Adams kicked off with a run of upbeat songs including Open Road and Can’t Stop This Thing We’ve Started before stopping for breath. He used the opportunity to introduce his guitarist Keith Scott and informed the crowd that it was his birthday, which prompted a mass rendition of Happy Birthday. As the opening chord of Summer Of ’69 rang out, a huge cheer from the audience threatened to drown it out. After giving an all-out performance, he slowed things down as an even bigger cheer greeted Everything I Do (I Do It For You). Looking out over Blickling you could see the obligatory lighters swaying in time to the music. Norwich knowledgeHailing from Canada, you could forgive Adams for never having heard of nearby Norwich but he surprised everyone. “Norwich, that’s where Sale Of The Century used to come from right? Great show," he exclaimed. It may be just because it was his birthday, but guitarist Keith pulled out all the stops. His fingers were up and down his guitar fast enough to make Hendrix blush. He even managed to perform that classic rock ‘n’ roll manoeuvre – playing your guitar behind your head! Whether it was over-exuberance or not, it went down a storm and highlighted the tightness of the music. Adams put a lot of effort and energy into the gig. Rarely still for long, he tore up and down the stage making sure that everybody had the chance to feel he was singing to them. Gig-goer's star turnThroughout the night Adams involved the crowd in his performance. The crowning moment was when he performed When You’re Gone. He scanned the crowd and sent his roadies to extract a girl from the audience to sing Mel C’s part. Whether or not it was set up in advance didn’t matter. It worked perfectly. The backchat she came out with only went to reinforce the idea that Adams is at home on stage. He rounded off the evening with The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You before returning to play Cloud Number Nine, Best Of Me and a rousing version of Run To You. Second encoreWary of the logjam in the car park, people began to drift away. Adams had other ideas though and came back for a second encore. Picked out by a single spotlight, he performed solo acoustic versions of Please Forgive Me and Straight From The Heart. The crowd, however, were still not satisfied. A shrug of the shoulders, and he finally brought the show to an end with All For Love. Bryan Adams and his band are one of those rare creatures - a rock band that are happy playing large outdoor gigs while sounding great at the same time. Bryan Adams played Blickling Hall on Thursday, 20 July 2006. | 
