Bryan Adams at Southampton Guildhall (From Daily Echo)

Bryan Adams at Southampton Guildhall

11:45am Wednesday 8th July 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

THERE was no air guitar rendition of Summer of ’69 as I’d hoped, but what we did get was far more memorable.

My favourite Bryan Adams songs tend to be the up-tempo pop rock anthems you can expect on the play list at every wedding disco and I had wondered how an acoustic set would go down.

I needn’t have worried. This is one talented singer/songwriter who delivered many of his greatest hits including the air guitar classics like The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me is You, Can’t Stop This Thing We’ve Started and Run to You with real energy and finesse. And the powerful ballads – the incredible Please Forgive Me and Heaven – sent a shiver down my spine.

His new material from latest 2008 CD 11 lends itself well to this type of show, but I was amazed at how good his back catalogue sounded stripped back to the bare bones, rather than a stadium show.

Adams took to the stage with just his piano and pianist, acoustic guitars, harmonica and a few spotlights and performed passionately for more than two hours before an enthusiastic full house of fans, who he flirted with and bantered with effortlessly.

I maintain that the £60 asking price for tickets was prohibitively expensive for many, but having the chance to hear him perform acoustically in a small venue was a real treat.

Getting back to basics really worked for Bryan Adams and had the crowd on their feet loving every minute of it.

The acoustic set up was refreshing and on reflection couldn’t even have been bettered by the backing track of that air guitar number I had so longed for.