Bryan Adams brings his Ultimate show to Birmingham

Bryan has been thrilling fans on his Ultimate tour with shows that feature his greatest hits.

Typically, he’s played almost 30 songs including such crowd-pleasers as Can’t Stop This Thing We Started, Run to You, Heaven, Summer of ‘69, When You’re Gone, (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, Somebody, The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You, Cuts Like a Knife, Straight From the Heart and All for Love.

The Ultimate tour follows the release of Bryan’s album of the same name, which aimed to condense his extensive back catalogue – 13 studio albums, five live albums, five compilation albums and over 75 singles – into a 21-track offering.

It showcased the hitmaker’s celebrated career and gave fans the chance to enjoy his signature feel-good rock‘n’roll and big ballads.

“As a songwriter and musician you are always creating – it’s what you do,” says Bryan. “So even though I’ve released an ‘ultimate’ collection, I’m always looking ahead. There are two new songs included . . . both written last year with the message that love still counts, even in uncertain times.”

Bryan is at his happiest when he’s making music, taking photographs, planning shows or creating something new: “I’ve always loved creating things and I get a bit anxious if I’m not busy making something from nothing. It’s the process I love. Creating a team, making magic happen.”

He prefers a little-and-often approach, rather than doing too much in one go, so that he stays fresh and gives fans his best.

“The main thing I’ve learned is not to go out for too long. Even though I do more than 100 shows a year, the tours are only 10 days long.”

It’s a big change from the way things used to be in the 1980s and 1990s, when he’d be on the road for years on end, resulting in a sense of groundhog day. “Especially if you’re touring America,” he adds. “Because all the hotels look exactly the same and you live in this little bubble and you’re playing the same set every night.” But he does love to play live: “When people are singing your songs back to you that’s the biggest payback you could have as a songwriter.

“Being out there is a great place to be because it’s safe. It’s exciting. It’s like skiing downhill – all you can think about is going down the hill.”

Bryan was born in Ontario and travelled with his parents to diplomatic postings in Portugal and Vienna, Austria, during the 1960s, and to Israel in 1970s.

As a teenager, he started working in the Vancouver studio scene as a backing vocalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and backing local artists and with Motown keyboardist Robbie King, who Adams attributes to giving him his first salaried session.

He was influenced by classic rock‘n’roll artists. “Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Beatles, Lennon and McCartney, Everly Brothers, Simon and Garfunkel. Then, later on, rock music such as Led Zeppelin, Bowie and Elton John.”

Reckless gave him his breakthrough hit, reaching number one in the USA and Canada as well as the top ten in the UK.

“When I was making the 30th anniversary album [the same album with a few bonus tracks included], we were digging all these songs out of the archive and I thought it was great to have all this material that we could add in to make the record. I wasn’t thinking ‘wow, 30 years!’ but if I started thinking about it, there were a lot of white lines down the highway. There were a lot of gigs.”

Seven years later, he released Waking Up The Neighbours, which sold 16 million copies around the world and earned him 18 platinum discs as it went to number one around the globe.

When Bryan isn’t on the road, he spends his time engaged in other creative pursuits – including photography.

“It’s much like songwriting in that you start with nothing and end up with something beautiful.”