Bryan Adams & Billy Idol Concert Review

“Angry Guy” reviews Bryan Adams and Billy Idol at The PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel NJ on August 10, 2019.

Bryan Adams is returning to NJ. The big question is, could he deliver the same excitement after all these years? The simple answer is no! No he could not. 

Adams had a string of vapid, soulless, sugary pop hits during the 1980’s and 90’s. He sold a lot of albums and a lot of concert tickets. I can say with my head held high, it was no thanks to me. I never bought one of his albums or went to one of his concerts. That all changed today.

I was granted access to the show, but with one major stipulation, that I do not make eye contact with Bryan. No one is to look at, speak to or make eye contact with Bryan Adams. Wow! What a Diva! I walk by Adams dressing room and I see a team applying ‘Spackle’ to his face. 

Billy Idol opens the show, and is cool AF, I love Billy Idol and I am pleased with the set. I come across Billy backstage, but walk right by as I think it is a wax figure.  

Adams comes out wearing Lederhosen and playing the accordion. He rips through his brain numbing hits and I am in physical pain listening to this drivel. Once, after the Puerto Rican day parade in NYC, I woke up in an alley bleeding from the rectum, and that was more enjoyable than this concert. Adams is like the Canadian Bon Jovi, minus the hair. 

Did you know “Summer of 69” was originally titled “Summer of Rusty Trombone”? Yes, I am filled with little known facts like that. 

After the show, I see Adams backstage, and he is not happy. Apparently, Steve Stevens, The Guitarist for Billy Idol, has eaten all of the “Pork Rinds”. Adams goes into a rage and slaps his publicist, spits on a Mexican kid that asked for an autograph and pushes an elderly lady in a wheelchair down the stairs. The old lady in the wheelchair, Ellen Guarante, told Madhouse News, “being thrown down the stairs was the best part of the show.”

It is rumored that Adams is threatening us with new music. Apparently he is not terrible enough alone anymore, and has partnered with the incredibly bad Ed Sheeran to unleash some nuclear level sap on an unsuspecting public.