Last night in Cincinnati my husband took me to my sixth Bryan Adams concert. I never get tired of these concerts. Yes, Bryan sings pretty much the same songs every time, but he is an excellent musician, and I love to listen to him sing.

Of course, my favorite concert was the one we attended last year. Sitting in the front row on November 30, in Charleston, WV, at the Clay Center, after Bryan sang “A Night to Remember”, Jimmy whispered in my ear, “Do you want to make this a night to remember?” and before I could process the question, he’s down on one knee with an open ring box in front of me asking me to marry him. I was totally unprepared and shocked and amazed, all at the same time. Of course, I said, “yes.” Since we were in the front row, just to Bryan’s right, he did notice, and he announced our engagement to the entire crowd, and then dedicated the song “Flying” to us. After the show, he again congratulated us in front of the whole crowd, and he came over and shook our hands. Talk about a night to remember.

So when Jimmy told me Bryan would be in Cincinnati and asked me if I wanted to go, the answer was obvious. Unfortunately, we had our worst seats ever for a Bryan Adams concert (we were in the tenth row), but it was still a great concert. I just never get tired of hearing him sing. We may have been in the tenth row, but the seats were still really good. We had an excellent view of the stage, just to the left of Bryan, and we could still watch piano player Gary Breit as well.

Oh, I might mention this is The Bare Bones tour, where it’s just Bryan with two guitars and a harmonica and Gary on the piano. This is the fourth time we’ve seen him in this setting. These shows are performed in small theaters, which only seat 1200 or so people. It’s a very intimate experience and allows Bryan to interact with the crowd, as he did with us on the night we became engaged. The shows we’ve watched were at the Paramount in Ashland, KY, the Lexington Opera House, the Clay Center in Charleston, WV, and the Taft Theatre in Cincinnati, OH. If you haven’t seen one of these shows, I strongly suggest you do.

As I said before, all these shows are basically the same. Bryan and Gary both wear black shirts and jeans, every time. Both come out in black top hats, every time (fortunately, they do not wear these the entire show). They perform pretty much the same songs; there has been very little variance in what they play. The song Bryan dedicated to us is an example. That was our fifth Bryan Adams concert, and it was the first time that song had been performed. The songs are basically in the same order, and Bryan tells the same stories to set up the songs.

But even though it’s all the same, it’s different every time, too. For example, last November 30, the crowd got to experience the joy of our engagement. Bryan sang a song specifically to us. The folks who were there had a great story to tell their friends about the concert. Even without the proposal, the shows have each had their own personality because the crowds are not the same, which allows the interaction to be different. All the crowds have those people who yell something to Bryan, and in a venue that small, even those who yell from the balcony area can be clearly heard. And because each crowd has its yellers, Bryan has things to respond to which allows different types of interactions each time, giving each show a unique personality.

Last night was a great show, possibly my second favorite since of course last year’s show was my all-time favorite. First, about six or seven songs in, Bryan says that he’s going to play a song from one of his albums that “a couple of you might know”. He started playing his guitar, and I started bawling. He was playing our song … “Flying”. In six concerts, he’s only performed it twice: the night we got engaged and last night. Now, this may have nothing to do with it, but it might have. When we ordered our tickets, Jimmy emailed Bryan’s publicist and told her about last year’s show and how Bryan dedicated “Flying” to us. He never heard anything back, but then, you don’t really expect to hear anything back from folks like that. However, based on the introduction and the history, we’re choosing to believe that the publicist got word to him, and that was our shout-out. That could be totally wrong, but hey, that doesn’t really matter, because he performed that song and it made my night.

Another special event occurred last night. During “Everything I Do”, a guy a couple rows in front of us asked his girl to dance in the aisle. At that crucial moment in the song, this guy dropped down to one knee and proposed. He places a ring on the girl’s hand, stands up and wraps her in a big bear hug, then gives the crowd a thumbs up so we know for sure her answer was “yes”. Those of you who know me, know I’m a crier. And since I’ve already confessed to becoming a blubbering mess during “Flying”, I may as well confess, the waterworks were turned back on as soon as this guy went down on one knee. Unfortunately, Bryan did not witness this proposal as he did ours, though the crowd in the vicinity of the couple was going wild and even gave them a standing ovation in the middle of the song, so they didn’t get a song dedicated to them. However, in the end, that doesn’t really matter. Last night was their special night, and they have their own night to remember. The fact that Bryan acknowledged our engagement last year wasn’t what made my night special. It was that the love of my life asked me to be his wife. That was all that mattered to me, and I’m sure that’s all that matters to her. I will admit, though, that Bryan’s acknowledgment was a nice icing on the cake.

Things mostly settled down after that. Halfway through the show, Bryan invited three people from the top row of the balcony down to fill three empty seats in the second or third row to his right; this is a gesture that always makes a show great. The greatest thing about these shows is that everyone gets to leave with a story to tell their friends. Today, at work, I shared my theory on “Flying” and told of the couple’s engagement; I’ve no doubt that everyone there had something to talk about today. And when the show was over, another great one, I was completely happy. After all, I’d spent the entire evening with my favorite guy, my wonderful husband, listening to some great music from my favorite artist. I’m glad my husband loves me enough that he doesn’t get tired of taking me to these shows.