Live Review: Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams isn't much for over-the-top fanfare, the Canadian singer-songwriter doing away your classic rockstar intro and instead running onto stage side-by-side with his bands to verbally count in Ultimate Love.

Without amps and excessive cabling occupying the stage - only a piano, drum kit and mic stands - and simple yet effective lighting, it was Adams' uplifting stage presence doing all the heavy lifting early on.

Thrusting the pickup switch on his guitar up and down, he found the groove of Can't Stop This Thing We Started, his band quickly catching up as the audience shouted its chorus back at the vocalist who didn't relent for a second.

The guitar-driven rock radiating from the stage was massive and Adams was offering up his trademark husky vocal tone with perfect precision, a sound that had punters literally drifting towards the stage as Run To You reached its hypnotic harmonised guitar bridge.

Having recently performed in New Zealand, Adams dedicated the title song from his latest album, Shine A Light, to those affected by the Christchurch tragedy, and while not everyone knew its lyrics, thousands raised their phone lights in support, marking an emotional high point that paved the way for early hit Heaven.

The juxtaposition between Adams' lush and gritty vocals in Please Stay was mesmerising, transporting fans to Cloud Number 9 before an unexpectedly early Summer Of '69 made an appearance, executed and received like the final song of the evening.

He may have unleashed the most iconic hit in his arsenal, but Adams was only getting started, grabbing his acoustic for intimate crowd favourites Here I Am, When You're Gone and (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, the delicate keystrokes from pianist Gary Breit elevating the vocalist’s raw melodies.

"This song was originally for a film. The film company didn't like it... fuck 'em," Adams quipped, introducing another acoustic ballad, I'll Always Be Right There.

It was back to the rock show, The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You bringing punters to their feet again, while Cuts Like A Knife and 18 Til I Die - with their ebbs and flows, synth, big melodies, tight drum fills and singalongs - were peak Bryan Adams.

"Let's make a night, to remember, all life long," Adams declared during the crowd request section, rolling through Remember and Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman? ("This is a song from a movie, too - they liked this one").

Love song Please Forgive Me marked another emotional high point and Brand New Day brought things to an uplifting encore that featured I Could Get Used To This, The Crickets' I Fought The Law, and, with Adams in solo troubadour mode and equipped with a harmonica, Irish folk song Whiskey In The Jar and All For Love.