Plymouth’s Canadian grandson returned to Britain’s Ocean City last night, rocking the waterfront crowd – and most of the rain away – for night two of the inaugural Plymouth Summer Sessions, hosted by TK Maxx.
North Cornwall’s Sam Richardson and the Renegades opened the festival, around six o’clock, bringing with them their brand of Springsteen and Petty. I imagine their Glastonbury experience helped them handle Plymouth’s downpour. Next up to the stage was Sheffield indie band VIVAS, their guitar-driven sound echoing around Plymouth’s sound, with James Wilson’s vocals reminiscent of the Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner and Def Leppard heritage from lead guitarist Tyler Savage, son of DL bassist Rick Savage.
Cassyette was absolutely ready for summer with her brand of punk-rock-with-a-purpose – she’s toured with Sum41 and My Chemical Romance and performed at Download – rousing the Plymouth crowd to a frenzy with her stunning vocals, spot-on lyrics and frequent shouts of “let’s go, Plymouth!”.
Just before 9pm, the Plymouth Summer Sessions’ Friday night headliner Bryan Adams kicked off his set with an incredible twenty minutes of up-tempo energy, starting with ‘Kick Ass' from the 2022 album ‘So Happy It Hurts' and “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started” from 1991’s ‘Waking Up The Neighbours', which has just celebrated thirty years with a run of shows at The Royal Albert Hall. ‘Somebody' and '18 til I Die' kept the energy levels up and the sun out as the crowd gathered close to the stage to see the legendary rockers in action. Bryan and lead guitarist Keith Scott strolled out to the front of the stage as they rocked, with cameras beautifully capturing the red and white Smeaton’s Tower lighthouse in the twilight on the video screens.
It was time to slow the mood with the effortless ballad ‘Please Forgive Me', but not the crowd’s enthusiasm and they/we sang back lyrics that meant a little something for all of us. Bryan is just at home on the stage with a ballad as well as a rockabilly number that gets the audience dancing their worst dances and their best lives, as with ‘You Belong To Me' on Plymouth Hoe.
Bryan performed his legendary Tina Turner duet, tributing the artist and lifelong friend he met when he was 24 so hearing “It’s Only Love” include moments from ‘The Best' and “What’s Love Got To Do With It” was particularly poignant.
Within the fun that Bryan and his band exude on stage, the set list incorporated four decades of radio and album hits, and the show wouldn’t have been complete without ‘Heaven', ‘Run to You' and the 16-week number one ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You', which took the smartphone-waving crowd right back to 1991 with the ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' soundtrack and they sang along to let the Canadians know just how much the song means.
To round off the blistering set, Bryan returned to the ‘80s to wow the crowd with the iconic “Summer of '69” with extended crowd harmonies and guitar solos. The power this song holds for music fans, since it’s arrival almost forty years ago is incomparable, and is an icon amongst cover artists, non-rock fans and Bryan fans alike. Two further songs, ‘Cuts Like A Knife' and “When You’re Gone” were accompanied by the biggest rainfall of the night, and then the show ended, just after half past ten, happy if soggy music fans emerging out into the Plymouth night.
All ages of fans made their way to see Bryan Adams, including one enthusiastic young girl who spent most of the night rocking out on her Dad’s shoulders. At one point I thought they’d headed home early, but they’d just gone to swap coats as the heavens opened. The experience of live music is about those moments, between family and friends, amongst strangers and friends you haven’t yet met, surrounded by hardworking security, medical and retail personnel, that elevate the soul for weeks of feel-good well-being.
Plymouth is one of the eight venues chosen to host this series of Summer Sessions, organised by music promoters Cuffe & Taylor, bringing worldwide artists and newer musicians to landmark locations across the UK.
There are two days left of the four-day festival, with headliners Madness performing on Saturday night and Sting closing the four days on Sunday night. Information about all festival artists and timings, as well as General and VIP Garden ticket sales are available on the official website: Plymouth Summer Sessions and their Facebook page. Why not check out the other seven venues of the Summer Sessions, to see if your favourite artist is playing in June and July?
Set list: 1. Kick Ass 2. Can’t Stop This Thing We Started 3. Somebody 4. 18 til I Die 5. Please Forgive Me 6. Take Me Back 7. Heaven 8. Go Down Rockin’ 9 It’s Only Love (including snippets of ‘The Best’ and ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’) 10. You Belong To Me 11. The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You 12. (Everything I Do) I Do It For You 13. Back To You 14. So Happy It Hurts 15. Run To You 16. Summer of ’69 17. Cuts Like A Knife 18. When You’re Gone Venue: Plymouth Hoe Date: 14th June 2024
