| 5 September 2000 - Berlin, Germany Concert Review |
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SEPTEMBER 5 , 2000 – BERLIN , GERMANY
By Piotr Zinkiewicz
It took me about 9 hours to get to my destination which was Berlin in this case ,not anywhere. After arriving at Waldbuhne I was picked up by Shari Green . She provided me with all necessary information , then we chatted for a while and took pictures.Next step was to find Ted Emporelli (stage manager) who was going to arrange my meeting with Jon . While looking for Ted my guest Beata and I met Hugh who was just strolling around the place . The guy was really cool and of course we took pictures with him . After one minute Ted appeared and led us to the place where our dreams would come true . We had to wait for about 45 minutes but it was worth waiting . In the meantime we saw Richie , Dave and Tico . The boys were getting ready for the show and therefore we were not able to talk to them or make pictures . Finally Jon came out ( our meeting took place outside). He was wearing his orange jacket and sunglasses as usual . He was relaxed ,nice and smiling . I greeted him and shook his hand . Afterwards we chatted about our long journey(from Poland to Germany), Crush and the Waldbuhne show . I invited Jon to my country and he said : Maybe next year?
While we were talking Jon signed a couple of items and took pictures with us (thanks Robert for holding my camera gently). They say time flies and actually after a couple of minutes our precious time was over . We were escorted by Ted to the venue floor . Now we were looking forward to the concert . Unfortunately after some time the weather changed for worse(it was really capricious) and everybody(who could) had to use their umbrellas . It was raining pretty hard . The good point was to observe how the arena was filling up with Bon Jovi fans . According to the plan the show would start at 6.30 pm and just before that time the place was full (over 20,000 people attended the show) . At about 6.35 TOPLOADER appeared on stage.They played for about half an hour . Anyway it was really tough job to warm up the audience since rain was pouring all the time . Just before 8pm the rain stopped falling (finally). And that was a right time for Bon Jovi to enter the stage and kick off the show . The guys welcomed Berlin as ‘The boys (who) are back in town’. After this perfect cover of Thin Lizzy the band played ‘I Believe’(a nice surprise) following by immortal ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’. From this point of the show the audience kept singing along with Jon . Then there was time for some CRUSH hits:’Captain Crash’, ‘ Say It Isnt So’ and ‘One Wild Night’(oh yeah , the night was wild – no question about it). During that song the bars situated on both sides of the stage started to fill up with various contest winners . One woman was lucky enough to dance with Jon . The next song was terrific ‘Born To Be My Baby’- a very special song to me (the first BJ song I heard –in 1988 I guess) . It was followed by this year’s smash hit ‘It’s My Life’which set the audience on fire . Then the pace slowed down a little bit with great acoustic version of ‘Runaway’and a big ballad ‘Bed Of Roses’. It was amazing to see thousands of burning lighters all around the place . The atmosphere became peaceful and quiet but not for long – Jon started the next song : ‘Hey man !I’m. alive ...’and everybody was more than eager to join him in singing . Shortly after we all were ‘Wild In The Streets’and that was the time to prepare myself for going up on stage and spending some time at the on-stage bar (Bada Bing I guess). I appeared on stage when the band was performing ‘Just Older’. I was lucky to sit on a bar stool (the distance between me and Hugh was maybe 5 feet and Dave’s place was behind Hugh) . Jon was moving around the stage all the time , entertaining everybody . I was on stage for about half an hour singing along with Jon and the boys: ‘Just Older’, ‘Lay Your Hands On Me’, ‘I’ll Sleep When I’m dead ‘, ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’ and ‘Bad Medicine’. Between ‘I’ll sleep’and ‘Rockin’..’Jon told us the story of the man - a movie star who could take on Hollywood but chose his bandmates and rock’n’roll.
That was the greatest experience in my whole life – especially one magic moment when Jon approached me , smiled and reached out his hand .And what did I do? I gave him a five !I’ll never forget this. After ‘Bad Medicine’I was escorted off –stage .
The last thing was ‘Shout’and after that the band left the stage . However the audience didn’t let them go .The first encore consisted of two anthems : ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive’ and ‘Livin’On A Prayer’. The second was ‘Keep The Faith’- probably the best choice to finish the concert .
What can I say? If you keep the faith everything can happen – I’m. a living example . I had been waiting and keeping the faith for long 8 years and finally I was rewarded .
The Waldbuhne show was brilliant , the audience was great . It was one wild night – that’s for sure . It was magic . It was BON JOVI 2000.
"#61623; I would like to thank Backstage for such a great contest.
"#61623; A very special thanks to Shari Green , Ted Emporelli and Robert Kozlowski for their help and professionalism . See Ya Soon !
SET LIST :
THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN
I BELIEVE
YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME
CAPTAIN CRASH AND THE BEAUTY QUEEN FROM MARS
SAY IT ISN’T SO
ONE WILD NIGHT
BORN TO BE MY BABY
IT’S MY LIFE
RUNAWAY(acoustic)
BED OF ROSES
SOMEDAY I’LL BE SATURDAY NIGHT
WILD IN THE STREETS
JUST OLDER
LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME
I’LL SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD
ROCKIN’ ALL OVER THE WORLD / I’LL SLEEP WHEN I’M DEAD(again)
BAD MEDICINE
SHOUT
ENCORE 1 :
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER
ENCORE 2 :
KEEP THE FAITH
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