Bryan Adams’ memory of his first tour in India (Mumbai in 1995) is that the trip was an adventure. The Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist recalls, “There were no cars to collect us, so Keith (guitarist Douglas Scott) and I got in a taxi from the airport. The suspension was broken in the car, so we leaned over the seat to watch where we were going.”
A westerner’s Indian experience would, of course, be incomplete without the mandatory ‘cow resting in the middle of the road’ encounter. In Bryan’s case, however, it was an elephant. He tells us, “We had to stop because an elephant had gone to sleep in the middle of the road. That story would not happen anywhere else in the world, I thought to myself, ‘Welcome to India’.” The Everything I Do I Do It For You hitmaker is gearing up to be in the country from October 9. This is his 19th concert tour in support of his current 21-track compilation, Ultimate, which he dropped last November. The shows will start from Ahmedabad and end in Delhi, with stopovers in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
INDIA CALLING
Talking about the show, the pop icon says, “This will be our fifth tour of India. I’m not sure many artistes have done that from the West. I’m always reminded about our first concert at the Brabourne Stadium in the ’90s. We were the first western band to do such a big tour of India, and I think people remember us for it.” He adds that they opened a lot of doors for western bands to play in the country.
“Mick Jagger called me before the Rolling Stones played here. He wanted to know what it was like. I told him it was one of my most exciting tours ever,” the rock artiste avers. Bryan says that no matter how many shows the band has done here, each night is unique. “The best fun comes from the crowd interactions,” he states.
THE ULTIMATE ALBUM
Twenty-one is a humble number of tracks to put on a CD for a musician who has 13 studio records, five live and compilation albums each and over 75 singles. The 58-year-old says that it was fun to put Ultimate together, as it’s what he plays live. “There are, of course, many other songs I could have put on there, but there is only so much room on a CD,” points out Bryan, whose next studio record will be out in January 2019 after his last one Get Up released in 2015. Bryan is also a photographer renowned for his book Exposed that had images of Amy Winehouse, Mick Jagger, Lindsey Lohan and many more. Quiz him whether he will be going click-happy while here, he says, “Maybe, I love people and places.”
HIS IDEA OF ACHIEVEMENT
Bryan is arguably best known for his track, Summer of 69, off his 1984 album Reckless. Funnily, the song didn’t feature on music charts in Europe until about a decade later. However, that didn’t bother the musician, who says, “I don’t care about the charts, but if the next album goes in the top 10, I’d be very happy.” What does the multiple music awardee and nominee with so many megahits consider as his greatest achievement? He emphasises, “As far as I know, there are two kinds of stars — those that seek the limelight and those that don’t. I’m one of those that never cared about fame, I just liked making music. That’s why, I was never bothered living hand to mouth, month after month.”
HIS FAVOURITE ARTISTES
The guy who can get tens of thousands of fans going crazy at his gigs, Bryan’s favourite concerts were back in the ’70s. “T-Rex, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Elton John... nothing comes close to the shows back then,” he says. Among the newer artistes, it’s Chris Martin (Coldplay frontman) and Drake whose music he digs.
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 "Bryan Adams")
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