NJ Music Festivals

Bryan Adams brings lackluster show to Newark

Bryan Adams brought his boring, lackluster, and at times cringeworthy and pathetic “Roll with the Punches” tour to Newark’s Prudential Center on Wednesday night. For fans who spent hundreds to get into the venue, you better hope they were diehards or they’d be seen walking out early. It’s no surprise that Adams had to partition…

NJ Music Festivals Staff

August 14, 2026

2–3 minutes

Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams brought his boring, lackluster, and at times cringeworthy and pathetic “Roll with the Punches” tour to Newark’s Prudential Center on Wednesday night.

For fans who spent hundreds to get into the venue, you better hope they were diehards or they’d be seen walking out early. It’s no surprise that Adams had to partition off the upper deck and head-on facing seats of the arena.

For me, a lot of the cringeworthy elements came due to the fact that a 66-year-old was singing about being 18 and everything that comes with that life. It didn’t seem like any of the 60-year-old-plus crowd could relate to.

But besides from the content of what Adams was singing about, it wasn’t really a tight set. From a veteran performer like Adams, I’d expect him to have all of the tricks that today’s biggest performers have in the bag. It seemed like he tried to emulate a lot of those tricks, but they just weren’t smooth. Who starts a clap-along when you know it’s going to be off tempo within five seconds?

The big positive that came from this show is the fact that Adams’ voice is holding up fantastically. He sounds just as good as he did decades ago, and he proved it on his slower acoustic tracks and crowd singalongs. And to keep it up for a full two hours was impressive, with few breaks between songs.

Also, the opener, duo Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, were incredible. Benatar’s voice has held up and it’s tough to match her talent and energy at 73 years old.

Oh, but “51st State” was a funny song by Adams and the dance segment during “You Belong to Me” was great. And the acoustic tracks to open the show on the B-Stage were cool. There were some high highlights, weird lowlights, and a mostly average majority of the show.

Bryan Adams setlist:

B-Stage