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

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