By BRUCE DENNILL
Bryan Adams: Roll With The Punches Tour / SunBet Arena, Pretoria
Bryan Adams has been there and done that, on all levels. He mentions the Roll With The Punches tour being the tenth time he has come to South Africa and invites – in a broad Fourways accent – everyone in the audience to call him “Brahn”. His experience is most evident in the extraordinary comfort he exhibits in being onstage, and that aspect of his live performance is demonstrated most notably right at the beginning of the concert, when he appears on a small platform at the back of the floor seating area with just an acoustic guitar and a harmonica to kick things off, unironically, with Can’t Stop This Thing We Started. It is, among other things, a show of solidarity with fans who can’t afford the tickets at the front or who were a touch slow off the mark when they went on sale. For a good chunk at the beginning of the show, they get to see and sing along with the singer just a few metres away – an absolutely certain way to get an audience onside.
The way the concert unfolds speaks to a consistency of generosity from both Adams (who knows the crowd is largely there for their old favourites) and his band and crew, as well as good deal of creativity in the staging. LED wristbands are given to every audience member, lighting up in synchronised patterns to create arrays and dynamics that look wonderful, even if they do give epileptics in the crowd pause for thought. Projected visuals on the screen at the back of the stage are just as dramatic, ranging from old music videos (for This Time, from 1983) to the largest font in the world for the lyrics to 18 Til I Die (karaoke for the folks at the back!) by way of bright colours that are just as loud as the amplifiers. A remotely operated camera on a rail behind the drums also creates a striking effect – Adams haloed in a spotlight, with the galaxy of LED lights in the audience beyond. Another camera displays the band in full flight on large screens on either side of the stage, but only in black and white, somehow making Adams’ knowing, unapologetic rock star shapes more iconic (in the old-fashioned sense; two-thirds of this audience have never met a Gen Z slang speaker).
Another aspect of the general good feeling in the room is down to the camaraderie onstage. Adams has worked with this band for many, many years. Keyboard player Gary Breit is the inexperienced one, having only joined the act in 2004. Drummer Pat Steward has been an on-again, off-again collaborator since 1984, beginning with the Reckless album. And stalwart guitarist and, judging from the regular laughs between them, close friend Keith Scott has been with Adams since 1983. Their chemistry keeps things light, but their playing is ceaselessly tight, showing off an understanding built on hundreds of hours of performance together onstage.
The tour – and new album’s – title track is a good one, its impact bolstered by a giant silver boxing glove blimp that is guided expertly around the arena by a drone pilot. More old-fashioned rock and roll hype and drama, and it’s fantastic.
Less unexpected but even more enjoyable is the setlist, which is long and lavish. Adams can’t possibly fit all of his hits, much less his more well-known songs, in a set that doesn’t take all night, but his set still sounds like a jukebox compilation of power-pop favourites, from the eternal strut of Summer Of 69 to the supposedly uncool Everything I Do, I Do It For You, via the completely different styles of Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman to It’s Only Love and When You’re Gone and The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You. New song Never Ever Let You Go has trademark giant hooks and is also indisputable evidence that Adams shares a producer and co-writer with Def Leppard (ex-pat South African Robert John “Mutt” Lange).
It’s all a recipe for a roomful of happiness – there are constant smiles; persistent singalongs; grown (large) men whipping their shirts off when encouraged to dance to a new song and the feeling of new memories being added to a near half-century soundtracked by Adam’s writing, singing and live shows. He hasn’t slowed down at all, either. An 11th visit to South Africa feels like a distinct possibility.