A thought on this current tour...

Does anybody else feel that the stage is too empty on this tour ? You got jon and richie on the front and the rest of the band too far away from them.. i know bobby and huey are live members only and they probably wanna keep them in the back. but if that's the case they should bring dave and tico a bit closer then... i dunno, it's just feels strange having only richie and jon there.

And is it just me or is Jon playing too much guitar these days ? not that he's no a good rhythm player, it's just that with bobby there he should be more hands free to be the frontman he's supposed to be. just my opinion though.

i´m ok with this tour... i love the stage setting

It's weird. During some songs (It's My Life, We Got It Going On), it's the coolest stage ever. During others, it's lame as hell. Jon has no use for a big stage anymore. He doesn't move around nearly as much as used to.

I think they need to start using the full setup much earlier. The robotic screens don't do anything until Superman Tonight. They should use them in earlier songs, like Born to Follow and Bad Name.

Also, the Circle walkway is hardly used. Aside from the acoustic set, Jon only used it for Love's the Only Rule and Prayer. It would be nice to see Richie out there doing solos, or something like that.

I think that's why the rest of the stage seems somewhat boring, because the biggest assets of their production aren't used enough. The stage itself is actually quite small. I noticed that when I saw it in person. Because the band has that round front instead of a traditional square, it's not a very big stage.

The stage is smaller than others but to be honest I like this one alot. The placement of Dave Tico Bobby and Hugh allows you to see the whole band which I like. Jon is concentrating a bit more on his singing and less on running around like a frantic frontman, but the voice sounds great so it's hard to find fault there. What I saw in the four shows I've seen so far is passion and emotion in the performances, there is no paint by the numbers going on , which is pretty much all you can ask of a live show. I think the crew and the band worked very hard to find a balance, a way to use all the high tech toys they got without overwhelming or distracting from the bands performance, IMO, they have done an excellent job of this.
The circle isn't used a great deal but when it is it is very cool. I like the acoustic set out front it's fun.
AS for Jon playing instead of running about, I don't think it's as easy at 48 to keep the energy level at full speed for 2 1/2 hours anymore, no matter how good a shape Jon is in, and he is in fabulous shape. There are some things time slows down whether you want it to or not. To me he is trading in putting passion and emotion back into songs vs running around. I'll take the emotion and passion in his voice every time.

I was saying almost all of this before the tour started.

Bobby is not a rhythm guitarist here, he just fills the sound with some sound. Something what David used to do on his keyboards.

Well they are getting older so we have to get used to it, Jon will never run as he used to do, Richie will play solos in the same spot he is standing during the show etc. On the other hand, we will get more robots and screens etc.

I agree 100%. I would add that I think Jon is moving around a fair bit more than those of you that haven't seen a show yet think he is.

Would I have welcomed a couple of change-ups at the last 2 shows like I got at the first 4 . . . sure. I can ALWAYS come up with a nice long list of songs that I'd like to hear live! But that did not stop me from enjoying these shows one little bit. The band sounds terrific right now, and if they aren't having a great time up there, they're all REALLY good actors.

Man, I'm gonna consider myself very lucky if i have as much energy as Jon does in 25 years from now!
As for the stage set up, I can't really say too much about it since i was wayyy in the back Sound was great back there though

Ever heard of Mick Jagger (aged 67)/Paul Stanley (aged 5/Steven Tyler (aged 61) who run AND sing like crazy and are much more energetic than a JBJ in 2010 who has slowed down lots. I ask myself why ???

drugs?