Revisiting Lost Musical Influences

I’m extremely excited. I just purchased two tickets to Bryan Adams’s “Bare Bones” tour. He is visiting the Edmonton Winspear on August 13, 2010.

I’m excited for several reasons.

Firstly, I LOVE the Edmonton Winspear. If you’ve never seen a concert in this venue, you have to go. It is truly world class. The sound is so amazing, so pure, you feel like you are in the middle of the music. I love it.

Secondly, I love concerts. I had heard about this one and due to the amount of concerts I’ve been to this year, I figured this was one that I’d have to pass on. Keep in mind, I never said to anyone that I wanted to go. A couple of days ago, my husband was reading an article in The Metro and had emailed me saying that this sounded like an amazing concert and maybe we should go. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.

Lastly, one of my favorite teenage memories involved Bryan Adams. It was 1985 and I was 14 years old. Bryan Adam’s “Reckless” tour was coming to Edmonton. At 14, I had never been to a concert ever and I didn’t have enough money to purchase tickets. I stayed up late every night for a week trying to win tickets to go. It was one of those radio contests where you had to be the 98th caller to win.

Every night until midnight, I sat there at the phone dialing over and over again. And guess what…


I didn’t win.

But the day of the concert, my dad walked through our front door after work. To my surprise, he had in his hands two tickets to the concert. I don’t know what made him get me those tickets but I still remember frantically finding a friend to come with me, sitting in those seats and enjoying my first concert ever.

Now, being last minute, the seats were located at the side of the stage and not the best view.

But to me, they were the best seats in the house because they were from my dad.

Bryan worked every part of the stage and it was an amazing concert. I became a huge fan that day. I still have my ticket stub and my scrapbook. My love affair with music and concerts and performing was truly born.

Wonder if my concert t-shirt still fits… :)