Bryan Adams is coming back to Prince George, and he's coming soon. Never mind this six-month sales period so many artists embark on, Adams' date at CN Centre is Nov. 19.
He has been to P.G. several times over the years: 1998, 2000, 2003 and his most recent visit was the summer of 2010.
"Each of those shows was a sellout," said CN Centre manager Glen Mikkelsen. Only Nickelback has come as many times as Adams and sold all of them out (plus they did some smaller concerts in P.G. earlier in their career).
"This would make him No. 1 for the number of tickets ever sold by one artist at CN Centre. This will put him past Nickelback, and rightfully so when you consider his global history over a long period of time with such a broad catalogue of songs."
Many of the people who go to one Adams show go to another, said Mikkelsen. "He always puts on such a great show. The fans get a lot from him."
He has been a name on global lips for decades, now, and he is one of the few Canadians that has ever attained A-list international pop-culture profile. He's won and/or been up for Oscar Awards, Grammys, Golden Globes, and won a staggering 19 Juno Awards so far. So far.
He spaces his album releases years apart, which tends to make for strong packages of songs. Lately, he has taken even longer to spin original yarns.
His penultimate album was a set of cover songs called Tracks Of My Years that chronicled the hits of his upbringing done his way and released in 2014. The album before that was the all-original 11 released in 2008 and prior to that was a comprehensive two-disc greatest hits collection called Anthology.
Any worries that he had run thin on songwriting savvy or musical inspiration were given the smackdown in 2015 when he released Get Up and put himself back on the positive side of the critical conversation for new work (his cover album also scored solid points with critics).
"The stuff I've heard from his latest album is terrific, so he's still doing it at that high level," said Mikkelsen.
"It's a new world of consuming music. It doesn't matter who you are, it's not easy to get a worldwide audience, but he is doing well with his new videos and he knows that the real way to reach an audience these days is live in concert."
The new record - now a year old and still producing singles - is produced by famed ELO frontman Jeff Lynne and it shows in the jangle of the guitars and pacing of the drums.
Adams is continuing his homage to the timeless foundations of rock 'n' roll only this time, it's brand new vintage.
He is a hall-of-famer still adding substance to his legacy.
Tickets for his Prince George show go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at the CN Centre box office or online at www.livenation.com.
