Smart Financial Centre in Sugarland rocked with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Bryan Adams

Story and photos by Renee Martinez
Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved

SUGAR LAND, TEXAS  (July 12, 2023) The Smart Financial Centre in Sugarland rocked on June 28 with a concert by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Bryan Adams.

It all started with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts (shown right) taking the stage. They have a new EP coming out with songs written during the pandemic. So, they opened their set with one of those new songs, "Shooting into Space."  It had a different sound than a usual Blackhearts song. Other songs from the EP were mixed into the set of classic tunes. Two Runaway songs were included in the set, "Cherry Bomb" and "You Drive Me Wild," which Jett said was the first song written by the Runaways.  "Fresh Start" was written for the documentary, "Bad Reputation."

Her classics, "Do You Wanna Touch Me" and "I Hate Myself for Lovin' You," got the crowd dancing and singing back. I love rock and roll and Bad reputation amped that up a notch. She finished her set with a song from the EP, "Whiskey Goes Good". I had never seen Joan Jett perform live before, but she rocked it.

Then, Bryan Adams (shown left) came on and the crowd filled in quite a bit.  He immediately went into a new song from the album “So Happy it Hurts’, called "Kick Ass". He then, proceeded to play songs from his repertoire both new and old. Three songs were played from the new album. "I’ve Been Looking for You" and "So Happy It Hurts" were the other two, in addition to "Kick Ass."

He played songs the spanned his 40 plus year music career. The album, "Reckless," has seven songs in the setlist. It’s only Love was one of those seven songs and he included a tribute to the late Tina Turner , who also sang with him in the  1980’s on this tune. Two soundtrack songs from Adams made the setlist.  “Here I Am” from "Spirit, Stallion of Cimarron," an animated movie and “Everything I do, I Do it For You” from "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves."

When he sang, "Please Forgive Me," he paused and the audience filled it in. Towards the end, he did do three audience requested songs, "Lonely Nights," "Kids Wanna Rock," and "Cuts Like a Knife." Then the ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You" cover followed. The night ended with the band dismissed and Adams serenaded the crowd with "Straight from the Hear" to close the evening as the 24^th song.