One of my "childhood" dreams was to visit a Bryan Adams concert
I think it's safe to say that everyone knows the hits "Everything I do" and "Summer of 69" from Bryan Adams. I was still a young one when I heard Bryan Adams on the radio for the first time. I could totally melt away listening to "Everything I do", and actually it has always stayed one of my favourite songs all time. I can appreciate singers of all kinds, Bryan Adams is one with a voice I really appreciate, and I always hoped to see him perform live on stage one day. It just never happened, I started going to house parties instead of concerts and the rising ticket prices weren't helping either. Bryan Adams has always remained on my list of concerts I wanted to visit one day.
Budapest, September 28 had been an average Saturday
In the afternoon I noticed a message on Facebook, showing Bryan Adams would perform that night at Heroes Square. Mind you, just a few days earlier there was a free event where Will Smith was celebrating his birthday at Basilica Square here in Budapest, which I unfortunately missed because all 3000 tickets had been claimed already. I assumed this Bryan Adams concert was an advertisement about a paid concert, but I clicked on it anyway to check it out. Because you never know, right? I'm glad I checked it out, because soon I discovered that this concert was totally free of charge! It was organized by the Hungarian Lotto, and apparently a huge event.
My boyfriend doesn't really fancy Bryan Adams, and on top of that one of us needed to stay home for our daughter anyway. I proposed dropping a message on the Women Of Budapest group as I had seen more of these messages in the past where 2 (or more) ladies eventually met up and went together. Soon I found a partner in crime to visit the concert, and we decided to meet about half an hour before Bryan Adams would be on stage. Both of us left our house half an hour before that.. This is what I faced after being canned like a sardine in the tram first:
This is the Oktogon subway that will drive to Heroes Square in (normally 10 minutes), the stairs down to the actual subway station had a long crowded line of people waiting to even enter the station. I have been standing on the stairs for at least 10 minutes before (finally) I was waiting inside for the metro, which I had to wait until the third before I fitted in one. Not fun, and not to be repeated (if possible).
Due to the event the metro didn't drive to Hosok Tere (Heroes Square)
I think this was only half the distance, and considering the time I had waited to get in the metro, and then had to walk through the crowd, probably I would have been better off walking between Oktogon and Hosok Tere. I believe it's about 1,2 km distance, and it was unbelievable that halfway there the complete street was filled with people. Huge screens were hanging in the middle of the street for those not getting closer to the main stage. A ton of food trucks and bars were also present in that street, I had no clue this was such a huge happening and wondered what on earth I got myself into with a huge crowd like this. But now there was no way back, someone was waiting for me, so I tried getting through the crowd as fast as I could, which was at some points, impossible. Just a minute before the music started I found Kiely, and as she already mentioned it was insanely weird to see that inside the ring (where she was waiting) we had all the space in the world around us, while only a few meters behind us people were pushed against gates.
Bryan Adams and Keith Scott have great stage chemistry
I didn't know anything about Keith Scott until I was looking up who that guy was that did this insane guitar solo on stage that night. I found out it was Keith Scott and they have been stage partners for many many years now, they once started performing and lever parted since. I can totally see why, they are a match made in heaven if you ask me. A true stage bromance!
Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for..
That moment when you hear the first tunes of "Everything I do.." is indescribable.. goosebumps everywhere, and I think I wasn't the only one. This is such a classic song that will always be great.. That raw voice of Bryan Adams, it gives an extra special touch to the song, I love it, and for me that song could have lasted forever and I would have still been smiling in the crowd.
On top of the joy seeing Bryan perform this song live, I realized that this song has always been one of these songs that I enjoyed listening when I was totally crazy in love with someone. For every emotion there are certain songs to listen, and all these songs I've listened through different stages in my life bring up so many memories. Although I can't remember a special person that connected me with this song, I feel filled with joy that I finally was there in the crowd to be part of his show when he performed this song on stage. Trust me when I say, he is a performer, and if I ever get another chance to see him perform live, I will...
I forgot how it felt to be in a huge positive crowd like that all being there for the music
Until that concert, I actually forgot how it is to be in a huge crowd like that. I've been to plenty of concerts while I was a teenager and I always loved that feeling I got when I saw those concerts back on tv. An indescribable feeling of "I was there, and it was such a great experience". I have to admit that the biggest events I've been to in Holland were probably around 50.000 people, and those were dance events, not concerts. I've never been in a huge crowd like this, while this was absolutely without a doubt, the most relaxed experience I have had attending an event. In Holland there was always some disturbance, drunk people getting into fights or people passing out in the crowd. I've not seen any of this, the hardest thing was actually getting there and getting out of the crowd to return home. During the event, it was the best atmosphere you could wish for.
Amazing guitar solo from Keith Scott
Bryan Adams has a good sense of humor, when he announced the song "It's only love", he mentioned that it's an older song with Tina Turner and made it look like she was about to walk on stage at that point. Which of course, she didn't. This video isn't the best quality, I admit that, but I promise you that the guitar solo from Keith Scott will be worth it.
I looked up the song with Tina Turner as well, for those getting nostalgic at this point:
And one last video of the concert, as this was one of the videos that had good audio as well:
I'm super happy I was able to attend this free concert, not only did I have a great evening, but I also made a new friend who I will introduce on Steemit soon. Everyone that loves Bryan Adams' songs and doubts if they should go to a concert, don't , he's a great performer and he truly owns the stage..my advice: GO! You won't regret it, I promise!
Afterwards I wondered how on earth I have managed to get through a crowd of 70.000 people in that short amount of time (remember that I left my home only 1 hour before he started performing) without being pushed to the gates at the front. Some facts about the concert can be found here.
Thank you for reading and maybe listening to the recordings...
~Anouk
Special thanks to 