August 18, 2017: Bon Jovi Endicott, NY

Jon needs to make a hard decision. Right now, we're not only getting sub standard vocals, but also zero stage presence. The two together are disastrous for a band with such a rich live legacy as Bon Jovi.

I've said this before and actually spoke with a mate about it earlier. I saw Whitsnake a good while ago and was about 10 ft away from Coverdale. The gig was brilliant & everyone was praising him for his "amazing" vocals. (Even on playback the gig sounded great)

The reason why everyone was happy wasn't because Coverdale sang amazing, (although they thought he had at the time) it was more because he was very clever with how he avoided exposing himself vocally. This is where Jon fails miserably.

First off, Coverdale looks the part (forget hair etc) - he has all the cliched rock star poses, mic spins, crowd pointing etc etc - but visually it works and helps take the emphasis off vocals. He moved, he had energy. Compare this to Jon, who is like a statue up there, grimacing & barley offering any obvious clues of enjoyment.

The other thing Coverdale did impressively was choose his vocal battles well. On harder notes, he'd offer the crowd the mic while the guitarist(s) sang the part - it didn't sound or feel odd because visually you're getting all those rock star moves and audibly you're hearing decent backing vocals as well as crowd participation.

It sounds an obvious thing to do but Jon isn't doing any of these things. (Often enough) He is so exposed up there. It's so hard to watch and listen to. Something needs to give. If he can't vocally improve, then he needs to visually offer something more than being rooted to the spot. If it's not fun to watch, rubbish to listen to....is there much point anymore???


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I'm actually afraid that these guys deliver a more "authentic" Bon Jovi concert experience than the real thing does nowadays:

https://youtu.be/Dobv4qY67dU

At least the singer is able to sing the songs while actually MOVING around the stage... not forgetting to mention that the set list is much better than the average post-2k BJ one as well (yes, even better as a whole than the Endicot one, as solid as it was). Overall, it feels much more like the BJ show we know than the real thing does in 2017.

Like I said, I think he's improving. If he can keep that up, and they indeed come to Europe next year, it could be good indeed

Maybe, but the problem with all those cover bands is that the singers may in part look and even sound like Jon, but either the voice doesn't really fit or the intonation or even pronounciation (due to them being Italian, German or whatever) is off. Jon sounds like Jon does, and besides that one guy that did a record that was faked by someone to be a leak of the new BJ record, no one comes really close to his tone...

I didn't think IBTFY was THAT bad? I was expecting worse. Same with In These Arms.

These Days was cringe.

Bed of Roses... thought that one would never get played again. Bit of a shoutfest, but did get slightly better as the song went on. Kind of.

Trying to look for positives here.

Happy to see Scars and God Bless gone. Sad to see Roller Coaster got ditched. Hopefully that one sticks around.

Just don't get why he had to stand at the mic with his eyes shut.

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I kinda agree with all this

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Im gutted that JBJ is losing his powers.
Ive loved him since 1988 and he in his prime he is up there with the very very best like Axl, Tyler, Hetfield and Sebastian Bach.
In 88-90 & 93-96 he was THE best no doubting that.
But its so sad now to see JBJ straining and struggling.

This is definitely better than the sound on the other video. He is struggling, but it isn't awful. I feel bad for him, he is trying so hard.

This sounds way better, and I'd rather have this than no These Days at all. If he just moved a little more it would be great. Last night I was watching this video from a couple days ago and it just looks like a different guy (specially after the first chorus):