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07/05/08 - TOWN BALLROOM, BUFFALO, NY Review by Joe Sweeney (Press): Some things should never be stripped down — like the Louvre or “The Lord of the Rings.” After his intimate acoustic performance in the Town Ballroom on Wednesday night, Bryan Adams can also be placed in this category. From 1983 to 1991, Adams was an over-the-top guilty pleasure machine, a master of the art of the power ballad, blue-collar rock anthem and drippy movie theme. Given his melodramatic proclivities, “intimacy” was never one of the Canadian singer/songwriter/ guitarist’s strong suits. Throughout his solo set, which was consistently drowned out by the screams of a nostalgia-tripping, sold-out crowd, Adams ripped through past favorites and new tunes off his latest record “11,” putting everything he had into each fist-pumping chorus. But while the passion and showmanship were there, many of the qualities that made Adams a bona fide rock star were missing. Without the campy context to sink your teeth into — he meat-and-potatoes rock riffs, big ’80s drums and, “I’m just like you ’cause I’m wearing a T-shirt and jeans” arena-rock posturing — all that was left to focus on was Adams’ singing voice and lyrical talents. And while his pipes are as strong and endearingly sand-papery as ever, his words just don’t fit the sensitive singer/ songwriter milieu. For example, Adams’ stripped-down version of “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started” preserved the original tune’s cheerfully addictive melody — it was one of the biggest crowd pleasers of the night. But the lack of a slick backing band pushed the lyrics into the forefront. The first two songs of the night — the new cut “Tonight We Have The Stars” and the late ’90s offering “Back To You” — suffered in a similar way, driven by lyrics that relied on the same tired metaphor. Hearing the refrain of the first tune, “Tomorrow may be rainin’/But tonight we have the stars,” back-to-back with that of the second, “Like a star that guides a ship across the ocean/That’s how your love can take me home back to you,” didn’t make the case that Adams is a lyricist of any depth or significance. Then again, if those same songs were delivered in classic Bryan Adams style — rollicking, melodramatic and unpretentious — there would be no reason to start nitpicking about his lyrical foibles. As the concert wore on, and he pulled out the big guns (“Summer of ’69,” “Run To You,” “Heat Of The Night,” etc.), it got tougher to poke holes in Adams’ performance. Sure, even his best work is fun loving, Reagan-era fluff. But two decades after he made his first big splash, Bryan Adams can still pick up an acoustic guitar, sing rudimentary tunes about nature and love and stuff, and have a sold-out crowd practically beside itself with glee. I guess you can take the power out of the ballad, but not out of the man. | |||
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Bryan onstage in Buffalo |
