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May 6, 2008
Bryan Adams at Toad's Place
I’m old enough to remember when Bryan Adams was just starting to make a name for himself in the United States and watched as he landed hit after hit on the Top 40 charts with the videos going into heavy rotation on MTV. (Yes, I’m also old enough to remember when MTV played videos.)
Eventually, I couldn’t care less about what Adams was doing, as it seemed his songs were almost too successful, too omnipresent on radio and TV. To make matters worse, he had a huge hit with the sappy “(Everything I Do) I Do it For You” from a lame Kevin Costner movie.
It certainly didn’t help that every song I heard from him after that smash tried to replicate that formula and even sappier songs were forthcoming. I was officially done with Mr. Adams.
Whatever CDs I had by him were eventually traded in and, aside from seeing him in concert at the Warner Theater in Torrington a few years ago, I had no knowledge of anything he was doing musically.
Until Monday night, that is. Adams was at Toad’s Place in New Haven to do an acoustic solo show with tickets only available through WTIC-FM 96.5. Kim from Adams’ public relations agency offered me a pair of tickets, so I figured, why not?
If the show turned out to be a stinker, at least I could get a couple of slices of Yorkside Pizza while I was in the area. Anyway, what else was there to do on a Monday night?
Surprisingly, everything went well. Adams was engaging with the 450 or so fans in attendance and he sounded, well, like Bryan Adams. I actually could listen to his older hits with fresh ears, to hear the songs as he initially envisioned, not as these catchy monsters that soon assaulted my radio and TV.
The 90-minute set was loaded with his hits, some of which I had blocked out of my brain. Hearing these stripped-down versions brought me back to why I liked his music in the first place: The man can write a catchy pop song.
Here are some of the songs from Monday night that you should remember: “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started,” “Cuts Like a Knife,” “Heaven,” “Run to You,” “Summer of ’69” and “Please Forgive Me.”
Adams is doing this tour ostensibly to showcase his new album, called “11,” which is coming out on May 13 exclusively through Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. The crowd was polite during his new material, but between songs quickly started yelling out requests for his classics.
Though it was a solo performance, walking into Toad’s and seeing a drum kit on stage, I had a feeling that Adams’ longtime drummer, New Haven native Mickey Curry, would take part at some point of the show.
Curry, who played Toad’s many times in the ’70s with The Scratch Band, eventually joined Adams for four or five songs near the end of the show, playing the first drum set he ever owned. It was nice to see the two old friends enjoying each other’s company and, as far as the show, Curry’s drumming did help to mix things up.
For as entertaining as it was to hear Adams with just his acoustic guitar and occasional harmonica, every now and then, ‘Kids Wanna Rock.’ Even us older ones.
Posted by Sean on May 6, 2008 8:02 PM
