Bon Jovi - Performing Live - The Evolution

bon jovi have evolved over the years in tems of style but also in terms of performing "live"

this topic intends to offer u the opportunity to discuss how bon Jovi have evolved over time

i would appreciate if u could offer the reader [i.e. myself....] an in-depth analysis of jon's voice, his vocal techniques as well comments [where applicable] about the over jovi members as regards their live playing and background vocal styles...

Theres no doubt that Bon Jovi aren't old, just older and they have not lost any quality over the years but when you see the DVD's from Wembley and Zurich the one from Zurich isn't nearly as good because of the cleanliness of the video and audio, wheras in the Wembley concert there is a lot of distortion and the image isnt quite as good which gives a raw effect that appeals to many people.

Of course im not saying that both of them are not the top two DVD's of all time ))

Well when comparing the live performances they seem to be a lot more controlled nowwich can be both good and bad.
of course i only know the lived performances in the 80's from bootlegs and archival footage I've gotten a hold of through the years.
I mean obviously there's Jon's voice to consider, but that's gotten enough attention on other topics.Tico's hasn't lost a beat, except he just doesn't add as much to the new songs, but he still plays the older stuff just as good if not better.
To me they were best in '95-'96.
Of course I may be a little biased since my first bj concert was during that time but screw it.

Jon's voice has been getting worse since the Crush tour which was way worse than These Days. Nowadays he seems to have trouble even singing in tune.

He had problems with his voice during the SWW tour but recovered and NJ-TD period was the best. KTF - Evening with BJ shows how powerful his voice was. Simply amazing, Bon Jovi at its best. Live from London was awesome too, very relaxed. Zurich was nothing to write home about and all the later performances seem to be getting worse and worse. Things looked a bit better for the 2001 OWN tour but it seems it was just one last spark. His voice on Bounce tour sucked big time. TLFR was different since there was very little using of higher tunes. Whenever there was a chance to show off his voice, he sang lower than he should have. The last webcast was just dreadful.

I trully hope his voice recovers again. It would be nice to see a show again where he would be relaxed and wouldn't struggle so much just to be in tune. The rest of the guys are still great. Richie could do a bit more solos, acoustic intros like he used to.

If Jon's voice continues to deteriorate in this pace, he won't be able to perform much longer.

agreed.

I saw him last night at Radio City Music Hall. He was in MUCH better voice than the recent webcast. Radio Ciy is an older, small music hall and the acoustics are terrific. He gave similar performances (to the webcast) of Prayer, It's My Life and Here Comes the Sun, but as I said - he sounded very good.
He really sounded better though - later in the show - in a duet with John Mellencamp - rockin on Pink Houses

Ah but ain't that America for you and me
Ain't that America somethin' to see baby
Ain't that America home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses for you and me
oh yeah for you and me

Seemed much more his style to me.

Kathleen

Aloha !

The thing is, when Jon is performing acoustic wise he most of the time sounds very good. I don't know if anyone of you remembers the 4 songs played at a German radio station, I really was amazed how good it sounded, and later on I heard him live again on several bootlegs from the Bounce tour, and his voice was just crap. Basically because he doesn't really rock out his voice, and acoustic songs are just sung different. Imagine him doing Bounce acoustic, all concentration would go to his voice which would just sound flat because of the screams. I haven't heard many good live versions of Bounce at all during the Bounce tour.

When Jon starts to sound crap acoustic wise you could ask yourself if it depends on the webcast itself, which just had a terrible sound the last time, or if it really depends on Jon himself. And lately it starts to sound more and more that it's Jon himself. Like Tom_K said, if his voice keeps on detoriating in this pace for any longer, he will have serious troubles in giving good live shows. Nowadays he's got his charm as a frontman, and he knows it a little too well in my opinion, but there will be a day when his audience will concentrate more at his actualy performance. I don't think he wants to keep making happy poppy songs like IML (which I think is a good song by the way) and Everyday, that attract a young audience who doesn't care less about his performance, there will be a day that he needs to get something of his chest. And young teeny boppers don't need albums like that. Serious music brings serious fans. At least, most of the time. So if Bon Jovi wants to be taken serious in the future, their albums will need a more serious undertone.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I agree with you 100% and I have to say the worst consequence of this is their live set list...he only sings the song he's still able to.

I still don't understand how the "1996 Jon" could have turned in 2000 one.
That's just a mistery to me and it will always be until Jon will give some explanation but not in the way he did on a live chat.... "I'm not young as I used to be....."
To me smoke and age are not enaugh.

Does anyone if how Jon commented his vocal problems during the SWW era? Did he admit them at that time or only talked about it several years later? I wonder what his opinion on the 2000-2004 era will be in let's say 10 years. I'm sure he knows his voice is getting worse and worse.

He likes to compare himself with the Stones but they're much older than him. I thought it was funny how he kept repeating how old he was during the last webcast when all they did was slow versions. If he can't handle that anymore, how will he do full shows?

It's so sad seeing the best band fading away.

As far as I know Jon never mentioned his voice problems back in 87. He even screamed more during the shows as nothing has happened.

The only time he mentioned it and I heard it was at Storytellers.