What followed now was one of the most awesome Bon Jovi moments in the past 10 years. Jon teasing the crowd with one more song, then whistling back the band who looked genuinely surprised to be called back, and then letting the crowd decide what song would be getting played. The approving roar of the crowd after Jon mentioned Bed Of Roses really surprised me, there was no way of getting this crowd tired of the show. We all know by now how the choices went down, but the lack of roar for I Love This Town was satisfying enough for me that I knew we at least wouldn’t be getting THAT song. I was surprised Living In Sin was met with slightly the same noise I’ll Be There For You received, but when Jon mentioned This Ain’t A Love Song me and the brother screamed like 2 crazy 16 year old fan boys and then apologized to the people behind us who got a kick out of seeing these two lunatics scream their hearts out. Despite the appreciation for both Bed Of Roses and I’ll Be There For You being much bigger Jon did opt to play This Ain’t A Love Song, making it kind of obvious he was just testing the waters to see if enough people would actually cheer for the song. This moment, with the performance of This Ain’t A Love Song was as good as the “**** it, let’s play” moment in Hyde Park 2003, “This one’s for the die hards” in Dusseldorf 2006 or “These guys wanna hear I Believe” in Lisbon 2011. Although I’d enjoyed the encore thus far this was the icing on the cake and really saved the show from lacking any genuine crowd interaction.

So what’s the verdict then? Well, it feels like I watched two bands play this night. One played a 2 hour, lackluster main set, and then Jon turned it up a notch during the encore and proved why I’m still a Bon Jovi fan despite having seen so many average or just ok shows. But the truth is, 1 hour and 10 minutes of fun don’t make up for 2 hours of boredom. And I’m perfectly aware I was probably one of the few who’s verdict about this show was as harsh as this, but that’s because I’m a die-hard who travels to see the band, and those are in the minority anyway. Therefore, my judgment and verdict about this show is exactly coming from that perspective. Someone who’s seen every show since 2000 or even before that will see too many similarities, and I can’t blame them because it really is more of the same. Especially when the main set is so similar to the one a tour before yet lacks the acoustic set and “surprising” covers. Would I have known what the main set was like, there’s no way I’d have even bothered going in before the encore started, which again shows what the problem is with these shows. Autopilot all the way with the few exceptions here and there. Considering what the band has offered in America after the European leg had ended, I doubt I’d have stayed for the encore and would have walked out of the show again, just like I did the last time they played at the MetLife Stadium. Bon Jovi showed signs of willing to please the die-hard fan base, but there is little proof of that left now, which makes Bon Jovi a fan for the average Joe, and Springsteen (yes, there he is again), the true hero from Jersey. And as much as this upsets Jon to this day, there’s only one person to blame and that’s Jon himself.

So the verdict?

Rating on the Supersonics’ all mattering Bon Jovi review index:
***** The ****ing bollocks!!!
**** Top show.
*** Yeah, well that was alright...
** Piss poor performance. Zzzzz…
* Back to the drawing board.