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16/02/08 - HARRAH'S CASINO, LAKE TAHOE, CA Review by Susan Wood (Lake Tahoe Action): When mother-daughter team Karen and Carolyn Furth ventured out into the casino scene, the two were ready for a little nostalgia from a big name in an intimate venue. Bryan Adams, a rocker who sold more than 50 million records, won multiple awards and whose career spanned more than a quarter-century, delivered what his fans wanted from the moment he stepped onto the stage at Harrah’s South Shore Room on Presidents Day Weekend. The Furths were so excited before the show started that they contemplated how to get closer to the stage — despite mom insisting that there are no bad seats in the 700-seat room. Apparently, they did get closer, because less than halfway into the 90-minute performance, they had ditched their back-of-the-room seats. “I’ve gone to big concerts in Oakland, and you’re a mile away,” said Karen Furth, 46, reminiscing on the Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin. Adams made the Stateline casino one in a lengthy lineup of concert performances on his worldwide schedule, taking him from Toronto to Peru, Chile, Argentina, Denmark, Uruguay and Norway. Adams admitted that he didn’t know why his two-night stint was his first appearance at Lake Tahoe. At the Saturday performance, the British-Canadian opened alongside his four-member band with “One Night Love Affair,” providing a clear indication of where the evening was going. Even with a new album — “I Thought I’d Seen Everything” — due out next month, Adams has the wherewithal to know what a cross-generational fan base comes to see. The anthology read like a Billboard top 40 — from “Cuts Like a Knife” and “Please Forgive Me” to “Somebody” and the crowd favorite “Summer of 69,” a song he told Lake Tahoe Action had nothing to do with the calendar. “In some ways, (this song is) personal — all songs are, but that song is more of a nostalgic look back at making love in the summer,” he said. And even at 48, Adams didn’t tire at belting out rock ‘n’ roll as the levels bounced on the sound board. He seemed to have as much fun performing as the audience. The crowd responded as he worked the stage with a spring in his step like a teenager dancing in a bedroom. At one point, a man hopped on stage in the middle of a song to take a cell phone photo next to the singer. A woman jumped up to kiss him, and another sauntered on the stage during Adams’ duet with a woman identified as “Lisa, a dietitian from Reno.” He invited Lisa to sing “Baby When You’re Gone,” a song she learned after seeing Adams last fall when she was eight and a half months’ pregnant. “Can you sing?” he asked. But clearly she knew the words, even if she didn’t
know what key to use. He called up the song again Saturday night and credited Turner as “one of the greatest singers of all time.” Throughout much of the concert, Adams didn’t need a backup, as the crowd recited many of the lyrics. Adams worked the crowd by transporting them to another time to be young at heart, with less concern over the realities of adult life. “There is nothing better than making music, seeing the world and making people sing and dance,” Adams told Action. “What a great way to make a living. The pace is all what you make it.” Setlist: | |||
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