A last minute addition to the Rock The Park lineup, Bryan Adams capped off the 20th anniversary of the London music festival on Saturday, July 13, 2024 in epic fashion.
Just over two weeks ago, organizers simultaneously announced Neil Young and Crazy Horse had cancelled their tour, due to illness, and Adams would be filling in.
Making a detour to ‘The Forest City’ was a no-brainer, Adams told the audience.
“I got a call two weeks ago and they were saying that Neil’s show had been canceled, would you come down and set up for a concert in London? I said ‘hell yeah’.”
Adams added: “I’m sure we all join together in hoping the best for Neil and his band. I hope everyone is good. Let’s give a mighty cheer for Neil.”
After blazing through hit-after-hit from his deep catalog, including ‘Summer of ‘69’, ‘Back To You’, ‘Run To You, ‘Heaven’, and right after performing ‘Cuts Like A Knife’, Adams invited some friends on stage.
Members of each opening act from the fourth and final day of Rock The Park, including Alan Doyle and his band, The Sheepdogs and Odds, all joined Adams and his band on stage for an incredible cover of Young’s classic ‘Rockin’ In The Free World.’
To top it off, Adams followed this up with a solo rendition of Young’s ‘Heart Of Gold’, before his closing number ‘Straight From the Heart’.
It appears Rock The Park owner Brad Jones manifested the Neil Young tribute a couple of weeks ago as well, as he suggested it in a statement when the lineup change was announced.
“We want to wish Neil, Micah, Ralph and Billy the very best in getting healthy and back to the road soon,” Jone stated, on June 26, 2024.
“We’re also thrilled to announce and want to thank Bryan Adams for stepping up and becoming our Saturday night headliner on such short notice. From one Canadian rock legend to another, we will rock the park Saturday to close out the 20th anniversary. And just maybe, we can talk Bryan into adding a couple of Neil Young with Crazy Horse hits to his set!”
“What a way to wrap up 20 years of Rock The Park!” organizers shared on social media.
Prior to the performance on Saturday, SWOMP caught up with Adams for a Q&A, where he shared some more insight on Young.
“Neil is a hero to me, and I can’t speak for the others on the show, but I bet they feel the same,” Adams told SWOMP.
“The guy has written some staggeringly brilliant songs over the years, and if you reach back to (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) days, one of the first records of my youth was Deja Vu… geeezus what a record.”
Adams told SWOMP he’s met Young a couple of times over the years.
“I think the last time we saw each other was at Farm Aid in the States many years ago,” he said.
“We emailed back and forth a couple of years ago when I was trying to get the Canadian Government to pull a finger out and update the copyright laws for Canadian creators (which they did not do), but the first time we met was during the recording of “Tears Are Not Enough” in Toronto.”
Here are some more photos from the show, submitted by Rock The Park and captured by photographer Bill Woodcock:
A nod to London
Adams subtly referenced London a few times during his set.
“C’mon London… are you ready?” he sang, while performing ‘Somebody Like You’.
“London, don’t forget your roots,” Adams sang in a lyric change during ‘Shine A Light’.
During the Q&A with SWOMP, Adams said he’s always enjoyed playing in London.
“London has always been good to us,” he told SWOMP.
“Anytime I play in the area, whether it be Hamilton, Kitchener, or even at the towns just south of the border, I get a sense of being close to where I was born… Kingston, which is always good.”
Busy year
Adams is set to perform a string of shows in Quebec next month, before heading back to Europe this fall.
“It’s been the busiest year for me in a long time,” Adams said.
“A lot of that is because I’m managing myself and I’m an independent artist now. All of that is super inspiring so I’ve decided to work hard this year. Also, in the past two years, I’ve released a new album (So Happy It Hurts), a musical soundtrack (Pretty Woman – The Musical), a three album boxset recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in London (Cuts Like A Knife / Into The Fire / Waking Up The Neighbours) and re-recorded two albums of my biggest hits.
Adams added: “I did a Taylor Swift basically and I call them the Classic Versions. I’ve also started my own label and will be announcing that this month too… these are exciting times.”
During Saturday’s concert, Adams’ team unleashed a pair of massive beach balls into the crowd, with the words ‘So Happy It Hurts’ written on them, a fun promotion for Adams’ new album.
At one point, one of the massive inflatable balls came over the fence in the backstage area.
Members of Odds and The Sheepdogs, who were backstage watching the show, attempted to hit the ball back into the crowd, but crew members came and deflated it before it could be launched back into the audience.
Award-winning artist
Adams’ music has achieved #1 status in over 40 countries during his career.
He has garnered many awards and accolades including three Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, a Grammy award and multiple Canadian awards such as Companion of the Order of Canada and 18 Juno Awards, among others.
Read SWOMP’s full Q&A with Adams, here.
Follow Adams on his official website https://www.bryanadams.com/.