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- Our second stop in our ‘80s Metal Weekend’ was with Bon Jovi, who have been gradually getting bigger over the years. A friend hooked us up with free tickets that normally would cost $65, so we had to go! (Thanks, Mayra!) They were great seats on the side of the lower section. Jon Bon Jovi’s following has been steadily growing over the years and the band’s ability to still cut catchy, solid albums has kept them popular. They still sell out 28,000 seat arenas like the St. Pete Times Forum. There’s not too many bands that can do that anymore! This crowd was pumped up and ready to rock. There was an electric feeling in the air for sure. This place was LOUD! It was time to have a good time and forget all the bad news that there’s too much of "These Days."
Opening the show were the Goo Goo Dolls, who are a little light for my tastes, but they were decent and the crowd really responded to their songs. They played all their hits like “Name” and all the other ones you’ve heard on the radio. I wish Bon Jovi had decided to help out an up and coming band by letting them open (remember the days of Bon Jovi/Cinderella or Bon Jovi/Skid Row?) but it didn’t really matter to us since we were there for Bon Jovi anyway.
After complaining that no one really puts on a big-time show anymore, I had to insert my foot in my mouth, because Bon Jovi BROUGHT IT. They came out to the title track to their new album, “Bounce.” The crowd was so loud, I didn’t really hear the band until the end of the song! The stage setup was amazing: The satellite dishes from the album cover were brought to life right there on the stage. There were three of them, one big one directly behind the band and two slightly smaller ones on the left and right side of it. These things had to be 20 feet tall! They were huge. When the show started, they were pointed directly up. After Bon Jovi finished the opening song, they slowly rotated to a position facing the crowd. Then, as the second song started, video of the show was projected on the ‘faces’ of the three round satellite dishes. This was really cool. The whole arena could see what was happening by viewing the screens. They had a video crew that filmed every angle imaginable. The production on the video screens was superb, as there were closeups, vignettes, fade-ins and outs, and other tasteful effects. What a great job they did on this! They also had other lighting effects like lasers that shot out over the crowd. Very cool.
Bon Jovi played every hit you could imagine from their catalog. Every song was played with passion and energy. They even played “Never Say Goodbye” and “Wild In The Streets” from Slippery When Wet! Of course, several songs from the new album Bounce including “Misunderstood,” “Everyday” and “Right Side of Wrong.” One of the coolest moments was when Jon turned the mic over to Richie Sambora, who sang lead on “I’ll Be There For You.” Richie, being as good a vocalist as Jon, easily handled the song and turned it into a smooth, bluesy performance. Stellar job by Richie, as the crowd approved and sang along loudly. Two encores ensued, the first one included “Blaze of Glory,” “Bad Medicine” and “Shout.” The second encore was “Never Say Goodbye.” A very enjoyable night as Bon Jovi played over 2 hours of material. We saw Bon Jovi on their last tour (Crush) and I think this was a better overall show, (despite the exclusion of my favorite song “In These Arms” this time!!)
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- Here’s the setlist:
Bounce
Wild In The Streets
Undivided
It’s My Life
You Give Love A Bad Name
Blood On Blood
Runaway
Misunderstood
Wild Is The Wind
Wanted Dead or Alive
Right Side of Wrong
I’ll Be There For You
United We Stand (?)
Livin’ On A Prayer
- Everyday
Just Older
Born To Be My Baby
1st Encore:
Blaze of Glory
Bad Medicine
Shout
2nd Encore:
Never Say Goodbye
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