Ottawa Bluesfest
@ Le Breton Flats, Ottawa
Day 1 || July 5, 2018
Bryan Adams
The first day of Bluesfest is a real hit or miss when it comes to the crowds, especially when itβs on a weeknight at the end of a record breaking heat wave. With Bryan Adams being featured in the headlining slot on the first night this year, the turnout was definitely large, although the crowdβs interaction was pretty disappointing. Adams really had to work to get the crowd to interact with him and thatβs quite shocking, seeing as he is one of the most celebrated names in Canadian music.
While heβs played Ottawa many times and put on a spectacular show at the NHL Classic 100Β just last year, Ottawa has shown its native son much warmer welcomes than they did last night. Despite the crowd not giving him much ammunition, he still put on a well oiled and personal set that ran through most of his fan favourite hit songs. The screens surrounding the stage and in the middle, placed as a backdrop, were in sync with every song – most notably for βSummer of β69β with the lyrics tattooed onto a womanβs body and β18 βtil I Dieβ with the the track title following his words on screen. With a catalogue like his, itβs hard to fit everything into one set, but it was undoubtedly surprising that he didnβt play βIn The Heat Of The Nightβ. The encore was quite unique, as he played mostly covers. He came back onto stage with βI Fought The Lawβ, and continued into covers of older rockabilly and traditional irish folk songs. Of course fans didnβt stay quiet during songs like βBorn to Runβ and βSummer of β69β, or when he made shoutouts to Ontario – but overall, Ottawa needs to wake up for the rest of Bluesfest and kick it into the high gear that usually breaks out as soon as the festival starts!
Set List
Ultimate Love
Canβt Stop This Thing We Started
Run to You
Go Down Rockinβ
Heaven
Itβs Only Love
Cloud #9
You Belong to Me
Summer Of β69
If Ya Wanna Be Bad Ya Gotta Be Good
Here I Am
When Youβre Gone
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You
Back to You
Somebody
The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You
Cuts Like A Knife
18 βtil I Die
Iβm Ready
Brand New Day
Encore
I Fought The Law (The Crickets Cover)
Cβmon Everybody
Whiskey in the Jar (traditional Irish cover)
Straight From The Heart
All For Love (Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart & Sting cover)
(Photo Credits: Lucy Sky)
Photos
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