Bryan Adams with Pat Benatar/Neil Giraldo at Target Center, Minneapolis MN (2025-11-26)

Before our resident fan-on-the-stands could don his pilgrim hat, take his green bean casserole out of the oven, and hit the road for Thanksgiving, he left us with a brief recap and a few pictures from Bryan Adams at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis, on the final night of their Roll With The Punches North American Tour.

The night opened with a mostly hit-filled set from longtime couple Pat Benatar and Neil Geraldo (who, if you want to feel old, also just published a children’s book called My Grandma and Grandpa Rock!) but missing “Hit Me with you Best Shot” which the pair has mostly retired from playing “in deference to the victims of the families of these mass shootings.”

At 72, Benatar’s voice still packs power, but the delivery is more reserved than in the glory years, though Geraldo’s loud guitar work made up for any volume loss starting with the opening, “All Fired Up.”

Benatar can boast having 15 hit singles on the Billboard Top 40 charts, and four Grammy Awards, and the pair was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 and volume increased as the set progressed, until just the duo performed a more minimal version of “Shadows of the Night.”

Their most recent album is amazingly 2003’s “Go”, though there have been a handful of recent singles, including their newest, “Come On People” about the chaos of the current world and a need for unity and the set ended with 1979 hit “Heartbreaker” with a mid-section break of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and ended with a reprise of their early single.

At a young 66, Bryan Adams still has a strong enough voice and enough show stamina to play more than two-dozen songs during his headlining set, first leading everyone’s eyes to the video screens on stage, but then surprisingly beginning his first three songs from the B-stage near the back of the arena, which the crowd singing along to he and his acoustic guitar.

He made his way back to main stage to join his slim but powerful band starting with an energetic “Kick Ass” and the crowd was more than happy to help sing the choruses on hits, “Run to You” and “Somebody.” the tour is in support of Adams’ sixteenth studio album, “Roll With the Punches” released earlier this year, and the title track featured a large inflatable silver boxing glove hanging high.

Mid-80s hit “It’s Only Love” meant both double-duty and a tribute to his original partner on the song, Tina Turner, but without her, it meant Adams was singing all the verses and cell phone lights waved in the air for “Shine a Light” about his late father, which was followed nicely by a touching “Heaven.”

“This Time” was played alongside the original black and white music video and the sound turned a bit more retro during “You Belong to Me” and “Twist and Shout” and ballad “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” was punctuated by a funny story of mariachi band unknowingly serenading him at a Mexican restaurant, not aware that he was the song’s actual author.

Hits “Summer of ’69” and “Cuts Like a Knife” were helped by the audience singing (including extended “na-na’s” on the latter and the set and evening, would end where it began, back on the B-stage amongst more phone flashlights shining and waving for the 1993 chart-topping ballad, “All for Love.”

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