Two ’80s pop music icons who’ve never worked together before are joining forces for a U.S tour kicking off Saturday in Connecticut. Bryan Adams is launching the U.S. leg of his current world tour with opening act Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.

While the tour’s in support of Bryan’s latest album, Roll With the Punches, he explains that he’s not one of those artists who’ll make you sit through a lot of the new stuff.

“I play all the songs everybody knows and loves, and then I pepper it with a couple of new songs,” he tells ABC Audio. How does he keep songs he’s been playing for decades, like “Summer of ’69,” fresh for him and his band? It’s all about the crowd, he says.

“There’s that old great adage, ‘There ain’t no audience, there ain’t no show,'” Bryan says. “So much hinges on the connection between people and the music. And that’s why we do what we do … because we love that connection and we try to make that connection.”

While Bryan and Pat had never met prior to the tour, they do have a connection: He originally wrote his 1981 song “Lonely Nights” for her to record.

“We submitted it to her, but we never heard anything back,” Bryan recalls. “So when it came time for me to make an album, I still had that song, so I recorded it and it became one of my [first] … songs on American rock radio.” 

And while Pat and Neil are usually headliners, Pat says teaming with Bryan gives them exposure to a whole new audience. Plus, as Pat explains, “We’re not performing in massive stadiums anymore. … So when you have an opportunity to go back out and do the Forum and do the Madison Square Garden, it is fun to pay the big places.”

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