Hyderabad swoons to Bryan Adams

On a busy Thursday night, the Hyderabadis congregated at Hitex Exhibition Centre to witness legendary singer Bryan Adams.

Adams returned to India after close to a decade and treated the eclectic audience in Hyderabad to The Ultimate Bryan Adams India Tour by ENIL and Mirchi Live. Visually stunning, with top-shelf sound and monochrome lighting, the venue filled to the brim, exuding an air of class, felt much bigger and boisterous than normal.

Kicking off the show, Adams launched into ‘‘Ultimate Love’’, which seamlessly segued into the one-two punch of ‘‘Can’t Stop This Thing We Started’’. It was clear that the night was only going to get better as Reckless tour de force, ‘‘Run To You’’ followed; the crowd were firmly revved up.

‘‘Go Down Rockin’’ continued the brisk start before evergreen power ballad ‘‘Heaven’’, in his throaty and characteristic raspy vocals, slowed the pace for a communal singalong. The whole crowd sang the first verse in unison, accompanied by only a piano. ‘This Time’ and a Tina Turner-less ‘It’s Only Love’ continued to show off Adams' stellar vein of songs. Adams and his long-time guitarist and friend Keith Scott sauntered over from their corners and met at centre stage to bounce their riffs off one another.

Crowd-pleasing is clearly something Bryan Adams is well versed in. With the audience in his back pocket, the 58-year-old kept plugging quarters into his jukebox of Can-rock favourites, producing everything from his early, planet-dominating hits to his late, career power ballads. ‘‘Cloud Number 9’’, ‘‘When You’re Gone’’, a rollicking, rockabilly-textured interpretation of ‘‘You Belong To Me’’, ‘‘Here I Am’’ and gloriously anthemic ‘‘Summer Of ’69’’ sung by every man, woman and teenager in attendance only served notice that the guy was just getting warmed up. ‘‘Cuts Like A Knife’’, ‘‘Please Stay’’, ‘‘It’s Only Love’’, each song showcased the comradery of the on-stage musicians and the nostalgic overload it triggered in the attendees.

“India it is great to be back again. How are we all doing?” Adams bellowed out to the appreciative throng who gave the timeless rocker the warmest of receptions. “I have all kinds of songs for you tonight, old ones, a few new ones, I’m not sure I can fit them all in. Tell you what, I’m going to play all the ones I can remember!”

Record-breaking über hit, ‘‘Everything I Do I Do It For You’’ took its compulsory position in the middle of the show, and early 80s’ hits ‘‘Back To You’’ and ‘‘Somebody’’ provided more evidence of the polished performers’ ability to craft hits with huge choruses.

During the whole concert, Adams showed his prowess at delivering music that just makes you feel virtuous and delivered a massive amount of unwavering positivity and love; mutual, unrequited and unadulterated. The aficionados swooned and swayed one last time before heading for the exits all smiles, filled not so much with nostalgia, but memories too good to ignore.