SAN FRANCISCO — If you could shout both as strongly and in tune as Bryan Adams, you too might stand a chance at a decades-long career in the music industry.

When the Canadian rocker released an acoustic album in 2010 and followed that with some intermittent stripped-down shows, some might have wondered whether it meant his voice couldn’t keep up with his hard-driving rock songs or power ballads. Well, more than a decade later, he’s still got it—both his vocal prowess and the ability to pull the nostalgic heartstrings of the fans who’ve followed his career since the early ’80s. Adams held nothing back at his So Happy It Hurts tour at Chase Center on Sunday, in support of his 15th studio album of the same name.

The two dozen songs were relatively well spread out from over his long career, which meant that only his most successful solo album, 1984’s Reckless, was featured more than three times.

But Adams and his talented band kicked things off with a new one from 2022’s So Happy It Hurts, “Kick Ass.” Now, some (not RIFF), have called it a cheeseball of a song and an odd way to start a show, especially immediately following a monologue by the detached voice of John Cleese announcing that Adams was an angel sent down to Earth by God to save us from bad music.

“If you want some kick-ass rocking music, we’re a kick-ass rocking band,” Adams announced at Chase Center.

Those people don’t get the tongue-in-cheek nature of the song itself. It works just fine for those who don’t take this so seriously. It’s uptempo, with riffs aplenty and rollicking drumming and bass. Maybe it’s not the Batman of rock music. It’s Iron Man.

From there, the show was less about zingers and more about some classic rock tunes and power ballads that—rather than send people to the restrooms—got the majority of the attendees out of their seats to slow dance. It wasn’t anywhere close to a sellout, with the top ring of the bowl curtained off, but those who were there were clearly feeling these songs.

The bluesy rock of “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started,” from 1991’s Waking Up the Neighbours, was accentuated by keyboardist Gary Breit and a piercing guitar solo. It definitely had a “kick-ass” outro, with band ace Keith Scott holding his guitar straight up with the neck over his head.

The set included numerous ballads, and most of these were as well received as the songs with a four-on-the-floor beat.

“Somebody,” from Reckless, had people chanting along. “Please Forgive Me,” from 1993 compilation So Far, So Good, had cell phones lighting the inside of the arena. During “Heaven” (also Reckless), Adams held his mic out to the crowd, which beautifully sang the entire first verse without him. Later in the show, where Adams invited the crowd to suggest a song, someone requested and got another ballad, “Do I Have to Say the Words?”

On “Here I Am,” which Adams wrote for the soundtrack to the film “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” he played an acoustic guitar with Breit on piano, and the song was practically mystical. They don’t make power ballads like this anymore, and this one may have been the best of the night—even better than “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” which followed and brought many to their feet.

During the more raucous songs, Adams roamed the stage, singing from numerous microphones. The ones that featured Scott’s skills were always entertaining, though Adams’ rhythm guitar playing added crunchiness to songs like “Take Me Back” (1983’s Cuts Like a Knife) while the rhythm section of drummer Pat Steward and bassist Solomon Walker provided the foundation of most of the performance.

After “One Night Love Affair,” Adams reminisced about his time in San Francisco.

“I started thinking about all the places I’ve played here,” he said, listing off the Cow Palace and the Fillmore.

He dedicated “It’s Only Love” to the late Tina Turner, who recorded the song with Adams and toured with him

“She’s left a hole in the music world, but especially for me as a musician,” he said, adding that she helped get his career off the ground. Scott delivered another blistering solo, at one point biting the strings and at another flipping his guitar over his shoulder before continuing to wail away.

During rockabilly tune “You Belong to Me,” Walker switched to a stand-up instrument. There was a sort of dance-off fan-cam segment like one might find at a sporting event or K-pop concert, with the band joining in at the end.

The bottom third of the show included classics “Summer of ’69” and “Cuts Like a Knife,” both crowd-pleasers, as well as the title track to the newest album. For this one, a blimp shaped like the car on the album cover flew out from behind the stage, its head- and taillights lit up, and did a few laps above fans. The video behind the band showed Adams driving his 95-year-old mother around in the car.

The placement of Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” at the show’s final apex was an unexpected choice, but perhaps it means something special to Bryan Adams, just like that car. The song had an ethereal intro before popping to life at the first chorus. He concluded with “All for Love,” the song he recorded with Rod Stewart and Sting for “The Three Musketeers.”

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts opened the concert with a 14-song set of Runaways hits and their own material, which included recently released EP Mindsets.

Jett, dressed in all black, leaned over her guitar and strummed quickly to new percussion-led song “Shooting Into Space.” Other new ones included “(Make the Music Go) Boom,” which sounded liked it could have come from a Runaways record, and “If You’re Blue.”

On the Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb,” her gravelly voice crunched over the consonant-rich garage rocker. Other older material included blues rock tune “You Drive Me Wild,” which she said was the first song she ever wrote.

The band held a tight rhythm on a cover of Sly & the Family Stone’s “Everyday People,” with Jett adding some psychedelic guitar noodling. She saved her most rocking songs for the end, starting with her famous cover of The Arrows’ “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” a garage rock cover of Tommy James & the Shondells’ “Crimson & Clover,” the intense riffage of “I Hate Myself for Loving You” and “Bad Reputation.” Joan Jett and the Blackhearts concluded with Irish drinking song “Whiskey Goes Good.”

An earlier version of the story misidentified drummer Pat Steward. We regret the error.

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter. Follow photographer Jane Hu at Instagram.com/plainjane.