Bryan Adams at Rockhal

At 18, Bryan Adams started writing songs with Jim Vallance in Canada. More than forty years on, he has had number 1 hits in over 40 countries, and a second life as a photographer: his portrait of Queen Elizabeth II ended up on a Canadian stamp.

Bryan Adams plays the Rockhal Main Hall on Friday 4 December. Doors at 19:00.

Forty years of songs that most of the room will know without ever having bought one, which is a particular kind of career. Adams still tours hard and still plays them straight, without the orchestral rearrangement most of his generation reached for.

Standing, Main Hall, promoted by Greenhouse Talent. Rockhal lists the public on-sale as having opened on 6 March.

Who is Bryan Adams?

Bryan Adams was born on 5 November 1959 in Kingston, Ontario. At 18 he began writing songs with Jim Vallance, a partnership behind many of his biggest hits, and his first album came out in 1980, when he was 20. More than forty years on, he has made 16 studio albums and scored number 1 hits in over 40 countries.

There is another side to him too: he is a photographer, with books such as Made in Canada (1999) and Haven (2000), and his portrait of Queen Elizabeth II was used on a Canadian stamp. In 2024 he set up his own label, Bad Records.

His records

• Cuts Like a Knife (1983).
• Reckless (1984): the first Canadian album certified Diamond in Canada.
• Waking Up the Neighbours (1991): around 16 million copies sold.
• 18 til I Die (1996).
• So Happy It Hurts (2022).
• Roll with the Punches (2025): released in August 2025 on Bad Records.

Songs to know before the night: “Summer of ’69”, “Heaven”, “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You”, “Make Up Your Mind”, “Be the Reason” and “Life Is Beautiful”.

Awards and milestones

• “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You”, from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, spent 16 weeks in a row at number 1 in the UK, a record, and seven weeks at the top in the US.
• One Grammy, three Academy Award nominations and five Golden Globe nominations.
• 20 Juno Awards.
• Officer of the Order of Canada, member of the Order of British Columbia, and a 2006 inductee of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

The Roll with the Punches Tour

Bryan Adams comes back to the Rockhal after a sold-out show in 2024, on his Roll with the Punches tour. The new album is his first studio record since So Happy It Hurts, and the night promises classic rock anthems alongside the new songs. Bad Records has also released two box sets of his Royal Albert Hall residencies.