Bryan Adams at St James Church 11/03/08

What is Bryan Adams' obsession with the number 11? His London gig – on March 11 – was part of an 11-day tour of 11 countries in Europe. Each gig is made up of 11 songs. His new album is called…well you’ve guessed it…11. According to the 49-year-old Canadian soft-rocker, it’s because this is his eleventh studio album and that needs celebrating.

So Adams rented the beautiful St James Church for an evening and, with just an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, let his wheezing voice fill the toast smelling chapel (Adams set fire to the toaster backstage).



Over 600 people sang, hummed and clapped along to old hits like Cuts Like A Knife and crowd pleaser Summer of 69. A few hardcore fans already knew the new songs and cheered for current single Thought I’d Seen Everything but most people seemed satisfied just to hear Adams’ well-known back catalogue. He then broke his own rules and made an encore after completing his 11 songs.



Clad all in black and it up by four strong lights, he looked a bit awkward in the religious setting and confessed to never having played a church before. His brand of love drenched rock ballads never really fitted in until he, and the whole congregation, sang “We’re in heaven”.