even non-BA fans know it's gonna happen! It's a 'trick' that doesn't need to be 'scripted' everynight because he doesn't need to do that to put on a good show. But for this show... I was actually glad he did it. He chose a girl called Natasha from Victoria. She was drunk as hell... and I mean DRUNK! Gary saw her in the bar before the show and she could hardly stand back then!... so when Bryan chose her, people had to walk her to the stage etc etc etc.... it took her about 5 mins to get there! When she tottered onstage everyone instantly knew she was drunk and Bryan and the crowd had fun with her. Bryan asked her where she worked and she said "umm arr umm Dairy Queen"! I don't think the crowd expected anything more and everyone just burst out in hysterics. Then Bryan blurted out "not anymore ya don't!!!!" She told Bryan she loved the Spice Girls song lol and they started to sing it. She was just wailing down the microphone! She kept wandering around the stage... everyone in the arena was just waiting for her to topple over! Keith was doing funny dances trying to imitate the way she was dancing and it's also the first time I've seen Norm have a laugh! Bryan had to concentrate on singing as he was laughing so hard (see pic above)! At the end of the song Bryan hugged her so she wrapped her legs around him... she didn't return to her seat after the song, I think she must have passed out or somethin! Mickey couldn't start the next song (I'm Ready) for a good few minutes because he was laughin' so hard. His face was all red and he just buried his face in a towel until he could breathe again!
'The Best Of Me' was quite an experience to say the least! I went for a high five with Bryan but unfortunately got lumbered with him pulling himself up and standing infront of me. I tried to get outa the way but Karen and co made it worse by pushing me forward then pulling his top up where my head was, and you can guess the rest. *shudder* During 'It's Only Love' a guy from the audience stormed the stage (just like someone did last night!) and started to jump up and down next to Bryan rockin' out. Bryan just kept singing while Toe & another roadie dragged the guy off the stage. When they had done it Bryan said "now thats what I call love!" before heading into the brief guitar solo. This show was also a first in that he used a Gretsch for 'Can't Stop' instead of the strat he usually does. The 5 song acoustic set again closed the show.
Afterwards seeing as though we could have a lie-in at the hotel the day after we decided this is the night we should meet Bryan. It was pouring down with rain too. Some other girls from the Campbell River area or somethin' were there, and he eventually came out with Jody and signed for the few fans that were there. He asked me how the Sheffield Steelers were doin lol and I got my ticket signed. He was in a good mood and waved to the fans as he went by. On our way home we just stopped at the traffic lights and I looked across and Bryan was there with the window down! We told Karen to hoot the horn at him but she didn't! It was interesting though, there were a lot of young teenage fans there... male and female who loved the show that he put on. I guess since they don't get too many big acts visiting the island that everyone goes to see concerts when they can. They were all saying how awesome he is... even better than Hilary Duff (who was there not long before Bryan...granted she maybe lame in concert, but thats a big compliment coming from a teenage audience in Canada)... all us guys agreed that we'd rather be waiting in the rain for a picture with her instead of Bryan though! Setlist: ********** Review
by Adrian Chamberlain (Times Colonist): Bryan
Adams didn't quite recognize the place.(new arena built). "The last time
we played here, it didn't look like this." the rocker, dressed in a black
t-shirt, told cheering fans Thurs. night at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.
Sauntering on stage at 8:40p.m. with no fanfare, Adams and his quartet launched
immediately into Room Service, the title tune from his recent album. The concert
was a no-fuss affair, with the singer guitarist and company cranking out catchy
meat-and-potatoes rock. Fans were on their feet immediately,cheering the buzz-saw
grind of guitars and thunderous drums. A virtual hit machine at this stage in
his career, Adams played a calvacade of arena anthems, such as This Time, I need
Somebody, and Can't stop this thing we started. Some diamiss him as a poor man's
Bruce Springsteen, and it's true Adams doesn't threaten the literary talents of
The Boss with lyrics such as "We don't wanna say bye-bye, babe it's just
you and I"(from Not Romeo Not Juliet) or "Yah baby it's you that I stick
to, yah we stick like glue(from The Only Thing That Looks Good on You is Me.) ********** Review
by Adrian Chamberlain (Times Colonist): My name is Bryan! And I am Canadian! Bryan Adams didn't exactly yell it out at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, but he might as well have. Playing the first of two gut-crunching concerts in Victoria -- the second was Friday night -- the hard-working rocker came off as the quintessential blue-collar Canadian dude. Now 46, Adams is still the same down-to-earth guy: thin as a teen, wearing Levi's and boots, although instead of the usual white T-shirt, he sported a black one. Toward the end of Thursday's 135-minute show, Adams professed his love for all things Canuck, noting that no matter where he tours in the world, he always sees at least one Canadian flag at concerts. For me, the definitive I-am-Canadian moment came when he invited a girl in a denim mini-skirt on stage to sing with him during When You're Gone. Her name was Natasha. "What do you do? What's your job?" asks Adams. "I work at Dairy Queen," she says. "Where?" "Colwood." "I love this girl," says Adams. OK, OK, Dairy Queen's actually a U.S. company. But heck, it still seemed like an archetypal Canadian moment: Working-class rocker meets working-class girl. Too bad Natasha couldn't carry a tune. And it's true the magic died -- just a smidgen -- when she jumped up at the end of the song and straddled Adams around the waist. The crowd, ranging from kids to grannies, absolutely adored Adams and his band. He's not an intellectual singer-songwriter -- he sings mostly about love, lonely nights and good times. He's not the greatest vocalist, although his husky tenor is affecting at times. But he is what a rocker is supposed to be: Handsome, strapped to a guitar and cranking out power chords in front of a stack of Marshall amps. His new greatest-hits package, Anthology, takes up two CDs. At this stage, Adams has a surprisingly large array of chart-toppers. Even if you don't own his albums, you probably know the words to his rock classics at least as well as you know O Canada. The audience sang along to anthems 'n' ballads such as Everything I Do, Heaven, Cuts Like a Knife, Summer of '69 and Hearts on Fire. Adams has had, over the years, ambitions to be a sort of heartland rocker -- a Canadian Springsteen or John Mellencamp. This is typified by Summer of '69, a nostalgic tune about a "young and restless" guy who starts a band way back when, with the refrain: "Those were the best days of my life." Aside from the fact Adams was 10 in '69 -- I guess it sounded better than Summer of '74 -- such aspirations sit uneasily on his shoulders, mostly due to generic lyrics. He's better off with the romantic ballads -- I don't like them but some do -- and catchy rockers like It's Only Love or Cuts Like Knife. A round of solo encores on acoustic guitar was on the weak side -- it appears Adams needs Keith Scott's professionally dispatched electric guitar solos and a phalanx of drums and bass to truly fly. Nonetheless, all 6,200 cheering fans appreciated the effort. And visa versa. "That's by far the best ever response I've had on Vancouver Island," Adams declared. Colin James opened with a solid 45 minutes of rock, blues and soul. Also in his 40s, James has matured from showy gunslinger to a solid old-school R & B artist. His old rave-up, Just Came Back, was slowed down and slotted into a firm groove, goosed along by a two-piece horn section. James is still a fleet-fingered guitar star capable of quoting Hendrix's Voodoo Chile or blasting out ZZ Top riffs. But now he's more interested in locking in with his band, bringing out more textures and colours. His singing has improved, too. | |||
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Pictures by Steven Stanley
Bryan comes onstage to a wild reception
The K-man!
BA on acoustic
Norm!
Bryan goin' crazy during 'Kids Wanna Rock'
Victoria's 'Dairy Queen'... home of the funniest WYGG ever.
Bryan gettin' the crowd goin' during 'Cuts Like A Knife'
Keith on a solo
Keith with a 'Flying-V' during WYG
Bryan and his Gretsch
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