A review by Fredrik / fredrik@jovimail.com

So you want to know my opinion of the Bon Jovi concert in Stockholm, the Globe venue huh? Well alright, let's get down to business then!

After about 1½ hours waiting the supporting act Toploader entered the stage, and for 30-40 minutes I was "entertained" by some synth-pop music. Bad? Yes very.. Then the stage was getting set for Bon Jovi and around 20:30 Hugh, David and Tico came up on the stage. The crowd roared with excitement and moments later Richie showed up. The string chords of "Livin' on a prayer" started filling the arena and all the people (15.000) shouted and clapped their hands. Then moments later Jon came walking up on the stage and by god, I've never heard such noise! From that song they turned over to "Bad name" as they always start out on this tour. The crowd ended the song with singing the chorus to it..

They took a few seconds breather pause and then Jon took the guitar and they started out with "Captain Crash" from the new album. To me, maybe not the best song to begin with from a new album, but it still was a wonderful song to hear. Just too bad that not all the people knew the chorus to it. Then they presented the forthcoming single song "Say It Isn't So" which was awesome as a live song!

Then the stage went black and you could hear Jon saying: "Hear is......It's....My....Life!" and the crowd went completely nuts!! It was definitely one of the best highlights of the entire evening, let me assure you on that fact!

Then on to the classic New Jersey song "Born To Be My Baby" which the crowd really loved. If any of you ever read my "Crush" reviews you know that "Two Story Town" isn't one of my faves, and this was the next song. It did sound better live, although I still don't like it.. Then they did the utterly coolest version of "Runaway" I could ever imagine! Just the magical voice of Jon, flowing piano of David and Hugh's bass in the background. Absolutely amazing! "Mystery Train" was up next and it sounded really great live. It was a favourite before this live show, but now afterwards I just have to love it even more..

After that song Jon did a really cool a capella cover version of "Can't Help Falling In Love With You" that I really really liked. Up until this point I had really missed some songs of "These Days" album, but now they served me the retrospective keep the faith song called "Damned". It sounded excellent live, let me assure you! It definitely had a rougher and harder sound live! Next they presented the new song "Next 100 Years", and instantly I was looking forward to the almost orchestral ending of that song. I was not one bit dissapointed on that account. It was cool as hell!! Then they burned of the classic "Wild In The Streets" which was a good choice. It really got the Globe fired up and we all sang along to the chorus!

Just Older up next, one of my BIG favourites of "Crush"! SOOO COOOL!!! Enough said... =) Then Jon started doing his regular "preacher speak" and the musical turned into the wonderful New Jersey track "Lay Your Hands On Me". In the middle of the song Jon did a stagedive towards the audience resulting in a giant roar from all the people there! He ran around in the front of the stage to everybody's delightment, talking about salvation and all those things as he normally does sometime during a concert..

The shake-your-booty-rock-til-you-die track "I'll sleep when I'm dead" took over afterwards, and then in the middle shifted to "Rockin' All Over The World" which was really cool! Then, to my own delightment they played "Bad Medicine". Man does it go down great live!! At the end of the song Jon started shouting like mad and I knew it was time for the Eisly Brothers song "Shout" up next! Talk about cool... =)

By now the first set was over and we had the encore's to look forward to. It took a really long time for the band to get back up on the stage (don't know why though) but finally they did, and they played the new song "I Got The Girl". Then we got "Blood On Blood" and "Wanted Dead Or Alive" as the final of the first encore. The second one they played "Keep The Faith" which was so very very good! As they said goodbye now I really had anticipated more but it was all over. The crowd was still cheering, but as the lights was turned on everybody stopped and started walking out.

Personally, I believe that they would have played more if we would have made more noise after the second encore but so what. It still was a magical evening..

It might sound like it was all gold and glory but not entirely. The downsides were the following: The didn't play either "One Wild Night" or "Thank You For Loving Me" which to me was a bad choice. They should have left out some of the other songs on "Crush" like "I Got The Girl", "Captain Crash" and "Two Story Town" and played more from the older albums, especially from "These Days" since "Damned" was the only song of that album we got to hear. Overall it was a really cool concert, but I missed some of the older songs. They played a bit too much from the new album..

But hearing them live (no matter what the songs) it strengthens my admiration and love for this band even more. Just too bad I didn't go to the Gothenburg concert too. Ah well, next tour I'll see them on more places. That you can count on!!

Bon Jovi still rocks...! =)

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