Bryan Adams, Proud Mary and Sketcher at the KC Stadium, Hull Saturday 26th June 04 By Steve Rudd

St. Helens-based quartet Sketcher were something of a bizarre choice for the first support act of the night, playing a damn fine brand of pop-punk music. Still, they did what they were in a sense expected to do, and warmed-up the crowd to a fantastic degree, with audience participation paramount (even if the extent of that was merely clapping and arm-waving as and when requested) and the music being coolly catchy, high-spirited and enthusiastically played in a similar vein to the music of pop-punk heroes, Greenday.

Proud Mary, a little older and wiser than Sketcher, are a much more well known band, having been dragging themselves around the toilet circuit of UK gig venues over the past few years. Oasis geezer Noel Gallagher has produced some of their work, with their style of music being rooted in Country rock 'n' roll realms, brimming with soulful vocals and melodic guitar hooks.

Delivering a mixture of old material and some tunes from their new Love & Light album, they finished with Salt Of The Earth, in between nasty bouts of rain attacking the almost sold-out stadium's crowd.

For those readers who know nothing about the KC Stadium in Hull, this is a brand new stadium (and the home of the bulk of the city's football and cricket matches). There haven't been many gigs there as yet, but it has proved itself to be a truly ideal venue for the city and surrounding area, especially since the next venue of any size or worth - that's similarly capable of putting on such large-scale gigs - is Sheffield Arena.

Previously, the likes of Elton John and Westlife had played gigs at the stadium, but Bryan Adams was the first proper rock star to grace the stage, with this being the penultimate date of the his 2004 tour: part one.

Having spent much of the year playing plenty of gigs in the US & Canada, India & the Gulf, and then around Europe, Bryan didn't look tired or bored of his rock 'n' roll lifestyle in any respect, blasting into the two-hour-long set with his There Will Never Be Another Tonight anthem. Which was apt. But there's every chance that he will someday return to the venue, for he was clearly enjoying himself, with Bryan's handy guitar-work playing off Keith Scott's lead guitar hooks a treat. Bryan's voice is sounding as gruffly soulful as ever, and energy was oozing in every direction as he constantly ran back and forth across the front of the specially extended stage.

Despite his announcement that he's releasing a brand new album in the Autumn, he somehow refrained from playing even one new song, instead culling some of the best material from his past albums, which span from the very early eighties. Two of his best-loved tunes in Summer of '69 and the epic uber-romantic ballad Everything I Do were played back-to-back, and both acoustically, before he invited a Scunthorpe girl from the crowd to duet with him through the supremely poppy When You're Gone.

Hit after hit was rattled out to perfection, and although the heaving crowd was subjected to plenty of fleeting downpours throughout the set, nobody was complaining and everyone seemed to having a whale of a time. To a large extent, I don't think the fact that Bryan was really in Hull, singing and playing his heart out had really sunk in with many people, with this gig surely being one of the most exhilarating ever before staged in the city.

Over the past twenty years, Bryan Adams' sensational ability to write fantastic pop-rock anthems really has never faltered, and brilliant versions of Run To You, It's Only Love, Cuts Like A Knife, Can't Stop This Thing We've Started and the fab-fab-fab House Arrest were just a few of a set saturated with highlights. A self-confessed workaholic, Bryan seems to make a point of regularly playing quite obscure stadiums in and around the UK when he does come over, even if he does seem rather fond of the Sheffield Arena where he has previously played quite a few times, and indeed twice within about two months on his 1997 18 Till I Die tour.

This Hull date was supposed to be the only UK one he was doing, but a date in Stoke was to end the tour good and proper.. and, for sure, Stoke's not a city that's often treated to such lavish rock events.

The encore was a five-song treat, with the two final songs being beautifully toned-down and touching versions of, first, Straight From The Heart (one of his slowest songs, and one of the first he ever wrote when he was 18.. that was later covered by Bonnie Tyler) and, finally, Depend On Me, in which he proudly admitted.. You can depend on me. And that's one of the most reassuring aspects of Bryan Adams and his music. His career is testament to such a statement. If you desire soft-rock music that's perfect to sing along to, Bryan Adams is your man.. who genuinely is an all-round nice guy and genius singer-songwriter to boot.

And, if anything, the addition of rain on the night somehow made the gig all the more spectacular and unforgettable. What's more, Hull now has a truly astounding venue that will hopefully now attract all manner of superstar singers and bands to the city. Like a little Wembley of our own in the north, Bryan looked at home on stage there, and after putting on the quality show that he did, he more than deserves the keys to the city..

Links: www.bryanadams.com

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