A definite musical highlight of the summer of 2022 is when one of the most exciting live musicians in the world, BRYAN ADAMS set Cardiff Castle alight with a blinding set, which entertained the sold-out crowd for nearly two hours. For those lucky enough to have tickets, it was a night no one will forget, if you weren’t able to get there, Bryan is heading back to the capital in May with a show at the Utilita Arena.
Bryan is celebrating his love for all things UK with a three-night residency at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He then heads out, with his phenomenal band, getting to Cardiff on 19th May.
I mention the London shows because they are a little bit special. Bryan will be performing one of his classic albums in full each night, alongside his most loved hits from 13th to 15th May 2024, produced by TEG Live Europe. More on that shortly.
Following the residency, Bryan will bring his ‘So Happy It Hurts’ Arena Tour to the capital, featuring tracks from the Grammy-nominated studio album, as well as his biggest hits.
Tickets will go on general sale at 9am this Friday, 13th October HERE. If you want access the exclusive pre-sale at 9am on Thursday, 12th, sign up HERE.
It’s actually unfair to simply call Bryan a performer. This Canadian export is a guitarist, singer, composer, record producer, photographer, and philanthropist. It’s almost unfair to call him wholly Canadian too (although he was born there so we’re pushing the British thing here).
His Father, Captain Conrad J. Adams, emigrated to Canada from Plymouth, in the 1950s. He was a Sandhurst officer in the British Army, then joined the Canadian Army and later worked as a United Nations peacekeeping observer and as a Canadian foreign service diplomat.
Okay, so it’s tenuous, but Bryan has had so much success over here, and played thousands of gigs over the years, that he feels like he is partly ours. Back home in Canada however, Bryan was the most played artist on Canadian radio stations between 2010 and 2019. On top of that he sold something like 100 million records worldwide. So you can imagine a night with Bryan in Cardiff is going to packed with hits.
And those hits are not just the singles. From his first self-titled album some 40 plus years ago, Bryan has released a string of absolute belters. You may not know much about the first release, but ‘Cuts Like A Knife’ and ‘Reckless’, turned out a string of hit singles such as, Heaven, Run To You, and the one we can’t wait to hear filling Cardiff Castle.
If you’ve never seen him play Summer Of 69 live, this video from 1993, directed by Andrew Catlin, should give you a pretty good idea what it’s like from the fans perspective – HERE.
If we were to list Bryan’s awards and musical achievements we’d literally be here all day. With number one albums, his Greatest Hits for example went 11 times, 7 times and 6 times platinum in Australia, Canada and the US, respectively. He sold 17 million copies of that album alone.
In 2008 he was ranked 38th on the list of all-time top artists on the Billboard Hot 100. Adams won 20 Juno Awards and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television amongst 15 Grammy nominations, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and three Academy Awards for his songwriting for films. Bryan has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Canada’s Walk of Fame, the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. An in 2010, he received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for his 30 years of contributions to the arts.
We’ve said all of that and haven’t even mentioned the single which was a massive worldwide hit, and held the top spot in our charts for 16 weeks. “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” is one of the best-selling singles of all time, having sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.
It was featured in the Kevin Costner movie Robin Hood – Prince Of Thieves, and I remember at the time, having played the single a thousand times on the radio, that I really must see the movie, I did, and we reckon it still holds up today.
Bryan has had massive success with other movies too.
A few years back Bryan approached Disney to see if they would be interested in making the 1990 film into Pretty Woman: The Musical for Broadway. But it wasn’t until seven years later that he re-approached them and was introduced to producer Paula Wagner along with director Jerry Mitchell. Bryan recruited Jim Vallance, and the two of them spent the next two years writing the music and lyrics, and completed the songs in March 2018. The musical made its debut on Broadway in August that year. It did have a short run in London before the pandemic struck. The good news is, it’s back and getting to the Wales Millennium Centre next year, two weeks before Bryan gets here actually.
Take a look at our feature HERE.
He also likes a bit of a collaboration, and he’s had a lot of those over the years.
- Rod Stewart & Sting
- Elton John
- Tina Turner
- Barbra Streisand
- Melanie C (our favourite)
- Nelly Furtado
- Taylor Swift
And so many others.
We do want to mention Bryan’s photography, which is clearly his other real passion. In 2015, he was given an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in London for his work in photography. He’s also been published in British Vogue, L’uomo Vogue, American Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, British GQ, Esquire, Interview magazine and i-D. He’s also shot advertising and PR campaigns for Hugo Boss, Guess Jeans, Sand, Converse, Montblanc, John Richmond, Fred Perry, Escada, Gaastra, Zeiss, Joop, Zeiss AG, Schwarzkopf, Ermenegildo Zegna, AGL shoes, Windsor, Jaguar and OPEL cars
One project he is really passionate is Homeless, a book that captures portraits of 84 Big Issue vendors and focuses on their stories in a whole new way.
The book stems back from Bryan’s contribution to the magazine in 2011 when actress and producer Trudie Styler guest edited an edition. Trudie asked Bryan to offer a more in-depth photographic look at vendors and since then, he has captured shots of sellers whenever he can, building up to the publication of Homeless, which is out now.
Bryan told us…….
“Thank goodness for organisations such as The Big Issue in the UK, who give the support the homeless need to get back on their feet. They help the vendors earn their own independent living by selling magazines on the streets – and many people, some featured in this book, have survived because of this.”
“The photographs I took of people who live rough on the streets of London highlight an unavoidable fact, and almost every city around the world has a similar problem: too many people fall between the cracks and have no means to sustain a roof over their head.”
The book exposes the stories of vendors like Sam Woodlock, who started selling the magazine 21 years ago in Covent Garden and has gone on to conquer addiction to now become a franchisee helping other vendors.
Bryan’s photographs encapsulate the plight and challenges faced by the Homeless, we would recommend a copy to go on your shopping list. All proceeds will go towards The Big Issue Foundation, The Big Issue’s charitable arm, to help provide vital support to vendors.
Back to the shows next year and across three nights in May, Bryan will perform one album in full each evening – ’18 Til I Die’, ‘Reckless’ and ‘So Happy It Hurts’ – plus a selection of some of the greatest hits from his phenomenal career, spanning an incredible 40 years.
The multi-million-selling artist will kick off the residency with his double-platinum No.1 album ’18 Til I Die’ on Monday, 13th May 2024. Bryan’s seventh studio album, released in 1996, features hits including Top 10 single Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?and The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You.
This is followed by ‘Reckless’ on Tuesday, 14th May, his fourth studio album, released on his 25th birthday in 1984. The record has now sold more than 12 million copies worldwide, making it his biggest-selling album to date and featuring some of Adam’s biggest hits, such as Run To You and 4x Platinum Summer of ‘69.
The residency will conclude with ‘So Happy It Hurts’, his critically acclaimed 15th studio album, on Wednesday 15th May. Described as “unabashedly upbeat” by Clash with Bryan “doing what he does best” (Classic Rock), the Royal Albert Hall stage will be filled with positivity, happiness and a celebration of freedom.
Bryan told us……
“Our last visit to the Royal Albert Hall was such a great series of shows, it was a no-brainer to want to come back and do it again. However this time we have a whole new perspective on how to make it work and with three different albums. The band and I are really looking forward to it!”
As for BRYAN ADAMS live shows, he plays the Utilita Arena in Cardiff on Sunday 19th May. Tickets are on general sale HERE.
