13 NOVEMBER 19, 2003 A Night to Remember Bryan Adams plays for fire relief By Maggie Gilbert standing, jumping and dancing. The Snow began: to fall Monday night, as 6000 people bottlenecked their way into the Multiplex. About 80% of the crowd was over the age of forty, and those that were under were few and far between. What was the big event? What drew these thousands of middle-aged people from their warm beds at 7pm Monday night? Bryan Adams came to town, and brought with him a little opening act named Colin James. The affair was a benefit concert for vic- tims of the BC forest fire incidents of this summer. Ten dollars from every ticket went towards various charities that were assisting people that had lost their homes and belongings due to the harsh and terrifying forest fires. The concert opened with a very touching (if commer- cialist) video clip of the fires, the people that were affected and the fire fighters doing their job. I think it was very effec- tive in making the concertgoers feel like they were doing something to help the affected people of BC. Following the video the concert began with Colin James. It was his first concert on the Bryan Adams tour, and it showed a little. Any good performer can per- form under any amount of unprepared- ness and Colin James did just that. His stage setup was not very elaborate (although neither was Mr. Adams) and it appeared that they just somewhat threw the band on stage and hoped for the best. The spotlights were very distracting for the first few songs as they tried to adjust them to focus appropriately on James. Despite these technical difficulties, ‘With every song he played the crowed went wilder. Every song was a hit and every person knew the words.” Colin James, and band, played very well. The five members were (whether on pur- pose or not) placed tightly together on stage, and they looked very. connected. They played about seven or eight songs and an encore. Both James and his lead guitarist had fun travelling across the stage, including onto the large corner speakers, and the base player seemed to like bouncing. Colin James was very engaging to the audience with some playful banter between songs that usual- ly included information about his records. The audience responded well to this opening act. After the first few songs there were some people on the floor middle-aged audience surrounding me seemed to enjoy it entirely. At one point James dedicated asong to the firefighters of this summer. He expressed himself in facial expressions as much as words and OTE’s photographer for the concert, Becky Booth, suggested, “He looks like he’s giving birth when he plays guitar.” And it was almost like he was, as he seemed to have a new guitar for every song! Overall the opening was a success. Then tension filled the room as every- one waited with baited breath for the amazing Bryan Adams. I’m sure those under 30 were just there for a good con- cert but you could tell that those older were waiting for more. They were wait- ing for the opportunity to relive their younger years. Bryan Adams has been performing for over twenty years and you know. that there were people in that audience who saw him twenty years ago! And he appeared. And the crowd went wild. This time the lighting was perfect, with colourful displays of lights in crazy patterns on the screen behind him and amongst the band and the audience. They had some added effects of smoke machines and putting the huge video screens to work. The concert spanned, not just the stage but also the screens as well, with close-ups of all the members. Adams and band came out in matching blue jeans and gray t-shirts and they looked as. good as they sounded. Fora bunch of middle-aged men, they sure could rock out! What can I say about Bryan Adams set? With every song he played the crowed went wilder. Every song was a hit and every person knew the words. There wasn’t very much talking out of Mr. Adams for the first few songs, just the very accurate starts and ends of songs that are decades old. The band (expectedly) was very good at what they do - they have been doing it for a while. The band members include Gary Bright on keyboard, Mickey Currie on drums, Norm Fisher on base, and Keith Scott on lead guitar. All are incredibly talented musicians but Scott seemed to be amazing on guitar. He held the audi- ences attention as much as Adams did and did at least as many laps of the stage. The group really seemed to know each other, and they should; they've known each other so long! At about song five (Night to Remember) Bryan began some cheerful banter with the extremely excited audi- ence making comments such as, “Seems like we’re coming here on a regular basis now.” And most provocatively, “Is it true that up here in Prince George there is four women to every guy?” He also made some solemn comments about the firefighters of this summer. Bryan hit his most popular moment with the audience when about halfway through the set he invited a girl named Molly from Quesnel onstage to sing ‘Baby When You're Gone’ with him. Although Molly’s singing talent left much to be desired she milked that per- formance for all it was worth and put on quite the little show with Bryan Adams. The show was definitely a success. | know due to the oldish man beside me singing all the words to all the songs, (not all that well.) Also from the heavy smell of pot that drifted towards me from up above; a few members of the crowd reliving their younger days per- haps? The screaming, singing, jumping, lighter-waving audience members on the floor are also a sign of good enter- tainment. The fact that the crowd screamed for all of his four encore songs shows how much everybody wanted it to just keep going. What more can I say? It was Bryan Adams and everyone reliv- ed old times.