Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams brought his ‘Roll With The Punches’ tour to London on May 15th, 2025, playing to 20,000 people in a packed O2 Arena - one of his biggest London shows in a long time. Fitting with the name of the tour, a giant boxing glove could be seen flying through the arena just before Adams and his band took the stage, immediately capturing the audience’s attention. Adams opened the show with one of his newest songs, “Roll With The Punches,” from his upcoming album which will be released in August later this year. Adams didn‘t have any opening acts; instead, he played a two and a half hour show without any breaks, consisting of a 29 song setlist which featured a nice mix of his biggest hits like “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You,” “Summer of 69” and “Heaven,” as well as songs from his upcoming album including “Make Up Your Mind” and “Never Ever Let You Go”. Adams and his band also performed a few covers… The Clash’s “London Calling,” the result of an audience request, as well as Frankie Valli’s “Can‘t Take My Eyes Off You” and “Whiskey In The Jar.”

During the set, Adams said that “[he] will play as many songs as [he] can remember” before proceeding to play an acoustic version of “Cloud Number Nine.” The show had a collection of visuals displayed on the screen behind Adams and his band, one such element being a clip of a horse running by the beach in Australia which played during his performance of the song “Here I Am,” which was written and recorded in 2002 for the movie Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron. Adams went on to tell the audience the story about how he had recently been in Australia, where he had come across a girl with horses on social media. He proceeded to message her telling her that he loves the work she‘s doing with her horses, to which she had replied, “Is this spam?” The two ended up collaborating to film the visuals for the live performance of “Here I Am” with her and her horses in Australia. The evening also featured many guitar solos by Canadian guitarist Keith Scott, who has been playing lead guitar for Adams since 1976. Scott has worked with other notable singers such as David Bowie, Cher, and Tina Turner, the latter also mentioned by Adams during the show. He told the audience that Tina Turner brought him to the UK and gave him his break back in the day, mentioning how things got better after that before he went on to play “It‘s Only Love,” a song released in 1985 by Adams and Turner. Adams and his band exuded energy throughout the almost two and a half hour set. Before playing “You Belong To Me” Adams proved just how well he is able to get the crowd involved, telling the audience to dance, twerk, or even to take their t-shirt off and wave it over their head if they wanna be on the big screen. There was a joyful atmosphere filling the arena during the song, many people obliging and waving t-shirts over their heads, one older woman in the standing area even held up her crutch in the air. Adams incorporated a part of Elvis’ “Blue Suede Shoes’ in the song.

Really, Bryan Adams and his band put on an energetic show oozing with rock’n’roll energy, electrifying guitar solos, as well as harmonica solos from Adams himself. The show definitely shone with impressive vocals, Adams still sounding just as good live as he does on his recordings, even after all of those years. The audience was particularly enthusiastic during hits such as “Run To You,” “Somebody,” “Summer of 69” and “When You‘re Gone,” which had people standing up from their seats, clapping, cheering and singing along loudly. Adams had multiple microphones set up on stage switching between the middle, the left, and the right, making sure that no spot in the arena was a bad spot and that everybody would get a close glimpse of the Canadian singer. During “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” Adams even went down to the front row, getting close to a few lucky fans while singing one of his biggest hits.

Adams interacted a lot with the audience throughout the night and even took requests from fans at the start of the show on what songs to sing during a special section of the set. The song “One Night Love Affair” ended up being performed by the band as a result of the requests, much to the delight of the audience. During the show, Adams expressed his gratitude to his fans, thanking everyone for listening to his songs on the radio, explaining what an amazing feeling it is to hear people singing back songs that he wrote, saying “that‘s big.” A beautiful moment, the arena was lit up during his performance of ‘Shine A Light‘, a song inspired by the loss of his father. Adams encouraged the crowd to put their lights up, explaining the idea of “shin[ing] a light for the people we love.” The show closed with Adams performing two songs by himself on the B-Stage at the back of the arena, ending the encore with “All For Love,” a song by Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting. Adams and his band definitely crafted an unforgettable night, delivering an incredible performance, captivating the audience with his powerful vocals and energetic stage presence. It was clear that the audience was deeply connected to the music as well as the artist, making it obvious why Adams is still successful after 40 years in the industry.

Photos by Nicholas O'Donnell // used with permission