‘This is the 29th time I’ve played Wembley,” says Bryan Adams, mildly matter-of-fact as ever. Subtracting his first appearance, when he opened for Tina Turner in 1985, still leaves 28 headlining shows at England’s most iconic hangar – testament to what can be achieved by a reliable, raw-throated artisan who does things with little fuss. So little fuss, in fact, that he can walk through a crowded shopping mall – a clip of this is shown during an amiable run-through of Can’t Stop This Thing We Started – and be recognised by only a dozen people. But if the 59-year-old Canadian is ostensibly an average Joe who can’t stop this unglamorous thing he started, he has also produced enough stone-cold hooks to deflect the argument that he’s just a garage rocker who got very lucky.
Take, say, (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, chucked in without ceremony halfway through the 28-song set: it might have been a source of white-hot irritation in 1991 as it clocked up 16 lumbering weeks at No 1, but stately rock ballads are a rarity in 2019, and tonight, freed of its bad old associations, it’s nothing less than majestic. The full house of veteran fans sings the first verse of Summer of ’69 as Adams stands and listens, perhaps marvelling at the way the undeniable melody line is elevated to a near-Springsteenian moment of communality. Then there’s a powerful blast through the minor-chord adultery rocker Run to You, accompanied by a monochrome video of stockinged female legs hurrying down a city street (there are quite a few Helmut Newtonesque clips tonight, which is only odd if you don’t know that Adams has a second career as a rather arty photographer). I’m a bit breathless after that one.
Enough such moments punctuate the show – even his new album’s title track, the Ed Sheeran co-write Shine a Light, is grabby despite its unfamiliarity – to suggest that, on stage, Adams is more than the sum of his parts. Despite his sharp black suit and slicked-back hair, he’s good old Bryan from the block – until he pits his raspy sincerity against a massive hook and produces classic-rock gold.
• At FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield, on Friday. Then touring.
