Now I have written plenty of car reviews over the years and hopefully, my credibility on the subject should be established by now. As this is my first concert review on Tarmac Life, let me take you on a walk through my Spotify Wrapped statistics to paint a picture of my musical background.
Over the past few years, my listening time has ranged between 90,000-100,000 minutes per year, comprising of 1,500 artists and 3,000 songs on average. In 2024, Empire of the Sun, Taylor Swift, Eagles, Michael Buble and Bruce Springsteen emerged as my top five artists. My previously attended concerts include the likes of Ed Sheeran, Elton John (unsuccessfully), Foo Fighters, Harry Styles, The Killers and Rod Stewart. Safe to say that despite a rather eclectic listening history, rock has been and continues to be at the very heart of it.
It’s hard to talk about rock music without mentioning Bryan Adams. His high energy, riff filled tunes have blessed the airwaves for decades now, listened to by generations older than mine and by younger folks like me. All of us thankful that this genre still lives on! Fittingly, his intro describes himself as ‘God’s Angel of Rock’.
Seeing Bryan Adams in concert is a big deal, his shows were all sold out well in advance so my friend picked out these tickets shortly after he was announced. Not only that, opening for him is a tall order for anyone and isn’t something that can be carried out by your local garage rock band. English artist, James Arthur was chosen to do this honour.
Many of you may remember James as the winner of X-Factor UK in 2012, yes, it really has been 12 years since! His rendition of ‘Impossible’ won him the competition, a recording contract and billions of views/streams. In the years gone by, he has produced hits like ‘Say You Won’t Let Go‘ and more recently, ‘Lasting Lover‘ in collaboration with Sigala. At 7:45PM sharp, James jogged on to the stage, pleased that he had more than a few fans hidden in the sellout crowd. His 45 minute set list included the two aforementioned hits but not ‘Impossible’! In a mix of high energy pop songs and slower melancholic tunes, he got the crowd warmed up, a tall order granted that it was a Tuesday evening and most would have come there straight from work!
James and his accompanying band of musicians did a great job and he stopped many a times to express his thanks and admiration to Bryan. Shame that Arthur was let down by what appeared to be a muffled mic.
James completed his set and left the stage at 8:30PM. The radio had told me earlier that Bryan was expected on at 9PM, in the meantime though, we were treated to an inflatable glove flying around Auckland’s Spark Arena, promoting his new single, ‘Roll with the Punches‘ which is out now by the way!
Being Canadian, the lights dimmed promptly on the cusp of 9PM as Bryan’s introduction played, proclaiming him as the ‘Angel of Rock’. Then in a flash, the lights came on and ‘Kick Ass‘ had everyone on their feet.
Without taking a breath or saying hello, Adams went straight into ‘Can’t Stop This Thing We Started‘, one of my personal favourites of his. The energy was upped immensely, he knew exactly how to get the crowd moving. After all these decades of touring, his signature raspy tone is still as rich and strong as ever. With a brief introduction in between, Bryan turned back the clock even further, belting out ‘Somebody‘ and then ‘18 Till I Die‘, changing the lyrics to say that he’s now “18 going on 66”. Four high energy songs set the tone for the night, the crowd wanted him to play their favourites, the sing alongs were deafening at times, Bryan knew this and played to it.
To reward the crowd for their participation thus far, he picked out one of his timeless ballads. ‘Please Forgive Me‘ had the phone torches on, arms swaying, tears flowing and lyrics belting. This was a particularly excellent rendition, the brief guitar solo echoed through Spark Arena. We were just five songs in but what a treat it had already been!
‘Shine a Light‘ proved a brief interlude between his mega hits, although the crowd’s rest was only momentary with an acoustic guitar led version of ‘Heaven‘ and ‘Go Down Rockin‘ on next. The electric guitar now rested, Bryan picked it up and offered a quiet tribute to Tina Turner before lighting up the Arena with ‘It’s Only Love‘, a song that he debuted with her back when he was 23! Being the musician he is, a rendition of ‘The Best‘ was cleverly woven to further his nod to one of the leading ladies of rock.
Two more songs and another guitar change saw Bryan take the acoustic route once again, playing some of his famous duets. ‘Here I Am‘, which he worked on with Hans Zimmer and ‘When You’re Gone‘ which featured Mel C of the Spice Girls. The acoustics continued as his longstanding guitarist Keith Scott picked up a Spanish guitar to lead ‘Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?‘. By the end of the next song, it seemed that all of Bryan’s guitars had been played to the max, he dropped them entirely, resorting to solely the mic for ‘(Everything I Do) I Do it For You‘ which once again had the involved Auckland crowd, swaying, phone torches on.
16 songs in at this point, it was not hard to see why Bryan is still deservedly one of the biggest names in rock music, even at 65, he needed no rest through it all, not even a sip of water was had by him during the concert. His musicians took breaks at times but not Adams, he kept on rocking.
He soon after debuted his latest single, ‘So Happy It Hurts‘ which is the headline tune for the tour. The song’s music video played in the background, an eclectic mix of people stepping into the car with Bryan, including his Mum who shared quite a bit of screen time in the Chevrolet Corvair convertible featured in the short film.
After singing his latest song which was received well, back to basics Bryan returned, belting out ‘Run To You‘ and then the song that many fence sitting fans would have been waiting for, ‘Summer of ’69‘. As you can imagine, the crowd’s voices were amplified through Spark Arena, people dancing and jumping in tune. I was surprised to see a number of people heading for the door after this! Little did they know is that there were four songs still to go. Yes, often times singers leave their biggest hits for the end but Adams wasn’t done yet, although it seemed like his technical crew were as the speakers went quiet, he had to go back to remind them he was still going!
Despite the brief hitch, ‘Cuts Like a Knife‘ ensured that moment was forgotten instantaneously. He pulled out a wildcard tune then, playing The Four Seasons’ ‘Can’t Take My Eyes off You‘. This wasn’t the first unexpected song either as earlier on, Bryan wove in a brief cover of Elvis’ ‘Blue Suede Shoes‘. Not one to shy away from the unexpected, Adams picked up his acoustic guitar and ran past my seat to the back of Spark Arena, these few moments had everyone confused, were we done or was there still some way to go?
As it turned out, the latter was the answer. Adams took his spot on a makeshift stage at the rear of the stadium, playing ‘Straight From the Heart‘ and ‘All For Love‘ for those who would have struggled to see him all throughout the night, it’s the first time I’ve seen an artist do such a thing but it made the night all the more memorable.
And there it ended, 24 songs, two and a bit hours later, it was not hard to see why Bryan is still deservedly one of the biggest names in rock music history. Even though he can now withdraw his KiwiSaver, he needed no rest through it all, barely taking a breath in between commanding a sellout Spark Arena who sung along with him, song after song. Adams was nothing short of amazing and a created a memory for me that will live on even once my ears have stopped ringing!
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Words and photos by Matthew D’Souza.
