Bryan Adams plays intimate concert to hometown crowd

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams promoted his latest album on Thursday night with an invitation-only concert in a Vancouver church.

About 1,000 people crowded into St. Andrew's Wesley Church to hear Adams play songs from his new album, 11, his 11th studio recording.

In the crowd for the intimate concert was Adams's family, including his mother, who was celebrating a birthday.

"My family still lives here, and I have a recording studio here, which I like to go visit once in a while to see if it's still standing," he told the hometown audience.

"I'm amazed every time I come back to Vancouver at how much it's changed. You go away for a month and there's three more skyscrapers."

Adams played with just a guitar and harmonica, in the spirit of 11, which is an acoustic album.

He also played some old favourites, including Straight from the Heart, Run to You and Summer of '69.

Adams says he continues to write songs. "One day I'll wake up and I'll have 10 or 12 songs and think, 'oh that sounds like it could be a record,'" he said.

In a news conference before the concert, Adams said he recorded 11 in impromptu studios he set up in hotel rooms while on tour.

"We'd order up some food or something and they'd come in and see the mattresses against the window, and microphones going into the toilet," he said.

"But it worked. It dispelled the rumours that you have to record in an isolated place."

He did 11 concerts in 11 days in Europe to promote the new album before coming to Canada.

Asked why he didn't play a large arena in Vancouver, Adams said the decision was up to his manager.

Adams, 48, began his career in Vancouver in 1978 and released his first album in 1980.