24th February show

Don't most of the guys in Jon's band know a lot of the big BJ hits though?
Haven't they played with him before? My guess would be because the Mastercard thing was a "Roots of Rock" promotion.

Everyone but the bass player, and the horn section to a certain extent, had played with Jon quite heavily the last few years. Not so much Kenny Aranoff, I don't think he's played with Jon since the late 90's but I could be wrong. Jeff, Everett, and Bobby would know the big hits, agreed.

As far as I've heard, the full band was supposed to be at that gig, does anyone have any info as to why they weren't, if it was a last minute switch or anything?

great older

only reason i can think its bc it was for the mastercard roots of rock campaign and these are HIS roots...

kinda ballsy - and a way out if he couldnt get the whole band together...

Well, it probably wasn't a last minute switch as Richie was in LA on the 24th. Now if only people stalked Tico and Dave the mystery would be solved

I wasn't referring to the Bon Jovi hits necessarily but even if they played with Jon before, it probably wasn't all that recent and I doubt they even Jon himself knew some of these without looking them over and rehearsing so why wouldn't the others?

I was at both shows. Setlists were the same. More than 1500 people inside on feb23 and about 750 on Tuesday. I loved the fc concert and loved same setlist next day. I don´t listen to the solostuff, Southside Johnny songs or Power Station CD at home. But it was amazing to hear those live.
So, on Monday, it was more "surprise, surprises and more surprises". And one of the best: NO LORENZA!!!!
Tuesday I knew what will happen, was prepared with the camera and enjoyed every damn song (Prayer acc. was awsome!). People were not that happy with Jons choice of songs, because they didn´t know and didn´t appriciate like most did the day before. Didn´t interested me and Jon, lol. He didn´t smile that much, didn´t make contact with the audience, but he was so unbelievable with the music and lyrics. He said, 2 for me and 1 for you, but I think it was more "3 for you, the rest for me". Band was also great on both days. Can´t say any bad word about this all. I just loved every minute and still can´t believe I got a ticket for Tuesday.

Even though the setlist for these shows was probably inspired by the whole "Roots of Rock" promotion, I had a feeling that the show itself would have worked much better when done for the fan club than when done for Mastercard & Hyatt. It sounds like I was right. Personally, I don't care who/what inspired the choice of songs. I'm just glad I got to be there for the show. Many thanks for sharing your experiences at the 2 shows!