In many ways, veteran Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams epitomizes the old adage…”If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Now in his 45th year as a professional recording artist, the songs arguably remain the same. By that, I mean Adams successfully created a winning formula for the plethora of hits he’s written over four decades. To that end, he was (and is) the Eddie Money of the 1980s. Maybe even beyond.
The one thing that indelibly connects Money and Adams is their unwavering commitment to writing songs that were unapologetically radio friendly. In point of fact, Adams indirectly confirmed that when he played in Phoenix on Saturday. November 15th at Mortgage Matchup Center (The Suns Arena) to an audience of about 10,000 strong. More on that shortly.
First, a huge shoutout to Adams’ excellent band that consisted of lead guitarist Keith Scott, keyboardist Gary Breit and drummer Pat Steward. By the way, Adams played guitar, bass and acoustic guitar at different points during the 27-song, 130-minute set.
It’s not too often you see a performer kick off their show on the “B-stage” near the soundboard. Adams did exactly that when he opened with back-to-back acoustic renditions of “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started” (from 1991’s Waking Up The Neighbors) and “Straight From The Heart” (from Adams’ breakthrough third album, 1983’s Cuts Like A Knife). The latter was a great arrangement with Adams adding harmonica, giving the song almost a folk bent, if you will.
From the get-go, it was clear that Adams’ voice has remained surprisingly strong all these years. For third song “Kick Ass”, it was time to get on the main stage with the band. A recent tune from 2022’s So Happy It Hurts, they seemed to have a blast playing it. Just a quirky rocker… nothing more, nothing less.
The roar(s) of approval then came as “Run To You” and “Somebody” (from 1984’s Reckless, the Thriller of Adams’ catalog) had people singing the lyrics back to the band onstage. You could see the smiles on the members’ faces, for good reason I might add.
I’ve gone on record on the pages of Beneath A Desert Sky to praise veteran recording acts who still have the desire and drive to create new music. To his credit, Adams has done exactly that by playing three songs from his new album Roll With The Punches, released in August.
The title track was the first song played from it, and later on in the set “Never Ever Let You Go” and “Make Up Your Mind” were added as well. For “Roll With The Punches”, a huge boxing glove prop circled above the arena floor. The band even got a kick out of seeing it “float” in the air.
Going back to my comment about the significance of radio in Adams’ career, he said a “thank you” to “anyone out in the audience who ever worked in radio”. Particularly when there was “real rock radio”, as he candidly put it. Another roar of approval followed from the predominantly fifty-something crowd.
One of Adams’ strengths as a live performer is his enthusiasm and interaction with the audience. He seems to be pretty down-to-earth, with a dry sense of humor as well. For “You Belong To Me” (from 2015’s Get Up), he wanted to see everyone get up and dance to the rockabilly-inspired song.
There was a cameraman filming fans dancing and twirling their shirts in the air. Of course, it was all displayed on the video screen onstage. From there, the band tore into The Top Notes 1961 classic “Twist and Shout”.
However, like most artists who cover this song, it was closer to the Beatles version than either The Top Notes or the Isley Brothers take on it. Still, it’s a song that pretty much every music fan has heard, no matter his or her age.
Supposedly, Adams has been taking requests from the audience throughout the tour for a song or two. However, I don’t think he even took any that night. All I remember him saying is fans wanted to hear songs like “One Night Love Affair” and “Kids Wanna Rock” (which were not played here), but that was it. Oh well.
The showstopper for this writer was “It’s Only Love”, where he played tribute to his “hero and friend”, the late Tina Turner. Even though he pulled off Turner’s verses fairly well, he definitely should consider adding another female vocalist to assist him on this classic song. One of his all-time best, truth be told.
Overall, Adams’ show was well-paced in that he worked hard to find a “happy medium” between the hits and new songs. Yes, songs like “Heaven, Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman” and the awful “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” have to be played. Yet the new (and even recent) songs sounded right at home with the classics.
The night concluded, perhaps predictably, with “Summer Of ’69” and his best single of all time, “Cuts Like A Knife”. There were no encores, but in this case, they weren’t necessary. Adams and band plowed through a satisfyingly long set, and probably saw an “encore” as pointless in this scenario. Not hard to understand, especially when Adams made one more trip to the B-stage for, unfortunately, another awful song called “All For Love”.
Be that as it may, it certainly did go over well as the final song of the night. Yes, the fans were so happy, it hurt. I know… bad pun. But I digress.
As for opener Pat Benatar, she certainly held her own with a ten song, 55-minute set that started with “All Fired Up” followed by “Invincible”. Much has been said by some fans that Pat Benatar’s voice has lost some steam in recent years. However, I think her voice was solid for the most part.
“Shadows Of The Night” was tuned down a step, however, “We Belong” was right on point. That said, I’ve never seen her live until now. Therefore, I don’t have anything to judge this particular performance on.
I was surprised that “Treat Me Right” wasn’t played, but there’s only so much one can play as an opening act. Given that, I’ll extend the courtesy. Time has indeed been kind to her songs.
The final verdict? I’ll say 4.5 out of five stars, mainly because Bryan Adams can rightly be considered at the top of his game in 2025. Or at least near it, as a viable and relevant arena act. In short order, that’s something that most of his contemporaries can’t honestly say.
Bryan Adams set list:
Can’t Start This Thing We Started* (acoustic)
Straight From The Heart* (acoustic)
Kick Ass
Run To You
Somebody
Roll With The Punches
18 Til I Die
Please Forgive Me
Take Me Back
It’s Only Love
Shine A Light
Heaven
Never Ever Let You Go
This Time
Heat Of The Night
Make Up Your Mind
You Belong To Me
Twist And Shout
So Happy It Hurts
Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?
Here I Am
The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You
Back To You
Summer of ’69
Cuts Like A Knife
All For Love
