Nostalgia peaked as rock legend Bryan Adams performed in Gurgaon on Thursday. The 65-year-old, who returned to India after five years, was welcomed with posters that read, ‘My parents met because of you,’ ‘The is the best day of my life,’ ‘We love you, Bryan’ – each of which the singer read out loud after his first two songs.
“We have a long set that has old and new songs so I am going to shut up and start playing,” he added before singing hits like Please Forgive Me, Shine a Light (a song that he wrote for his father who passed away), Heaven, Here I am, Everything I Do, I Do It for You, and the most-awaited song of the evening – Summer of ‘69.
Dressed in leather jackets just like the singer, the crowd sang along at the top of their voices – some remembered their first love, others a time when they were probably a part of a band in college and relived the good old days. “This is the thing about music. It takes you back to a time and can bring back all the memories. I grew up listening to his music and his performance took me back to that time. His music is evergreen that way,” shared Manisha Tyagi, a resident of Anand Niketan.
The 65-year-old singer-songwriter returned to India after five years
“He is 65 and he performed for almost two hours. He interacted with the crowd, he played, he came to meet his fans during the performance and kept the concert going. The crowd here had people from all age groups and that’s what his music represents. He is still loved and he still has that magic,” shared Sanchit Aggarwal (in his 50s), who came with his college buddies to the concert.
Bryan, with Keith Scott (guitar), Gary Breit (keyboards), Pat Steward (drums), made the crowd dance, took them on a nostalgic trip and also tried to look for the worst, no – the best dancer in the crowd. “My cameraman is looking for the worst (no, best) dancers of the evening. If you don’t want to dance, you have two choices – you can either
twerk or you can just take off your shirt and raise your hand,” said Bryan while the crowd gave their best performance for his cameraman.
Before Bryan sang It’s Only Love, he shared, “The next song that I am going to do is a duet I did with Tina Turner. And we lost her last year, which is a great loss to music and a great loss to me, because she was my friend so I want to make a tribute to the great lady.”
