L. S. Media Rating ****

If there are any albums that summed up the great sea change in the way that rock music was presented and looked upon 20 years ago, then music lovers need only look at the at the music of Bryan Adams and Nirvana. Bryan Adams released his Waking Up the Neighbours album after stunning success with the ballad (Everything I Do), I Do It For You. This song captivated the romantic hearts of the single buying music lovers and stayed at number one for an amazing 16 weeks. By the time his album came out, Britain’s youth culture was falling in love with a Seattle Grunge band in the shape of Nirvana.

Bryan’s album sold well, superbly so in Britain where it went triple platinum, but the album itself only stayed at number one for a week, to be replaced by Simply Red’s drab offering of Stars. This itself could be seen as the apparent death knell for A. O. R as Nirvana’s Nevermind was released around the same time and grabbed the attention of those desperate to get away from the sound that they thought had killed Rock.

Both albums have reached the 20 year milestone this year but if pressed it seems that Waking Up the Neighbours had the longer staying power, yes that song maybe clichéd and worn but live and in front of a capacity crowd at Liverpool’s Echo Arena it still managed to awaken passions and an electricity long since dormant.

The energy in the Echo Arena was amongst the most keenly felt all year as the lights went down and to tumultuous applause, Bryan Adams strode across the stage like a colossus, determined to own, for one night at least, the entire audiences musical souls. It wasn’t hard to do, for every single person in the building seemed to wishing for him to do exactly that, to give a show that would be unsurpassed by anything that may come along this year, and that’s a big ask!

The vast majority of the songs that were played throughout the night by Bryan and his superb band were taken from the anniversary album, a record that really put Bryan on the music map. With tracks such as All I want is You, Can’t Stop This Thing We Started and I Thought I Died and Gone to Heaven all coming in the first half of the show and in amongst classic tracks such as The Summer of 69’ from Reckless, there was no way Bryan could fail, even with the huge screen behind him playing up and fuzzing badly on the close up’s from the mic-cam.

There was no way the huge number one wasn’t going to be played and it went down a storm, however it has to be remembered that Bryan’s illustrious career kicked off well before the song was included in the Kevin Costner movie Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. One of the songs that really brought him to the nation’s attention was his simmering and delightful duet with Tina Turner on the song Only Love; once again taken from the Reckless album.

Toying  with the  audience; he  mentioned  Miss Turner’s name  before   adding she wasn’t there, but by asking a   young English student from Liverpool to come on stage and perform it with him will go down well and long in the memories of those lucky enough to witness the unbridled professionalism of the man. Willing to entertain? Certainly! Full of enthusiasm no matter the cost, without doubt. Did it work? In spades!

Times may have indeed moved on and other genres of rock come and gone but there is always room for a good guitarist to play live.  One who can keep a packed crowd entertained for over two hours is a rarity and in Bryan Adams, Liverpool received the best of both worlds.

Ian D. Hall