Bryan Adams rocks the ‘Plex

By Nicole Larson

March 10, 1998 Soundscape | Over The Edge Page 7
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The hum of voices filled the
air just like every pre-perfor-
mance, but this time there was
a different quality. The voices
‘ranged from the excited buzz of
9 year olds attending their first
concert to women in their 50’s
who wondered when _ they
should put in their ear plugs.
Bryan Adams is a performer for
all ages, and his concert at the
Prince George Multiplex proved
it.

There was no opening band,
but it was obvious that the
crowd did not need warming up.
By the time Adams had played
the first three bars of “The only
thing that Looks good on Me,”
his opening song, the space
between the stage and the first
row of seats was filled with fans
and the aisles leading to the
stage were full. At some con-
certs this would have caused
confusion, and injury but for this
one there was great deal of
courtesy shown. The audience
was ready for this performance,
and even though they were not
overly vocal at the beginning,
by the time the band launched
into “18 ‘til | die” the Multiplex
was roaring and every audi-

ence member was on their feet
and dancing.

Kudos must go out to Adams’
band members especially Keith
Scott, his guitarist. Scott is a
performer who enjoys what he
does and his pleasure shines
through to anyone watching
him. The other members of the
band Dave Taylor (bass),
Mickey Curry (drums), Tommy
Mandell (piano and keyboard),
and Danny Cummings (percus-
sion) put a polish on every song
played. Danny Spillane (Irish
whistle), the other performer
featured at this concert added
an international flavor to the
evening. Spillane, whose past
credits include performances

‘with Riverdance, was the per-

fect guest musician. The preci-
sion and musical cohesion of
this group expresses their
musical maturity.

For this concert the seating
capacity was greatly increased.
This increase in audience size
meant that there was more
audience to please, but with a
great deal of crowd participa-
tion Adams pulled it off. Before
the song “Hey, Elvis,” Adams
announced that Elvis had been

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spotted in the building, and
sure enough a dark haired man
in a sequined jumpsuit was
found by a spotlight. Later the
show became even more inter-
active when Adams appealed to
the crowd for musical volun-
teers and pulled a guitarist,
bass player, drummer, pianist,
vocalist and three tambourine
players onto the stage. The
new “band” proceeded to play
“Summer of ‘69,” in a new and
disjointed style, which while not
really musically correct was
greeted with enthusiasm from
the crowd while they sang
along. ;
The musical content of the
concert was varied between
older, recognizable pieces,
older pieces specifically
remixed for the tour, featuring
the instrumental talents of Davy
Spillane and newer, pieces
which were featured specifically
on this tour. Bryan Adams is the

-type of musician who fits every-

one’s tastes, he isn’t too hard,
too soft, too out there or too
much. Adams saved the best
for last, not playing “Summer of
‘69” until the second encore
was enthusiastically requested

Adams lays down a na
(in his nasty pants)
Byans Adams cranks up the crowd with a solo in his
opening song “The only thing that looks good on me is
you”. Photo by Kevin Milos

from the audience. It is difficult
to stay away from the clichés
when explaining how the crowd
responded to every aspect of
this concert, let’s just say if it
had of been held at UNBC, the
university, hill and all, would
have slid into the city.

mat

sty solo

The final verdict? The concert
was thoroughly enjoyable, and
everyone came out of the con-
cert with a smile on their face
as their expectations were
more than met. Bryan Adams is
a performer for all ages, and
the ages all loved him.

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