Many happy returns for Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams / So Happy It Hurts Tour / Victoria, B.C. / Sept. 9, 2023

It's a full house at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, on a gorgeous September evening. The sun is setting outside while the crowd is beaming like the headlights on the inflatable car that has begun a lap around the arena. The inflatable convertible powered by drones sails around the arena with "Bryan Adams" and "So Happy It Hurts" scrawled on the doors. A flying car! Perfect start for this Saturday night to welcome Adams "home" to the westcoast.

We haven't seen Bryan Adams since June 2018, and the Victoria audience welcomed him back like an old friend you haven't seen since before the pandemic. Adams appeared right at home, and after a few songs, announced to the crowd that he was going to be there for a long night with lots of music to share.

Kick Ass, the third track on Adam's new album, So Happy It Hurts, opened the show with a theatrical video featuring John Cleese's voice and that car, which reminded me of the Harry Potter flying car...but cooler. Adams brought out an audience that was literally from 8 - 80, with his rocking hits, well-crafted ballads and soundtrack memories that appeal to fans around the world. Except they are 100% Canadian anthems to us, and have been in our ears since we were born -- ahem, you can take a bow for that in part, Canadian radio.

Overall, the show had a fun, easy going energy, aptly fitting the album title and tour's name, "So Happy It Hurts" -- which I don't expect is an accident. While we think of him as our "hometown" guy, Bryan Adams is an internationally successful powerhouse of an artist, with a Guinness Book of World Record for having the longest running single in British history (Everything I Do), a Grammy award, an Order of Canada, a bookcase full of Juno Awards and about a thousand other accomplishments. But perhaps this stop on the tour was a little extra "happy" based on the fact that Victoria loves a solid Canadian rock artist, who is also a westcoaster that feels like a long-lost friend.

There was a powerful moment with Bryan remembering Tina Turner, and played It's Only Love. You couldn't help but feel the powerful voice and energy of Tina in that room, just 5 months after we lost the Queen of Rock and Roll.

Some other noteworthy tracks, my 12 year old self got all mushy when the first notes of Heaven kicked in, and I suspect I was not alone. The room was silent and engrossed in Here I am, a song from the 2002 soundtrack of the animated film, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron which won him a Golden Globe among other awards. There were also a number of crowd singalongs that Adams was locked in tight with the crowd on, that made hearts swell.

Bryan Adams' So Happy It Hurts tour continues through medium sized venues across British Columbia and Alberta, before heading to Dubai like the international rock star he is.