[kenobi_on_a_prayer]

I don't know if the casuals noticed, but yes, Jon's voice was definitely way below its best (as I guess it has been for a while). It squeaked pretty audibly during Faith and I was worried he was going to be in a shitty mood after that but he wasn't. Dave and Bobby in particular, Phil to a lesser extent, really saved him vocally (and the crowd of course when it came to the hits). Other times he compensated by changing the timing, speaking instead of singing, etc as you've probably seen on the videos.

He could be sick, I guess. I will say that I have been struggling like crazy with hay fever/allergies the past couple of days in Melbourne, and I know Jon's voice should still be better than it is but it could be a factor at least.

I was further back than I have been for Bon Jovi before and there were very noticeable ebbs and flows. The girl next to me spent most of the night texting and I saw her update her Facebook status to something like "Basically every Bon Jovi song after 1999 is a pile of shit with wank juices" -- I disagree with the sentiment but they are picking the wrong songs, especially if they're not even going to mix anything up anymore. I love Memory, but it doesn't belong in that spot. Although I was surprised to hear people behind me (who didn't know a lot of the songs) singing along to Memory -- Lost Highway was the song that got played to death on radio during that tour IIRC.

Like Savvi said, Sleep to the end was pretty high energy and it's a shame they can't keep that up for the whole show.

I actually had a good time though, probably because I wasn't expecting any surprises, which is the way to go this tour. I've only ever been inside Etihad Stadium to do a tour of it before (and that was years ago when it was still Telstra Dome) so it was a nice first event there.

I could take or leave Kid Rock's music but he is one entertaining mofo. Can't help but love his energy.