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29/10/08 -
SHEFFIELD ARENA, SHEFFIELD
Review by Steven Stanley:
Just over 25 years since Bryan first played here in Sheffield (back
in 1983 at the City
Polytechnic) he's back touring with his 11th studio album -
quite an achievement. Only 17 months since he last played here and
he was back to pack the Arena out again. I wasn't looking forward
to this show at all after the things that happened this week, but...
thankfully as soon as the lights went down all problems were forgotten
and we all enjoyed what has to be said was a great show.
It started with Bryan doing a couple of acoustic
numbers on the b-stage (which was way smaller than usual and only
really big enough for one person) followed by 'The Best Of Me'.
'Hearts On Fire' was brilliant and it was good to see Bryan take
the lead over Keith on the guitar...'Ain't Losin The Fight' was
something new to listen to and 'Back To You' was fun as always.
Favourite song of the night had to be 'The Way Of The World'...
for me, the best song he's done in years... even if no one knew
it! 'Take Me Back' came a close second, reminded me of Bolzano
'04 when he played it for us. He made Gary do a solo in the
middle of the song too. Stuff like that has to be played more often.
The show could have done with swapping 'Have You Ever Really Loved
A Woman?' for 'Kids Wanna Rock' as the former just killed the atmosphere
during what should have been a rocking part of the show. But then,
thats just me - I like my music loud.
(Above) Sheffield Arena
(Below) Bryan rockin' out on his new sunburst
Moon acoustic which he got earlier in the week while in Scotland
From there on the show pretty much ran its normal
course... he finished on the same two songs he did for the last
3 times he has been here... the audience didn't seem to mind though,
and he walked off with the crowd wanting more. Afterwards we grabbed
a quick autograph and then back for drinks with everyone. Cheers
to Big T, Karl, Karen, Jack, Nat, Mave, Mel & Chris for a good
laugh... something we all needed after this week. Looking forward
to more of the same in York.
(Below) The crowd empty out of the Arena after
another great Bryan Adams show
Setlist:
***b-stage***
Can’t Stop This Thing We Started (Solo acoustic)
Please Forgive Me (Solo acoustic)
The Best Of Me (walks to mainstage)
***b-stage***
Somebody (feat MC K-man)
Hearts On Fire
18 Til I Die
Let's Make A Night To Remember
Back To You
I Ain't Losin' The Fight
Summer Of '69
Everything I Do
Cuts Like A Knife
When You're Gone (with Kate from Sheffield)
The Way Of The World
Heaven
It's Only Love
Take Me Back
Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?
The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You
I Thought I'd Seen Everything
Run To You
Cloud #9
There's Gonna Be Some Rockin' (AC/DC Cover)
Straight From The Heart
All For Love
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Review by Moya & Maria:
Moya and I arrived at the arena at about 10.45 and were surprised
there were only 6 people waiting already. We joined the queue. Probably
an hour later the next people arrived and also the head steward
came around and told us that the first 50 people will be allowed
into the arena before anyone else. He also said that he would come
back and make sure that this happened. He also said that this would
only happen at the Red Doors. We were very happy indeed.. That sounded
really good.
Until about 16:00 the queue only had about 30 people in it. We wondered
whether it was because of the very cold weather (we had got frozen
temperatures at night) or because of the web sheriff thing, but
then we thought this couldn’t be the reason. Nearly everyone
would already have bought his/her ticket when the fan sites were
closed and the you tube videos deleted.
At about 18:00 a steward arrived but this man didn’t know about
the early doors opening promise we got in the morning. Later this
“Mr. Nice guy” from the morning came again and asked us:
“Are you ladies alright?” He promised again we will be
the first in. So we organised ourselves into two and two behind
in the queue and when the doors opened we walked into the arena.
To our absolute delight the standing area was empty and we managed
easily to go to the front.. We flung our arms around each others
and were totally happy. Moya and I stood in front of Bryan’s
mic. The two ladies who had already arrived at 5 in the morning
were further down the front row. They were big Keith fans.
Black Daniel was as good as they were in Nottingham. Moya picked
up a t-shirt which was thrown into the audience but it only had
a size 9-11 years old. Moya: (It didn’t fit!!!)
When the lights went down again Bryan appeared on the b-stage. Because
Sheffield arena is bigger than the arena in Nottingham we couldn’t
spot him out. He sang CAN’T STOP THIS THING WE STARTED followed
by PLEASE FORGIVE ME this time without forgetting the lyrics. During
the last song the band came on stage and Bryan started with THE
BEST OF ME. He walked singing to the main stage and I couldn’t
clap his hand this time. I only got my fingertips on his hand. SOMEBODY
was the next number and again with the rap part sang by Keith. I
once again didn’t understand a word. Afterwards Bryan went
to Keith spoke to him and both couldn’t really stop laughing.
During 18 TIL I DIE I noticed for the first time that it is me who
is going 55 in November and I sang along as loud as possible. After
the song Bryan mentioned that they also could have sung: “Sheffield
is good to be alive” which got a big applause from the audience.
Later in the show Bryan was looking for Eliot Kennedy and couldn’t
find him on the seats. He begged him to stand up and suddenly he
found him on the side. He told us that he and Eliot had written
some awesome songs together and played BACK TO YOU. From the 11-album
we got again I AIN’T LOOSING THE FIGHT, WAY OF THE WORLD and
I THOUGHT I’D SEEN EVERYTHING.
Keith obviously hit his peak during IT’S ONLY LOVE when he
licked his guitar and did other quite amusing positions!!!!
Tonight the cover song was THERE’S GONNA BE SOME ROCKING which
is such a good rock song.
The acoustics at the end on the main stage are fabulous, so much
better than performing these on the b-stage. I would have loved
Bryan to play The way you make me feel. Moya would have gone for
When the night comes.
Moya and I were in complete agreement concerning our place at the
front row. It makes such a big difference to be in the middle instead
of being at the corners. We watched Bryan all the time and this
gave us deeper emotions than normally. We went out with a big smile
on our faces.
When we were looking for Louisa (Moya’s daughter) and her friend
we saw Steven and had a short conversation with him. In the afternoon
Moya had also phoned him and he had told us about the website and
what the web sheriff wants him to do with it. He wasn’t very
happy but will try very hard to get the site to continue to be interesting
and not boring with only texts on it. He found a friend who took
a photo of the three of us. Further on he told us that Bryan signed
stuff (except for Nottingham) after the shows. So we decided to
have a try. We met Louisa and her boyfriend and they said they would
wait for another 15 minutes. . So we went to the backstage area
again. The Audis were there and we waited and waited. It was very
cold outside and after about 20 minutes we thought it was better
to go. Just some streets away Steven text Moya, that Bryan has just
gone. Tough luck!!
Moya: Thank you Maria for writing this review. The
day after this concert Maria had to fly home and I went away for
two weeks holiday. It was an absolutely great concert made even
better by the fact that I had my wonderful friend Maria with me
at the front of the concert. It was disappointing when we missed
Bryan…………….but hey, next time!!!!!!! We
missed Bryan singing “When the Night Comes” in York. This
was so disappointing, but there you go! Wonderful review Maria!!!
Til next time x
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