A review by Lasher / lasher@donnelaith.co.uk

...As was said by both Jon and Chad Kroeger of Nickelback in reference to the weather.

We arrived early and were at the back of the inner Gold circle at the inside of the walkway. I like the Gold circle idea. In the inner circle, it wasn't particularly overcrowded and everyone had their own space which was great and there were guys walking around selling beer/water/ice cream etc. all the way through the show which was brilliant as it was so hot.

So to the show itself:

The opening act was called Rainstar who were a local Hampshire band. They came on at about 6 o'clock. They were okay. Reminded me of early INXS. There was a very quick changearound for Nickelback who were IMHO absolutely brilliant. They played about 9 songs and were just excellent. This is the 3rd time I've seen NB and they didn't disappoint!

Bon Jovi came on at about 7.30 - 8.00 and played solidly til about 10.30. A fantastic show! The opened with Last Man Standing with Jon out front on the walkway, which meant he was about 3 feet from us, and the place went wild.

Overall the setlist wasn't that different from the other UK shows already posted here. They went from LMS into Rocking All over the World (with Jon back on the main stage) and then Bad Name. Jon threw in some great snippets of 'Jumping Jack Flash' and 'Dancing in the Streets' during Sleep when I'm Dead. The video screen behind the stage was great, giving really clear images. I have to say, I didn't think that the sound was all that, but that may have been because we were very close to the stage.

There was no Dry County tonight and, personally, I really missed hearing Lay Your Hands on Me which was always a GREAT live moment. Jon got a bit frisky during Bad Medicine, pausing at one point to sing right into the camera and then point the camera directly at his crotch(which went down really well with the ladies!)

Jon dedicated Wanted to "The Saints" (as in Southampton FC, whose stadium it was) and let the crowd sing the whole of the first verse and chorus and Ritchie sing the second verse. Ritchie was on fire for the whole show. He delivered outstanding guitar solos in Wanted and Keep the Faith and his rendition of 'I'll be there for you' was brilliant.

The band really looked like they were having a great time! The crowd certainly were! Jon appeared to still be suffering a bit from hay-fever or whatever but he didn't let that stop him! Jon ended the show by wishing England luck in the World Cup! Oh, and there were no fireworks which was a bit of a shame, but still!

My only criticism of the show was that I thought that Jon could have made better use of the walkway that ran into the Gold circle. He only used it twice in the whole show. A lot of fans had brought Gold circle tickets in the hope of getting a bit closer to the man and for the limited use that he made of the walkway, there didn't seem a lot of point in it being there. My 7 year old daughter (who spent most of the show on my shoulders) was desperate for him to come back out into the crowd a third time. Apart from that, she loved her first Bon Jovi show. It was my 10th and it gets better and better.

(Oh... and Southampton is horrible to get out of after the show!)

Have fun at Milton Keynes!

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