Any Hope Left?

I do not say he is old. But not young enough or let us say he is too mature to play a part of wounded lover on stage. even if he is a rockstar.
It is different thing with running - you can be lively on stage just like a sportsman is, even if you are 60 years old. It is so... masculine to be fit, strong and well trained. But to be a dying lover when you have face of a mature person would simply make the show strange. Or I think that perhaps JBJ must see it like that. I believe that he dropped that part of Love Song performance because of that nad not that he lost his passion for the show

I do agree that Jon puts quite a lot energy to the shows. During HAND tour he seemed to be much quieter, but if you look at the last tour he runs indeed much. Of course I do not expect him to run like crazy, which he did in those memorable TD tour shows. But I am never dissapointed with the show energy whenI watch LH tour performances!

I don't agree at all. For a start, if the tracks you refer to didn't make the album, it's an irrelevant point to make that they rewrote the big songs from Slippery for NJ because they opted not to include them on the final cut whereas they have been actively trying to recreate IML clones on every album since Crush (with the exception of TLFR and LH obviously).

Another irrefutable fact is that the lyrical content and musicianship is also much better on NJ than on SWW ie. they moved forwards and didn't go backwards like they did after TD.

I so knew you would be saying this.

Well, Ice for example will disagree, but you don't need to tell me that - it's THE masterpiece in my book.

Really? Mature people can't feel the same pain as if you were younger? I think if you have the passion for the song, really believe in it, then it makes no difference whether you're 16 or 60. You can feel what your singing - and let's not forget, you're right in what you're saying, good rock singing can take a tremendous amount of acting out sometimes as well. As they've only played This Ain't A Love Song about once in the last real decade we can't judge on that song alone. He was probably struggling to remember how the thing went. And also for the Live In London concert, the song was the climax to a ground breaking show for the band. It's always going to be a bit special.

Aloha !

At first he tried to remember but once he got into it it was amazing, and I as very surprised it didn't get played anymore after that because it was thát good and Jon pulled it off that well.

And although London might've been special, he did the same thing everywhere. It was part of the performance because he was so into the song. I'm not bashing the performance of 2008 though, it was stunning and the end of it was much better because Jon gave it a little bit of a bluesy ending. There were no real "oooh's" in the end, but it was in the middle of the set so no surprise there.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Performance wise Live in London was great but cutting so many songs from the show is total gayness.

And I'd rather hear 25 songs rather than 13 songs, no matter how good they're performing those 13 songs, if I have to pay more than USD 50. If we're talking USD 10 ticket, then maybe I'd choose 13 well performed songs (as long as BOBITA is in them).

I could not have written that better. Totally agree.

I don’t expect them to play like in the 80’ or 90’. I take it as it is today. They have changed and I have changed. In the past they were all singles, now they are proud parents and have families. That changes the perspective of your life totally. The ones of you that have children will understand what I mean. I am really happy they are still here after 26 years. Of course like all of us here, I don’t love everything they did, but they are still my favourite band. No matter what, and I will always stand on their side.

While checking this Jovi Talk board I have noticed one very interesting thing - we all love the same band but everyone has a different reason for that - different favourite song/album, different worst song/album etc. And none of those reasons are the right or wrong ones. Before joining the board I thought that we all love the same BJ songs but it turned out to be totally wrong. In my country there’s a saying: ‘you don’t talk about tastes (in this case music taste), you just have them’. I am not sure if it translates good in English but that’s exactly how it is. Just have a look at the thread ‘Your top 3 songs of each record’ or ‘Rank The Circle’ and after reading few replies you will see that the song you like the most is the one someone else hates the most, and the other way. Funny, but that’s how it is. And honestly I think that’s good, that everybody has their own opinion and taste. Otherwise it would be boring.

On the other hand, some of you write about Jon’s bad selections for the set lists, and everyone writes their own dream set list. Now just imagine to be Jon for one night. Let’s face it – it’s impossible to fulfill even die hard fans wishes, so how harder it is when you also add casual fans for each show. Everyone wants to hear different songs. Now that’s just technical part – choosing songs.

But then there are emotions that come with each song during the performance. Different for Jon and the band, different for the audience. Now, remember yourself receiving a Christmas present 15 years back from now and imagine yourself receiving the same present now. Would you still react the same? Would your emotions be the same? I doubt it. Of course Christmas present is just an example but everyone can think of any adequate example. My point is that Jon and the band has the right to show their emotions in some other way, playing the same song in the 80’ and now. Just because Jon’s not running all over the stage doesn’t mean he’s not putting his whole heart into each song. And the same with other band members. And I am not saying that the age is the reason for that. Just life experience is the reason for that.

Sometimes I even think that you should be ashamed of writing so much bad things about the band you say you love, about live performances for example. Of course everyone has the right to write their own opinion but sometimes it is not fair. I have seen them live only once. For me that only concert last year was ‘dream come true’. The day I was waiting for since 1992. I don’t even have a chance to be able to see them live in my home country, and I have to travel half of Europe to see one show. Most of you have seen the band many times coming to your hometown every time they are making a tour and still you dare to complain about everything – Rich messed up the solo, Jon vocal is crap, set list was poor, emotion wasn’t there etc. I don’t even mention that most of you from Western Europe or US simply earn more money and ticket prices are easily affordable for you, definitely much more than for me. I just think that sometimes you don’t appreciate what you got. Maybe it’s because I am coming from a formerly socialism driven country, I don’t know. I don’t remember much of those horrible times (I was a kid back then), though I remember that at some point the shops were almost empty and even though people had some money they couldn’t buy anything. But anyway, right now after 20 years of democracy in my country I still appreciate those small things. For some of you being on BJ concert is as obvious as going to the cinema. For me it is far more precious, something you wait most of life for. It’s not something that you take for granted, it’s some kind of reward. And when that moment comes, you just enjoy every second of it. And that’s how I felt in Bristol last year. I didn’t care that the set list was one of the shortest from the whole European tour. I was happy just to be there and see the band doing their magic.

So for those of you who say that BJ are not as good now as before, that their new albums are so crap, that Richie’s solos are so easy, that Jon’s vocal is bad, that life performances are emotionless etc. If you think that you could do everything better and know all the right answers - why don’t you grab your guitars and write your own songs, create a band and make a career like them, and keep that career for 26 years…..any volunteers???? I don’t think so.

People always like to say they know everything better from the others but when it comes to prove it, everything stops on just talking. I am not saying that we are not allowed to describe our feelings, thoughts and emotions about any subject, but remember that’s only your point of view and others have their own. And respect it. But also respect Jon’s decisions as he really has a tough job and I wouldn’t want to be on his place personally. Maybe for one night or a week, sure. But more than that would be too much, at least for me. So I thank the guys for each new record that fulfills my everyday life and that’s with me through the hard and the good times.

Is there any hope left? I don’t think that hope was ever needed. The band is doing as good now as 26 years ago, only in a slightly different way. But still the same great Bon Jovi style, which is like nothing else in the world.

Kuba80BJ, I agree with you in 100%!!!!!!!!!

As to the objection that Jon does not have passion and gives no heart to the performance - this seems to be one of the greatest fallacies. When I watch the DVDs of BJ shows I can always see how exhausted Jon is already in the middle of the show. He puts 100% effort into the show. It is all hard work!

Kuba80BJ, thank you for your thoughtful post. You bring fresh perspective in here. I hope you get the chance to see the band again on the forthcoming tour

Great post, Kuba80BJ. It's so good to read something meaningful and thoughtful on Christmas.