Bryan Adams Solo:

Straight From The Heart

By John Voket

You would be hard pressed to find anyone who did not spend the last 20 years in a deep cave, who hasn’t heard of Canadian hitmeister Bryan Adams. Even if the name doesn’t ring a bell at first, just start singing a line or two from one of his many, many.... many top charting songs from the past three decades and a flash of recognition should occur.

Since the fresh-faced, gritty-voiced songwriter first sent a few demo tapes to A&M Records and signed his first recording contract for one-dollar in 1978, Adams has sold in excess of 65 million records including “Summer of ’69,” “Straight From the Heart,” “Cuts Like a Knife,” as well as the the Oscar and Golden Globe nominated “(Everything I Do) I Do for You.”

At 49, Adams will be playing out the sentiment of that monster hit in two Connecticut concert halls in the coming week. In an interview with The Newtown Bee, Adams said armed with just a guitar, he’ll be flying solo and bringing on his best material from the classics, to his latest project simply titled 11.

He will appear at the Warner Theatre in Torrington on Sunday April 5, and at New Haven’s famed Shubert Theater the following evening, April 6.

And truth be told, he won’t exactly be singing alone all night.

“Every night I bring somebody up on stage from the audience,” Adams said. “Because I have a theory that everyone can sing, and I prove it night after night. You don’t have to any have vocal lessons – you can just come up and go for it.”

Adams said occasionally he’ll even get someone who understands harmony.

“But no matter what, it’s always a hoot to have someone come up. They’re excited and everyone is excited to see what’s gonna happen. And you know what, some nights it’s so good the audience thinks it’s someone we’ve planted, but it never is.”

When Adams debuted his newest album, he kicked off a tour with just himself and his guitar, playing 11 cities in 11 countries over just 11 days in Europe. And this was new to him.

“I always had, and whenever I wanted a band to fall back on I could have it,” Adams said. “But in this case, it’s really different. Just me and my guitar and my harmonica.”

While many fans became aware of the performer’s commitment to charity and worthy causes when he opened the American segment of the original Live Aid in 1985, Adams said his upbringing exposed him to the kind of suffering he has railed against worldwide since he was a very young man.

“I traveled around the world with my parents way before I started thinking about music. And I’ve seen abject poverty all over the world face-to-face,” Adams said. “And I was committed to doing something about it.”

Adams said Live Aid co-founder Bob Geldof called on Adams long before the global concert and awareness-raising movement was even conceived to try and bring the Canadian artist on board.

“Geldof called me way, way before the show was put together to feel me out. He used to be a journalist in Vancouver [for] The Georgia Straight. And when he called me I said I’d be happy to do it. He told me all about putting the show together and what he was feeling about world hunger, and I said ‘count me in.’

“Then I didn’t hear anything more about it,” Adams recalled. “And year later he calls me up and says, ‘We’re gonna do it, I need ya,’ and I said, ‘I’ll be there.’”

To reserve tickets for Bryan Adams at the Warner Theatre go to WarnerTheatre.org; and for more information about the Shubert solo performance of Bryan Adams, visit capa.com/newhaven.