Bryan Adams at the O2 Arena

How do you celebrate 15 albums and a career spanning more than 40 years? By playing it all.

After a rescheduling from earlier in the year, the final night of the So Happy It Hurts UK tour sees Canadian rock legend Bryan Adams finally take over the O2 Arena stage, floating car in tow.

Choosing to forgo an opening act, the singer uses his time wisely, paying homage to his lengthy discography with a two-hour, 29-song set. It is a move that could prove risky and potentially tiresome, but with a mix of crowd pleasing anthems and heartfelt ballads, the audience are won over quickly. A perfect combination of modest and showy, Adams knows how to cater to his fans. Some of his most successful tracks are slotted between lesser known favourites, notably 1983 hit Heaven, whose opening chords spur a venue-wide singalong, and Summer of ’69, which appears well before the encore. It is an unexpected choice but one that pays off, keeping the energy high throughout and preventing the hits from overpowering.

It is not an easy feat to command an arena crowd so effortlessly, whether rocking out with a full band or stripped back under some spotlights, but Adams does just that. Moving between three microphones spread across the stage, the rocker makes sure to give everyone his time. A portion of the show dedicated to the fans has him taking requests from his adoring audience. It is impressive, watching the band delve off the cuff into tracks that didn’t quite make it to the set list. One can’t help but wonder just how many are in the repertoire. Rebel, originally inspired by his grandfathers, who fought for Britain in the first world war, is particularly rousing.

But perhaps the highlight of the evening comes surprisingly in the form of 2015 release You Belong to Me. Challenging the audience to see who can “throw the best shapes” to impress a roaming cameraman and get some deserved time on the big screen, the O2 ascends into chaos as they joyfully oblige. It is a moment of pure bliss with a sense of tonight being a much-needed escape from the cold outside.

As Adams jokingly tells the audience to leave between encore tracks, one gets the sense that neither artist nor fans truly want this evening to end. A cover of Frankie Velli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You is warmly received, before a rendition of Straight from the Heart – a song penned over 40 years earlier – slows things right down. Bryan Adams may be the “rock’n’roll saviour” according to the sermon-like show’s opening, but the heart found in the quieter moments remains unmatched. Soon, Christmas Time closes out the show, and the evening is over.

With a hugely versatile career under his belt, Bryan Adams has a lot to offer, and gleefully he will. He is seemingly willing to perform for as long as his audience are willing to listen; the rockstars of today would do well to look up to the 63-year=old’s incredible success and intoxicating stage presence. He may not quite be “18 until he dies”, but he’s still out here giving his fans a night out to remember.

Katherine Parry
Photos: Virginie Viche

For further information and future events visit Bryan Adams’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Heaven here: