Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams performs during a concert in Lisbon, Portugal in January 2016. Manuel de Almeida, EPA/File
Filipinos are known to be avid videoke singers, whether they are in their own country or anywhere in the world. Seafarers while away their time singing in videokes the same way migrant Filipinos gather on special occasions with the essential videoke machine. So we asked Canadian rock legend Bryan Adams, who confessed of meeting a lot of Filipinos all over the world, if he ever tried it once in his life?
“You mean ‘karaoke’? Oh, I did try ‘karaoke’ once. Am OK at it but I think am better just doing my own thing,” Adams, giggling, told ABS-CBN News in a virtual interview on Saturday.
The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is on the tail end of ‘So Happy It Hurts Tour’ in Asia. Prior to his Tokyo concert on March 7, he had a show in Seoul on March 2.
He will perform in Manila on March 15 at the Araneta Coliseum, as announced by Wilbros Live, the same music promoter in his 2017 “Get Up World Tour” concert also in held at the Big Dome.
The Filipino audience would know they’d get their hard-earned money’s worth. In that 2017 concert, Adams performed around 37 songs.
It may sound exhausting but Adams knows how to protect his voice, or at least keeps it in top shape.
“I protect my voice like I protect everything in myself,” the 63-year-old Adams told ABS-CBN News. It still has that raspy and breathy sound associated with rock singers.
“I eat well, I exercise. I don’t smoke and drink. Quite boring really,” he added, laughing. “I spend a lot of time thinking about music and my family. Keeping yourself happy and healthy is the way to a healthy voice.”
He also confessed he watches what he eats and he’s doing that for more than three decades. “Am a vegan and that’s one step beyond vegetarian. I don’t eat fish, meat, chicken, eggs. I’ve been [vegan] for almost 35 years,” he told ABS-CBN News.
Like any other artists cocooned at their home studios, the pandemic made Adams more productive, composing new materials or doing old stuff with new renditions. In 2022 alone, he has recorded and released four albums.
“With all the time on my hands, when I couldn’t work (performing live shows), I wrote a lot of songs. We got busy in the studio,” he said.
Besides “So Happy It Hurts,” he released his old hits in two albums “Classics (Re-Recorded)” and “Classics PT. II”.
Included are his staple hits like “Summer of ’69,” “(Everything I Do) I’d Do It For You,” Heaven,” “Straight from the Heart,” “Cuts Like a Knife,” “Please Forgive Me,” “All For Love,” “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” and “I Finally Found Someone”.
“I gave them a breath of fresh air so when I returned to performing live, I’d be able to introduce my music once again to a new set of audience,” he said.
Surprisingly, his fourth album is for a musical, his first time to do that.
He wrote the music and lyrics for “Pretty Woman The Musical” with singer-songwriter Jim Marshall. Based on the 1990s hit movie starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, “Pretty Woman The Musical” is currently being toured in the US and Canada. Later in 2023, it will be staged in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Hamburg, Germany. No news yet if it will be brought to Manila and other Southeast Asian countries.
As a performer, Adams told the select members of the media in Manila that he started touring in February 2022 and before the year ended, he has done more than a hundred shows. This year, he’s doing 40 more shows.
“It’s great as a musician that after two years of not being able to perform, we were able to tour again. The first concerts we did in 2022, people were wearing masks. Some shows were cancelled because of health protocols,” he said. In Canada, he added, it was easy because people weren’t required to wear masks.
“I meet (lots of) Filipino people all over the world and they always remind me that they love my songs. So, I said to my agent when we were planning our tour in Asia, make sure the Philippines is there.”
“So Happy It Hurts” the album has been nominated for a Grammy for its title song and Adams is very elated about it.
As for the Manila concert, he said Filipinos could expect to hear the songs “you know and love.” He added fans could send him a private message in his Instagram account if they have requests for the Araneta Concert and he’ll try to read them all. As of posting, tickets are still on-sale via TicketNet.com.ph and TicketNet outlets nationwide.
“For sure, I will play what many told me as some sort of a Philippine national anthem, ‘Please, Forgive Me’.”