Are The Band at a Real Crossroads Live?

That actually made me laugh . Picturing a social media guy not understanding a single word and just being told to delete negative comments.
I seriously don't know how it works there but if you want to know what fans want for the setlist, just use some data mining tools.

I think it is quite hard to create the "perfect" setlist. Jon is not doing a bad job with it most of time, IMO. As people have mentioned before, it is the flow and the performance that is important to me, not just rare songs.
The thing is all of us here a die-hards and we all have different opinions about what should be played. I mean how on earth should the setlist satisfy every fan if it is not even possible to agree on it here.
I personally don't care to much for most of the 80's stuff live and my "perfect" setlist would contain 40 songs at least. I was always lucky to get the songs I wanted to hear with the exception of Damned and Thorn In My Side and the only time I walked away bored with the set was the first of the O2 shows.

[B]Jon is very clearly on a prolonged stay relevant kick. Since Lost Highway somehow topped charts worldwide and spawned a lucrative tour to brag about he's constantly implying in interviews how being relevant means the world to him.

As such it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the first two shows have been coated in post 00's "hits". If he lined the sets with the 80's/90's tunes we all want he'd go against everything he's trying to prove he's not - A nostalgia act reliant upon hits from 20 years ago.

I think someone from here should really write a message, short but still rich in content and then everybody could send it at least to jovi's facebook wall. And mention that we are from drycounty.com. Maybe it's not working but it's not costing anything either...

Personnally, it's not as much the setlist, as it is the lack of energy.
If he dropped the guitar, I know I would enjoy the show alot more.

I know some don't mind him playing it, as long as the performance is delivered with passion, etc. I feel the same, if it's for a few songs, not when it's for most of the songs. And to top that off, the passion isn't there (from what I've seen).

I'm not saying the shows are bad and I'll probably have fun. I just feel as though the type of show they're putting on is different. It's good if I compare them to any other average band, but not when I think of what this band is capable of.

For me, Bon Jovi live has always been about the atmosphere, the singalongs, etc. and having fun, but I'm not seing that at the moment. It seems as though it may be a mix of dull crowds AND band performance....which isn't a good combo.

That's been Jon since 1986. Read any interview with him from the Jersey period onwards, and the "stay relevant" kick is there.

Anyway, I'm probably in the minority, but I don't think the setlist situation is quite as dire as most people here seem to. Honestly, I think it's pretty easily fixable. For starters, the setlist construction is not all that different from the template they've been using since The Circle Tour. Bad Name, LH, New single within the first five songs, alternate new and old album tracks, IML and WGIGO in the middle(ish) of the main set to get the crowd revved, KTF took Bad Medicine's spot as the Pre-acoustic set song, acoustic/slow/Jon in the audience section, WSYCGH coming out of that to bring the crowd back into it a bit, Bad Rx in turn takes KTF's main set closer role. The encore is same. Not saying it shouldn't be changed, just saying that the template is basically the same. Honestly, if you took the DC show and removed WLOL, WWWB, and ILTT and replaced them with (insert older tracks here) it would be a pretty alright set. Personally, I don't mind all the new stuff. New albums are supposed to be pimped at live shows, not buried as a single and an album track or two.

The new songs aren't the problem, the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned. It's the fact they have replaced the wrong songs and left in the filler that should have been long gone.

I don't think their at a crossroads and I think we'll soon see some entirely different shows from the first one. We know from experience that the first few aren't always the best, and really, theres actually only been one, with the other a warm-up.

My only complaint is the sheer amount of Lost Highway songs, pretty much more than any other album. The album's okay, I liked it when it came out - again for what it was - but now it rarely gets a listen. I enjoyed Lost Highway live on The Circle tour but just think Whole Lot Of Leaving whilst great on the record doesn't work and whilst its a little gem of a song, it should be left to enjoy on the record, or maybe a full acoustic show or something.

[QUOTE=bj4ever;1105947]Personnally, it's not as much the setlist, as it is the lack of energy.
If he dropped the guitar, I know I would enjoy the show alot more.

I know some don't mind him playing it, as long as the performance is delivered with passion, etc. I feel the same, if it's for a few songs, not when it's for most of the songs. And to top that off, the passion isn't there (from what I've seen).

Absolutely correct nearly ZERO passion in the delivery...Perfect example is video of Wild is the Wind that some people were raving about being played in Washington the other night but wow come on JBJ...could you at least try or pretend to be trying! The climax after the solo no emotion... and the ending before the guitar outro hearing Jon "singing" Wild, Wild, Wild, Wild is the Wind is just pitiful to hear. He sounds so bored and lame....its pathetic in my opinion and just plain sad.

Heres the video...

I have a problem with most of the band being positioned too far back meaning no interaction. Why cant hugh and bobby be on the main stage so that richie can play side by side etc like most other bands.

I don't think you can read too much into the set-list at the moment.
They're starting a tour for an album that isn't out for another month, which seems damn strange to me. Because hardly anyone knows the new stuff it makes it hard for them to fill a set-list with them as it will just leave them with an arena of people standing/sitting still.

I would expect things to change a lot by the time the tour leaves arenas and goes into stadiums.
From a personal perspective I'd like to see some of the older songs disappear, but because they're "classics" there's no chance of it happening (Bad Name, Bad Medicine to name just 2). They are songs I really don't like, but at the same time, casual fans expect them to be in the set-list.

I've got Diamond Circle for Hyde Park and I know that a set-list of greatest hits, with a few other bits thrown in won't ruin it for me. However, if there's no real stage presence or effort from the band, then I'll be just a touch annoyted. Then again, it's Hyde Park/London so there's little chance of a poor effort - if anything they'll save themselves up for it.

I want a proper opening too - maybe not as extravagent as the one from the These Days tour though (that would take too much thought/effort from Jon).
I want energy, I want fun, I want presence. Effectively I want all the things you'd expect from a band in their 20s/30s but will not get from this bunch of 50-somethings anymore......