A review by VA / vcackerman@aol.com

OK, I know I am walking into some flames from BJ fans across the world, but this was easily the WORST BJ concert I have seen. Many reasons for this:

a) Jon didn't have much energy until he went backstage for his costume change during Richie's version of "I'll Be there for you" OK, it was their first show in 6 weeks, but there is no excuse during You Give Love a Bad Name (Song 2 of the night) that Jon should be seen visibly huffing and puffing.

b) Jon didn't have his normal stage presence. Normally he's flying around the stage lef to right. He spent 30% of his time Stage Left. 50% in the Middle and 20% stage right.

c) The jumbotron set up for the outdoor toor was not visibly appealing. It was lights and jumbtron - nothing about the album like the indoor tour.

d) The sound system at the Tweeter Center is the absolute worst!

e) Jon hasn't figured out if he sings with a deeper voice, he still has to sing. He couldn't be heard during the deep parts of Undivided, etc.

f) It's becoming more and more apparent that Jon's voice is having trouble handling the stresses from most of his songs. 1) He doesn't hit the high notes anymore (Hasn't since These Days album probably) 2) He slows down some songs ('Runaway' last night was noticeably slower) 3) He can only sing some songs that require him to work on a given show. (They interchanged 'IN These Arms" for 'Always')


I still had a good time, don't get me wrong, but after seeing them on the last 5 tours - I can see a change in them for the worse.....I hope the rumor is true that the next album and tour might be a acoustic one. Jon needs it if they plan to keep playing for a few more years.

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