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19/09/95 - GM PLACE, VANCOUVER Review
by Bryan King:
Having moved to Vancouver only nine months after the 3 night
run of shows at the Vancouver Coliseum, I felt deprived that I hadn't seen BA
in his hometown after less than a year of living there. However, my luck would
change as a brand new hockey/basketball arena was under construction and due to
open in September of '95. Many rumours were flying around the city about who the
first act would be to perform there, but it was naturally assumed by most Vancouver
folks that BA would get the gig. In August of '95, the formal announcement was
made and I would finally get the chance of seeing BA in Vancouver at the brand
new GM Place.
It was as excited as I had been to see any BA show in my
life. Michelle at BadNews set me up with 2nd row tickets so that made my waiting
even tougher as I had never been that close to the stage for ANY concert before
then.
There was a real "buzz" in the city as the opening date
approached and tickets sold out quickly for this special night. With BA still
working on the 18 Til I Die album, he performed only a handful of times in 1995
and all of them were in Canada. Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman had been a
very successful song on the charts so BA had not "faded away" much in
the year between the hype of So Far So Good and 18 Til I Die. Plus - his coffee
table book was being released the same day as the show so that created more hype.
Once the lights went down, it was magic from start to finish. BA had nowhere
to go and no voice to preserve for another show. He let it all out and delievered
the best show I've seen him do with a 27 song set that lasted 2 hours and 37 minutes.
The highlight was an 11 song encore that went on for almost an hour and gave me
the best treat of any BA show....hearing/seeing a never heard before BA song.
After the "normal" encore completed with All For Love, BA and the
band returned to the stage to perform the yet to be released song "Rock Steady".
I couldn't believe my ears and my luck. Given that he hadn't played any unreleased
material in over 12 years (in 1983, he performed some Reckless tracks on tour),
it was a real treat.
Following Rock Steady, he kept going with Somebody,
Heaven and a bring down the house version of I Fought the Law to send everyone
home much later than expected. Like I said, it was magic...
The day after
the concert, BA did his first ever book signing at Library Square which was the
first time I got to shake his hand. It capped a perfect 24 hours of being a BA
fan. ********** Review
by Vancouver Sun:
If rock 'n roll has a battery powered mascot, it's that blond
haired millionaire named Bryan Adams. In his highly anticipated christening of
GM Place last night, Vancouver's hometown rocker proved he can play, and play
and play - and then play some more. Close to three non-stop hours of solid gold
hits spun out over the packed house of Vancouver's newest venue - and he probably
still had a few tunes left up his sleeve by the time it was all over. From
'Cuts Like A Knife' to 'One Night Love Affair' to his first live performance of
the number 1 single 'Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?', Adams and his powerhouse
band pumped out enough kilowatt hours to send the Skytrains back to Surrey. And
that's where the crowd of 20,000 seemed to come from - if the "Yeeeeooow's"
and "Booo's" were any indication. A master
at playing to a hometown crowd, Adams run through a list of the suburbs comprising
"The greater Vancouver Area" and delegates were present from everywhere,
raising hands and whistling right on cue. The only
dubious distinction however, was handed to "Andre from Coquitlam" who
invited himself on stage so he could make a special request: "Play Diana,
Baby!" Adams, being the consummate, cute, class brat played along and let
Andre take the stage - not only once, but twice: he asked the would-be bootlegger
(yes, he even had a tape recorder on him, tsk, tsk) to come up infront of the
footlights to take a crack at Diana himself. (Andre, don't quit your day job.)
And if that weren't enough crowd participation, Adams asked a few people from
the backstage holding pen to come up and take a look from the stage: The Canuck's
Pavel Bure, Gino Odjick and even Adams' own manager, Bruce Allen, reticently took
a stroll into the public carrying a glass of beer for a female howler who took
a try at 'Summer Of '69'. But of course, all that
paled the minute Adams took to the "b-stage" - a smaller, behind the
soundboard platform where all the people who were a good 100 metres from the stage
were given a chance to see the boy wonder close up. For
the fans, Tuesday night's marathon session couldn't have been more perfect. The
sound was excelent - Vancouver's Adams is a man made for the world. Together,
it was history. Setlist:
House Arrest
Kids Wanna
Rock
All I Want Is You
Lowlife
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
This
Time
Have You Really Ever Loved A Woman?
Touch The Hand
Cuts Like A
Knife
One Night Love Affair
Thought I'd Died And Gone To Heaven
It's
Only Love
Everything I Do
Run to You
Diana and '69 w/ audience singer
There
Will Never Be Another Tonight
*b-stage*
Cmon Everybody
Let the Good Times
Roll
Shake
Little Red Rooster
She's Only Happy When She's Dancin'
*b-stage*
Summer
Of '69
All For Love
Rock Steady
Somebody
Heaven
I Fought the Law | | |
