I needed this.
Syria. Brexit. Trump. Trump supporters. Kellie Leitch. Kellie Leitch supporters. Geez, even Leonard Cohen passing into the great sleep. It's been a time of disappointment and darkness.
And then in walks Bryan Adams and got us all shook up - in the best ways, for a change. He is a man known for being engaged in the world, who uses his influence for human betterment. He is well aware of the storm clouds too. He doesn't offer escape. He dispenses rock 'n' roll in powerful doses.
What he provided the CN Centre audience with most was unity.
The entire sellout crowd would often overpower him in the singing of the familiar songs, which is quite a different thing than acts who set up the crowd interaction.
Adams did a bit of that, but only in amongst the times he didn't have a choice but to listen to 5,000 P.G. singers come out of the shower to have their moment with the superstar.
He even singled a few of them out. He brought a couple of different people up on stage spontaneously - Shauna Kelly and Catherina Callewaert - to sing right alongside him (and they were good).
He also turned a spotlight on Tammy up in the high bleachers who danced an entire song on-screen as he sang directly to her. Those are prized times for an audience, and so few acts bother (or have the confidence) to go off-script like that and just enjoy real moments unfolding with their fans.
Ironically, he's one of the few acts who might be forgiven for just cracking off hit after hit without any personality in between. He left a swath of hits off the CN Centre table as it was. The logistical problem Adams faces is, his new stuff is just as good as the catalogue.
Brand New Day and You Belong To Me are legitimate favourites, permanently embossed on the Adams legacy. Every time he nails a new hit, he squeezes another older one out of the set list.
You can't accuse Adams of bilking the paying audience, either.
There was no opening act and he piled on two and a half hours of full-tilt concert experience.
He didn't waste his time or his fans' money on fire and lasers, either, just a simple light rig and a giant screen playing simple (sometimes quite clever) background images.
And he came packing his band - what a band. Getting to see Mickey Curry on the drum kit or Keith Scott on guitars is part of the joy. There is so much skill and history with those guys, with and apart from Bryan Adams. He even gave the crowd a little spark by bringing on stage the iconic music manager Bruce Allen during the (six song) encore.
(The only way it could have been even better is if he brought out longtime songwriting partner Jim Vallance, who lived some of his years in Vanderhoof.)
There was skill on the soundboard as well. It isn't often the audio technicians bear a mention, but the clarity of the mix was stellar and I didn't leave this event with my ears ringing. Yet when Adams pounded out The Kids Wanna Rock or Run To You, it still felt like an earthquake.
It's all in the presentation, I guess, and that is the one talent Adams has over and above music.
He understands people, he looks the world in the eye, and he rocks everybody he touches.
It cuts across time, taxonomy and even Trump.
