Bryan Adams performs at Chase Center in San Francisco on July 30, 2023. Jane Hu/STAFF.
SAN JOSE — Wednesday evening’s sold-out Bryan Adams and Pat Benatar double bill at SAP Center showed why there is still a place for old-school rock and roll. Legends of the airwaves in the 1980s, these two acts delivered hit after hit, lots of showmanship and a couple of novel new concert wrinkles that left the audience hoarse from singalongs.
There was definitely an older vibe to the evening. Many in the audience were alive during the summer of 1969. They came wanting the hits and Adams delivered the goods. His two-hour, 26-song set spanned the breadth of his four-decade career, including two songs off his latest album, Roll with the Punches, released earlier this year.
It was an interesting opening to the show. When the lights came up on the main stage, Adams was nowhere to be seen. Then a spotlight shined on a small stage in the back of the main floor and there he stood, acoustic guitar in hand, immediately launching into “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started,” before going straight into timeless classic “Straight From the Heart.”
Advancing to the main stage down one of the aisles, high-fiving concertgoers along the way, he already had the crowd massively behind him. Joining his Canadian backing band, Adams turned up the fire further with the rocking “Kiss Ass,” from 2023 album So Happy It Hurts, followed by two songs off the multi-platinum Reckless, “Run To You” and “Somebody.” Whether singing or storytelling, Adams’ voice was as clear and strong as ever.
Singing along was encouraged and Adams even the lyrics to several of the songs posted on the video screen in case anyone’s memories had faded. During “Roll With The Punches,” a giant boxing-glove-shaped balloon floated overhead. During “You Belong To Me,” Adams encouraged the crowd to get up and dance while a roving videographer displayed their best moves on the giant screen.
Entering the arena, attendees received wristbands that flashed and pulsed with various colors during the show, synced to the music, transforming the room into an ever-changing kaleidoscope of choreographed color.
The last leg of the set began with his enduring 1984 hit, “Summer of ‘69” (Reviewer’s confession: It was truly the “best summer of my life;” the last year in college before getting drafted.) After closing with “Cuts Like A Knife,” Adams retired to the B-stage once again for an acoustic rendition of “All For Love” to close a well-received evening.
Adams’ Canadian band offered outstanding support, led by the exceptional drumming of Pat Steward, keyboardist Gary Breits (especially on “Her I Am”) and guitarist Keith Scott. Scott’s extended solo on “It’s Only Love,” an Adams duet with Tina Turner, was especially noteworthy.
“She was really good to me,” Adams said of Turner. “She took me on tour when I was 24. We sang together every night. I’m gonna do my part and Tina’s part, so please be kind, I ain’t no Tina Turner.”
Like the shows of the 1980s, Adams’ set was simple, authentic and all about the music. He involved the crowd with singalongs, and he told many funny and sometimes poignant stories. He clearly still enjoys what he’s doing and he delivers the music with heart, energy and youthful spark.
Pat Benatar was a great act on her own. Along with long-time husband, guitarist and songwriter Neil Geraldo, the band raced through an hourlong 11-song set that featured all of the well-known hits and even introduced a new song, “Come On People.” For the latter, Benatar noted that current times are a “mess” and encouraged the need for togetherness and unity.
She started off with the hard-rocking “All Fired Up,” which featured the first of many scalding Giraldo guitar riffs and built momentum from that point on. As with Adams, the crowd came for the hits, and Benatar didn’t disappoint. After “Promises In The Dark,” the first song she and Giraldo penned together, she covered “We Belong,” “Hell Is For Children,” “You Better Run” and “Love Is A Battlefield.” The band closed with its first top-40 hit, “Heartbreaker.”
Benatar at 72 still has a strong and powerful voice, although she shied away from some of the high notes on “Love Is a Battlefield” and “We Belong,” Nevertheless, she and Giraldo were a powerful an appropriate opening act for Adams.
About The Author
At 77, Jerry Neece is actually older than rock and roll itself. He reviewed his first show, Jackie DeShannon and Dick and Dee Dee, in November 1963, which he wrote on an Olympia manual typewriter, and has attended over 800 performances worldwide since. Now happily retired after a career in tech and academia, Jerry’s reviews and columns, as one of two members of The Lizard King, have appeared in several Northern California newspapers. He was one of the first rock writers to publish online with Compuserve’s RockNet before the advent of PCs. With what hearing he has left, he continues to review the acts he grew up with, at least those that are still alive, proving he’s not “too old to rock and roll but too young to die.”
At 77, Jerry Neece is actually older than rock and roll itself. He reviewed his first show, Jackie DeShannon and Dick and Dee Dee, in November 1963, which he wrote on an Olympia manual typewriter, and has attended over 800 performances worldwide since. Now happily retired after a career in tech and academia, Jerry’s reviews and columns, as one of two members of The Lizard King, have appeared in several Northern California newspapers. He was one of the first rock writers to publish online with Compuserve’s RockNet before the advent of PCs. With what hearing he has left, he continues to review the acts he grew up with, at least those that are still alive, proving he’s not “too old to rock and roll but too young to die.”