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06/03/06 - PROMO: KFM 94.5,
CAPE TOWN Recorded
Monday 6 March 2006 (with Nic Marais)
Broadcast Wednesday morning 8 March 2006
(Celebrity Wednesday) N = Nic, B = Bryan N
– Bryan Adams for Celebrity Wednesday!
I’d say welcome to Cape Town
but you’ve been here 4 or 5 times now, you know the city inside and out
B
– Not inside & out but I’ve been here enough to know my way around
a little bit and I think I’m gonna go the other way around the Cape this
time – I’ve been one way, I wanna go the other way this time
N –
Kinda not the big square mountain again – I’ve done the mountain!
B
– You know, I’ve never been up the mountain
N laughs
B –
Now I need to do that
N – Have you heard about this electricity thing?
We’ve been advised to bring torches to the concert. Do you know this? (humorous
tone)
B – No, I heard very briefly that there were some power problems
or something but well, the good thing is I can play an acoustic guitar, so you
know ….
N – (Laughs) With a loud hailer!
B- I’ll sing a bit
louder
N – We always see the stories about you in this town – do
you build up a special relationship with certain places?
B – Well, I’ve
been here, like I say, a number of times and I think anyone who comes here eventually
gets you know, falls in love with the place because it is such a beautiful location
and you know for me as a musician that comes to play here, I mean, it is quite
a wonderful place to come to, just South Africa generally because I can remember
back in the mid 90’s doing the concerts here and it was just quite an event
for us
N – Are there some places that evoke the opposite reaction? Are
there places that you play and afterwards you come off the stage and you go..
right, we’re not doing that again
B – Not really, no. I mean, I can
say hand in my heart that I’ve played pretty much everywhere now that can
be played from the smallest clubs to the biggest venues and we’ve got it
pretty much down that it doesn’t matter where we go we can make it work
N
– I remember Michael Stypes saying when he was out here that with REM, there
are certain songs they just don’t play anymore, like he has had enough of
playing Stand, I mean do you still enjoy every minute up there?
B – Of
course, yeah. I don’t … I would never say I would stop playing a song
because I’ve seen musicians do that. I remember we toured with David Bowie
back in the 80’s and we were playing in South America with him & he came
on stage and said this is the last time I’m playing these songs and you know,
4 years later, he’s doing a comeback tour, he played them all again (laughs),
so it’s like, you know, I would never say that I’d stop playing them,
because people like them
N – Bryan Adams on Celebrity Wednesday!
Ads,
traffic report
Plays Summer of 69
N – This is KFM Breakfast –
Summer of 69! Celebrity Wednesday with Bryan Adams this morning. I always imagine
that everywhere, every major city in the world, there’s a radio station every
day playing one of your big hits. Does it still do anything for you to hear your
songs on the radio?
B – Yeah, for sure. That’s one of the main things
about being a songwriter, that it’s one of the biggest highs hearing you
song on the radio, it’s still a high today
N – Do you remember the
first time?
B – Yeah, more or less, yeah, I do and it was to be honest,
it was a friend of mine working at the radio station (laughs)
N – And
now, I mean it’s everywhere, now everywhere you go, you turn on the radio
station, you are driving to the hotel this morning – there we are playing
So Far So Good, it just doesn’t stop
B – Thank you, it’s great.
It’s really nice & of course it’s a great reception to have, to
come back here with not only the music being played but the concerts being sold
out and it’s thrilling for me, it’s great
N – Do you always
want to move people onto the newer music or obviously, they go tonight, like everybody’s
got a song that they’re looking forward to hearing, I guess
B – Well,
you know, it’s interesting. Songs that I used to think were great songs live
back when I first wrote them, we used to get very little response & then you
know, 20 years later, they’re sort of the main staples of the show, so I
think sometimes it takes a long time for our songs to enter into peoples consciousness.
Just because you’ve written them, you can’t expect people to embrace
them. For example, the biggest case in point is Summer of 69, because that song
was never a hit anywhere except in the States & Canada, and has gone on to
become one of those songs that no matter where we go. It is necessary to play
it, people call out for it
N – Does it work for you Bryan – I mean,
you’re obviously still touring, at a hell of a pace, all over the place,
all the time. Does it ever get tiring?
B – Well, I do it in a different
way than most people. I decided that at the end of the 90’s, I would stop
these sort of one year tours, and then one year in the studio, one year tour,
that I would continue to tour all the year around, but only do 10 days a month
and it’s kind of more civilized, because that way everyone gets to go home,
it’s more expensive for us because I’ve got to, you know, start &
stop all the time but I just think that as a way of life, it’s a better way
of life and it works perfectly for me because I kinda like doing other things
as well, so you know, I’ve put in my time
N – Celebrity Wednesday
with Bryan Adams continues
Ads
N – (missed a bit of what he said) ….
not because you’d need to, obviously you enjoy this
B – Yeah, I think
so. Well, look, the guys that I have with me are guys that I’ve been playing
with for a very long time and I feel in my own way, sort of, it’s kind of
my own family and I miss them when I’m not with them and we have a hell of
a good time playing, it’s very much a part of my life, I wouldn’t know
what to do quite, if I was just away, that’s why I didn’t like being
away for a year at a time, because I kinda wanted to go & play, you know,
and now it’s great because now we do weekends, or we do a week here &
there, and 10 days, it’s fantastic
N – Do you kind of work it around
things? Like if I go there, I can go skiing for a couple of days. Let’s go
to South Africa, when it’s 40 degrees (celsius) outside (which it was on
Monday 6 March)
B – Well that does help, yeah
N & B laugh
B
– But it doesn’t really get bad down here, does it? (clinking crockery)
N
– No, bad for us is sort of 10 or 12 celsius, that’s chilly
B –
Yes, so I mean, we try and organize it so that we’re in the right place at
the right time, you can’t always count on it. I mean, the way it works normally,
somebody will phone up & say hey, would you like to play in Cape Town, someone
has phoned up & asked if you want to do a show there, say alright, let’s
see if we can do a whole …. (?), let’s see if we can do 7 or 8 shows,
and then a couple of weeks goes by, and they say yeah we’ve worked it out,
we’ve got 7 or 8 shows, okay good, well – let’s go!
N –
Do they all stand out in your head? Somebody says – man, I saw you in Paris
– June 92. Are there times when you go – I don’t know what you’re
talking about
B – Well there are a few years that are kind of blurred
(Nic laughs) but it’s only because we basically traveled around & around
& around, and I think the longest tour I ever did was 3½ years straight,
and that was enough. I had people getting divorced on tour, there were people
getting married on tour (laughs), there was all kinds of crazy stuff going on,
so it was like alright, I think it’s time to stop (laughs)
N – Bryan,
it’s great to have you back in Cape Town again
B – Thanks, yeah,
really glad to be here and we’ll be here for the next 10 days around South
Africa, so, hope to see you soon
N – Bryan Adams, our Celebrity Wednesday
guest. Catch it tonight at Kirstenbosch. End of interview Comment
on power problems – Cape Town recently has had major power outages for almost
two weeks in a row. It’s a long sad story about our national electricity
supplier – Eskom. But the shows had generators which they use at Kirstenbosch
anyway even with no power failures. | | |
