Bryan Adams – Live Review – Connexin, Hull
By Victoria Holdsworth, December 2025
Bryan Adams stepped quietly and unassumingly onto the stage in a show that demonstrated why, more than four decades into his career, he remains one of rock’s most reliable live performers.
The Rolling With the Punches Tour saw another sold-out crowd, all eager to hear the blend of classic hits and new material. As the spotlight shot through the darkness, illuminating the man of the hour, the energy in the building shifted, with an eruption of applause before he even struck his first chord.
The first two songs were performed acoustically, with just Adams and his guitar. His trademark raspy tenor, weathered in the best possible way yet still remarkably strong, cut sharply through the electricity building up in the arena. He opened with ‘Can’t Stop This Thing We Started’ and the emotively sung ‘Straight From the Heart’, then welcomed and thanked the crowd before asking if they wanted some good old-fashioned rock and roll this evening. At that point, his band joined him and the whole stage jolted to life, blasting into ‘Kick Ass’, and the place erupted.
This did prove to be too much for some of the multi-generational crowd, and there was a medical incident. Bryan immediately stopped the show until the person in question was helped by medical staff, whom the singer had nothing but praise for. He noted they had already dealt with an incident in rehearsals that required the same attention.
“Having fun”
Once things were back up and running, it was a rapid-fire reminder of just how vast his back catalogue is. Songs like ‘Run to You’ and ‘Somebody’ prompted immediate sing-alongs, creating a kind of communal joy, as though everyone in the room suddenly remembered exactly where they were the first time they heard them.
The newer Rolling With the Punches tracks were a standout surprise. Hearing them played live carried more punch (pun intended) than the studio versions. The entire band leaned into a rawer, more stripped-back rock sound, and it suited the new material perfectly. The songs felt like a reflection of Adams as an artist today: resilient, fired-up, and still chasing big melodies.
The chemistry with his band this evening was, as always, on another level – something close to telepathy. The guitar interplay, crisp drumming, and the ease with which they snapped between rock and ballads showed a group that was not just tight, but clearly having fun.
Between songs, Adams kept the banter light, offering brief stories and understated humour. His rapport with the audience felt natural, and his knowledge of Yorkshire and the surrounding areas was exceptional, as his grandfather was from Huddersfield. It was a pleasant reminder that his stage presence has always relied on sincerity rather than theatrics.
One standout song was ‘It’s Only Love’, which he originally duetted with Tina Turner in 1984. This timeless classic was outstanding, and while it does not appear too often in his sets, tonight he nailed every single note on both parts.
“Curveball”
‘Shine a Light’, from the album of the same title released in 2019, saw the entire arena lit up with wristband lights handed out at the door. All controlled to the music, it created a visual spectacle that no lighter or mobile phone torch could ever replicate – and from up on the balcony, it looked spectacular.
There were some strategically placed slower numbers, with ‘Please Forgive Me’, ‘Heaven’ and ‘Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?’, to break up the tempo, as the band were at full throttle for most of the set. There was no support act, with the band playing solidly for two and a half hours.
However, it was the classic that drew the evening’s loudest response: ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It for You’. Now approaching its 35th anniversary, it filled the venue with voices as Adams barely needed to sing the chorus himself.
Throwing in another curveball, Adams then stepped into the rockabilly genre with ‘You Belong to Me’, from the 2015 album Get Up. It was a breath of fresh air in the set, and it showed the variety of his talents, before he slowly blended into covers of ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ and ‘Twist and Shout’, which he owned and made his for the evening. This did include some of the older members of the audience taking Adams up on his humorous dare beforehand to get naked and swing their shirts around. Quite a few men and women did, much to his amusement, though for those watching on the screens, some might never recover from that sight.
‘So Happy It Hurts’ was another standout moment, with an inflatable, beat-up Mustang floating above the crowd, which many did not seem to notice, so mesmerised were they by Adams.
‘Here I Am’, from the soundtrack he wrote with Hans Zimmer for the animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, was beautiful to hear live. When he sang, “There’s nowhere else on earth I’d rather be. Here I am, it’s just me and you,” it was clear he meant every word – this is a man who simply loves to perform.
“Fell quiet”
‘When You’re Gone’ and ‘The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You’ raised the vibrations once again as the closing rounds approached, but far and above all, the best songs of the night were ‘Summer of ’69’ and ‘Cuts Like a Knife’. As soon as the opening chords chimed through the speakers, the entire venue practically shook. It was the kind of moment expected on a Bryan Adams tour, yet it still felt fresh. ‘Cuts Like a Knife’, from his third studio album released in 1983, absolutely stole the show, and it was easy to imagine listening to those two songs on loop all night and leaving satisfied.
The end of the set saw the band slink off into the shadows, leaving the man of the hour alone again in the spotlight as he performed ‘All for Love’, from The Three Musketeers soundtrack, originally recorded with Sir Rod Stewart. Stripped back and fiercely intimate, it looked as though he did not want the night to end. However, he had one more little ditty up his sleeve, declaring that, as it was December now, this final song felt more appropriate. As he strummed into ‘Christmas Time’, he was not a rock icon, or simply the soundtrack to countless coming-of-age stories. He was a man singing to a room full of people who suddenly, beautifully, fell quiet.
It was the perfect artistic flex: after a night of big anthems, he still knew how to hold an audience breathless with nothing but voice and strings, proving, if nothing else, that Bryan Adams does not just roll with the punches. He throws a few of his own, and each one lands with remarkable force.
images: Victoria Holdsworth
Victoria is a former English teacher and lifelong musician who has successfully combined her two great passions: words and music. Over the past 20 years, she has written for a variety of publications, giving her the opportunity to witness outstanding talent and meet some truly inspiring individuals. With a deep love for rock, indie, metal, and all things weird and wonderful in between, Victoria also co-runs an independent record label.
