Billy Joel, Bryan Adams put on free concert in Rome
Streetlife
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 1, 2006
Billy Joel and Bryan Adams took the stage, with the Colosseum as the
backdrop, and performed classic hits for hundreds of thousands of fans.
Joel performed favorites such as "New York State of Mind," "Honesty"
and "Just the Way You Are" during Monday night's free concert.
While introducing one song, the 57-year-old singer joked in shaky
Italian, "This song is as old as the Colosseum."
Adams, 46, opened the show, performing classics including "Run to You."
Giant screens were set up along Via dei Fori Imperiali, the large
boulevard that leads to the Colosseum, for the throngs of people who
could not see the stage.
Organizers estimated 500,000 people turned out for the show.
The concert in front of the Colosseum has become a fixture in Rome in
recent years. Previous performers include Paul McCartney and Simon &
Garfunkel.
Shaun
Streetlife wrote:
>
> Billy Joel and Bryan Adams took the stage, with the Colosseum as the
> backdrop, and performed classic hits for hundreds of thousands of fans.
Poor Billy, having to share the stage with that hack... I wonder who
put that pairing together? Did he lose a bet or something? It's not
the natural fit that Billy and Elton is, for instance.
Shaun
Streetlife
They've been friends for years. BA has a credit on the Storm Front CD.
He may even have sung backup on That's Not Her Style.
Shaun
Streetlife wrote:
>
> They've been friends for years. BA has a credit on the Storm Front CD.
> He may even have sung backup on That's Not Her Style.
I thought that was Richard Marx... Then again, Adams and Marx are
fairly indistiguishable from one another. Two bland, gravelly-voiced
hacks with bombastic arena rockers and dopey power ballads. Comparing
their songs to Billy's is like comparing a child's finger painting to a
Picasso.
Billy may have become an oldies act, but he went out on top with a #1
album, etc. For him, it was a choice. For Adams and Marx, becoming an
oldies act was forced upon them, because all their stuff was alike,
people tired of it, and the hits dried up. I didn't even know Adams was
still touring. I'd guess most people attended this concert to see
Billy... At least I would hope so!
Then again, the Germans love David Hasselhoff, so who can really say?
Shaun
Brian Gold
at strt...@aol.com wrote on 8/1/06 10:40 AM:
> Billy Joel, Bryan Adams put on free concert in Rome
> THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
> August 1, 2006
>
> Billy Joel and Bryan Adams took the stage, with the Colosseum as the
> backdrop, and performed classic hits for hundreds of thousands of fans.
>
Does anybody know if this concert was broadcast like Elton's was last year?
If so, does anyone have a copy to trade???
Thanks,
Brian
Andrea Grasso
> Poor Billy, having to share the stage with that hack... I wonder who
> put that pairing together? Did he lose a bet or something? It's not
> the natural fit that Billy and Elton is, for instance.
In the beginning the concert was just Billy.Then the Rome organisation asked Billy if he would have
liked another artist to support him and to duet with and Billy himself chose Bryan Adams.
I don't like B.Adams too, but that's the truth about his choice.
And in the first rows (where I was) most younger people were there to see Bryan....
Andrea
Shaun
Andrea Grasso wrote:
> I don't like B.Adams too, but that's the truth about his choice.
> And in the first rows (where I was) most younger people were there to see Bryan....
>
Now THAT'S just sad... One, a classically trained musician who's topped
the charts in three different decades and one of the more enduring
artists/songwriters of the rock era, vs. a guy who pretty much came and
went in the 80's, sort of a poor man's poor man's Springsteen, pumping
his fist throughout hackneyed songs "Run To You" and "Cuts Like a
Knife." The guy never met a cliche he didn't like.
I still say Billy lost a bet and had to pay up. ;-)
Shaun
jay & kath
went in the 80's. In the 90's he was nominated for 3 academy awards and had
several #1 singles. He continues to be popular around the world and
continues to put out awesome albums. I like Billy Joel a lot too but come on
Bryan Adams is hardly a hack.
"Shaun" <sknav...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1155562513.8...@74g2000cwt.googlegroups.com...
Shaun
jay & kath wrote:
> Bryan Adams has also had hits in 3 differrent decades. He hardly came and
> went in the 80's. In the 90's he was nominated for 3 academy awards and had
> several #1 singles. He continues to be popular around the world and
> continues to put out awesome albums. I like Billy Joel a lot too but come on
> Bryan Adams is hardly a hack.
Oh man... Listen to "Run to You" or any of his other cliched,
overwrought, generic arena rockers or power ballads and tell me the guy
is not a hack. I'm pretty sure his picture shows up under "hack" in the
dictionary. "Kids Wanna Rock"... Pure genius. So deep and meaningful.
NOT...
I'm just not seeing it. It's not like he's an exceptionally gifted
musician, like Billy, nor is he a particularly great singer. His
gravel-laden voice, again, reminds of Springsteen a bit, just without
Bruce's flair for writing lyrics that actually tell a worthwhile story
or carry some meaning. As for hits in three decades, how much chart
success has he honestly had (in the States at least) in the 90's or in
the new century? Maybe a few minor ones, but his heyday was clearly in
the 80's. Pretty much anything anyone remembers by that guy came in
that decade. I know I can't actually name one song of his from after
the 80's. His presence on radio and the charts (again, in the States...
Don't know about Canada) certainly vanished in that time, aside from
oldies on the stations that play music from that time.
I think he had a minor hit with a song from that animated movie
Spirit... But that wasn't exactly a monster hit. It was typical bland,
safe pop/rock for a kids movie. The movie itself was OK, but Adams'
music stuck out like a sore thumb. I read something in some book
recently, about great "mysteries" in rock music and the reality behind
the rumors. Stuff like "Paul is Dead," Dylan's motorcycle accident, the
Rod Stewart rumor (you know the one... Not true, BTW), etc. One was
about the song "Summer of '69" and how it's not about the year 1969,
but that, um, other kind of 69... Adams admitted that it was true. I'm
sure he thinks he's really clever in regards to that, but I think it's
just tacky. As is his ode to adultery, or at least cheating ("Run to
You"). I just think he's a bland, fairly talentless rocker of little
artistic merit or talent.
Canada has much greater talents to boast about... Neil Young, Joni
Mitchell, Robbie Robertson & The Band to name but a few. Hell, I'll
take William Shatner over Bryan Adams. ;-) At least Shatner knows he's
a joke and plays it as such.
Just MHO, YMMV.
Shaun