Bryan Adams is set to return to India with his So Happy It Hurts world tour this December 2024. The legendary rock star announced it on his Instagram page, sharing his excitement. The tour will cover five cities, starting in Shillong, then moving to Gurugram, Mumbai, Bengaluru and ending in Hyderabad. This will be Adams’ sixth visit to India, following tours in 1993-1994, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2018.

So how could we miss on pulling out one of his music collections, this time an Unplugged set of his MTV Unplugged. This is another excellent musical addition to the MTV Unplugged series, a worthy addition to any music lover`s collection.

Following in the footsteps of so many other artists who have been on the show, Bryan Adams made his appearance on MTV Unplugged in 1997, and the vast majority of that performance appears on this DVD.

There are a few tracks that are missing, as some appear on the CD release. The small crowd is the perfect setting for such a great concert in an unplugged way.

The setlist is not that impressive, but it has its own moments. The show opens with an excellent re-working of Summer of `69, a summertime rock radio anthem. The songs move onto concert crowd-pleaser Cuts Like A Knife as if these songs had been played unplugged for years. Adams is not afraid to dip into the back catalogue with new versions of I`m Ready and 1981`s Fits Ya Good sandwiching an excellent Back To You. 18 Till I Die doesn`t really work in the new format, but then it sounds different in a new setting and should be loved by all those who loved the song. I Think About You, If You Wanna Be Bad, You Gotta Be Good and Let`s Make A Night To Remember join well as straight blues numbers, before the ill-advised I Wanna Be Your Underwear interrupts the flow. The show finishes with an absolutely excellent performance of Heaven and Keith Scott`s excellent guitar work on I`ll Always Be Right There.

Most fans will probably already own the CD of this performance, but the fun is watching the Canadian play these songs live, so even if you have the CD, take a look at this setting. It is so different than listening to it on audio, although understandably you may not want to have the DVD if you have the CD. Hardcore fans probably will buy both.

As for the picture quality, the disc has an average picture, slightly better than CD quality sound and no extras, but it`s the performance that`s the most important thing.

A PCM stereo soundtrack, which whilst very good, feels like a letdown, as several other MTV Unplugged releases have been remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 with excellent results. There`s nothing wrong with the sound here, everything is clear and crisp, but it just seems like a missed opportunity to offer something over the CD version.

An excellent "Unplugged" performance.

Rating: *****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira