So Happy It Hurts: Bryan Adams returns with new album, 5 Maritime tour stops

Keeping Up: Bryan Adams Ahead of his Halifax concert, Bryan Adams talks to Katie Kelly about his new album.

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams kicked off his latest tour Wednesday night in the Maritimes.

The “So Happy it Hurts” tour began at Credit Union Place in Summerside, P.E.I., and will wrap up in Vancouver in November before heading off to Europe.

The tour is in support of his new album, also called “So Happy it Hurts,” which came out in March.

“We play a few songs from that and then we play all the songs that you know and love,” said Adams during an interview with CTV Atlantic before his Summerside show.

Concertgoers can also expect to see a flying helium-filled replica of the car on the cover of the new album, which Adams has named “Doris.”

He adds that he’s still having fun on stage after four decades of touring.

“It’s been really good and I can’t tell you – it not just how we feel, it’s also how the audience has been feeling. I mean, everyone’s been cooped up for such a while that I think it’s been this massive release.”

“So Happy it Hurts” is Adams’ 15th record and is his first release since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The song ‘So Happy It Hurts’ is basically about getting back out on the road and the freedom of being out and doing it again. I kinda needed that song to be able to launch the record. I was really happy when it came together,” he says. “The album is full of optimism. It’s sort of an antidote to what we’ve been through, really.”

Adams recently re-released “When You’re Gone” -- his 1998 hit with Melanie C. from the Spice Girls. It’s part of his “Classic Pt II” EP featuring re-recordings of his most popular songs.

Adams says returning to the song after 24 years was “wonderful.”

“I love Mel. She’s beautiful and totally into doing it again. We actually made a new video for it, so if you have a chance you should check that out.”

Tickets are still available for Adams’ other Maritime tour stops in Moncton, Sydney, Halifax and Saint John.