The Best of Him

This Canadian needs no introduction. His smooth soft rock ballads can be appreciated by anyone in any age group. I(and I’m sure most people in my contemporary generation) have grown up listening to his music as I still remember the 1st music album I ever bought out of my pocket money as a kid was his album ‘So Far So Good’.
I was there for his concert in 2004 at Delhi as well, so it was no surprise that when 4 other friends planned to attend the Bryan Adams’ 3rd Time Lucky concert yesterday evening in Bangalore, I also got myself pulled along.
A good thing about Bangalore(besides the weather) is that whenever an international star performs in India, Bangalore is sure to be a part of the itinerary, the other city mostly being either Bombay or Delhi.
So we reached the venue(Palace Grounds) around 6:00 pm yesterday, but the kilometer long queue at the entrance ensured that we could enter only around 7:30, and by that time the crowd inside had already started growing impatient having to watch the silly advertisements on the huge side screens, and some had started booing as well.
To be a part of a concert of this magnitude is always a treat for your senses. Firstly, the arrangements are state-of-the-art, specially since Mr. Bryan carries his own 10,000 kgs of equipment along in his jet. Next, the huge cheering crowd and the electric atmosphere adds that extra zeal to it. Good we got the front section tickets…bang in front of the stage!
So suddenly around 8:00 pm, the entire group jumped together onto the stage and started rocking. The crowd too abruptly broke into a hysteria, with the female majority breaking out into shrieks of ‘I love you Bryan’ and catcalls and whistles.
Among the 1st few songs he sang was ‘Open Road’ from his new album, and thereafter it was song after song of soulful numbers from his long list of chartbusters.

He showcased plenty of talent to mesmerize the 50,000 strong crowd, as apart from his youthful voice and soulful lyrics, he could easily juggle between 5 different guitars – 2 accoustic, 2 electric and a Bass guitar, as well as playing the harmonica in between.
An amusing part was when he pointed out to a girl in the crowd and called her up on stage to sing ‘Baby when you’re gone’ along with him. She introduced herself as Shweta and a Software Engineer(not surprising at all!) before breaking into a nervous rendition of the song, which was understandable considering the humungous crowd.

Expectedly, the strongest cheers from the guys came for the 2 numbers- “18 Till I Die” and “Summer of ’69 “
Other amazing numbers he crooned were Run to You, Cuts Like a Knife, The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me, Back to You, Best of Me, Can’t Stop this Thing we Started, Heaven, Cloud # 9, Let’s Make a Night To Remember, Straight from the Heart, and of course Please Forgive Me and Everything I Do.
Phew! Every single song a masterpiece! The guy sang for more than 2 hours non-stop.
The last song ‘Straight From the Heart’ was a beauty as he asked everyone to take out their cellphones and wave them in the dark while singing along, and the scene when viewed on the huge screens was like millions of bluish fireflies swaying to the music.

So which is your favourite Adams’ number?

P.S. – In keeping with my constant endeavor to enlighten the bourgeois with the crème de la crème from the world of entertainment, I’ve launched 2 new links on the right sidebar….1 would contain my favoured review of the last movie I watched, and another a downloadable link for a song along with it’s lyrics.
Since this has been a Bryan week, so I’m putting up my fav Bryan song for now.