Newcastle used to be the city that all major touring bands put on their Itinerary. We had gigs on at the Mayfair, The Riverside and of course The City Hall. For the mega stars we had Saint James Park football stadium and I have fond memories of rocking’ along to the sounds of Queen, Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling Stones. Sadly work commitments restricted me from catching Santana and Bob Dylan. Let's not forget we also had Gateshead Stadium where we were treated to Bon Jovi, Guns n Roses, Tina Turner and Dire Straits and some awesome support slots by Van Halen, Soundgarden and Toto.

Okay some of you out there may think I’m having a rock n’ roll fantasy moment but believe me 20 years ago the gigs used to come thick and fast. Since those heady days rock fans have been drip fed no make that starved of major rock shows in the North East.

We lost The Mayfair (unforgivable) and The Riverside (just as unforgivable) and then Saint James Park went quiet. Can you really believe that Queen was 20 years ago?

Fast forward 20 years and the rock venues in Newcastle seem to be turning the corner We now have The Arena, The Carling Academy, The Sage, The City Hall and yes dare I say it Saint James Park.

Saint James Park is now a state of the art stadium which hosts sell out football games week in week out during the footie season, But better still is it’s finally hosted a real rock show again, and what a show it was.

Bryan Adams brought his band to Newcastle with support from Beverley Knight.

I’ll be the first to admit that my knowledge of Beverley Knight is limited to her top 20 hits. It's notoriously hard being an opening act at an outdoor show especially when it’s still light so there’s no dazzling light show to hide behind and the punters are coming and going from the bar or still arriving.

For Beverley Knight this was no problem. She was a bundle of enthusiasm and energy and is blessed with one strong set of pipes. The sound was very bassy heavy initially and at times looking about I could see some punters grimacing.

She gave us a varied set and covered all bases .For the old school rockers there was “Piece Of My Heart” by Janis Joplin (Sammy Hagar does a great cover of this song on his “Standing Hampton” album.). Then we got a cover of “Never Too Late” by the late Luther Vandross. It was telling that the crowd seemed to react to these old favourites more than her own originals. Her final song was her hit “Come As You Are” and this song got a great reception, maybe as it’s more rock than pop.

It was a good set and she will have raised her profile no end. She has a “Greatest Hits” CD out at the moment and I am sure this tour will help it sell.

I must admit that waiting for Bryan Adams I did wonder whether he still had his rock credentials intact and hadn’t gone too pop. All worries were washed aside when the P.A system started blasting out “Beg, Borrow Or Steal” by Hughes Thrall. What a song to get the audience pumped and on the edge of their seats for the main event.

8.40 and Bryan Adams hit the stage with “So Far So Good” and without respite into “Somebody” closely followed by “This Time". What an opening salvo. The crowd were in his hand from the off. One thing I have noticed about Adams down the years is he really interacts with his audience. Nothing feels scripted. he goes with the flow and one feels that you are in more intimate surroundings rather than a large stadium. Everyone matters from the front to the back. His onstage banter was spontaneous and the crowd really warmed to him and rose to the occasion. Next came “18 till I Die” which saw the crowd on the wrong side of 40 defiantly singing along with gusto. The feel good factor was high but went through the roof with “Summer Of 69”. There wasn’t a single bum on their seats and some parts of the ground were in frenzy.

When it came to “Only When You're Gone” his hit duet with Sporty Spice Adams pulled a masterstroke and singled Geordie girl Emma from the crowd to join him on stage. Her act of genius was to wear a “Pick Me Bryan” t-shirt and she was deservedly spotted. She gave it her all and put a smile on Adams face and the rest of Saint James.

At this point I should take my hat off to Adams long serving sideman Keith Scott. He is without doubt Adams secret weapon. He has the chops the moves and boundless enthusiasm. He definitely enjoyed himself during the show and was constantly running end to end of the stage. No mean feat when the stage graced the width of  the pitch. With his pace he should play up front for the Toon.

We were treated to a great version of “Cuts Like A Knife” and at this point the light show started to become effective as the evening closed in.

The next duet was “It’s Only Love” with Beverley Knight taking the role of Tina Turner. Knight did a good job but didn’t add anything to the song. Some vocal parts can’t be bettered and Tina’s is one of them. Knight's performance was solid but not “rock” solid.

Things wound to a close with “The Only Thing Looks Good On Me Is You” which led into the predictable encore of “Everything I Do I Do It For You” followed by “Cloud #9” and finally the mega hit “Run To You”.

Adams had obviously enjoyed his Newcastle night as he made a welcome and surprise return to the stage to perform a solo acoustic encore set consisting of “Please Forgive Me"," “First Night Together"," All For One All For Love” and finally “Straight From The Heart” and “Think About You". During his acoustic set he asked everybody to switch on their mobile phones and Saint James Park was instantly turned into a starry sky. One had too see it to believe it.

Adams reminded Newcastle that rock music should be fun and he touched everybody in the audience with his catchy melodies sung from the heart.

If anyone from the corridors of power at Newcastle United reads this review I hope they decide to bring more acts to the Stadium. It has all the facilities to cope with the audience numbers that major acts want to cater for and more importantly the North East has an audience of ready and willing punters. There has been some major missed opportunities over the years. I am sure Newcastle would love to have Mr. Springsteen back in town. There I go again off in fantasy gig land again...or am I?

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