A review by Antony Stivala

The 'One Wild Night' roadshow passed through West Yorkshire tonight and proved, beyond any doubt, that the year since the release of Crush has seen Bon Jovi return to their rocking best. Performing in front of an enormous Empire State Building, the band concentrated on creating a party atmosphere with huge screens, a setlist (see below) consisting mainly of their best rock songs, and more fireworks than I think I've seen at a BJ concert before. I mean, if a year ago, someone had told me that I'd be hearing 'Raise Your Hands' played live in 2001, I'd have thought they'd taken some strange pills!

The band arrived on stage at the end of the superb elevator sequence, kicking off with the song which provides the tour with its name. From then on it was rock and roll all the way, pausing only for an excellent rendition of 'Bed of Roses', preceeded by the usual 'Can't Help Falling In Love'. For most of the show, there were rotating groups of fans stage right and stage left who would occasionally be visited by Richie or Jon. Whilst Jon's dance with the girl during 'Bed of Roses' was scripted, the same couldn't be said during 'Sleep When I'm Dead' - one of the girls stage left gradually made her way, dancing all the way, from the group of fans towards Jon - during the quiet section in the middle of the song, one of the stage crew (appropriately dressed as lift 'bell boys') made an attempt to return her to the group, only for Jon to grab her back for an impromptu dance!

At encore time, 'Next 100 Years' made what I think is its first appearance in Europe this year, although I have to say I was disappointed not to hear one, or all, of 'Blood On Blood', 'Wild Is The Wind' and 'Homebound Train.' Now that would have been One Perfect Wild Night!

In conclusion, anyone who thought that Bon Jovi had lost the ability to write great rock songs and create the ultimate rock and roll party would be well advised to check out the current tour. With all the great songs from 'Crush' joining the greatest hits in the setlist - 'Just Older', 'Its My Life' and 'Captain Crash' must surely rate amongst the band's best tunes - it would surely be impossible not to have One Wild Night with the boys from New Jersey.

SETLIST:

One Wild Night/Raise Your Hands/You Give Love A Bad Name/In These Arms/Livin' On A Prayer/Born To Be My Baby/Can't Help Falling In Love With You/Bed of Roses/Say It Isn't So/Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen From Mars/Just Older/Wild In The Streets/Someday I'll Be Saturday Night/Lay Your Hands On Me/Sleep When I'm Dead/Bad Medicine/Shout

Encore 1: Next 100 Years/Keep The Faith
Encore 2: Its My Life/Wanted Dead or Alive
Encore 3: Tequila/Twist and Shout

Earlier, the entertainment had been started by the UK's Delirious and Matchbox 20 from the US. Delirious played for 35 mins but only occasionally captured the audience's imagination. Much of the material in their set was rather slow IMHO, with only the last two songs showing what they were truly capable of. Matchbox 20, on the other hand, were obviously well known to a large section of the crowd and performed a selection of songs from their two albums to date - 'Angry', 'Black and White People', 'If You're Gone', 'Mad Season', and 'Bent' from Mad Season. They were obviously comfortable in the arena/stadium environment, with a more active performance than Delirious, and created quite an atmosphere by the time they finished their set. In my opinion they are the best example so far of a band who have combined the focus on melody and a tune that we remember from the 80s with the 'down to earth', stripped down nature of much of 90s rock music. Definitely one to watch as they move up to the next level over this side of the pond.

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