The Plummet Onions

Bryan Adams catches a lot of shit. I would maintain that the reasons for this are not his fault. So last night I went to the first of three sold-out shows he’s playing at Sydney’s Opera House on his Bare Bones acoustic tour.

Gary Breit and Bryan Adams. Photo from ASquall via Creative Commons license

Between 1984 and 1985 Bryan Adams was one of the biggest rock stars on the planet. He did this not by making a single original sound or writing a single insightful lyric. He did this by having a perfect rock voice, and by writing tunes that were perfect archetypes of guitar-driven, singalong rock songs. Thus those songs have broad public appeal. Thus they get played a billion times. Thus many of us will change the station when “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” comes on the radio.

I’ve never bothered to see Adams play before, even in the decades I lived in Canada. If it had been his normal band I wouldn’t have gone. But on this Bare Bones tour it’s just him and an acoustic guitar for much of it, with pianist Gary Breit on the rest. That’s it. Since all Bryan Adams’s songs are guitar tunes I thought that this would be the way to hear them.

It was. The format reduced the packed Opera House to a backyard singalong.

He opened big, with “Run To You”. Adams’s voice sounded exactly as it did in the early ’80s: strong and raspy. His guitar playing was much better than the simple rhythm parts that some singers play, and we got all the relevant fills.

Ultimately there are few people on the planet who can write a catchy, dynamic melody and a massive, memorable, rock chorus like Bryan Adams. That’s not enough – in my books – to call him great, but it is enough to pack a venue with people who know every line.

I was struck last night by how good the early songs that he co-wrote with Jim Vallance were. “I’m Ready” and “Heaven” were vital. “Heat of the Night”, as one of the few Adams songs to stand out with different guitar sounds, was one of my favourite tunes of the night. So was “Do I Have To Say The Words”: its phrasing and rhythms mark it as a better song than most.

The night was not without surprises: “Cuts Like A Knife” was always going to be good, and then the “na na na” ending was accompanied by a walkthrough bagpiper. Didn’t see that coming.

“Summer of ’69″ was played fast and hard, and was the most crowd-enthusiastic song. But this track – like “Everything I Do…”, which got played of course – has been overdone to the point that even in an acoustic format I just wanted it to be over. All of the Mutt Lange co-penned songs fall short of the early stuff. I mean, c’mon, “The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You”?

Adams himself was relaxed, chatty, and full of funny stories. It was a genial evening, and – to be honest – one very low on cheese (perhaps bombast enhances cheese). I enjoyed seeing a songwriter play songs I knew, on his acoustic guitar, which I imagine is exactly how he first wrote them all.