Bryan Adams - Plymouth Review

It is rare that I get to two gigs in Plymouth in the same week, but this week has rather bucked the local trend musically. Following a few busy months which have involved a lot of travelling to concerts, June has been much quieter. The summer in general is going to be pretty quiet, before a busier autumn/winter, and having a bit of a rest is no bad thing - but it has also been great to get to a few local things. I am off to Tavistock again next week, which is always a treat, and earlier this week I caught Brazilian rising stars Crypta - whom laid waste to a midweek Junction crowd that was really up for a good night. Last night's trip out was rather different, though, as I ventured up to Plymouth's world-famous Hoe for larger spectacle. The Hoe has hosted live music events on and off for a number of years but nothing had ever really grabbed me before. The MTV Crashes event was held a few times throughout the 2010s, but this largely catered to the mainstream pop audience, and since the pandemic there has not been too much taking place on The Hoe. 2024 is different, though, thanks to Plymouth Summer Sessions - a four-night semi-festival of sorts which attracted some pretty big names, especially for Plymouth, with Tom Jones, Bryan Adams, Madness, and a co-headline bill of Sting and Blondie topping the bills. Most of these names do not appeal to me in a big way, but I have always been something of a casual Adams fan - and decided that he would be fun to see live. He is not someone I would travel to see, but as I could walk to the show it seemed like a no-brainer. I used to listen to him quite a bit when I started to get into rock music many years ago, but in more recent years I had not really listened to him at all - bar the occasional spin of his multi-platinum opus Reckless from 1984. It was a good opportunity to really delve into his lengthy back catalogue, then, and over the last couple of months I have picked up most of his albums and have grown to like a good number of them. There is some pretty vapid pop in his back catalogue, but there is also plenty of heartfelt and pretty rocking material to be found - and Adam's music in recent times has been a good contrast to the heavier stuff I have been playing. I still have a few albums to get, which I will no doubt pick up in time, but this reacquaintance with his catalogue has been fun. Being something of a mini-festival, the gates opened at 4pm, with the first of the three support acts going on at 4:30pm. Due to work commitments and needing to eat, plus the fact that the weather was threatening to be pretty nasty, I opted to head down to The Hoe quite a bit later. As such, I missed Sam Richardson and the Renegades and Vivas - but I got into the temporary arena in time to catch Cassyette's set. Based on the timings released earlier in the day I expected her to be part-way through her set by the time I got there - but she had not started and it was clear that things were running later than advertised. This did not seem to be due to any obvious issues, though, so perhaps the timings advertised were just wrong.

I am not sure what I really made of Cassyette's set. It is sometimes good to see acts that you would not ordinarily listen to and I was not really ever bored during her set - but I would not ever sit down and listen to her material. Her music is a mix of pop, punk, and harder rock - with strong vocal hooks and the occasional chunky riff - but overall her sound is too synth-driven for me. In some ways it is good that rockier music is more mainstream these days than it was at one point, but I find this modern alternative crossover with pretty mainstream pop a bit strange. There is nothing wrong with mixing genres and being creative, but personally I have always found rock and metal bands incorporating extreme levels of pop and hip-hop into their music a bit strange - with bands like Bring Me the Horizon essentially forming a whole new alternative metal-adjacent world which seems to occupy a weird middle ground between the mainstream and something genuinely alternative. Cassyette's music was poppy in that regard, then, but it was not overly lairy in a way that such music can often be - and her sound felt a bit more grounded as a result. The thing that disappointed me the most, though, was the amount that her set relied on backing tracks. She was joined by a guitarist, who sometimes did not play at all, and a drummer - with everything else being pre-recorded, including a large amount of harmony and counterpoint vocals. I know that this is normal in the pop world but I have always found it jarring when presented in more of a rock context. This is not a rant against backing tracks, as many bands use them to good effect, but I felt that I would have perhaps connected more with Cassyette's set if she had had a proper band behind her. It was perhaps telling that the moments where the guitar took the lead were some of the set's strongest moments in my opinion - and she can certainly write a hooky chorus, as there were a decent amount of them during her set. She just also seemed a strange choice as a support act for Adams - given that most of the people in attendance were middle-aged, and she is clearly aiming for a younger audience. Due to the undulating topography of the The Hoe, it was hard to see what the crowd was like nearer the front - but the reception Cassyette's set received around where I was standing, which at that time was near the sound desk, was quite muted. I did not think that she overstayed her welcome, though, and I am glad to have checked her out - but I cannot say that I am a convert.

There ended up being quite a long gap between Cassyette and Adams' sets, which would suggest that something strange had happened with the overall timings, but once Adams hit the stage this was all forgotten and for the next 90 or so minutes Plymouth was treated a collection of many of his classic tracks - alongside a few newer cuts to keep things relevant. It would be easy for Adams to play the same set night after night given his glut of hits, but the inclusion of some new material showed that he is very much still a creative artist - and it was the hard rocking Kick Ass from his latest album which got things underway. Backed by a four-piece band, I think it is fair to say that Adams' set was understated and one that just focused on a strong performance. He interacted with the crowd well but kept it to a relative minimum - instead focusing on delivering an 18-song set with all the professionalism that his long career as afforded him. There was little fanfare, then, and the songs sounded rawer without all the polish of his studio sound - but this is how a live rock show should sound, and his band were tight from the word go. The hits came thick and fast throughout the show, which was expected given the festival-esque setting, with the anthemic Can't Stop This Thing We Started and the rollocking 18 til I Die being some of the early highlights. Everyone around me was having a great time singing along and there was a great atmosphere throughout despite the odd rain shower making an appearance and the strange disconnect which there can sometimes be at bigger outdoor shows. It is hard to know how many people were in attendance but there were certainly a few thousand gathered and there was plenty of singing during the quieter moments - such as the ballad Please Forgive Me and a slightly re-arranged version of Heaven which felt more upbeat than the original album version.

Some of the overall highlights for me personally, though, were the heavier tracks. Take Me Back felt nice and crunchy early on in the set but I really enjoyed the elongated version of Go Down Rockin', with Adams adding some harmonica and Keith Scott (guitar/vocals) using a slide. The song also included a bluesy ending to stretch it out somewhat and it showed that Adams can really rock when he wants to - whilst the country rock of You Belong to Me later kept the up-tempo vibes going with bassist Solomon Walker wielding a double bass. The middle part of the set had included a handful of lesser-known pieces, then, but what was to follow was back to wall-to-wall hits. When Gary Breit (keyboards/percussion/vocals) launched into the opening piano melodies of (Everything I Do) I Do It For You the place went wild and Adams sung the legendary song with real passion - whilst Scott added a couple of emotional solos. The acoustic rock of Back to You and the newer pop drive of So Happy It Hurts gave the set a bit of a kick following the big ballad - but it was Run to You and the anthemic Summer of '69 which really got everyone going. The latter saw plenty of singing from the crowd, and it was dragged out a bit by the band to allow for a bit of interaction. This was also the case with Cuts Like a Knife, which was the final full band song of the night. There was a lot of audience participation here, with Adams encouraging quite a bit of singing - and there was plenty of last minute band jamming moments before the musicians were introduced and departed the stage. Adams then closed the night out with an acoustic version of When You're Gone, which also saw plenty of singing, and the slimmed down version of the 1990s hit was a fun way to end what had been a pretty upbeat set - and the crowd were certainly left wanting more. The setlist was:

Kick Ass

Can't Stop This Thing We Started

Somebody

18 til I Die

Please Forgive Me

Take Me Back

Heaven

Go Down Rockin'

It's Only Love/The Best [Bonnie Tyler cover]/What's Love Got to Do with It [Tina Turner cover]

You Belong to Me

The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You

(Everything I Do) I Do It For You

Back to You

So Happy It Hurts

Run to You

Summer of '69

Cuts Like a Knife

When You're Gone

It is always good to see an artist for the first time and I really enjoyed finally seeing Adams live last night. The weather largely held, despite the forecast and a couple of showers, and the setlist was a good mix of classic tracks and a few newer tunes to provide some variety. Adams may not be the sort of act which I listen to that often these days but he has written a lot of excellent songs over the years and it was great to hear so many of them live - and he still sounded great vocally.