August 18, 2017: Bon Jovi Endicott, NY

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

You Give Love a Bad Name

unfortunately,
i'm just a little bit disappointed in jon,go and fix your voice and if it's unfixable just end it and let it be,it's been a great journey all these years,don't destroy your own and the band's legacy and reputation

I'd say it's both.

For starters, his voice was starting to sound a bit strained around June-July 2011, as he had probably overused it in terms of pushing his range to its limit night after night on the high-pitched songs (Always, Bed Of Roses, These Days etc.) he'd sing in pretty much every European show back then. For example, whereas in 2010 Something To Believe In would vocally seem like a walk in the park for him, in 2011 he'd struggle with it quite a bit in comparison (especially in Dresden and Edinburgh - a bit in Vancouver as well).

In 2012 JBJ already sounded pretty bad in general, with his voice cracking quite often on the high notes of Prayer and It's My Life in particular. Especially the iHeartRadio broadcast in September was truly cringeworthy, with Jon's voice being a "unique combination" of a hoarse tone caused by some kind of a throat infection/cold and an otherwise shot range.

And then came 2013...

In the January '13 promo shows Jon's voice was weaker than it probably had ever been since the late spring/early summer of '03. By the time the tour started (February) he was still sounding relatively rough in general, but already better than in January. In March he had started to regain his vocal confidence and could nail stuff like Always and Bed Of Roses with relative ease again, especially in Charlotte and Nashville. The Cleveland webcast performances sounded pretty decent as well, but judging by his body language on the high notes, the songs weren't easy for him at this point anymore... and that I actually do blame for an incorrect singing technique. After finding out he'd struggle more than previously on the more demanding stuff (which was occasionally apparent on the '11 European tour already and became alarmingly prominent in '12), Jon probably tried to develop himself a new way to hit the notes, but this time, most likely without the advice of his vocal coach. Instead of singing the high parts resonantly like he had done in '08-'10 with his then-serviceable technique, he started to force the notes out from his throat/neck instead of his gut/chest. He'd still stay in key throughout, but the forced tone could be heard quite clearly already.

After Richie left the band in early April and Phil stepped in, Jon would still sound relatively solid for a couple weeks, being still able to hit the most of the notes on the big ballads with his new (non-)technique. Then again, he already had to shout more and more instead of (kinda) singing, and by the time the band hit Glendale and San Jose at the end of the leg, his voice was utterly exhausted and the high notes sounded extremely forced with no real resonance nor clarity left anymore.

At the Cape Town and Johannesburg gigs Jon still sounded pretty much the same as on the previous leg (albeit even more shouty at times), but the real bomb - in a negative sense - was the first date of the European run: Sofia, Bulgaria on May 14, 2013.

While Jon's "habit" of suffering from hay fever is widely known inside the fan base, I seriously doubt it was the only reason for Jon's vocal problems at the show. His bad technique probably played its part as well, but around here I believe his stress caused by Richie's sudden departure really started to kick in, too, as Jon would never regain the sonic "fullness" of his tenor register (from G to B) that he was still able to display frequently just a little more than a month earlier in the USA. During the rest of the European leg Jon would still be able to deliver vocally from time to time (like in Manchester, Birmingham, Slane Castle, Milan and Hyde Park, where he - at least on some songs - sounded almost as solid as in March/April) or at least make up for it with passion, energy and surprises on the set lists (like in Cologne, Prague and Bern). But unfortunately, his vocal deterioration started to progress very rapidly as soon as the band left Europe, and by the end of the US stadium leg in late July his voice was shot for eternity, getting worse and worse all the time throughout the rest of the tour and culminating to the last two legs in December (Japan and Australia), where he sounded so bad it was funny.

So, as a conclusion, Jon's unsustainable, self-taught "technique" was probably the main starter of the snowball effect that ultimately lead to the way things are now, but after Richie's departure he gained a huge amount of psychological pressure and still hasn't gotten rid of the stress after more than four years.

Thank you very much, sounds solid and pretty much that's the case. I've just found an interesting article and if the psychological factor plays such a big role, the vocal surgery won't fix the problem. I've heard Jon thanked Lou Cox in THINFS booklet but it seems he didn't help much this time... http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...l-1457691.html

Bad Name sounds surprisingly good in fact. The high "...and you PLAY your game" hasn't been sung this well in ages! Jon's vocals are terribly inconsistent nowadays - at one moment he's nailing multiple tenor G's and A's like that and at another he can't hit a single semi-high baritone note on songs like Who Says or WGIGO. It's really strange.

Not since Undivided was slowed down have I seen them drop a tempo like this. Good on him for trying at least.

Very well put, I agree with about 90% of that. And the thing you posted afterwards.

Yes, his vocals are very inconsistent, and that's part of the problem, I think. It's not that his range is shot, otherwise he wouldn't be able to hit those high notes at all. I just don't know if he's just belting out the high notes nowadays and if that's healthy or not (probably not), but doing that, he (almost) sounds fine/like in the "old" times. It's that "whiny", thin voice he's developed that's putting me (and probably you all) off. I reckon he's probably got to do that to not overly stress his voice, since, as he's admitted on the record, it's shot (for now, and probably forever), but the constant mixture of both is what's really putting me off.

Does he sound better than he did before (on the first leg of the tour)? I'd say yes, he's regained some confidence, even had some more training. Does he sound better/more on key than in late '13? Most definitely yes, but that's been the case throughout most of '15/'16 and isn't hard to do, since late '13 was really atrocious. Does he look more healthy and happy than he used to in the last 3-4 years? Yes, and that's a good sign. I just hope (and I'm an optimistic person) that he's able to further improve to somehow, miraculously, get back to at least an early '13 level and sustain that. That, I'd take any day of the week for the next whatever years he's left in him

Go for it, Jon, you can do it! Believe in yourself!

The question is, do casuals(majority of concert goers) notice or even bothered? Or just us hardcores?

In These Arms: Jon actually sounds decent here.

Bed of Roses: I honestly thought Jon would sound much, much worse than this! First chorus is choppy at best but the second chorus is spot on! Pretty good for the first performance since 2013.

Born to Be My Baby: they really need to speed this one up a bit...

I really think Jon sounds better at this show than he did a few months ago!

Well, some of the casuals will notice and others will not, I think most casuals get living for the moment, and when they notice that Jon does not do well, I guess they think he's just having a bad night.

But that does not matter, I do not care what the causals think. The important thing is what I feel when I hear this. And this is wrong.

From my point of view, he sounds worse. He seems to have trouble singing and breathing. Phil's solo in Bed of Roses is lame. The songs sound slower and jon still there, stuck to the micro making an effort to stay on, but the results are not good.

They did a more solid work on THINFS live presentations the last year.