A review by Fritz / cainarf@aol.com

The Bon Jovi show at the Pepsi Arena rocked! Before the show, I had wondered if they would take any short-cuts because this was the last show on this leg of the U.S. Tour (more on that later). The organ was broken down (don't they have a spare or stand-by?) after "Blaze of Glory" (the 12th song), so they did play "Never Say Goodbye." This was in place of the "Lay Your Hands On Me" selection. It seemed they were ready to play LYHOM, but no organ. So, they took a few minutes to get organized, and Jon simply said "That doesn't scare me....hey, Tim...give me my acoustic." Jon then said "Hey, Mr. Sambora." Richie came out, and they both played NSG acoustically. They harmonized really nice! Next, they did "Blood on Blood." This is one of my favorites!! (I wonder if they would've played that had the organ not broken?) Anyway, I was impressed with the show. However, the first 7 songs were in the exact order as they had been for most of the past four weeks. I guess this was ok. When it came time for the encore, they did "Always," "Say It Isn't So," and "Wanted Dead Or Alive." They said thanks and all that. But, having seen them in Wilkes-Barre, PA in November (they did two encores), I figured they'd come back on stage and do a few more (especially since they had been doing two encores the past however many weeks). Well, needless to say, I wasn't too impressed when they ended the show right there. I mean, the whole night was really awesome. I just think the ending was a bit of a let down. If I hadn't known that they had been doing two encores for most of the shows, I would've been content. But, knowing that they had been doing two encores, and then they didn't in Albany, I kind of felt let down. It seemed like they were looking more forward to going to NYC. Even though the organ broke, don't they have other selections they could play? Oh well. I'd still give it a great rating. However, I think it will be a while before they top the Saratoga, NY show in 1995. That show was about 15 - 20 minutes longer.

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