'Straight From The Heart': Bryan Adams pleases at PPG Paints Arena

PITTSBURGH ― Bryan Adams' voice sounded as strong and entertaining as ever Friday.

And that's half the battle, right?

Factor in an energized and skillful band, flawless acoustics, a bevy of hit songs and some welcome spontaneity, and the result was a great show by the 64-year-old Canadian rocking PPG Paints Arena.

With the upper bowl closed off, Adams worked all front-corner angles of his T-shaped stage, parking his black sneakers in front of strategically placed microphone stands to cut loose on vocals on a variety of song styles, backed by his four-man band.

Adams started symbolically with "Kick Ass," a song that did just that. He waited till just selection No. 3 to trot out his first Top-20 hit, 1984's "Somebody." Adams established this would be a night where fan-favorite songs would be tweaked just enough to keep things fresh, in this case with a well-measured extended break near the song's conclusion.

Adams embellished the night's theme of endless fun with "18 Til' I Die," a song about striving to never feel old.

His voice seems to have sipped from the fountain of youth, evidenced by the ballad "Please Forgive Me" where he sang robustly while strumming an acoustic guitar. The knowledgeable crowd launched a singalong without command.

Fans held aloft illuminated smartphones in tribute to any lost loved ones, as encouraged by Adams in introducing "Shine a Light," a song the singer wrote in tribute to his late father. Rather than somber, "Shine a Light" rode an upbeat melody, with a foot-stomping beat.

"Kids Wanna Rock" brought big drum whacks from Pat Steward, including a hard-hitting solo preceded by Adams holding a long vocal growl.

Next came "Heaven," given a little extra pep and drum heft compared to the 1985 chart-topping single. I liked this live version better.

"Go Down Rockin,'" had a Stones-y "Midnight Rambler" feel and featured a fun guitar dual between Adams and lead six-stringer Keith Scott, who's been in the band from the beginning.

Adams gave a nice shout-out to his mentor, the late Tina Turner, before roaring through their collab "It's Only Love," bookending a bit of Turner's "Simply The Best." Scott's thrilling guitar shredding looked ready to rip what was left of the lacquer off his instrument.

Rockabilly is just another word for dance, Adams said, as he and the band demonstrated on "You Belong to Me," graced by Solomon Walker's upright bass plucks, as a stage cameraman beamed footage to the screen of the most demonstrative dancers in the audience.

Adams added a rock-solid electric guitar solo to "The Only Thing That Looks Good on You Is Me."

"I Will Always Return" brought pretty piano as Adams strummed acoustic guitar. Another keys and guitar ballad, "Here I Am," found Adams ratcheting up the vocal gusto but always staying well under control.

The crowd sang along enthusiastically to the mega-hit "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You".

An inflatable convertible, resembling the one in his "So Happy It Hurts" music video, floated above the crowd for that song bearing Adams' raspy eloquence.

Classic-rock bliss ensued with "Run to You," with its great, piercing guitar flights, followed by the carefree and mighty "Summer of '69." Of course, audience members went wild.

As he's done on tour, Adams let spectators pick a few songs for the setlist via signs they brought with them. A group of female fans' signs spelled out the title to "One Night Love Affair," which Adams promptly played. It sounded excellent.

A lady from Buffalo requested "Star," a deep-cut Adams penned for a Robin Williams film. "Star" was lovely, bearing a chorus of "Everybody has a dream/We all need a shining star when things ain't what they seem/So, tonight we're gonna wish upon a star/We never wished upon before." Sticking to the spontaneity, as "Star" neared its finish, Adams instructed the band to give it a slow fade out, which they expertly and movingly did.

An extended "Cuts Like a Knife," with fans eagerly accepting the invitation to add the "na-na-na's," set up an encore with Adams alone on stage crooning "Straight From The Heart," with that voice still strong.

Can we all admit he's underrated as a live performer?

The show got off to a pleasurable start with Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics and his accomplished seven-woman band.

Stewart impressed on acoustic and electric guitars, and let his team of singers, most notably the outstanding Vanessa Amorosa, capably handle the epic Annie Lennox parts on Eurythmics hits like "Would I Lie to You?"

"Missionary Man" smoothly changed shape from testifying blues, to bouncy funk to a hard-rocking finish.

Relying on saxophone, clarinet, harmonica, keys, bass and drums, Stewart's band captured the essence of hits like "Here Comes The Rain Again," which he joked is one of the 140 songs about breaking up that he and Lennox co-wrote.

While the first half of the 65-minute set leaned on Eurythmics deeper cuts − a hit in that early mix might have worked better − Stewart chose to finish as strongly as possible, with a five-song hit parade culminating with the soul-powered "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves," with female spectators accepting Stewart's offer to stand and sing along. Last, quite naturally, came "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," sounding as bold, booming and irresistible as ever.

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@timesonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Review: Bryan Adams sounded in fine form at Pittsburgh concert