I have loved Bryan Adams since the mid-1980s, but it wasn’t until this past weekend 30 years later that I saw him in concert. I had a Bryan Adams poster hanging on the back of my bedroom door in high school right under my U2 poster. I have seen U2 in concert 90 times, yet Bryan Adams only once. But it was worth the wait because Bryan did not dissapoint. He was very much the showman and sounded just as great as he did in the 80s. There was no opening act and Bryan played for over two hours with no intermission. The sold out crowd at Wolf Trap in Northern Virginia was on their feet in sheer excitement and appreciation. I left my house at 2pm for the 8pm show to avoid the terrible 495 Friday traffic, but to my delight traffic was not as bad as it was driving to the Cyndi Lauper / Boy George concert at Wolf Trap back in June. My car thermometer read 102 degrees, which is kind of crazy for the 9th day of September. I want to wear hoodies and jeans, not tank tops and shorts. Since it was so hot and only 3:15 instead of tailgating in the parking lot at Wolf Trap, I decided to tailgate at the brand new (just opened a few days prior) Ledo Pizza in Vienna, VA.

I ordered buffalo wings and sweet tea – and a pizza to go. I had been craving wings since the previous night when I was out watching football but too excited to eat any. I wanted to stay at Ledo’s until at least 5, since the gates didn’t open until 6:30. But it was a very small Ledo’s where the counter overlooks the dining room. There were more staff than patrons, so they were all watching me and I felt weird if I were to just hang out there. So I left and was parked at Wolf Trap by 4:15. Within a few minutes, I realized that buffalo wings with blue cheese and sweet tea was probably not the smartest idea – especially since I was still hung over and had little sleep from the previous night. Luckily there are bathrooms right outside the entrance that I could drive to. Then I rested in my car and had two squares of pizza before walking back up to the entrance. After the gates finally opened at 6:30, I got a large blue powerade and drank it straight down and the rest of the night my stomach and I were just fine.

Of course I couldn’t get to my seat until 7:30 when the pavilion opened. I was in orchestra left row Q seat 5 – not a bad view. hoodie objLooking around I noticed it was an older crowd than the Cyndi Lauper / Boy George even though they were all popular at the same time in the 80s. rutgers hoodie amazonI was sitting there feeling annoyed with everyone around me who acted like this was the first conert they had ever been to, and annoyed wondering if it was worth it traveling and waiting basically 6 hours for a 2 hour concert. buy pokerstars t shirtsThen at 8:15 Bryan took the stage and the music washed all my annoyances and frustrations away. best mma shorts sherdog

I was once again VERY happy! Bryan and all the guys in the band wore white button down shirts and blue jeans. north face half dome hoodie multiThere were lots of guitars and guitar solos – a bit too much for my taste. edward scissorhands shirt hot topicBut there was one drum solo, so that made me happy. marvel universe costume zip hoodieI was surprised that “Everything I Do I Do It For You” got a bigger reaction and applause from the audience than the songs from Reckless, my favorite and I thought Bryan’s most popular album. I cried during “Heaven” – just brought back all the great memories from my teen years. I thought Bryan’s new songs off Get Up played as great as his old hits. It is a great album.

But the auidence didn’t seem that interested, but I loved them especially “We Did It All.” But that’s how it is at any show. Only the real fans are singing along to the new songs and everyone else just know the hits. Bryan Adam Setlist for 9.9.16 at Wolf Trap, VA was as follows: Do What Ya Gotta Do Can’t Stop This Thing We Started You Belong to MeI Do It For You If Ya Wanna Be Bad Ya Gotta Be Good We Did It All I’ll Always Be Right There Cuts Like a Knife 18 til I Die The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me is You Straight From the Heart“Every night we go on stage there’s a sense of anticipation,” a Bono voiceover tells the viewers of the U2: iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE: Live in Paris broadcast, which aired on HBO tonight (December 7).  “But this night is different. This night, we come together in Paris, for Paris. This night, we choose love over fear.” Saying that the show was “different” was a bit of an understatement, of course. 

U2 played last night and tonight in Paris, making up shows that were rescheduled after the terror attacks last month. The setlist wasn’t radically different from the shows they’ve been playing throughout the tour, but surely the vibe was more like their performances in New York shortly after 9/11. It’s a bit eerie how their schedule has taken them to both cities shortly after horrifying attacks. But as Bono said about terrorists in a recent interview, “ISIS and these kinds of extremists are a death cult. We’re a life cult.” And that life cult was probably greatly needed in Paris this week; that life cult exerted a powerful hold on everyone in the AccorHotels Arena, and everyone watching at home. Related: U2 Challenge, Thrill Audiences at Madison Square Garden Some may have wondered if it would be appropriate for U2 to cater their set more towards the occasion. After all, many of the songs from Innocence + Experience deal with the violence the band experienced in their homeland of Ireland, including a car bombing, as does “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”

But U2 weren’t simply there to give Paris a warm hug; their show was living, breathing proof that senseless violence can be endured, and survived. The survivors don’t necessarily need to be hateful or vengeful was U2’s message. The show cast the new album, which last year was slammed both for its content and its method of delivery, in a new light, making it more relevant than perhaps it seemed in 2014. “You will not have our hatred,” Bono said from the stage. “We choose love over fear! Our prayer: we refuse to become a monster to defeat a monster,” echoing the comments in the aforementioned interview. Who other than Bono would have the audacity to make such comments before an audience of (potentially) hundreds of thousands. It’s easy to criticize him and U2, but few other artists offer the kind of catharsis that they did. The most reported part of the show, which was broadcast a few hours after it took place (an actual live broadcast would have had it on the air at about 2 pm ET), was, of course, when the band was joined by Eagles of Death Metal.