| ||||
|
|
BON JOVI Review
by Steven Stanley: It took us 40mins to walk to the venue after parking in the nearest car space available at the National Hockey Centre... nearly bloody 2 miles away! It was all worth it when we got there though... as soon as me and Ade climbed the stairs to the very top of the bowl and looked down it was a sight to behold. A MONSTER Bon Jovi stage (complete with smirk speakers!) loomed at the bottom with 65,000/70,000 all already inside 4 hours before the boys were due onstage:
The time passed very quickly though and you just can't argue with support like Nickelback. Definately the best support I've ever seen. They played a couple of classics from 'Silver Side Up' like 'Money Bought' and 'Too Bad'. Stuff from the new album like 'Photograph' and also 'How You Remind Me' which they finished on. They were slightly louder than Bon Jovi as well! At one point they even jammed along while the stage crew came onstage and started firing t-shirts into the crowd through really powerful air-cannons! Was funny as hell. Great band. We didn't bother going down to the front because A - we only had regular tickets not gold circle ones, and B - Nat was too much of a short arse to see anything if she wasn't on the bank! Still got a great view though and the atmosphere was awesome. We saw Bon Jovi land in the helicopter somewhere at the back of the stage as well.... all the crowd at the front knew what it was and waved! Unlike Bryan they don't do scooters!
Soon enough the techno music started to play.... the huge graphic-equaliser graphics started pulsing and the red smirk came on the big screen and we knew the guys were about to hit the stage. I was expecting 'Last Man Standing' but they came onstage with Neil Young's 'Keep On Rockin In The Free World' which was awesome. Ade's mouth just dropped when he saw the audience burst into life... I think he realised how lacklustre BA's shows are compared to a spectacle like this. BA is an awesome live act and is artistically just as good onstage... but after nearly 50 shows this was definately a refreshing change. Jon and the boys just give off such a stage presence. 'You Give Love A Bad Name' and 'Wild In The Streets' were up next followed by one of my all time favs 'Captain Crash'. Jon thanked us all for coming out after the Wembley fiasco and said not to worry they will be playing the stadium again one day...while at the same time a 'F*CK WEMBLEY' banner was aired on the big screen greeted by 70,000 cheers of approval. 'Born To Be My Baby' great as always followed by one of my favourite new songs off the album...'Story Of My Life'... sung in a slightly different key to the album version so doesn't sound 'quite' as good imho... but still fuckin' great. I didn't see the 'Bounce Tour' so it was great to hear 'Bounce'... great song followed by 'Sleep When I'm Dead/Dancing In The Streets'.
Jon then told us that we were to imagine we were going back in time in Jon's time machine!... he started counting the years down... "we're in 2005!, 2003!, 2001!, 2000!, '99!, '97!, '95! (all the time dragging his hands down to pull the years back as they went down on the huge 150 ft high video stage behind him!), '94!, '92!, '91!, 1990!, '89!, '87!, '8666666!!!!, '8555555!!!, '844444!!!!, '833333!!!!, '8222222!!! STOP!". The countdown stopped and he said something to the effect of... "a man is driving down the interstate with a demo to his local radio station, he walks into the booth and makes the DJ play something thats about to change the rock n' roll world forever...." they then blaze into a full rock 'Runaway'. Ade's quick wit just made me laugh...."Jon's stories are just so much better than Bryan's!!!!". The guy had a point!
Their '18 Til I Die'-esque 'Just Older' anthem followed which was great... then it was time to walk around the gold circle on the runway for 'In These Arms'... something I wanted to hear at the last show I went to but never did so I'm glad they played it this time around! 'Have A Nice Day' was done next... was cool to see all the smirks plastered across the huge screens...
Up next was the new single 'Who Says Ya Can't Go Home'... I wasn't expecting it to as be as good live as what it was. Huge crowd singalong with "It's Alright" was had and it was pretty damn good... they also slowed the song down in the middle to give it a twist and it worked really well. The uptempo contined with 'It's My Life'... 70,000 people were all singing the chorus! 'Bells Of Freedom' was nice to hear and the huge video screens displayed pictures of civil rights heroes like Martin Luthor King. Really well done. 'Always' was up next but it was done in the vein of (as Karl would say) 'This Left Feels Shite'... didnt drift 'too' far from the original though so it wasn't bad.
Richie on 'I'll Be There For You' was awesome followed by 'Everyday'. Best song of the night for me though was 'Bad Medicene' with 'Shout' thrown in the middle. I've seen em do this before but it's still quality! The way they introduce the band then get the boys in the middle of the stage to strut out to the crowd is shit hot as well. Ade was just lovin it! It was a sight to behold when 140.000 hands were in the air for 'Raise Your Hands' and then of course 'Livin On A Prayer' got the biggest singalong of the night to close the main set.
(Above) As well as the biggest LCD screen in the world in the centre of the stage, the main structure was also made up of massive LCD video strips. During 'Dead Or Alive' the whole thing turned into images that were actually being filmed live. It was amazing. Also during 'Who Says You Can't Go Home'... it was used for images of being on the road and both LCD screen and strips were blended together to give a HUGE image. 'These Days' also got the same treatment with a 'downtown' theme. As we were waiting for the band to come back on the whole screen turned into skyscrapers and a city-scape. Was unreal to look at it really was. They came back on for the encore with 'Blood On Blood' and 'Wanted Dead Or Alive'... then the amazing 'These Days' which I love. They went off again and did 'Last Man Standing' (so glad they played that as was Ade!) followed by 'Keep The Faith/Sympathy For The Devil'). Great way to end the show. I was hoping for 'Dry County' as they have been playing it at some shows but it wasn't to be... maybe in Hull on Tuesday but either way you just can't grumble with the shows they are putting on for this tour.... WHAT A SHOW! Roll on Tuesday in the Gold Circle!... SETLIST: encore #1: encore #2: | |||
|
® 2006 18 Til I Die.co.uk. All
rights reserved.
| ||||
|
My ticket!
One of Ade's many fans! :) |
