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The Songs:

The Recording:

Click HERE for a sample of the London '08 show.

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The Songs:

The Recording:

Click HERE for a sample of the Cardiff '08 show.

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The Songs:

The Recording:

Click HERE for a sample of the Milan '08 show.

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The Songs:

The Recording:

Click HERE for a sample of the Hamburg '08 show.

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The Songs:

The Recording:

Click HERE for a sample of the Berlin '08 show.

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The Songs:

The Recording:

Click HERE for a sample of the Bamburg '08 show.

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The Songs:

The Recording:

Click HERE for a sample of the Munich '08 show.

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The acoustic show keep evolving and this one is no excpetion. Since the band was in town along with BA, Keith Scott joins Bryan on stage for a number of songs which allows the show to include songs that wouldn't otherwise work with only one guitar.

Since new songs are performed, some new stories come out of it such as the time they needed a flamenco guitar player while recording in Jamaica. BA also adds the story about getting the song It's Only Love to Tina Turner thanks to a little persistence. He sings in this "Tina voice" for parts of the song, too. Another audience favourite moment (Based on the recording) is when BA sings the second verse of Please Forgive Me in a country twang.

There are some new stories as well that have been added to the show which, to most fans, are almost better than the songs themselves.

The audience in Toronto has always been loyal to BA since his early days. BA tells the story of how he and Keith met in Toronto over 30 years ago. ...on Yonge Street, the same street where this venue is located. Small world, eh?.

BA Notes:
(Full diary notes at Bryanadams.com)

"...packed house, first of two nights.....tried bringing Keith into the show more. We did a few songs at the beginning a few towards the end and then back on for the encore. Good crowd, i think i chatted too much. "

The Songs:
Aside from the usual acoustic songs that we are used to seeing during these shows, there are a number of treats at this one thanks to getting Keith involved more. Keith uses his slide guitar which injects a real blues feel to She's Got a Way. BA even sings a few lines from "Get it On Bang-a-gong" into the second verse. Very cool version of the song Toronto got to hear.

I'm Ready and Into the Fire are also performed with Keith whose guitar works really helps bring these songs to a new level in the acoustic show. 18 Til I Die is called as an audible with Keith getting called back unexpectedly to the stage. Hearing the songs performed with Keith gave me an idea of what it would be like hanging out on the tour bus with the guys hearing them rehearse the re-worked version of the songs.

Please Forgive Me is played now in the main set as it had been a regular in the encore slot for most solo shows up to this point.

Four songs from the 11 CD are performed which is lower than what it was earlier in the acoustic gigs. Oxygen is one of the new songs missing from the set this night in Toronto.

The bonus tracks are from an excellent recording of the Sacramento full band tour stop in 2005. Unfortunately, the full show was never recorded but two songs were which sound incredible. They have been sitting on my harddrive for three years so it's time that others get a chance to hear them. The start of '69 is cut.

The Recording:
A very solid recording with excellent pickup of vocals/guitar and no direct audience interference (singing along, clapping loudly or talking from the area of the recorder). The stories worthy of their own track have been created as such making it easier to listen to your favourite story over again.

Click HERE for a sample of the Toronto '08 show.

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Clearly, BA has solid following in the Cleveland area, and maybe 3000 of the 15,000 fans that filled the outdoor amphitheater are there to see BA rather than Rod. BA uses that to his advantage for the sing-a-long of Summer of '69, Cuts Like a Knife and The Only Thing...

Honestly, nothing changed about the way went out and performed for these shows as an opener rather than a headliner. He sang strong, the band powers everything along and just by natural force, the audience gets more into it with each song. By the time the band leaves the stage, a standing ovation is what they are taking their bows to.

The Songs:
The beginning of the Cleveland set strayed off the typical start that BA stuck with for the most part of the tour. Hearts on Fire is a nice opener and has returned to the set after almost two years off. She's Only Happy When She's Dancin' replaces the usual Can't Stop This Thing We Started and the third slot of There's Gonna Be Some Rockin' steps in for This Time. My guess is that BA wanted to keep the band sharp on some of the songs they will be relying on when the full band shows kick back again in a month in Europe.

She's Got a Way sounds great live and is the only song from 11 that was performed at all US shows during the summer.

All For Love is the obvious bridge between BA and Rod's shows and is the song BA returns to the stage to close out his set.

The Recording:
Since none of the US shows this summer have surfaced, I'm happy to have at least one, even though the quality is not as strong as I wished. There is no audience interference, but the recoring seems "far away" from the action on stage, although the recorder was

Click HERE for a sample of the Cleveland '08 show.

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This night in Wilmington is after only two shows with the band and the first of the summertime acoustic shows that continue to entertain fans in a way a large venue gig can't come close to. BA's storytelling continues to bring a comedic outlook onto his music and brings the fans on the inside for some great moments. Reports from this show indicate that BA was very talkative and in a great mood all night. You can tell he is getting as much out of these shows as the fans are.

The venue is the The Grand Opera House which leant itself well to the format of the show. Keith Scott comes up on stage at the end of the show for two songs.

BA Notes:
(Full diary notes at Bryanadams.com)

"The Grand Opera House they call this place, and she is kinda grand. I loved the acoustics of the room, it sounded great in there and the audience were fantastic. It's interesting doing these shows, I feel like I'm getting to know the songs in a new way, it's different than what I do with the band.

The Songs:
BA continues to tinker with the acoustic sets by dropping Something to Believe (which I've included as a bonus track from another show) to make way for the live acoustic debut of She's Got a Way which was performed live for the first time with the band just five days prior to this show. Straight From the Heart moves up from the encores so BA and Keith can perform the often-requested, but rarely played (since BA needs Keith's work on the spanish guitar) Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman. Keith sticks around to perform a cover of I'm So Glad, a old Skip James song. While the audience doesn't know the song, it's clear it's probably a "bus song" that BA and Keith has jammed on during the road trips from town to town.

The Recording:
Great sounding recording, with wonderful balance and no direct audience interference. The best of the acoustic shows so far. Here's hoping more like this become available.

Click HERE for a sample of the Wilmington '08 show.

Photo credits to www.18tilidie.co.uk

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The Songs:
Although this is a shorter set than usual, BA gives the set list a little shake up. Most noticeably, She's Got a Way gets its first live performance and it's a faster and rockier arrangement than what is on the CD. Also, to close the show, BA brings back a full band I'm Ready for the first time since 1997 before the Unplugged CD came out. Talk about a long-lost live gem of a song. Thought I'd Seen Everything is moved deeper into the main set to make room for She's Got a Way and Straight From the Heart takes the place of...Everything I Do??? Yes, that's right. For the first show in about 18 years, BA does NOT perform his most popular ballad. While some fans might miss it, it's about time the song got a break from the live set. Here's hoping that this is just the beginning of the set-tinkering.

The Recording:
It's from a radio broadcast so the quality is clear, but it's not perfect as a show such as London '96 has become. I've edited out the excessive voice work between a number of songs by the hosting radio station. Also added some fade in/outs to make for a cleaner listening experience. For some reason, from the bridge of 18 Til I Die, BA's microphone falls way back in the mix for the broadcast and is not easily audible. It returns for the next song.

Click HERE for a sample of the Igolstadt '08 show.

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Photo credits to www.18tilidie.co.uk

Brought back to the set for some of this gig includes This Time, Kids Wanna Rock and It's Only Love (fully electric). Seven Nights to Rock, Tush (a ZZ Top cover) and There's Gonna Be Some Rockin' make it three cover songs for this one show. Tush was not on the set list, but an audible by BA to the band. They nailed it.

Added to the back of the show are three songs from the Hillerod, Denmark gig on June 2nd including Hey Bo Diddley, which was performed as a tribute to the guitar legend who passed away earlier in the day.

The Recording:
Two shows were recorded in Scandinavia and this was the stronger of the two. A little bassy, but still enjoyable to listen to. Nobody is singing into the recording device which is my #1 pet peeve. If you have the Santiago, Chile '08 show, you know what I'm talking about. This one is better.

Click HERE for a sample of the Odense '08 show.

Set List: Tonight We Have The Stars Back To You Here I Am I Thought I'd Seen Everything Let's Make A Night To Remember Can't Stop This Thing We Started When You Love Someone Heat Of The Night It's Only Love Something To Believe In Cuts Like A Knife Oxygen Summer Of '69 Walk On By Lonely Nights Heaven Remember Hey Elvis Run To You ---- Somebody Please Forgive Me This Time ---- Straight From The Heart All For Love

Stage of the Southern Theatre.

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Photo credits to Stefano and www.18tilidie.co.uk

One of the highlights of this tour was BA's stories when introducing songs. His sense of humor and ability to personalize the performance with the audiences was something you will never see at larger venues.

As an attendee of this show (my only acoustic show I saw), I must say that of the 20+ times I've seen BA live, this ranks right up there with my favourite shows.

BA Notes:
(Full diary notes at Bryanadams.com)

"the Southern Theatre was like playing in a cake, it's a marvel from the last century. ...tonight's show was almost two hours long...and it went by fast.

The Songs:
The set lists of these special acoustic performances were very different than anything he's performed with the band in years. As the tour continued, BA experimented with songs and the set list expanded from 19 to up to 24 as the tour continued. This show was the first to reach 24 songs and was one of the longest of the tour.

All songs were just BA and an acoustic guitar and his voice has never sounded better. Songs that have been rarely (if ever) performed with the band in the last decade or longer made occasional or nightly appearances during this run of shows. Songs such as Heat of the Night, Remember, Hey Elvis, Here I Am and When You Love Someone were some of the highlights during this night in Columbus as well as other stops along the road.

On top of the songs you would expect to hear at a BA show, he was on stage to support the 11 release in the US and the set list typically included five of the new songs, including Tonight We Have the Stars which opened all shows. Five songs from the new album were typical each night. Only Mysterious Ways was cut from the US sets after being a fairly standard song during the European run of shows.

The Recording:
Thankfully, the theater setting for this show was perfect for an audience that quietly enjoyed the music instead of singing along and ruining the experience. The recording is clear with no audience interference as can be common at a full-band show.

The softer songs (When You Love Someone, Walk On By) sound great. When BA sings harder, there is some high-end distortion which brought the quality to a B+ instead of something better.

Click HERE for a sample of the Columbus '08 show.

Set List: Tonight We Have The Stars Back To You Here I Am I Thought I'd Seen Everything Can't Stop This Thing We Started When You Love Someone Heat Of The Night Something To Believe In Cuts Like A Knife Let's Make A Night To Remember Oxygen Summer Of '69 Walk On By When You're Gone It's Only Love When the Night Comes The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Run To You ---- Somebody Please Forgive Me This Time Straight From The Heart --------------------------- BONUS TRACKS: Lonely Nights (From New York City, May 3, 2008) Remember (From Minneapolis, May 16, 2008)

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Photo credits to Donald Pealer and www.bryanadams.com

With eight shows under his belt and eight more to go, BA has hit some gems and some dumps along this tour. As a result, this night in DC measures up as one of the best sounding of the tour, which always leads to a prime performance.

Not only do the songs evolve over the course of the tour, but the storytelling does even more. Included in this gig are the stories I'm titling "Sandra Bullock" and "Rental House" as well as a few others.

BA Notes: (Full diary notes at Bryanadams.com) "I played at a synagog here, and the sound was fantastic tonight. Perfect gig for me." The Songs: While the set list evolves with each show, BA sticks with what's been working for him, but adds a few songs as When You're Gone is tried out for the first time in well over ten years without a female partner. It's the first and only performance of that song on the US leg of the tour. It's Only Love is played by request, even though BA lays down a disclaimer that without Tina Turner and Keith Scott on stage, he can't promise anything great. Consequently, the song returns a few more times in the set before the US run of acoustic shows end.

The Recording:
Very similar to the NYC gig from a week prior. Steady balance of guitar/vocals all night and no sing-a-longs next to the recording device.

Click HERE for a sample of the Washington '08 show.

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Photo credits to Donald Pealer and www.bryanadams.com

The venues varied from small theaters, clubs, dive bars and even a synagogue. With the variation of venues, the audiences sometimes stood (in bars and clubs where there was no seating) and some sat (mostly at the theater shows). The more rowdy shows were at the bars/clubs where the audience behaved and sang along loudly as if they were at a full band show.

Some of BA's most memorable took place in NYC and this one is no exception according to be himself. This venue is the Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. It holds only 800 fans so it was a tough ticket for this show given BA's still-strong fan base in NYC.

One of the great aspects of the acoustic format is BA telling more stories before songs. He's developing his material at this stage of the tour so what you heard this night was developed over the course of the next two weeks of shows. Tonight is the first time he speaks about the "Capo at Security" which he told at most US shows to great reception.

BA Notes: (Full diary notes at Bryanadams.com) "i don't think i've ever played a more beautiful hall. the sound at the soundcheck was spectacular...the show beat last night by 30 mins. so tonight was the longest acoustic set.... ....this show could have been one of the best shows i've done...ever. ....somehow all the ducks fell into place. "

The Songs:
Being the second of 16 shows on the tour, BA makes many adjustments to the set list and adds signficant time to the performance compared to the night before in Philadelphia. New songs performed for the first time on the US tour include: When The Night Comes, This Time, Lonely Nights and Somebody which kicked off the encores.

The Recording:
A steady performance that has been edited, tracked and produced to be enhanced from the original master recorded from the first few rows of the venue.

Click HERE for a sample of the NYC '08 show.

Set List: Tonight We Have The Stars Back To You I Thought I'd Seen Everything Can't Stop This Thing We Started Something To Believe In Cuts Like A Knife Oxygen Summer Of '69 Walk On By Heaven Run To You Please Forgive Me The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You

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Photo credits to Lheena and www.18tilidie.co.uk

This stop in Hamburg was the fourth one of the tour. Although the first show of this run of shows lasted 11 songs, it wasn't long before BA expanded the sets. This show in Hamburg, Germany took place at the St. Pauli theater which was packed for the show. That's not surprising given BA's popularity in Germany and the fact that this was the only acoustic stop on the tour and it took place in a small theater.

BA kept a running diary of his acoustic tour on his official website of bryanadams.com, and he described the Hamburg venue as a "beautiful theatre" and the show an "incredible night".

One of the benefits of this tour was the amount of talking BA did between the songs. From telling the audiences about his guitar capo, the different types of venues or the intros to the songs. All reviews of the tour were very positive and unique who were lucky enough to get their hands on tickets.

BA Notes:
(Full diary notes at Bryanadams.com)

"this was an incredible night. the most beautiful theatre, packed to the rafters. i played "something to believe in" for the first time ever.

The Songs:
13 songs in total were performed acoustically in Hamburg which was the longest of the first four shows. The five new songs (Tonight We Have the Stars, Thought I'd Seen Everything, Something To Believe In, Oxygen and Walk On By) performed live at this show alternated with older ones until BA settled into four straight classics that took the shows to its finish.

It was the first-ever live performance of Something To Believe In.

The Recording:
Very nice recording which good balance of guitar/vocals and audience. No major audience interference right by the recording mic which is always a plus. There are moments when BA is performing the audience is dead-quiet and you can get a sense of the appreciation they have of this special show.

As of now, this is only full recording to come out of a Europe show and we are lucky that the sound quality is this good and that it captured one of the better gigs during the run of shows.

Click HERE for a sample of the Hamburg '08 show

Set List: One Night Love Affair Somebody Can't Stop This Thing We Started Thought I'd Seen Everything 18 Til I Die Llet's Make a Night to Remember Back to You Summer of '69 Everything I Do... Cuts Like a Knife This Time When You're Gone It's Only Love Heaven The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Run To You There's Gonna Be Some Rockin' Seven Nights to Rock Bonus Track from Soundcheck: American Idiot

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Photo credits to Mary Mullen and bryanadams.com

Similar to the 1987 Into the Fire stage appearance, BA is now decked out in a black long sleeve collared shirt and gone are the black t shirts that have filled up his wardrobe locker for the past four years.

The Songs: Great live recordings of the new song Thought I'd Seen Everything performed for the first time live just a few nights before. This Time makes its first appearance in the US in a few years. Instead of finsihing w/ the acoustic suite as has been the case for the past four years, BA rocks out w/ the a few covers. A subtle change in the set list is the return of a second verse to Can't Stop... as well as One Night Love Affair (this happened in '07, but it was one of the second verse casualties over the last few years). Somebody and Let's Make a Night... are still performed with the second verse omitted.

The Recording:
This is a gem of a soundboard recording which will go down as one of the best recordings ever.

Click HERE for a sample of the Oroville '08 show.

Set List: There Will Never Be Another Tonight Can't Stop This Thing We Started Somebody Kids Wanna Rock Open Road 18 Til I Die Let's Make A Night To Remember Back To You Summer Of '69 Everything I Do... Cuts Like A Knife When You're Gone It's Only Love Heaven The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Run To You Straight From The Heart All For Love

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Photo credits to Teresa, Alicja and www.18tilidie.co.uk

The Show: Starting in early August, the boys took ten days out of their schedules to cover the northeast portion of the US playing outdoor venues with George Thorogood (the guy who sings "Move It On Over", "One Bouron, One Scotch, One Beer" and of course..."Bad to the Bone"). As BA sarcastically told the crowd, this is the "gigantic" US tour. Both acts need each other to fill seats at the venues which typically hold between 5,000-10,000 fans. The typical Thorogood fan is a middle-aged male in his 40's or 50's who likely rode his harley to the gig....not the typical Adams fan who has picked up more long-term female fans over the years than men. An interesting mix of folks for a summertime concert.

While both acts are entertaining for a solid two and half hour show, for Adams fans, the set lists are cut short in comparison with the monster set lists he's been putting in overseas for the past five months prior to this show. Frankly, I'd rather see BA release new material and tour theaters in the US and see a proper full show. If I'm paying $75 for a ticket, it's see BA, not an over-qualified opening act.

Perhaps showing his maturity on stage, BA asks some fans at one point from pushing up towards the front few rows as it was not respectful of those who paid for front row seats. I remember shows when Adams encouraged people to fill the aisles and come closer to the stage. Times are changing with the increases in concert tickets I suppose.

Reports from the various US shows from fans said it's a helluva good evening with two great live acts as Thorogood gets the crowds ready to rock and BA delivers with a heavy-on-the-rockers set list for his 90+ minutes on stage each night.

The Songs:
As has been the case with most US shows in recent years, the US fans get totally screwed with 18 songs in Holmdel which is nine songs short of the 27 song peformance in Luxembourg just two months before. Co-headling tour and casino shows are not the way to get a true impression of a BA show....Bryan - play some theatres in the US when you have a new project and give your fans the full live treatment.

The Bstage is cut completely from these shows, from the opening song There Will Never Be Another Tonight from the Bstage in Europe sticks around to open all the US shows.

It was three years almost to the day that BA played this same venue (he played four more songs and 15 minutes longer in 2004) and performed Open Road for the first time. That same song appears in the #5 slot in Holmdel on this night.

It's Only Love is with just BA and Keith on electrics before the band kicks in hard for midway through the song.

Still closing with acoustic songs, Straight From the Heart and All for Love end the show.

The Recording:
Recorded by same fan who recorded New Brunswick, NJ 2001, plus Holmdel '04. This one is a stronger recording than ones in the past and has a great mix on instruments with no major audience interference. You can really pick up some of Gary's nice keyboard work on this recording.

Click HERE for a sample of the Holmdel '07 show.

Set List: There Will Never Be Another Tonight Can't Stop This Thing We Started Please Forgive Me The Best Of Me Somebody This Time Kids Wanna Rock Open Road 18 Til I Die Let's Make A Night To Remember Back To You Summer Of '69 Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman? Everything I Do... Cuts Like A Knife When You're Gone It's Only Love Heaven The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Cloud Number Nine Run To You There's Gonna Be Some Rockin' Seven Nights To Rock She's Only Happy When She's Dancin' Straight From The Heart All For Love

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Photo credits to stimme.de, Tinka and www.18tilidie.co.uk

The Songs:
A nice long European-style set list for this gig featuring the Bstage to open and close. AC/DC's There's Gonna Be Some Rockin' continues to be a winning selection to kick off the festivities on the Bstage. No big surprises on this night if you were a regular customer to his shows.

The Recording:
Click HERE for a sample of the Kunzelsau '07 show.

Set List: There Will Never Be Another Tonight Can't Stop This Thing We Started Please Forgive Me The Best Of Me Somebody This Time Kids Wanna Rock Open Road 18 Til I Die Let's Make A Night To Remember Back To You I Think About You Summer Of '69 Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman? Everything I Do... Cuts Like A Knife When You're Gone It's Only Love Heaven The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Cloud Number Nine Run To You There's Gonna Be Some Rockin' Seven Nights To Rock She's Only Happy When She's Dancin' Straight From The Heart All For Love

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Photo credits to rtl.lu and www.18tilidie.co.uk

The Show: With a nine show run of shows that primarily focused on Germany, BA also visited other BA-friendly countries including Belgium and Rotterdam. Luxembourg is the smallest of the European countries and BA was performing here ten years to the week that he made his first concert appearance in Luxembourg in June '97 on the 18 Til I Die tour. BA tells the audience that when the Spring '07 dates were booked, he was supposed to have the new album finished.  Although it's not completed,  "the show must go on"

and that is what BA's been doing since March on these European/UK tour dates.   He does promise the audience that the next time he returns, he'll have a new album out.With the structure of the show consisting of the opening four numbers of the Bstage as well as the closing 5-6 songs (including the acoustic suite), the revised show format has settled in quite nicely with fans.

Although we'd all like new material to promote, this is satisfying enough BA fans for the time being as a "new" type of BA show with enough surprises even to those who have seen in multiple times over the years in this area of the world.

The Songs:
Instead of coming to stage with an acoustic guitar for the opening number of There Will Never Be Another Tonight, BA starts off with a solid strum of a power chord to get the audience electrified from the start.  

Kids Wanna Rock is brought back to the show for these June dates with the rest of the set remaining pretty standard give or take a song each evening.

Back to You, I Think About You, HYERLAW and Everything I Do.. make a nice acoustic section in the middle of the show, which is split up by the all-powerful and very loud Summer of '69.

BA has also ditched the acoustic guitar for It's Only Love which when performed in March and April was just a BA on acoustic and Keith on electric.    Ever still, without the band kicking in until the end of the song, I can't say I'm a huge fan of this arrangement and likely left some fans wondering if this was a good time to make a beer run to the concession stands.

And maybe it's just me, but I still don't get the It's Only Love-Heaven-The Only Thing...choice of songs to close off the main set.   Switch Heaven and It's Only Love and you'll have the winning combination of songs leading into the last of the set. 

The newest Bstage number is AC/DC's There's Gonna Be Some Rockin' which is a perfect song for BA and the Bstage format to start the encores.

The Recording:
This is the first time a Luxembourg show has been recorded and this may be the only one of the June '07 dates that we'll have a chance to hear. Although not as strong as the Padova recording made a few months earlier, this is enjoyable to listen to.

Click HERE for a sample of the Luxembourg '07 show.

There Will Never Be Another Tonight Can't Stop This Thing We Started Please Forgive Me The Best Of Me Somebody This Time Kids Wanna Rock Open Road 18 Til I Die Let's Make A Night to Remember Back To You I Think About You Summer Of ‘69 Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? Everything I Do... Cuts Like A Knife When You're Gone It's Only Love Heaven The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Cloud Number Nine Run To You There's Gonna Be Some Rockin' Seven Nights To Rock Leipzig I Love You She's Only Happy When She’s Dancin’ Straight From The Heart All For Love

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Photo credits to André Kempner / Leipzig: Live and www.18tilidie.co.uk

At 28 songs, this is one of the longest set of the 2007 shows in song count as well as time as the band stretched well past the standard two hours. Leipzig was part of the 2004 Room Service tour and this is BA's first visit there since November of 2004. The venue, as it was in '04, is the Leipzig arena which holds about 7,000 for concerts. With a show six more songs and 15 minutes longer than 2004, this was successful return to Leipzig.

Before closing the show with All For Love BA mentions that this tour was supposed to be in support of a new CD, but he didn't finish. He did mention that "the album is coming.....but so is Christmas. But it's okay, I only have 12 songs to finish. You see next time - I'll have a new album".

The Songs:
Most notable addition to the set just for Leipzig is Leipzig Blues which he introduces with an interlude of "Leipzig - I Love You". This is as full a set list as fans would see all year with 28 songs in the set, including the most recent additions: I Think About You, There's Gonna Be Some Rockin' and This TIme.

There's not doubt that Leipzig audiences deliver for BA and he rewards them with ad libbed blues number titled "Leipzig I Love You". The bluesy style of the song will remind fans of the Hometown Blues which was a regular part of the Bstage on the So Far So Good and 18 Til I Die tours.

The Recording:
I gave this one a "B" grade for the main stage, but a "B-" on the Bstage. This isn't a bad recording, but definitely not as strong as the Luxembourg show from just a few nights later. If you're a set list fan over sound recording, this is the better bet. If you prefer solid quality sound, you will be likely be dissapointed.

Click HERE for a sample of the Leipzig '07 show.

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Photo credits to Steam and www.18tilidie.co.uk

With two Bstage portions to the show (one to start and one in the encores), this is another huge set at 27 songs and pushing three hours. Although there is no new BA material to promote as I would have hoped by this point of 2007, the revised set list makes up for that. With BA strapping on the acoustic guitar for 11 of the 27 songs, it's clear that he is inclined to downsize the electric guitar usage recently. Although a new CD is still months away, at least the fans who have paid their money to see BA more than once in recent years get a different show than the last time he came around these parts.

The Bstage waits to see some action for the first time in five years with BA's new Gretsch six string and Mickey's new kit.

The Songs:
The Bstage at the start of the show features four songs as opposed to three from the night before, adding Can't Stop This Thing We Started as the second song of the night which results in Let's Make a Night to Remember being the first song on the full stage. Best of Me is performed by the band on the main stage but performed with BA walking through the crowd from the Bstage to join the rest of his bandmates.

BA on acoustic guitar include a revised It's Only Love (Keith's guitar licks are still part of the new arrangement), I Think About You and the opening number, There Will Never Be Another Tonight.

Unlike the times of old on the Bstage, this

After performing it live for the first time the night before in Milan, Ray Charles' I Got a Woman is captured on this solid recording as is the first ever decent recording of KC and the Sunshine Band's party favourite: Get Down Tonight.

The Recording:
Very good recording from the Padova show is the best that I've heard so far in 2007. Recordings from Milan, Italy are well known to collectors, but this marks the first solid recording from a show in Italy that did not take place in Milan.

Click HERE for a sample of the Padova '07 show.

Set List: BA Set: Room Service (re-arranged) Somebody Open Road 18 Til I Die Let's Make a Night to Remember Can't Stop This Thing We Started Back to You I Think About You Summer of '69 Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman Everything I Do... Cuts Like a Knife When You're Gone It's Only Love This Time Heaven

The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You
Cloud Number Nine
Run to You
Please Forgive Me
When You Love Someone
Straight From the Heart
All For Love

BONUS TRACKS:
Never Let Go (From Budapest, November 21, 2006)
Low Life (From Herning, Denmark, September 19, 2006)

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Photo credits to Steam and www.18tilidie.co.uk

During the ten show stretch in Eastern Europe, the fifth stop was in Debrecen, Hungary which is in eastern Hungary at the generically named "Sporthalle" which seats in the neighbourhood of 8500 people.

Based on the recording, the crowd is somewhat shy and not totally familiar with BA's material. My guess is that many attended the show because it's an "event" rather than because they were BA fans.

Of all the recordings I've heard, this is the first one when I've heard a number of missed cues and chords by the band. Somebody, Can't Stop and Back to You all have audible screw-ups. Seeing that BA has been known to daydream and lose track of the lyrics, it's likely he had the same "mental-cramps" on the guitar in Debrecen this night.

The Songs:
Starting in July and continuing through the Fall, During the Summer and Fall of 2006, BA started tinkering with the set list and brought back some songs not heard from in a long time. As a result, I Think About You (full band) and When You Love Someone (acoustic) were added to the set lists.

In September, Room Service was re-introced to the set as an opener, but with a different feel to it. When you listen to it, there's no doubt that the Beatles "Get Back" riff was the foundation of the new arrangement. Most agree that the original version is preferred, but it's nice to know that BA's willing to change up an existing arrangement for a new one.

One change to the set that most fans do not like is the dropping of Hearts on Fire which was dusted off the shelf in October of 2005 and became one of the highlights of the set for the full year that it remained part of the show. Filling its place in the set is This Time which was typically the third song performed each night in 2006.

One change in recent set lists that I really don't like is that Heaven is the song leading up to The Only Thing... While Heaven is certainly a great song, a rocker such as It's Only Love or Somebody fires the crowd up more for the last song of the main set.

The acoustic set remains an ongoing project with When You Love Someone brought back into set lists after 8+ years of no performances.

The bonus track is the one and only live performance of Never Let Go which is a BA track written for "The Guardian" soundtrack released in September 2006. It takes BA a verse to finally find his groove during this performance, but eventually, he settles into the song.

Also as a bonus track, a performance of Low Life which made it to a few sets in July and September 2006. This recording is from the Herning, Denmark concert on September 19, 2006

The Recording:
As opposed to the compressed .mp3 format that found its way to the Internet soon after this concert took place, this version is a lossless version taken directly from the master recordings and transferred to CD. Click HERE for a sample of the Debrecen '06 show.

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Sponsored by Telecom Italia, the Colosseum concert has become somewhat of an annual event with previous years with acts performed including Paul McCartney, Simon and Garfunkel and Elton John.

In front of what must have been one of his biggest live audiences, about 500,000 fans attended this show featuring BA as the feature act and Billy Joel as a headliner. Both acts shared the stage for the final few songs of the evening.

It is rumoured that Billy Joel recommended BA as the feature act, even though promoters thought it would not be a good mix.

Although Billy Joel took the years 2001 to 2005 off from his pop music to work on classical material, he returned to the road in 2006 armed with one of the best catalogues in popular music.

I love BA's voice and his sytle of writing. I love watching him perform live and his band is one of the best. But when you put his songs up against Billy Joel's, there's no comparison that Billy Joel is a totally different league than BA when it comes to writing.

In my opinion, there are only a select few writers who can match Billy Joel's songwriting skills and who tackle topics that other artists don't get close to . In recent years, only Bruce Springsteen and U2 come to mind. If you haven't heard much of Billy Joel's back catalog, I'd recommend sitting down to a listen of Goodnight Saigon and Scenes From an Italian Restaurant. Lyrically, Goodnight Saigon is a masterpiece and the music fits perfectly. "Scenes" is one of those songs in which the music matches the storyline of the lyrics perfectly. It's brilliant songwriting.

The Songs:
Clearly, as this is not BA's show as a headliner, he sticks to an abbreviated set list. 32 minutes of his 45 minute set is captured for the recording.

It's nice to hear the opener of So Far So Good professionally captured on CD as based on recent set lists, that song's live performances may be few and far between.

Songs performed by BA, but not on the CD are: '69, Cloud #9 and Run to You.

After the Cuts Like a Knife duet, BA and BJ rocked out to Honky Tonk Woman, but sadly, it is not captured for the DVD.

Billy Joel had a two hour set as the headliner and performed about 12-15 additional songs that were not captured on DVD. After the duets with BA, Billy returned to the stage to finish with Piano Man.

The Recording:
Taken directly from the audio feed on the DVD. The audio is from the soundboard so the audience response is not as audible as you would think a crowd this size should be, but the band is up-front.
Click HERE for a sample of the Rome '06 show.

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Photo credits to Ilse and Robert and www.18tilidie.co.uk

600km north of Wurzburg (where the band played the night before) is the town of Aurich and the last stop of the European festival circuit for BA and the band in 2006.   While the Wurzburg gig was a warm night for all involved, Aurich is just inland from the North Sea and fans needed an energetic show to keep warm.  BA and Keith came to the stage with jackets on and BA remained in his for the entire show. The Seaside Festival is the event in Aurich featuring a number of German bands (including Purple Schultz who opened for BA way back in 1983 at the Rockpalast shows) and headlined by BA who came on stage at the late hour of 10:35pm and had until midnight before the curfew set in.

As a result the crowd gets an abbreviated 90 set similar to what BA played when co-headlining with Def Leppard during the US dates in 2005.

The Songs:
With time not on his side, BA rocked hard through his 18-song set to give them the most music to the fans who were braving the chilly night along with him. 

I Think About You stays in the set as the biggest treat for this show.  Heaven leads into The Only Thing. which is not a good fit, but perhaps BA was distracted by the timing of the show and forgot about a little something called momentum.

The Recording:
Click HERE for a sample of the Aurich '06 show

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Photo credits to Felix Arnold and www.18tilidie.co.uk

Although I could be proven wrong (something my wife always tries to do) BA has done ore shows in Germany than probably any other country over the years of his European tours.  Smack in the middle of Germany is a jewel of a town called Wurzburg which BA said is the "most beautiful place in Germany I've every played at".   Poor grammar aside, one of the benefits to the open air festivals that BA becomes a part of during the summers in Europe is the atmosphere some of these events offer. The Teak Marienburg Festival is the event in Wurzburg on this day with BA headlining and opening act Royseven warming up a crowd

that was already warm enough in the summer air and packed festival standing-room only environment. Buckets of water were used to cool down the front few rows of fans in between Royseven and BA.

The Friday night crowd is one of the more energetic and appreciative and as a result, BA treats them to an above-average show during the summer of '06. 

The Songs:
Without any time restrictions or curfews to adhere to, BA and the boys crank through a full set complete with the recently added rarities I Think About You an She's Only Happy When She's Dancing.

In addition to the main set, they improvise a nice transition from She's Only Happy. into C'mon Everybody before closing with the big , The Only Thing...

Hearts on Fire gets a different version tonight with BA obviously getting carried away early with Keith's solo and just keeps going. As a result, the bridge and 3rd verse/chorus are missing.

Although Best of Me is dropped from the set, BA makes up for it by bringing back the band midway through his acoustic suite with a rousing Kids Wanna Rock. The band had already changed into their street clothes and were obviously caught off-guard with their return to the stage.   As a result, the first verse features only BA, but by the second verse, the band is back on stage and cranking. It's nice to see some totally impromptu BA moments like that when it could be so easy to go on "auto-pilot" after all these years.

The Recording:
Of the four July '06 recordings, this and Gelsenkirchen are the best ones. The vocals are more up front and there is minimal audience interference from excessive clapping and sing-a-longs. The recorder was right up at the front of the stage and it picks up the natural sound of the drums. Click HERE for a sample of the Wurzburg '06 recording

So Far So Good
Somebody
Open Road
18 Til I Die
Let’s Make A Night To Remember
Can’t Stop This Thing We Started
Back To You
Summer of '69
Everything I Do...
Cuts Like A Knife
When You’re Gone
I’m Ready
Hearts on Fire
Heaven
It's Only Love
The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You
Cloud Number Nine
Run to You
Please Forgive Me (Acoustic)
Straight From The Heart (Acoustic)
All For Love (Acoustic)

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Photo credits to www.18tilidie.co.uk

The festival starts at 1:00pm for close to 12 hours of bands, beer and crowds. This year's lineup includes Arsenal, Roxy Music, Simple Minds, Simply Red, Sting and headlining for the fifth time in his career...BA.  (Ironically, the 1988 show was headlined by Sting, not BA.  BA has headlined this festival in '92, '96, '99, '02 and now in '06).

With so many bands throughout the day, by the time BA and band kick off their set, the time was 10:50pm.usually a time when BA is already off the stage.  As a result, BA's set is cut short a few songs in order to comply with the promoter's curfew. 

The 50,000 fans didn't seem to mind a set list that clocked at just less than two hours as they rocked right along with the band into the midnight hour and beyond.

The Songs:
So Far So Good kicks off the gig with a fairly standard set list that steered away from some of the newer material that BA has added to the set in recent months due to the time limits of the gig.

Although a ladder is set up for BA to join the crazies in the front for Best of Me, he opted to close the show with his acoustic suite.

The Recording:
Click HERE for a sample of the Werchter '06 recording.

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Photo credits to FIFA and www.18tilidie.co.uk

The venue is not the stadium used for the World Cup games, but another stadium called Glückaufkampfbahn that local club used to call home. An estimated 20,000 fans pack the stadium for BA's show. Not only is BA performing as part of the World Cup festivities, he tells the crowd that he went to both the semi-final games and is attending the final game two days later in which he predicted an Italian victory. Fans line up starting at 6AM for gates that weren't even opening until 5PM. That's dedication and clearly a sign that many of BA fans have flexible work schedules.

A very loose show with BA in a talkative mood throughout the night. Although some time restrictions dictated the pacing of some open-air festival shows in July, this one did not have such issues. BA was clearly in a mood to take his time and joke around with the crowd. Most notably, he discusses the planning logic of putting the bathrooms right nex tto the beer hall. During the na-na-na's of Cuts Like a Knife, he encourages those actually in the bathroom stalls to sing along.

The Songs:
This the first decent sounding audience-recording I have heard from a 2006 show in seven months since the Vancouver '06 show. As a result, the set list has gone through a few changes. Most notably, Room Service has been replaced with So Far So Good as the consistent show opener since March.

One of my favourites, Lonely Nights makes a quasi-rare appearance in place of This Time early in the show. Just as the set settles into its regular flow, BA pulls out a full band I Think About You to keep us set list watchers on our toes. Although BA played the song at some June shows by himself to close the show, this is the first band performance of the song since 1997. (He did perform it in 1998 on the Plugged-In tour of Canada, but it was the unplugged arrangement). By request, I'm Ready, is performed for a Dutch couple celebrating their anniversary.

Although I would have put money down that We're Gonna Win would have been an obvious choice during the World Cup, BA makes up a little ditty called "Who's Gonna Win on Sunday" when he talks about the upcoming finals match.

The Recording:
Of the four July '06 recordings, this and Wurzburg are the best ones. The vocals are more up front and there is minimal audience interference from excessive clapping and sing-a-longs. Click HERE for a sample of Gelsenkirchen '06 recording.

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Photo credits to Karen Petersen and www.18tilidie.co.uk

This show in Bridgend is at one of those stadiums that was holding a concert for the first time. Bridgend is 165 miles west of London and a city where BA drove to/from the gig with the band that was based out of London for the UK dates in June. 13,000 fans filled Brewery Field which is usually used by the local rugby league club, Celtic Crusaders.

The band comes on stage at 8:18pm with plenty of sunlight left and they perform the first ninety minutes with daylight still visible. By the time the encores roll around, the evening darkness has settled in. Total time for the show is two hours and 23 songs. Not a bad gig for kicking off the summer.

The Artwork:
Thanks to Karl Watson for the Bridgend '06 front and front artwork..

The Songs:
With six shows in the UK in June and three more in July, BA came to put on some of the better shows in that country with a bunch of surprises as the shows went on. In Bridgend, treats include She's Only Happy When She's Dancing (complete with Keith's dance moves), a blitstering duet of It's Only Love with BA's usual UK opening act and sensational singer Beverly Knight plus an ultra-rare closing acoustic number of I Think About You. I Think About You hasn't been performed since 1998 and never like this with BA alone on guitar.

On top of the rarities, the new show opener So Far So Good as well as Hearts on Fire which has remained in the set lists consistenly since October of 2005.

The Recording:
The audio has been extracted from the DVD that has been a popular collectors items amoung fans.
Click HERE for a sample of the Bridgend '06 show

Set List: So Far So Good Somebody This Time Open Road 18 Til I Die Let's Make A Night To Remember Can't Stop This Thing We Started Back To You Summer Of '69 Everything I Do... Cuts Like A Knife When You're Gone She's Only Happy When She's Dancin' Heaven It's Only Love The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Cloud Number Nine Run To You Please Forgive Me

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The Show: Two nights at the Las Vegas Hilton took place on May 10 and 11, 2006 with this being the stronger of the two shows. Better crowd, longer set and better performance. Security was apparently pretty relaxed and allowed people right up to the stage all night. As you can see from the photo, the stage set up is very low to the audience which makes it a more personal show than the five foot stage typically used for a show. BA's Mom made the trip to Vegas from Vancouver and attended both shows with BA pointing her out to the intimate sized audience of around 2500 fans. BA makes reference that the show will be longer than the first night which was shorter because the hotel wants people back at the casinos.

With the smaller audience and unique stage set up, BA takes advantage of the atmosphere and chats quite a bit. He mentions that he was told his dressing room was used by Elvis himself. However, he also mentions that the last time he played in Vegas at a different venue, he was told the same thing.

The Songs:
The sets in Vegas were not the longest compared with the gems the band pulled out in Canada during their two month tour in December '05 and January '06. However, that is not to say this show is not without some memorable tunes.

Most notably, So Far So Good is the newest opening number and this is the earliest show in which it is captured live on CD. Plus, a Keith-centered She's Only Happy When She's Dancin' replaces the Hearts on Fire slot. The result is rather than an extended Keith guitar solo, the audience is treated to Keith expressing himself on the dance floor...much to the delight of his fans in the crowd.

The Recording:
Very solid recording in digital format with minimal audience interference and a great mix of vocals, instrument and crowd. Click HERE for a sample of the Vegas '06 show

Set List: DISC 1 The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Remember Kids Wanna Rock Back to You Somebody 18 Til I Die It's Only Love This Time Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman Rock Steady Here I Am Open Road Can't Stop This Thing We Started Straight From the Heart Lonely Nights Summer of '69 Everything I Do... I'm Ready

DISC 2 Please Forgive Me When You're Gone Cuts Like a Knife When The Night Comes All For Love One Night Love Affair Heat of the Night Into the Fire Heaven Hearts on Fire There Will Never Be Another Tonight Tonight Cloud Number Nine Run to You Flying Best of Me Let's Make a Night to Remember

Photo credits to www.18tilidie.co.uk

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With that thought in mind and hundreds of recorded concerts at my disposal, I came up with the idea of creating a live Anthology featuring the songs from the official release as well as some others that most fans hopefully agree with.

Instead of creating a live collection of "audience-recorded" cuts, I discovered that every song (except for Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven) that was required for this project has been recorded professionally in some fashion or another over the years. That makes the listening of this collection more consistent throughout.

In keeping with the "live" theme of the music, I tossed the official Anthlogy track listing, which rocks hard on the first CD, but not so much on the second, and tried to recreate the flow of a live BA concert by mixing in the rockers and ballads. Each track mixes into the next without any silent gaps to lose the flow of a live show.

The Artwork:
Created by Alex Kohn with his own photos. Here is some custom made artwork for this recording. He also made this alternate artwork . Both are .pdf files.

The Songs:
As mentioned above, the majority of the tracks were selected since they were included on the Anthology release. However, in wanting to create a song selection that for this package, I made some additions and subtractions of certain songs.

Four songs from Anthology (US release) were dropped from this set because there are no professional live recordings of them. So, good-bye to Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven, This Side of Paradise and Why Do You Have to Be So Hard to Love. Plus, So Far So Good had never been performed live until after this set was put together.

Two other songs were dropped since I just didn't think they were strong enough to hold up with the other songs I added. So....On a Day Like Today and Star have been dropped. Replacing the dropped songs are the following: Kids Wanna Rock - this is a song that lets the band "grip-it-and-rip-it" and really create some energy on stage. The song keeps getting better as they years go by, too.

When the Night Comes - BA has said that this is one song he gave away not thinking it would be a hit, but Joe Cocker took it to the Top 10 in 1990. Imagine what BA could have done with it?

Into the Fire - The title track from an underrated album, this song stood out very differently than most of BA's live numbers and is a fan favourite.

Tonight - Although many fans don't know or can't remember, but Tonight was a key song in the live show for BA from 1983 right up until 1987. During the Into the Fire tour in 1987/88, he often played it to close the night out with just him and a guitar.

Flying - one of the stronger songs on the Room Service CD and that CD deserved more than just one song on this Live Anthology collection (the other being Open Road).

All in all, 35 great BA live songs that will give you 2 hours and 37 minutes of listening enjoyment. I also made a point of including the FULL live version of each song. Over the years, BA has cut the 2nd verse out of songs, but that type of behaviour will not be tolerated for this collection. All live versions are full live versions with no missing verses.

The Recordings:
A+ on the majority and a few A grades. No audience-recorded tracks. Want the best possible source for these live songs...they're right here. Each track mixes into the next to keep the flow of the show going.

Specific sources for each song will be provided with the CDs, but the 17 various concert recordings used to collect all these songs were: Albany '83, Los Angeles '85, New Jersey '86, London '87, Buenos Aires '90, Vancouver '92, Cardiff '92, Barrie '92, Modena '94, London '96, Johannesberg '99, Nurnburg '99, Ostersund '99, Tokyo '00, Dublin '00, Warwick '02 and Lisbon '05.

Room Service Somebody This Time Open Road 18 Til I Die Let’s Make A Night To Remember Can’t Stop This Thing We Started Back To You Summer of '69 Everything I Do... Cuts Like A Knife When You’re Gone I’m Ready Hearts on Fire Kids Wanna Rock Heaven It’s Only Love The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Cloud Number Nine Run to You The Best Of Me Please Forgive Me (Acoustic) The Way You Make Me Feel (Acoustic) Straight From The Heart (Acoustic) All For Love (Acoustic) Room Service (Acoustic)

Photo credits to Steven Stanley and www.18tilidie.co.uk

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The Ticket:

The Proof: This is the photo of me on stage at the February 26, 1998 show at GM Place in Vancouver. I got to play drums on One Night Love Affair with the "audience band" w/ BA sitting in front of me on the drum riser. I grew up as a drummer and when I nailed to the first "drum fill" of the song, he looked around and gave me an approving clap.

This is where it all started for BA as a young man who met Jim Vallance in 1978 and began writing songs. This is where he first played as a solo artist before his first album ever came out in 1980. This is where his cut his musical teeth. This is the city were some of his biggest songs were written...just a few miles away on 40th Avenue in the Kerrisdale area of Vancouver. It's the place he still calls his "hometown" (sorry London, but it's true). It's where his Mom and brother still live. It's Vancouver and it is still the place where BA can always come to town to a loyal audience.

Even with 26 straight days of rain in Vancouver, the day BA and band pull into town....it stopped.

Nearing the end of his 17 show tour of Canada to support the Anthology release, the band stops in Vancouver for one night at GM Place. This is the same venue that BA opened in September of 1995 with one of his best sets ever. He also made tour stops at GM Place in 1998, 2003 and now 2006. Surprisingly, the gig is not a sellout with a handful of "cheap seats" at the top of the arena empty. This is also the venue that featured the final gig of the "original" band featuring Tommy Mandell and Dave Taylor back in February of 1998.

Knowing that I would not have the chance of seeing BA in an arena in the US again (that is, as a headliner), I decided to make the trip from Sacramento to Vancouver to see the band just one more time in my native land of Canada in an arena where it's his show and his crowd.

When I lived in Vancouver from 1995-2000, I saw BA open this arena up and then had the fortune of playing drums on stage at his February 1998 gig. I flew up the day of the show and returned the next day. I also intended on obtaining an outstanding recording of the concert since no other Canadian show (all with great set lists) had come out yet. I met up with and attended the gig with Steven Stanley who runs the wonderful www.18tilidie.co.uk web site.

At the gig, I saw Michelle Larsen from Bruce Allen's office and she commented to me that there was such a big buzz about this show more than any other BA concert in Vancouver. Fans from all around the globe attended the gig (making my 900 mile journey from California pretty short in comparison).

The band came at 8:35pm with BA's first words being "hello Vancouver". They proceeded to rock the house for 2 hours and 15 minutes. The floor seats and the lower bowl were on their feet for the majority of the gig and the sing-a-longs were constant. Even Vancouver Canucks stars Marcus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi stood up and sang along with the band.

You could see BA look into the crowd when he sang on the sides of the stage gesture to people he knew. He would connect to them with a smile and a point.

BA spoke to the crowd about writing songs with Jim Vallance (who was in attendance with his son and I got to meet after the show. He's a very nice man). He also commented that his mother, brother and many Vancouver friends were in attendance. But most importantly, he said that his memories are in Vancouver and he'll never forget that. Hearing that comment near the end of the show made the trip worthwhile for me.

The Artwork:
Created by Steven Stanley with his own photos. Here is some custom-made CD artwork for this show: FRONT, BACK

For printing: Print these straight out of MS Paint then they just cut out and fit perfectly for me. there should be no need to resize.

The Songs:
Just over two years ago at the Vancouver show (a benefit concert for forest fire victims), BA turned in a 21 song set and played for just under 2 hours. This time around, he made up for it in a big way with five more songs and 20 more minutes.

After cutting his sets short while on tour with Def Leppard in the fall of 2005, BA went back to the full show and then some for the Canadian winter dates of '05/'06. It was great to hear Hearts on Fire again as well as a changed set list from the last round of "full" BA shows earlier in 2005. Somebody, This Time, I'm Ready and Please Forgive Me were songs that have returned to the Canadian set lists on a regular basis.

Please Forgive Me in particular was gorgeous with just BA and an acoustic guitar for two verses and choruses.

The Way You Make Me Feel was an audible as the Vancouver reception clearly got to BA. BA wondered aloud if it was the best reception he had ever had in Vancouver. My guess is that the March 1994 run of three shows in Vancouver were louder, but there was definitely a special feel to the gig on this night.

All in all, a damn good 26 song set on his return to the place where it all began.

The Recording:
With the hope of ending up with a recording to be just as good as the popular Vancouver 2003 recording, it's safe to say: "mission accomplished". I'll still give the Vancouver '03 show an edge in quality since it was recorded away from the crowds, but this one is still a gem. I did some editing to the source recording by elimating a "hiss" (that was most noticeable during the acoustic set), and gave it some bass boost and put the file through some normalization. I love the way you can still hear Mickey's work on the hi-hat and cymbals.

Me and Steve Stanley celebrating with a nice cool beer after a successful recording!!!

The show was recorded from the third row to BAs right (see the photos taken at the gig by Steven Stanley for the location). Recorded with an M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 professional 2-channel mobile digital recorder. Microphone used was a Core-Sound binaural condenser mic. Recorded directly to CompactFlash memory. Click HERE for a sample of Vancouver '06. It's a thing of beauty!!!

Room Service Somebody This Time Lonely Nights Open Road Lets Make A Night To Remember 18 Til I Die Cant Stop This Thing We Started Back To You Summer of '69 Everything I Do Cuts Like A Knife When You're Gone I'm Ready Hearts On Fire Heaven Its Only Love The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Cloud Number Nine Run To You (with opening act Divine Brown) The Best Of Me Please Forgive Me Straight From The Heart All For Love Room Service (acoustic) BONUS TRACKS: From Toronto '98: Hey Elvis Kids Wanna Rock PLUS - From Toronto '95: One Night Love Affair Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven ()

Photo credits to Paul and www.18tilidie.co.uk

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The Show: In th words of the Toronto Star review of the concert the next morning: "A December snowfall, a hockey arena and Bryan Adams. In other words, the Canrock version of a perfect winter storm." The final show on 2005 closes the year in high-style in the largest Canadian city and one that is no stranger to a solid BA show. This is BA's first appearance at Air Canada Centre which replaced Maple Leaf Gardens as the premiere concert arena in Toronto.

This makes it at least the sixth venue in Toronto in which BA has performed as a headlining act. Other venues: El Mocombo Club, Massey Hall, Maple Leaf Gardens, CNE Stadium and Molson Amphitheatre.

If there is one market outside of Europe that BA runs the risk of over-saturating, it's Toronto. With shows in '95, '96 (club show), '97, '98, '00, '03, '04 and now in '05, there no shortage of the Badman in this southern Ontario city of seven million people.

No doubt that BA and the band kicked up their intensity when they returned to their homeland in December of 2005 to promote the Anthology project. And why not? More than any other country in the world, this is the one part of the globe that has been following BA's career from the first few years when Remember, Lonely Nights and Hidin' From Love were first getting airplay on the radio and it was the only country that knew who he was. Since he hit it big globally in 1985, Canadians have proudly waved the flag at his concerts and have always called him one of the "Great Canadians".

This show was a highlight of the Canadian dates in December and January 2006 with a solid set, animated band members and a few twists with the performances.

The Songs:
When BA returned to Canada in December, the set lists he turned in night after night were some of the best we've seen in a while. As Toronto is the town I grew up in and where I discovered BA's music, I debated flying back there from California for this show. I ended up choosing to go to the Vancouver show instead the following month, but when I saw this set list and read reviews of the show, I wish I had made the trip. It seems like this one might have been one of the best gigs of 2005.

With the abbreviated sets from the Def Leppard co-headlining dates behind him, BA returns to the fore-front with a wonderful 25 song set includes a rarely performed Lonely Nights. With the exception of the first album, each record from BA's catalogue is represented during this performance.

Also a highlight for this show only took place when BA pulled opening act Divine Brown out of the audience during Run to You to improvise trading vocals for the later part of the song. Truly an impromptu moment that too few of BA's shows include. The end result is a monster six minute version of the song. Hearts On Fire continues to be a highlight of the later part of the main set.

The Recording:
Although it was well into 2006 by the time this recording started to cirulate, it was worth the wait. By far the best (and only) December 2005 recording from the eastern Canadian dates.

Click HERE for a sample of the recording.

Photo credits to www.18tilidie.co.uk

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After a significant overhaul of the set list back in April when in Japan, the band continues to roll on with changing the order of staple songs, adding new songs to their live repetoire and big even with all that, they still have a few surprises up their sleeve.

This is BA's fourth show in Antwerp, Belgium in 3 years. If he is risking saturating a market with his live show, this one would be a candidate. However, the fans continue to fill the Sporspalais to see the Dudes. BA, in turn, delivers his best show in Belgium during that three year stretch.

The Room Service tours second stop exactly one year ago was here in Antwerp and boy what a difference a year makes. While a city such as Rotterdam, who had their second stop on the RS tour only six months after the first was given pretty much the same show, Antwerp was given an entirely new show with five more songs than 2004 and a bonus encore (thanks to a pizza box w/ a request) to close the concert and signify the last European concert in 2005 for BA.

BA is in a talkative mood with the Antwerp faithful as he reflects on the Werchter 1988 festival show that produced the Live Live Live CD. He also confesses to not understanding women and that if he figured them out, he would have nothing to write about.

According to a review I read from the WYGG - major BA fan Helen - the audience was as good as any other European or UK audience.

All in all, Antwerp will likely go down as one of the top shows on the RS tour. Great songs, great crowd, long show and aren't we lucky that it's all on CD to relive over and over again?

The Songs:
Exactly one year prior to this show, Antwerp got 21 songs. This year, they got 26. Talk about an upgrade. Not only did they get more songs, the show was 25 minutes longer. If you went to the show in '04 and not '05, you couldn't help but feeling like you missed out..

For the September dates, the band brings back a big-time fan favourite All I Want Is You. Somebody is much better as Open Road as the second song on the night as it's a move that maintains the momemtum from gains by the opening song. Open Road is moved to the number three spot.

Another good move by BA was to take Run to You out of the encores and switch it with Summer of '69. Both songs have run their course in the spots they have maintained since 1999 and the electric of '69 that is performed at this show really lets the band close big in the encores. (I still think Run to You should be used to close the main set as BA did for some of the dates in the US during the summer)

Other rarities that come out in Antwerp are I'm Ready, and a gorgeous acoustic version of Why Do You Have To Be So Hard To Love.

To cap the evening off, the band return to the stage after the acoustic set to rock the audience one more time with a rarely performed (and rarely recorded) Blessing in Disguise and She's Only Happy When She's Dancin'. Not a bad way to send everybody home, Bryan. Nice way to close out the European dates in '05.

The Recording:
Like the 2003 and 2004 recordings from Antwerp, you can expect a solid recording. . Click here for a sample of the recording.

Big thanks to Belgium fan Gunther for delivering on three consecutive years of solid recordings from the BA Antwerp gigs.

Photo credits to Sarah and www.18tilidie.co.uk

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The Koln Arena is the venue tonight which is the largest hockey arena in Europe. BA delivers a big show for the big crowd after a venue of 5500 the night before in Erfurt. The last show the band had in Cologne was in March of 2003 when BA closed the show with one of the rarest performances of his career: A reggae version of Do I Have to Say the Words. In September of 2005, BA doesn't deliver as big of a "holy shit" song, but does come through with another solid gig on the Room Service tour and a one year anniversary of the release of the Room Service CD worldwide.

The Songs:
Similar to the rest of the Germany shows in September 2005 - which is a good thing, because he'd added some nice songs to an already lengthening set.

BA takes a request that was on a banner up front midway through the show to rock out to She's Only Happy When She's Dancin'.

The Recording:
My discs are direct from the master recording discs. Better than the November '04 recordings out of Germany. Click here for a sample. It's the same source as the Mannheim and Erfurt shows this same month. Thanks to Silke for her efforts.

Room Service Somebody Open Road 18 til I Die Let’s Make A Night To Remember Can’t Stop This Thing We Started Kids Wanna Rock Back To You Run To You Everything I Do... Cuts Like A Knife When You’re Gone All I Want Is You Heaven I’m Ready It’s Only Love The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Cloud Number Nine Summer Of '69 The Best Of Me Straight From The Heart (Acoustic) Why Do You Have To Be So Hard To Love (Acoustic) All For Love (Acoustic) Room Service (Acoustic)

Photo credit to Maria and www.18tilidie.co.uk

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The bands last gig in Erfurt was at this same venue back in 2002 during the Here I Am tour.

This the 7th of 10 shows focusing on Italy and Germany during the month of September and easily sells out.

The Songs:
Compared to set lists for most of the Room Service tour, this one is a keeper with performancesAll I Want Is You, I'm Ready, Why Do You Have to Be... and Summer of '69 in the encores. However, compared to the rest of the September dates in Europe, this one is basic. It's still a good set list, but not with any surprises or extra requests as he did in other German cities.

The Recording:
My discs are direct from the master recording discs. Better than the November '04 recordings out of Germany. Click here for a sample. It's the same source as the Cologne and Mannheimshows this same month. Thanks to Silke for her efforts.

Room Service Somebody Open Road 18 til I Die Let’s Make A Night To Remember Can’t Stop This Thing We Started Kids Wanna Rock Back To You Run To You Everything I Do... Cuts Like A Knife When You’re Gone All I Want Is You Heaven I’m Ready Please Forgive Me It’s Only Love The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Cloud Number Nine Summer Of '69 The Best Of Me Straight From The Heart (Acoustic) Why Do You Have To Be So Hard To Love (Acoustic) All For Love (Acoustic) Room Service (Acoustic)

Photo credits to www.18tilidie.co.uk

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The band's last stop is Mannheim was in November of '99 during the On A Day Like Today tour. It's the first time Mannheim has seen BA in a five piece band since the June '97 stop during the 18 Til I Die tour.

It's apparently a cold German night and this is also the day of the Germany national elections were going on this day and apparently results from the polls were coming in on screens that were hanging on the floors.

The Songs: Biggest change to the set list during the September dates is the addition of All I Want Is You and I'm Ready making appearances in all ten concerts this month. This is also the first show when Run to You and Summer of '69 switch spots. '69 is performed with the full band and ALL electric. An acoustic '69 wouldn't be the same when in the encores. BA takes a request from a fan and goes through a verse and chorus of Please Forgive Me with Keith.

Also, Why Do You Have to Be So Hard to Love replaces Flying as the "new" song in the acoustic section to close the show.

The Recording:
My discs are direct from the master recording discs. Better than the November '04 recordings out of Germany. Click here for a sample. It's the same source as the Cologne and Erfurt shows this same month. Thanks to Silke for her efforts.

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The Show: Back out with Def Leppard for their third and final round of dates in the USA, BA and the band stop at Alexian Field in the northwest Chicago suburg of Schaumberg, Illinois. BA's last appearance in Chicago was a Theatre performance to just 18 months prior to this gig for the Rock n' Roll Doubleheader tour. The first round of dates with DL covered the west and southwest of the US and the early July dates covered the northeast cities that have always been supportive of BA.

The late July/August dates visited the midwest portion of the country with 10 stops in other states such as Minnesota, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa. Many of these states had not seen a BA concert since his huge popularity peaks in the US in '85 and '92.

BA closes the show with a solid 95 minute (longest of the US summer dates) set and some nice changes in the set lists compared to the June/early July dates.

The Songs:
Compare this set to the June dates with Def Leppard and you'll notice some significant changes. Room Service is out as the opening song which is one of the first times in 2005 BA has dropped that song since opening with it at about every concert since the September '04. One Night Love Affair opens the shows in July/August for the band.

Open Road is performed for one of the first times instead of This Side of Paradise which the record company was promoting as the "lead single" from the RS project. Open Road was being used by the sports network ESPN all summer long for their 50 states in 50 days special so it was not uncommon to hear snippets of the song through the summer of '05 on US televisions.

This Time has also been dropped from the set as well as There Will Be Another Tonight and in a somewhat surprising move (only because the CD virtually went unnoticed in the US) The Best of Me is in the encores with BA getting down to the audience level even at the big ballparks.

The Recording:
By far, the best of the 2005 summer shows and I'd say the best of the 2005 audience recordings that I've heard. Actually, it's one of the best audience recordings since the Vancouver 2003 show that blew everyone away. Click here for a sample of the Schamburg show.

Room Service Somebody 18 Til I Die Can't Stop This Thing We Started Run To You Kids Wanna Rock Summer Of '69 Everything I Do This Time Cuts Like A Knife When You're Gone This Side of Paradise Heaven It's Only Love The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You There Will Never Be Another Tonight Straight From The Heart

BONUS TRACKS: From Brooklyn, NY, July 9, 2005
This Side of Paradise
Heaven
It's Only Love
The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You
Run to You
Straight From the Heart (Acoustic)
All For Love (Acoustic)

Photo credits to Teresa Bodziony and www.18tilidie.co.uk

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This review of the concert is by mega BA fan, Marilyn who saw a few of the northeast doubleheader shows and sent her review into the www.18tilidie.co.uk web site as well.: "The guys just keep getting better and better! Tonight's gig was absolutely fantastic-mostly because of the fun they were having and

Bryan's reactions to things that were happening. As a few of us have mentioned, the DL fans are a bit overboard-lots of fights, etc. When Bryan started EID, he got about two lines in and stopped the song because he noticed that two girls were fighting in the audience right in front of him. He said he'd never seen anything like this-the guys were just standing watching or calling security. He told them he couldn't believe they couldn't stop a fight between two girls. He was just so funny. Starts singing again, stops the song again becuase it's still going on and says it's very distracting so either let them fight or stop it - but he's joking the whole time and laughing at how ridiculous it was. It was the funniest thing. Then he gets the WYG girl up - she's a choreograher who admits she doesn't know the song, so he tells her she can just dance and he gets a second girl up, who sings. At the butt bump, he's got a girl on either side of him -- very much enjoying this! The whole night just went on like this -- Bryan was just having so much fun up there, and the audience was incredible. He's been loving this it's very obvious! Show ended much too soon and we all went over to the buses to find Bryan eating his dinner while signing autographs thru the window of the bus. He spent so much time signing things -- so sweet of him. Then Keith popped his head out the window and spent some time to talking to all of us. What a sweetie! Just a great night and a great show! Thanks to Bryan, Keith, Mickey, Gary and Norm for another outstanding gig!"

Note: Def Leppard set from Lakewood and Brooklyn are available if you are interested. Both 2 CDs each.

The Songs:
Fairly standard set for the Doubleheader US tour, but the last one before he started switching things up a little. Somebody, This Time, This Side of Paradise and There Will Never Be Another Tonight have become the songs in the set every night that other fans on the Room Service tour have not seen with any regularity. Clearly, BA taking away the lesser-known material in favour of some hits to appease the US audiences. This is one of the last shows that opened with Room Service before switching to One Night Love Affair....Another move that takes the set list back to the 80's.

The last seven songs from the Brooklyn, NY show have been added onto the second disc of the Lakewood show to fill in space. Most notably in this set, Run to You closes the main set which makes it the first time in years when The Only Thing.... does not. All For Love closes the Brooklyn gig which has become common as the summer tour rolled on..

The Recording:
Direct from the master discs. Taper was very close to the stage so there is some more audience energy that is audible in the recording. Click here for sample.

Room Service Somebody 18 Til I Die Can't Stop This Thing We Started Run to You Kids Wanna Rock Summer Of '69 Everything I Do This Time Cuts Like A Knife When You're Gone This Side of Paradise Heaven It's Only Love The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You There Will Never Be Another Tonight Straight From The Heart (Acoustic) Room Service (Acoustic) All for Love (Acoustic)

BONUS TRACKS from Live 8 in Barrie, Ontario, July 3, 2005 (A+quality)
Back to You
Open Road
This Side of Paradise
All For Love
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The Ticket:

Photo credits to Dave and www.18tilidie.co.uk

Just got back from an overnight up in Dallas/Fort Worth for the show. What a fun time and good double-bill that is. Here's are some highlights....

Crowd was there to see DL over BA by a 2:1 ratio I'd guess. Many DL fans left the front of the stage area after the DL set which allowed those of us who were about 15-20 people back for DL to get within 5-10 ppl back for BA.

Opening act came on at 6:30 in the hot sun. It was over 90C to start (34F) and the sun staring right at the stage. DL took the stage at 7:10 and rocked the crowd for their 1h 30m Saw BA at side stage checking them out singing "Animal". Pretty sure that DL played same set as all other shows on the tour. DL is a great vocal group and as a fan of theirs, I thought they were very solid. Only a 20-25 min. break once DL left the stage and BA came on. Quick road crew.

BA came on to Room Service at 9pm. It's been 3 years since my last BA show and my first time seeing him in Texas. Although I rarely hear his music on the radio anymore, the crowd was very vocal and energetic to the songs. Big sing-a-longs and huge receptions for the hits.

Some highlights that stood out:

-Playing Somebody 2nd and Run to You 5th. As a big-time BA junkie, it was neat to hear songs in a different order in the show. I've never seen Run to You played so early in a set.

-Crowd was familiar w/ the 18 Til I Die refrain and sang along nice a loud. I figured nobody knew those songs in the US since the CD didn't sell much here.

-He introduced Kids by saying he wanted to play some songs from the Reckless album "which rhymes with Texas". He then started into the guitar riff on the wrong guitar so he had no sound. Lance brought him a new guitar, but he had lost the introdcution momentum of saying the word "Texas"...so he said it again.

-Loved the guitar duel during Kids. That was the best "live"song of the set in my opinion.

- Summer of '69 was performed w/ BA on acoustic, but he played the intro as he would have on the electric. Crowd got to sing first verse as usual. He played the unplugged acoustic version once he hit the 3rd verse.

-Starting the 2nd verse of This Time, it was the only time he left the guitar behind and sang w/ the mic to work the crowd.

-For Cuts Like a Knife, BA started singing the "na na na's" by accident after the first chorus. That led to the band members looking at each other trying to figure out where to go....BA shrugged and they continued to follow BA's lead despite the error. So, Somebody, Can't Stop, There Will Never Be... AND Cuts all featured missing 2nd verses on this night.

For When You're Gone, he picked a big boobed (what a surprise...), blonde Texas girl named Heather. She had no idea about the song so they didn't get past the first verse. The boos from the crowd overtook the band. He then picked an older woman wearing a black Into the Fire T-Shirt who knew the song pretty well. He never offered either of them lyric sheets. The woman, Barbara, who did sing did a good job, except she did the vocal ad libs that occurs on the 3rd verse throughout each chorus. BA was trying to get her to sing normally as he was. The blonde girl Heather got to stay on stage w/ a Tambourine and dance. When he asked Heather who she was at the show with, she said her boyfriend Nate, but she said it with a real southern drawl. BA then imitated her southern drawl which drew some "you better watch it" groans from the audience. He then looks at Nate and said (in his best southern accent), "Nate, if you don't get lucky tonight, you ain't never gettin' lucky".

-It's Only Love featured the usual stellar work by Keith. As BA said when he introduced Keith "you know him, you love him, you want to take him home with you..." Keith had rows of arm/hand sweat flowing down his guitar. It was just 86C when the show ended at 10:30pm. Likely one of the hotter gigs the band had played.

-More huge sing-a-longs for The Only Thing... Once again, I was really pleased by the response that the post-Waking material received.

-It looked for a moment after There Will Never Be Another Tonight... that the band would stay on for more, but BA gave them the send off.

-While Straight From the Heart is a great way to close the show, Fort Worth got a couple bonus songs. Not sure if it was because it was the last night of the June tour or because I really think the crowd earned it. Either way, we got an acoustic Room Service then All For Love (with BA wearing a cowboy hat which he gave to me after the song, which I prompty returned to the rightful owner)

-A total of 90 minutes on stage and 19 songs. Probably the longest song count of the BA/DL dates so far I haven't seen any other US show since early '02 so I'm not sure if this was an above average or below average US audience, but it was much better than I had anticipated being a part of. BA acknowledged that it had been a long time (6 years since he last played in the Dallas area) and said it was the best reception he had received here.

For the future double-header shows, I would try to catch the ones when BA closes. It's more of a concert feel once the sun goes down and the lights on stage play a larger part of the show. Plus, unless you want the front few rows of standing room, let the DL fans file out after their set and move up for BA. If BA is opening, you might have to jockey for position amoung the DL fans to get close to the stage.

The generic concert review in the Dallas/Fort Worth paper on Sunday morning made comparisons to the vocals of Joe Elliot and BA saying Elliot has lost some of his high-end while BA still sounds great. I'd have to agree.

The Songs:
Aside from the tried-and-true rockers, This Side of Paradise and Room Service are the two new songs to promote the new music to the US market. This Side of Paradise was performed for the first time live the month before in Ireland.

The extended acoustic session for the US tour was the highlight compared to other Summer '05 shows. The harmonica addition to Straight from the Heart is nice treat to hear.

The Recording:
Very strong to listed to as the recorder was well back from any group of the audience so what you hear is the music and not chatter, signing, clapping or other audience interference. Tracks have been edited to remove the time between a handful of songs. Some intros are cut and the majority of Room Service was cut from the recording, but I edited another version onto the end of the Fort Worth recording so you get the full song and hear the "buzz" when the band comes on stage. Click here for sample.

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While the tour was very successful for both acts, it could be argued that BA got more exposure out of it than Def Leppard. At most shows, the DL fans outnumbered the BA fans and the number of Union Jack shirts were much more visible than any "Worldwide in '85" Reckless Tshirts like I used to have. At the one show I went to, I overheard a DL fan say "I can't belive that Def Leppard is opening for Bryan Adams".

While many fans who went to these shows were there to see DL more than BA, it was BA who turned in a better performance night after night if you read the reviews in the local papers the next morning.

This show in San Bernadino, CA is the fourth shows out of the summer gigs and BA is closing this one. The crowd in San Bernardino (a city about 60 miles east of Los Angeles), is very receptive to BA and is enjoying having a couple of big-name acts so close to their home area.

He dedicates Straight From the Heart to those involved in overseas combat. He actually starts singing Everything I Do... before realizing what he should be singing to close the show.

In order to not waste space on a CD, I included the Def Leppard set from the July 5, 2005 show in Lakekwood, NJ on Disc 2.

The Songs:
A nice old-time trifecta of Somebody/This Time/Cuts Like a Knife to kick off the rockers after Everything I Do...

For the most part, the songs at this show are an excellent representation of the US double-header dates. Heavy on the hits and obviously a number of songs dropped from the full-scale tour that BA would typically do in Europe, Japan or anywhere else in the world....except the US. Room Service and This Side of Paradise are the two new songs performed from the Room Service CD which was released in the US just a month prior to this show.

Run to You is moved from the encores where it has been for the past five years to the second song in the show which is a refreshing change, but not the right place for such a great show-stopper. By the time the July dates roll around, BA figures out where Run to You belongs....as the main set closer.

Although he's played this song over a thousand times, BA does a nice job of forgetting the opening lyrics of Kids Wanna Rock as he sings the last verse to kick the song off. It goes to show you even the biggest of rock stars have brain-farts like the rest of us.

The Recording:
Excellent recording without much audience interference. Solid balance between the band and vocals. Click here for sample.

This photos taken from the DVD of the same concert

This venue is the same venue BA has performed in since 1985 when he ended the Reckless tour in Tokyo. Between 1983 and 2005, this BA's 28th concert performance in Tokyo and his 18th at Budokan which holds about 10000 fans. This the location of the June 16, 2000 concert that was filmed for release on DVD. Japanese fans are always respectful to the music and keep their chit-chat down to a minumum during songs which is nice when listening to audience recordings. After a five year time away from Japan, the fans were pumped for BA's return and were treated to one of the best set lists on the tour up to this point.

The Songs:
BA sticks with the added songs for a third night in a row, but mixes in new ones and changes placements. One Night Love Affair is the four song in the show which pushes There Will Never Be Another Tonight to the encores. It's a good move for both songs and adds value to the set list.

This Time and Somebody remain in the middle of the set and When You're Gone is moved back up the middle after being near the end of the main set the night before in Osaka.

I Was Only Dreamin' is performed for the third night in a row and sounds better each time.

After Japanese fan Atsushi mentions to BA that he has never played On A Day Like Today in Japan, BA adds it into the acoustic set to close the show. As a result, Flying is cut for a second night in a row in Japan.

So far on the Room Service tour, this one might go down as the best one yet.

The Recording:
Just as good as the two Osaka shows. From the same source and direct from the master discs. Click HERE for a sample of the recording.

Photo credits to Emiko and www.18tilidie.co.uk

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The Show: Proving that the April 25th show was not a fluke show of new songs into the set list, the band play another night in Osaka - but a different venue - and stick with the formula of a longer and better set list. This show took place at the Kohseinenkin Kaikan which holds about 3000 people and is in the city of Osaka. Unless someone proves me wrong - I believe this is

the first time where BA has played the same city but different venues in consecutive nights.

The 19 song main set is now the longest so far (with the exception of Cardiff '04) and 26 songs is second longest as well to Cardiff. at 2 hours and 12 minutes, it's one of the longer shows on the Room Service tour. Let's hope this trend continues throughout the rest of the tour.

The acoustic section is cut to only 3 songs for the first time in a while.

The band's sloppiness in Osaka the night before has been fixed up - particularly on I Was Only Dreamin.

The Songs:
There Will Never Be Another Tonight and This Time remain in the set in the same spots they were the night before. Lonely Night is added in place of One Night Love Affair and Somebody is added in for this Osaka show. I Was Only Dreamin' is performed after Heaven which I prefer as it's a miserable lead-in for The Only Thing... which closes the set.

When You're Gone falls as deep as it's been in the set in my memory. It has typically been played after Cuts Like a Knife, but for this show, there are five songs inbetween Cuts and WYG.

In the encores....one chorus of Christmas Time (by request) is played by BA. Likely the first time the song has been requested so far from the holiday season.

Also in the encores, It's Only Love injects added energy to the final band song of the night, but Flying is cut from the show for one of the few times this tour. Best of Me returns to the set after getting a night off on April 25th.

The Recording:
Direct from the master. Very good recording. Click HERE for a sample of the recording.

Photo credits to www.18tilidie.co.uk

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Thanks to mega-BA fanAtsushi in Japan for emailing me what happened between himself, Tomoka-san and BA on the train to Osaka.:

"I met Bryan on the train before ZEPP show. I talked to bryan about 30 minuted and I BA promise he would play One Night Love Affair, This Time, Lonely Nights and On A Day Like Today (which he had never performed in Japan before).

Also on the train, my friend handed Bryan a letter. You can listen on ZEPP show, before "This Time" Bryan is shouting "Tomoko-san" she handed letter. She saw the Tokyo show on the Budoukan of the first day. She was dissatisfied with the set list.
She proposed BA to play There Will Never Be Another Tonight, I Was Only Dreamin and Lonely Nights. "

So, there you have it folks - these two fans may have changed the direction of the Room Service tour for all us hardcore fans. Thank you Atsushi and Tomoko-san.

As for actual show, this is the first of two gigs in Osaka, but at two separte venues. This venue is called "Zepp Osaka" which is a concert hall outside of the city. The capacity is only 2200 people and it's all-standing. After a five year break from touring Japan, they were ready for BA. Norm and Gary get a special intro to the Japanese audience who are seeing the new five-piece band for the first time.

With the exception of the wonderful Cardiff show back in November 1, 2004, this show has the longest main set up to this point at 18 songs.

This show featured five songs from the Room Service CD which matches the most in a concert since the tour began in September '04.

The Songs:
There Will Never Be Another Tonight, This Time, One Night Love Affair and I Was Only Dreamin' are all added to breathe life into the set list that was getting stale. It's the first live performance of I Was Only Dreamin'.

While I am thrilled that the band added some new songs to the set, they are not well-rehearsed. . This Time, One Night Love Affair feature BA forgetting lyrics (not the first time he's done that) and Room Service, This Time, and Nowhere Fast have some audible mistakes rarely heard from the band. I Was Only Dreamin' is peformed for the first time.

It's Only Love is performed for the first time in encores since 1998. As a result, The Best of Me is given a night off for the first time this tour.

The Recording:
Direct from the master. B+ grade. Click HERE for a sample of the recording.

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The Songs:
This show sees four different songs that were not played just four months prior in Munich: One Night Love Affair is played by request, Fits Ya Good and Nowhere Fast which seems to have permanently taken Not Romeo Not Juliet out of the set list. Also, the acoustic version of Room Service is new to the Munich crowd. Sadly, the only song dropped from the set that was played in Munich back in November is Kids Wanna Rock which is probably the best song in the set during this tour.

The Recording:
Not strong. Similar to the Leipzig, Braunschweig and Berlin recordings from November '04, but less bass. Unless you want to hear the rare songs performed at this show, this one is for serious collectors who want as many shows as they can. Click HERE for a sample of the recording.

Photo credits to Frank Nijsten and www.18tilidie.co.uk

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The audience is treated to a standard BA show, but nothing very different from what they've seen in recent years. Everything I Do... has settled into a spot further into the show as was the case earlier in the tour. Arrangements of songs have changed slightly throughout the tour which is always nice to hear. I'd prefer more mixing up of the standard songs night after night, but that's not my choice. So let me get on my soap box and vent.....

Couldn't BA take songs such as 18, Night to Remember, Back to You, When You're Gone, Best of Me and Cloud Number Nine and rotate them in and out of nightly set lists? What about songs that rarely (if ever) get played....Heat of the Night, Lonely Nights, Take Me Back, She's Only Happy..., Thought I'd Died, One Night Love Affair, Here I Am, Hearts on Fire, Please Forgive Me, HYERLAW and more new material from Room Service?

All I'm saying it that it would be nice for fans who see multiple shows (or listen to them via the magic of audience recordings) and NOT know what song is coming next. Was Cloud Number Nine such as big hit that is has to start virtually every encore since 1999? BA's been around for 25 years so it's not like he doesn't have enough material to choose from.

BA - I know you'll read this... throw me a frickin' bone and surprise me.

The Songs:
The set disappointingly starts off with the exact same 10 songs as were played six months earlier in Rotterdam. BA knows what his fans (well, many of them, but not all of us...) want and delivers the hits for the first hour of the show.

Thankfully, disc 2 starts off with Nowhere Fast which was first performed live back in February in Spain and was performed at the Australia shows and now back in Europe for the first time. As a result, Not Romeo Not Juliet has been dropped from most recent set lists.

Other highlights for the second half of the show include the original version of Heaven and rarely performed I'm Ready.

The four song acoustic set remains as the closing segment of the show and has become one of my favourite sections.

The Recording:
If you have the Rotterdam 2004 show on CD, this one is very similar. Excellent balance and no audience interference. Click HERE for a sample of the recording.

A big thank you to the taping-talents of Dutch fan Joost who recorded this show as well as the other outstanding BA shows in Rotterdam since 1999. Check out his web site at here

Room Service
Open Road
18 Til I Die
Let's Make a Night to Remember
Can't Stop This Thing We Started
Kids Wanna Rock
Back to You
Everything I Do...
Summer of '69
Cuts Like a Knife
When You're Gone
Not Romeo Not Juliet
Heaven
It's Only Love
The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You
Cloud Number Nine
Run to You
Best of Me
Flying (Acoustic)
All For Love (Acoustic)
Straight From the Heart (Acoustic)
Room Service (Acoustic)

Photo credits to RFM and www.18tilidie.co.uk

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Recorded live for the DVD that was released with the Anthology package in late 2005, this DVD is as good as it gets. The five piece band, operating as a well-oiled machine, cranking out the songs to a fanatical audience of 20,000 fans at the Atlantic Pavillon (Pavilhao Atlantico if you want to get technical about it...). This concert was to be filmed in Spain (with a title called "Mad in Madrid") until a decision was made relatively late in the planning phases to move the filming to Lisbon.

The Artwork:
Here is some custom made artwork for this recording by Alex Kohn. Both are .pdf files.

The Songs:
From September to April of the Room Service tour, there were few occassions where the set list really turned some heads (for one MAJOR exception, read about the Cardiff,Wales November '04 show). This show is a good example of the standard Room Service set structure for the first 50-60 shows.

Highlights of any show during this tour was Keith's virtuoso guitar work during Kids Wanna Rock and It's Only Love. Plus, this recording features the first available professional concert recordings of new songs such as: Room Service, Open Road, Not Romeo Not Juliet plus the acoustic versions of old and new songs that close the show.

Performed but not recorded on the CD: Lonely Nights

The Recording:
Perfect. It's one of the handful of shows that sound as good as it would have it you were actually there live. Click HERE for a sample.

Room Service Open Road 18 Til I Die Let's Make a Night to Remember Can't Stop This Thing We Started Kids Wanna Rock Back to You Summer of '69 I'm Ready Cuts Like a Knife When You're Gone Not Romeo Not Juliet Everything I Do... One Night Love Affair It's Only Love (with support act Beverly Knight) The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You Cloud Number Nine Run to You Best of Me Flying (Acoustic) All For Love (Acoustic) Straight From the Heart (Acoustic) Room Service (Acoustic)

Photo credits to Nicola and www.18tilidie.co.uk

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The Songs: While still working on the basic set list, this show in Braunschweig shows that BA isn't afraid to include songs into the show whenever he feels. I'm Ready fits into the Everything I Do... slot and One Night Love Affair is slipped in before It's Only Love. He even sings both verses as opposed to the 2003/2004 shows in which the second verse is cut. Everything I Do... is moved down to later in the set for the first time in years. It's a nice change that helps make this show feel fresh.

It's Only Love features vocals of Beverly Knight who is the opening act for this run of shows. She's got some soul which is reminiscent of Tina Turner.

The acoustic Room Service continues to close this run of shows in Europe.

The Recording:
Similar to Leipzig and Berlin. Good recording that improves when you lower your trebel and increase your bass on your stereo. Click HERE for a sample of the recording.