Time for Jovi to get their act together!!!

Ironic that the elevation tour was my favorite U2 tour. That was as back to basics as a tour gets, admittedly the light show and screens were fantastic, but it was mostly about the music.

The Popmart tour on the other hand, not so much. I was there at the opening Popmart show and frankly it sucked. One of the top two worst concerts I've ever been a part of.

I think most people that have seen their shows in person would agree they are a pretty amazing live band. Check out live at Red Rocks or anything from the Rattle and Hum tour. Pretty much nothing but the music there.

My personal experience is the complete opposite. Crowd highlights from the past few tours that just ignited the crowd were Elevation, Walk On, Vertigo, Kite, In a Little While, Miracle Drug, All Because of You, City of Blinding Lights, Original of the Species, Running to Stand Still, Stay, and Out of Control. Obviously some of those were singles, but to say that the crowd only wakes up for the old classics is simply completely opposite my experience at U2 shows. By all accounts from the new tour Ultraviolet and Unknown Caller are the highlights. Not exactly old classics.

Jovi are fantastic live too, that's why I see them as often as I can. But U2 is pretty great too. There's room in my world for both of them. They are completely different beasts.

I only respond because I see the same thing on other boards about Bon Jovi being a crappy live act and it's just completely wrong so I hate to see another great live act get thrown under the bus on a BJ board.

Your right but Bono could sing there, where as now he can't so the stage and lights are all needed.

U2 in 2001 were amazing live, their shows had soul and each song bled into the other, they seemed up for it and were out to prove a point.

Their new tour looks and sounds shit, songs are played clinically and the way they performed in Barcelona was a disaster. Who wants a big stupid claw? it's just a distraction and a sign that U2 have fell out of love with their music again.

The only thing you'd come away with from a U2 concert these days is the desire to buy a Blackberry.

So wait, what exactly is the point of this thread .... that BJ should write better music, or put on a bigger live production, or what?

I love both bands Live, I cannot see how one is actually better than the other. The only thing wrong with Jovi is the PR team, the hype is not the same as at a U2 gig. U2 Are advertised heavily, unlike Jovi. This causes at the atmosphere to be crazy when U2 are on stage!!

U2 are all smoke and mirrors these days, as has been said above, you cant polish a turd........U2 were good in thier early days (dare i say St Bono has/had a better voice than Jon), but it seems that theyre stuck in a rut, whereas BON JOVI have tired, some good and some not so good, to change. Although I am heavily biased, I still maintain that BON JOVI are still the best live band in the world, both in terms of music and showmanship.........and pure 100% entertainmemt,

the point of the post was not to have people throwing insults at each other, thats for definite. I think i am more heading down the line of getting back to writing good material. When you get less attractive songs, then you need a stage set which helps. I watched a bity of the lost highway tour last night and had forgotten about the stage rising up near the end! That was cool. I think what made U2 special was the fact the fans were so into it at Croke but as previously mentioned, it was a dublin show after all. It also seemed to get dark very quickly which meant the lighting etc really worked...........the down side of touring UK & Ireland in the summer!
As for other points, rocking all over the world is a great song!! usually gets everybody bouncing at the Jovi shows which is what is all about....high octane, one song after another, slow it down a bit every so often (still want to hear BOR played like at Zurich 2000) but never seems to play it at London or Dublin shows I have been at!!

Interesting topic cause i have been comparing the shows of jovi to those of U2 / Stones for many years. Although they play the same venues and are in the same league as U2 the productions of Jovi are often a little smaller. I find that a pity cause i love big productions. Sure it is about the music, but add a huge production to great music and you have something that is even more breath taking.

Stages for jovi were cool for the Bounce outdoor tour. Lightshow was poor though. With that stage they could have done more. U2 would have gotten more out of the same material.

It makes me think that U2 and Stones are just more hands on and involved in the production of the stage and show. Bon Jovi imo are more like. They take a look and say... yeah, that's cool. OK for us. Let's go on the road and play.

93 KTF tour was very spectacular indoor. Great lights, smoke, pyro's, rotation drumkit, etc..
95 (like 'live from londen) was bigger (the stage) but less overwhelming cause the lightshow and effects were not any bigger than those used during KTF (While 95 were stadium shows against 93 KTF arena shows)

96 TD tour outdoor ... very cool stage. Not very larger but packed with decor and lights. Amazing.

2000 crush outdoor ... identical stage to 96 (disappointing) with very basic backdrop and basic lights (disapointing since this was like the big come back tour). Breaking attendance records, but not breaking production records

2001 OWN outdoor : Totally cool ... the empire stage building stage: WOOW on setup, lights, screens and music

2003: bounce stage: amazing backdrop (huge like an appartment building) but it was like they didn't take time to think about what to do with such an amazing stage.

2005: HAND tour outdoor : very much inspired by 2003 stage. Little less original. Lot's of LED screens, a bit too clean.

2008 : LH tour --> impressed by the LED background and the screens that could expand. Very state of the art. But again, very clean. They miss some smoke and classic spotlights to give another atmosphere on the stage. The stage itself was the most standardised roof you can imagine; Any festival uses this kind of stage. Rather small for BJ


U2: always outperforming on show when i've seen them.

93 Zooropa outdoor : check the DVD ... the screens, the size, the phonecalls, ... amazing visuals. At that time, no one did something like that. The U2 stage was even subject for lots of newspaper articles.

97 Pop Mart tour : over the top stage (the arche, the screen, the lemon) ... Every tour U2 comes with a real concept and everything needs to enforce that concept or image.

2000 / 2002 : Elevation tour --> very basic stage (see live from slane castle) but musically the best U2 show.

2005 : Vertico tour : Stage comparable to Jovi 2003 / 2005 stage. Better lights though

2009: 360 degrees tour: The claw is again the subject for a lot of press attention. A stage that needs to enforce and show that U2 are the biggest.


It's a kind of self fulfilling prophecy. If you yell loud enough that you want to be big, you make everything around you look really big and you act big, you really become big and people see you as big.


Maybe BJ should act 'bigger' LOL


Anyway, i hope the next tour will again blow me of my socks at many times in the show. By the songs, the band, how they play, how jon sings, but also by the lights, the production and the screens.



One thing in which BJ outperforms U2 : the length of the shows... Jovi shows are many times far over 2h30. That's amazing....

i know what you mean. i was at that U2 show at Croke last month and it was awesome....
i think its maybe because bon jovi have been away for a while and the stuff they released last was pretty laid back and not rockin enough...they were just tryin out new stuff!
pretty sure though that this new album coming out with be like the good old stuff