A review by NeverSayGoodbye / eaglemodel77@hotmail.com

I've been a long time fan of Bon Jovi but have never gotten the chance to see them in concert until March 1st at the United Center in Chicago. We drove five hours from Indiana, since as of right now, there is no scheduled tour date for Indianapolis.

I'll admit, I pretty much had the setlist memorized before I went in, since it rarely changes. I'm young (20), but like most Jovi fans, prefer the old classics. The set was a pure mix of classics, a couple "Crush" tunes, and several songs from "Bounce". Even though this is the "Bounce" tour, I didn't expect them to play that many songs from the album. They're all decent, but a few we could have done without and replaced with the stadium rocker "Lay Your Hands On Me" and another ballad. Preferably, "Bed of Roses", or my all-time favorite, the somehow forgotten and highly underrated "Never Say Goodbye".

But I'm not griping. Jon had as much, if not more energy than Steven Tyler on the stage. He held the crowd in the palm of his hand. His high point was during "Keep The Faith". I have never seen a performer put so much emotion into a song in my entire life, and I have been to A LOT of concerts! "Raise Your Hands" a tune that wasn't even released as a single from "Slippery When Wet" really got the crowd going, and made it feel like I was at a 1986 nostalgic show that I never got to experience.

I'm not sure if he just CAN'T hit the high notes, or if he saves them for the Giants Stadium shows, but nevertheless, helping him out on Livin' On A Prayer along with the rest of the sold out crowd is almost a privledge, so who really cares? Even if I did have a shot voice the next morning.

Richie on lead vocals for "I'll Be There For You". Eh, I honestly didn't think I'd enjoy this, but it wasn't all that bad, and actually quite refreshing. However, I was dissapointed that this was the only MONSTER ballad they play in the setlist. That was until Tico hit the first few beats of "Always" during the encore. That's all it took for me to flip out. Definitely the highlight of the entire night. I guess if you cheer loud enough you get what you want.

I'm REALLY hoping these guys come to Indy over the Summer, or at least somewhere near me. I'm also hoping by that time the setlist will be mixed up a little more. But all in all, one of the best shows I've ever been to.

There may not be pyro anymore. And there may not be catwalks for Jon to run up and down on, but rest assured, you've not been to a ROCK 'N ROLL concert until you've experienced Bon Jovi live. Four stars in my book, and definitely one of the best shows I've ever had the privledge of seeing.

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