13 February 2025 – Brisbane Entertainment Centre – words by Charlotte Poynton
Canadian rocker Bryan Adams is no stranger to the audience of Australia, becoming a frequent visitor ever since his first concerts here in 1984. A quite regular performer at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre throughout the 90’s and 2000’s, there was much anticipation surrounding his ‘So Happy It Hurts’ tour, as his first Australian visit since COVID-19 and his sold-out return back to our Entertainment Centre after a 12-year absence. This show date came one week after the release of his latest single, ‘Roll With The Punches’, ahead of his upcoming seventeenth studio album of the same name, and was a perfectly timed Valentine’s Day long weekend show. Though I am no stranger to busy crowds at this venue, I was surprised with how eager the fans were, lining up hours before doors opened out of pure excitement and anticipation.
Opening for Bryan Adams was British X-Factor alumni, James Arthur. He briefly shared his excitement to be on the tour performing in Australia for the first time, sharing that the first songs he ever performed were those of the headlining act. James Arthur leaned on comedically rude banter in attempts to forge connection with his audience, with his efforts to charm the crowd by calling them “lazy” ultimately falling flat.
Nevertheless, Arthur joined his five-piece band onstage and cycled through his newer releases in anticipation of his upcoming album, ‘Pisces’. By the second song, members of the seated floor section were already up and dancing. Tracks like ‘Bitter Sweet Love’ and ‘Sermon’ introduced his sound to the crowd, though ultimate fan favouritesincluding ‘Naked’ and ‘Impossible’ were noticeably missing from his setlist.
Dedicating his TikTok viral cover of Christina Perri’s ‘A Thousand Years’ to Valentine’s Day, Arthur joked that “romance is dead, innit?”. Despite a wavering voice through the pre choruses, this song was a highlight of his set, showing both that he thrives with his ballads and that I have recently binged the Twilight films.
Fan Favourite ‘Lasting Lover’ was met with an excited dancing crowd, with an extreme change of mood from the previous track. I was personally quite confused with the emotional whirlwind construed by the odd placement of his setlist, with upbeat tracks sitting awkwardly beside songs of lyrical emotional vulnerability.
Arthur closed off his set with his 2016 breakthrough hit ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’, asking the crowd “Are you gonna sing this one with me?”. The Brisbane Entertainment Centre was filled with chorusing voices, though Arthur himself skipped the higher octaves throughout the chorus. His parting announcement “Hopefully I’ll be back soon” was met by cheers by the crowd, as the room began to buzz with excitement for the act to come.
Though the crowd was quite full for James Arthur, there was not a single seat left empty when it became time for Bryan Adams to come on stage. With a video depicting the ‘So Happy It Hurts’ car meeting various characters, a QR code prompted audiences to request their favourite Bryan Adams song.
The house lights faded as a bold voice detailed a heavily altered version of the earth’s history, leading to the invention of rock music which was attributed to Bryan Adams, which came off as a racist rewriting of the history of POC folk in the pioneering of rock music, though the overwhelmingly white dominated audience didn’t seem phased. In a haze of flashing red lights, the opening of ‘Kick Ass’ sent the crowd into a frenzy. By his second song, ‘Can’t Stop This Thing We Started’, the whole floor section was standing up and dancing along.
Age seemed to be no barrier for the 65-year-old rocker, as he moved across the length of the stage whilst playing guitar to an audience composed of decades of fans. Video cameras shared videos of smiling and dancing crowd members to the big screen as chants of “Gonna be 18 ‘til I die” echoed throughout the room.
Hits like ‘Please Forgive Me’ and ‘Heaven’ were instant sing along moments from the crowd, as Adams joked that he’s “gonna play all the songs I can remember” from his sixteen-album deep discography. His latest single, ‘Roll With The Punches’, saw an inflatable, drone-led boxing glove float around the arena, drawing attention to the packed out crowd and ushering a sea of mobile phones to start recording. After an impromptu performance of ‘Happy Birthday’ was dedicated to a fan’s mum in the audience, Adams began a tribute to the late Tina Turner with a performance of ‘It’s Only Love’ with snippets of ‘The Best’ and ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’.
A cheeky moment ensued with ‘You Belong To Me’, as Adams encouraged the men in the audience to take off their shirts. Both men and women alike eagerly jumped to the occasion, with at least 10% of the stadium ending up shirtless by the end of that song.
One excited fan by the name of Alice had sent through seventeen special requests for Adams to play ‘Here I Am’, which he then dedicated to her. The crowd then quickly jumped to their feet for an acoustic rendition of ‘When You’re Gone’, before a full room singalong with ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’. During ‘So Happy It Hurts’, a Harry Potter style inflatable car with blinding headlights hovered its way throughout the stadium. The loudest crowd I’ve ever heard started chanting as Adams teased the crowd with the opening vamp of ‘Summer of ‘69’, with a cathartic sing along to his 8x certified platinum hit. Many fans understood this to be the final song of the evening and started to leave, perhaps in mere pursuit of beating the traffic, though they truly missed out on what’s to come.
An unexpected cover of Frankie Valli’s ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ got the crowd singing along, before Adams invited opening act James Arthur back onstage to perform his viral cover of Pasek and Paul’s ‘Rewrite The Stars’ from The Greatest Showman, commenting on how a fan was upset to see this song hadn’t made the New Zealand setlist so they added it in last minute. Adams then started a walk through the crowd, stopping to surprise two wheelchair bound fans with an embrace that left them both excitedly shocked. After making his way to the back of the Arena, Adams jumped on a smaller stage to dedicate an acoustic version of ‘Straight From the Heart’ to his mother, and closed off the show with an acoustic rendition of ‘All For Love’.
Though the night had ended, the excitement seemed to still be running at an all-time high, with fans sharing their favourite memories of the performances that had just closed. If you’re kicking yourself for missing out on tickets to this tour, be sure to check out ‘Roll With The Punches’ and stay tuned for the new album this year.
Photo supplied by Frontier – credit Richard Nicholson.
