Bryan Adams Live At The Royal Albert Hall 2024

None of the above is an accurate description though.

Thankfully, there is a vast army of people who see beyond these tired descriptions. They understand and love Bryan as one of the most gifted and talented songwriters of our time.

This box set is a love letter to those who have stuck with him, it highlights three albums that neatly show Bryan Adams career from eighties star to nineties superstar and finally landing on where he is today. Inside this box is a cornucopia of delights for his fans. You get three CDs, one for each night, a Blu-Ray disc that has each performance on it, and a 32-page photo book. For this review, I watched the Blu-Ray but CDs have the same tracks on them.

The first thing to say is that the concert footage is stunning. The visuals, shot by the award winning filmmaker Dick Carruthers are stunning. The film is crisp, and the roaming cameras capture the bands performance and the audience’s response beautifully. The sound is clear and makes you feel you’re right there; guitars are bright and the drum boom. Bryan’s vocals ride on top of the mix, and there is a real presence to whole thing that draws you in and makes the viewer feel present at the performance in a way many other concert films fail to.

This set is all about the music. There’s no fancy lighting, minimalist staging, no giant TV screens, and the band are dressed in all black. I hope they had a good laundry service or multiple versions of their stage gears though as they appeared to be dressed the same for each night! The stage is open, and the audience is sat all around it. There are mics set up in various positions so that Bryan could move around the stage and deliver his vocals facing various parts of the crowd.

Most people will dive right into the ‘Reckless’ set and fittingly it is first up on the Blu-Ray and disc one in the accompanying CD set.

Setting the agenda for each of the nights the band play the songs in the order that best suits a live show.

‘One night love affair’ kicks things off in fine style. Immediately you can notice the great sound mix. Stereo for these previews but the Blu-Ray includes a 5:1 surround mix and Dolby Atmos mix that will truly bring the occasion to life, I’m sure. Bryan Adams sound like he’s in great voice, and the band give him a solid delivery to get the show rolling. Already the crowd are up and clapping along. Keith Scott drops in a nice guitar solo after which the band stops to let crowd enjoy a singalong with Bryan.

There’s no easing up on the audience as the band drive on with a rocking version of ‘Somebody.’ For a song that the band must have lost count of the number of times they’ve played it’s great to see the enthusiasm and plain delight they have while performing it. That’s something that will continue to be visible over all three nights and having seen Bryan Adams live on numerous occasions I really feel the current version of the BADAMSBAND is the best one there’s been.

A delightful surprise for the crowd, though no let up in the pace, the next song up is ‘Reckless.’ The song never actually made the album and vey rarely gets a live outing. Still, it didn’t throw the audience for long, and they are soon singing along to it. Big thumbs up to Keith Scott on this as he contributes some searing guitar work on his trusty Fender.

If the crowd thought that the band was going to ease up on them, they were very wrong. Next to tear things up was ‘Run to You.’ Delivered a little faster than the album version, the crowd lapped it up.

And somehow the band manage to raise the tempo up again. Even the disguised start didn’t fool the die hard fans and it wasn’t long before the Bryan’s know twiddling turned into ‘Kids Wanna Rock.’ As soon as Bryan started waxing about his first real six string the crowd are up for it all over again. In fact, they were so up for it there were times during the song that they drowned Bryan out.

Finally taking their foot of the gas the band gently takes the crowd to ‘Heaven.’ The crowd respond by holding their mobiles up and raising their voices. The band and the crowd share in a full throated singalong to one of Bryan’s absolute classics.

Bryan now stands alone, a single spotlight picking him out on stage. Alone with his acoustic guitar, all in black, skintight top and loose fitting jeans, black and white high tops (might be Cons) he cuts a striking figure, perhaps most reminiscent of a street racer about to take on the next challenger in a 1950’s rock n roll flick. It’s all quite American Graffiti. Bryan takes a moment and then delivers a gorgeous take on ‘Let Me Down Easy,’ another album outtake.

The band are back for ‘She’s Only Happy When She’s Dancing,’ complete with a shout out to Bryan’s co-writer, Jim Vallance, who’s in the house this evening. Vallance was co-writer on all the ‘Reckless’ tracks so it’s fitting that Bryan acknowledges him and that he is present for this performance. The song gets a good reception from the crowd, and we are up and running towards the sets climax.

The end of the set isn’t for the faint hearted as the band fire into ‘It's Only Love.’ Delivered by Bryan alone with him singing Tina Turner’s part as well as his own. It’s a straight take until midway through when Keith Scott launches himself into a masterful guitar solo. It’s little wonder that Bryan refers to Keith as his secret weapon when introducing him to the crowd.

From there it’s on to a hard rocking take on ‘Long Gone.’ Pat Steward drives the song along with his drumming, and Solomon Walker’s bass throbs along emitting low sounds into the mix.

The band deliver ‘Ain't Gonna Cry’ in a souped up flying take. Keith Scott takes the opportunity to gurn and mock cry his way through the track, falling to his knees and then onto his back while never missing a note. Needless to say, the crowd lap it up.

Of course, the set ends with ‘Summer of ’69,’ the song that was never a hit in the UK despite several releases over the years yet has still become one of the most recognised of Bryan Adams songs. It’s a song that you can’t help but grin when it comes on and judging from this performance neither can the band. The crowd rise to the occasion too. They sing along at raise the roof volume much to Bryan and the band’s delight.

And that’s it for the first set.

The second performance/disc in the set is ’18 ‘til I die.’ The 1996 album gets a near complete rendition, though, again, not in album order. The only song that wasn’t performed was ‘Black Pearl.’

It’s a set of sometimes jarring musical contrasts, which is a reflection on the album itself. The reorganising off the tracks for this performance tries to smooth these out. The band come racing out the traps with the title track. It’s a rowdy and raw performance with Keith Scott playing to the crowd. When we cut to the audience it’s clear to see that they are up for it as the dance and scream the lyrics back towards the stage. ‘Do to You’ promptly follows edging the hard rock aside with a touch of blues funk.

The band get a little bit of a breather as things slow down for ‘A Night to Rember.’ Bryan’s vocals are perfect for this kind of mid-tempo AOR ballad, rasping out his romantic intentions for the evening. The band give the track a full warm sound and it’s clear the audience are as into this as they are the rockers as another full participation singalong ensues.

Let’s be honest, ‘(I Wanna Be) Your Underwear may be the most ridiculous lyric Bryan Adams has ever written. And yet, it works, and the crowd love it. The tempo is lifted, and the song has a nice funky undercurrent courtesy of Solomon Walker on bass and Pat Steward on drums.

Things slow back down again for ‘Star.’ I’ve always felt that there’s something a little melancholy about this track but there’s hope in the chorus. Nice vocal delivery from Bryan and then we’re taken back up again with a lively rendition of ‘It Ain't A Party...If You Can't Come 'Round’ and tight acoustic take on ‘You're Still Beautiful To Me.’ The classic love song should have been a bigger hit. For this performance, the song’s second verse has been rewritten to be about the Royal Albert Hall and the fans.

Picking up a Spanish guitar Keith Scott picks out ‘I'll Always Be Right There’ with some deft finger work. Just Bryan and Keith up for this one and it gives the song an extra layer of intimacy.

Raucous and noisy as a footie song should be ‘We're Gonna Win’ is delivered with all the spit and rage of a punk song and even gets some of the crowd pogoing. Bryan abandons his guitar and prowls the lip of the stage mic in hand while Keith Scott gives his already battered Fender a good seeing too. Both are clearly having a lot of fun with this song.

The fast slow pendulum continues with ‘I Think About You.’ To be fair the band deserved a slow down after ‘We’re Gonna Win.’ And then the tempo lifts back up once more as the band swagger into ‘The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You.’ This is stone cold classic Bryan Adams. Played with a Stones like feel with Pat Steward holding the beat and getting to solo a bit through the middle and another impressive performance from Solomon Walker on bass.

The ’18 ‘til I Die’ set concludes with another power ballad. ‘Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman’ finds Keith Scott back on on Spanish guitar though this time the whole band performs on the song.

With lots of declarations of love for the audience the band leaves the stage.

Bryan Adams third night album was ‘So Happy It Hurts’ his most recent album from 2022. Like the performance of ’18 ‘til I Die’ the Bryan shuffles the pack, playing the songs in a different order to how they sit on the album. There were no songs left out this time though.

The set unsurprisingly kicks off with ‘Kick Ass.’ I was a little disappointed that the production didn’t use the John Cleese intro while the band took to the stage. It’s a little bit ragged but total rock n roll start. The crowd are well up for it and the energy level is apparent even through the TV screen. ‘On The Road’ follows promptly. The story of a rock n roll life viewed from the perspective of a man who’s seen it all. I thought that there might be a falling off in the enthusiasm of the audience for this recent slice of Bryan but that would be far from the truth. As the cameras find the crowd to be in fine voice as the heartily sing along to these recent songs.

One thing that is clear even two songs in is that live these songs have way more impact than they did on the album. They’re much livelier and more filled out with the band performance compared to the album, which Bryan recorded on his own during the pandemic.

‘Just About Gone’ was always one of the standout tracks on this album. Live it’s even better.

The pace drops a little for the love song ‘Let's Do This.’ With the full band delivery here it takes on an almost country swing and that carries over into ‘Just Like Me, Just Like You.’ It’s another song that works well live and has a nice mid paced strum to it.

‘I've Been Looking For You’ is one of those rockabilly type tunes that Bryan has become so good at (see ‘Back to You,’ ‘You Belong To Me,’ and ‘Brand New Day’ for further examples). The band’s enjoyment at playing this is writ large all over their faces. There’s some nice upright bass playing from Solomon Walker here too. Once again, the audience show their love for Bryan’s work by belting out the lyrics along with the band.

Bryan springs a surprise on the audience here. For ‘Never Gonna Rain’ he brings out the London Community Gospel Choir to add their vocals to the song. It’s a highlight of the evening and the crowd are lapping it up. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth Bryan asks the crown if the choir should hang around for another song. It’s no surprise that it’s a resounding ‘yes!’ and so they do. They add their vocals to ‘You Lift Me Up’ and it lifts the song from a good ballad to one that gives you chills. If I had to choose, I’d say that this suits the LCGC much better.

There’s a hint of reggae styling given to the verses of ‘Always Have, Always Will’ in the bass and guitar work. Bryan gets to have some fun with the crowd as they indulge in some call and response singing.

By sharp contrast ‘I Ain't Worth Shit Without You’ has a grungy rockabilly feel to it live. The band grin and gurn there way through it and look like they are relishing playing something a bit harder. As the song closes the crowd are looking up and we see the only piece of showmanship over the three nights as an inflatable car powered by four drones starts to glide around the Royal Albert Hall. Adorned with the title track of the album over its sides, it comes as no surprise that the next song is ‘So Happy It Hurts.’ Not only is it the title track but it’s further proof that Bryan’s ability to write a cracking tune is still as strong as ever as this rates high up on my list of favourite Bryan Adams songs.

Finally, the set reaches its climax with the elegantly beautiful ‘These Are The Moments That Make Up My Life.’ With Keith Scott and Pat Steward off stage it’s left for Bryan and keyboard player Gary Breit to close out the set. As befits this type of song the venue is awash in the light of held aloft mobile phones. It’s a quite moment of contemplation to close the set with fitting lyrics looking back over what makes a life worth living.

In general, I am not a fan of ‘live’ recordings in any format. It always feels kind of flat to me and the engagement you feel with the artist at a good gig is lacking. However, this set bucks the trend and delivers all that you would want from a live set. I found myself totally engaged with the performances, singing along, and tapping my feet. The whole thing works here because the band are experts in their tasks. Keith Scott especially deserves an extra mention because of his superb guitar playing and his crowd pleasing and show stealing antics while he solos. The other thing he does is take the pressure of Bryan Adams and allows Adams to step back from time to time, engage with the audience and get a kick out of his guitarist’s antics. This complete set is the perfect reminder that not only has Bryan Adams written songs that soundtracked the eighties but that he continues to do so and that he puts on a damn fine live show.

Often depicted as an eighties icon who came and went in that time Bryan Adams continues to be a major artist and a bit of a polymath. As well as continuing to make excellent records and adding to his catalogue he’s a sought after portrait photographer, has written music for movies, and collaborated on the music for the stage version of ‘Pretty Woman.’ How many of the more feted bands who’ve come and go over the time between these albums would love to still be able as adored as Mr Adams is and to still be able to sell out arenas tour after tour.

Christmas is coming and this box set would make the perfect gift for any Bryan Adams fan.

Bryan Adams Live At The Royal Albert Hall 2024 Box Set is released on 15th November 2024.