| 1 June 2003 - Mannheim, Germany Concert Review |
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Solid Rock by Bon Jovi...
Setlist:
01. Bounce
02. You give love a bad name
03. Wild in the streets
04. Livin' on a prayer
05. Everyday
06. Runaway
07. Keep the faith
08. Wanted dead or alive
09. In these arms
10. It's my life
11. The distance
12. Bed of roses
13. Undivided
14. Misunderstood
15. Dave piano solo
16. Joey
17. I'll be there for you (Richie on vocals)
18. Blaze of glory
19. Hook me up
20. Born to be my baby
21. I'll sleep when I'm dead
22. Raise your hands
encore 1:
23. These days
24. Just older
25. Someday I'll be Saturday night
encore 2:
26. Captain Crash & the beauty queen from Mars
27. Bad medicine/Shout
After my third Bon Jovi show I have to admit that they're still doing a great job on playing rock'n'roll shows. Almost three hours of music, filled with 27(!) songs!!! Richie, Tico, Dave and Hugh did an exellent job as musicians. Jon seemed to be tired and sort of "low-battery". Anyway, maybe he's just (getting) older...
"Bounce" was obviously not powerful enough to start the show, only a few people sang along while the majority of the crowd seemed to be paralized. After "Runaway" the band and the crowd got warmed up. I was surprised hearing "Dead or alive" in the first half of the show - it could have been a better encore song than "Captain Crash" since it is one of the best songs the band has ever written. I was quite happy when they played "In these arms" since this isn't a typical Bon Jovi live song. "Undivided" was doubtlessly the best performance of the new songs, not only because it is the best song of the recent album. I guess they had some technical problems after "Misunderstood", so Dave played a wonderful solo on the piano while some guys worked on the sound. "Joey" (also not an ideal live song) followed and then my personal highlight of the whole show took place: Richie's version of "I'll be there for you" was beautiful. The crowd sang along every line of the song which lasted about 12 minutes. Mr. King of Swing, Jon's 'better half', was fabulous. They should have left the stage after "I'll sleep when I'm dead" since the crowd went crazy, but instead "Raise your hands" followed and was the end of the first set.
The “Bounce”-logo flashed on the screen which was permanently divided into six parts during the show. After a few minutes the band came on stage again and Dave started "These days" on the piano. I'm so disappointed that this is the only song of the "These days" album, which is played by the band usually on stage. No other album is so intense and sensitive, from my point of view, the best piece of music Bon Jovi ever did.
Well, "Just older" and "Saturday night" seemed to be the end of a solid rock show. But after a while the band came up again and finished with "Captain Crash" and the well-known "Bad Medicine/Shout"-medley. Jon introduced the band - thank you, now I know who's that guy on the guitar - and they left the stage.
Once again I had a great time by joining a BJ concert but actually I had expected something more special. The best thing I saw on a Bon Jovi show was during their "These days" tour 1996 when the band came down on a little stage and played two or three acoustic songs. And by the way, I missed the fireworks at the end of the show...
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