Dublin Night 1 Review

Slightly longer review of last nights show.

I am sorry, but I cannot be as positive about a show that was so badly fecked up sound wise. It amazes me some of the comments by people here about how brilliant the set list was and the show was………..were you guys not there??!!

I will start on the negative and end on the positive.

The crowd was dead for the first hour. I was embarrassed for it. I had first timers there to experience a ‘Dublin’ Bonjovi show and all we got was a crowd not into it. I love the guys, love the songs but it is the first time I can ever say I lost interest in the set ata point in teh show. While a few people cheered, I was shouting ‘get the sound sorted’ as loud as I could!!! I think this was the root to the crowd problem as when the sound picked up, so did the crowd.

It was also rather hard to see anything with the sun on the screens. I would love them to play an outdoor gig in the Winter except for the bad weather and cold. It wasn’t even fully dark by the encore. The lights and screen affects (which are still part of the show) were lost in the brightness. In Munich it was nearly dark during BOR, cue the sparklers coming out and the lighting affects being better!!

The main sound issues, and I spoken to everyone I knew around the ground and they all said the same thing, it was awful for the first hour or so.

- Jon’s mic being off or turned low for a lot of songs. I have listed the songs below and made 1 comment on each.
- Richie’s guitars continually turned off or down. He played some great solos for himself up on stage!! Cant even remember which one it was where I stood and watched him play it on screen but there was no noise reaching us.
- Tico’s drum echo. The snare was constantly rebounding on itself. It meant I stood bored during WGIGO and Crash as I was soooooo pissed off with the sound techs!!. It also threw the crowd trying to sing/clap along………there were beats that just shouldn’t be there!

I was in a state of shock that we were 9 songs in and yet still no one in the sound tent did anything about it. Very amateur. Bad Medicine came on but I couldn’t even make Jon out in Gloria………only after he spelt the name out and sang Gloorrrria that I knew which cover it was. Someone needs a serious kick up the rear end regarding the sound last night and it amazes me only a few people have mentioned it.
An amazing show is when you can hear the band play their stuff to their best abilities as well as watching it live.



1. Raise Your Hands – awful sound. No atmosphere
2. You Give Love a Bad Name – people stood up and tried to hear Jon sing
3. Born to Be My Baby – ok performance but mic came and went
4. We Weren't Born to Follow – people know it. Not bad
5. Just Older – happy as I like it. Again sound issues
6. It's My Life – Tico played a repeat snare beat. Really bad feedback
7. Blaze of Glory – loud by the crowd but still issues. Jon talks, mic on, starts to sing, no mic on.
8. We Got It Goin On – bored by now. Loved this song in O2 and usually is a pumping song. Crowd sat there as sound went again.
9. Captain Crash - Hand waving good. Still cringing at sound. Embarrassed for the band.
10. Bad Medicine – muffled vocals. Snare issue still. FFS!!
.~. Gloria – couldn’t hear for a long time. Nor could you hear clearly the adlib chat first
.~. Not Fade Away – not keen on this at all. Tico could have played a better drum solo for something else but was probably worried about hitting the snare
.~. Pretty Woman – got a tired/bored crowd going
11. Love's the Only Rule – wanted to hear this but spoilt still by sound issues. Also not extended out like they usually do so fell flat with crowd
12. When We Were Beautiful – why oh why oh why. I really thought it was going to be Superman acoustic and then it was this instead.
13. Bed of Roses – finally the crowd wakes up from its slumber and everyone sings
14. I'll Be There For You (Jon & Richie) – nice crowd and suddenly a loud guitar!
15. Who Says You Cant Go Home – so many alrites piss me off. And then he went back again to them. However, they were tweaking the sound when he did this I think.
16. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead – ok. Good pumping song with the clapping. Felt like a aerobics class!! lol!
17. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night – soooo much effort, great song
18. Have a Nice Day – pumping again, great screens, crowd really going
19. Keep the Faith – smashing, crowd are alive and suddenly the concert in the last 5/6 songs is amazing. Why did it take this long!!!??

20. Dry County – okay for me. I only say this as I used to always want to hear it and now that is 4 shows in a row. You can have 2 songs for it and I was wanting one of those other rarities. However, it was amazing especially Rich on the guitar.
21. Wanted Dead or Alive – sweet! Just let us sing it all Jon!!
22. These Days – sweet! Another nice one though again I was looking for This Aint a Love song or something a little bit more special.
23. Always – such a fibber Jon. Play Prayer, and if the crowd are good, come back for two off the cuff. ‘Forgot one’ baloney, they are never going to not play Prayer. But he nailed it. Great version. Crowd could be heard 5 miles away (where I parked the car at my friends!!)
24. Livin' on a Prayer – loud loud loud! Why finish the show now? Amazing!! If only we could get back in that Time Machine and start again with hindsight on the first 13 songs.

Setlist wise, I find it hard to judge. I was happy with the songs (bar a few) as the first timers there knew the classics and that is what they got. I, on the other hand, was disappointed, as I was at Munich and this was almost the same set. Yes I was pleased with LTOR and Older but to be fair, a Let it Rock or Hey God would have made my night. We could have easily had one instead of the amount of wasted time on the ‘Alrites’ and the Bad Medicine Medley (2 instead of 3). I am jealous for tonight as no doubt the show will be better organised. It was almost the same set as Dublin a few years back too.

The band, I would agree, were very pumped up but then I would have said it looked the same at Munich. I got great seats which meant we could actually see the band too. They loved it and the final part of the set was awesome. The crowd was alive , the place buzzing and it was one of the loudest renditions of Prayer and Always I have heard.

I came to the conclusion that it all sounded good to the band on stage and only when Jon got out in the open on the cat walk that he could hear the awfulness. Certainly it improved 100% during and after being out there, like after Richies BOR solo so I don’t believe that to be just a coincidence.

To conclude – thank God for the second half of the set. It saved them but maybe there is a job going in the sound department. Well done to Jon for hobbling around, clearly in pain at times, and pulling off the songs which he did. The rest of band backed him up superbly.

Aloha !

I'm sorry about the sound issues, but Jon doesn't pick up on anything soundwise. He gets everything from in ear monitors and doesn't hear much crowd participation at all, and neither hears at how awful it can be unless at quiet times he hears a lot of echo like in Frankfurt, meaning his mike picking up on it. There's no such thing as him not hearing a guitar, and what we hear coming out of the PA is not what the band hear on their in ear monitors. This is the fourth show this tour where there apparantly were sound issues. 3 times a failing PA and now apparantly this.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I feel sorry for you dude - too bad they ****ed up the sound once again. Happy that I didn't went to this one, although the setlist doesn't look too bad.

There were indeed sound issues and you forgot the feedback from Richie's guitar at the strart of Prayer-he had to go back to his mike that has a direct line to sound desk and it was sorted after a few seconds but Richie was pissed.

As a show it was good but not great (even my Mother thought Twickenham & 02 were better ) even when the sound was back the sound level was no where near to its maximum and could have a lot to do with the less than enthusiastic crowd. It did go up a level from Dry County though.

As good as Vitage Trouble were as warm up no body gave a damn so would have prefered an established name so people might have actually entered the stadium early instead of the place only filling up at 7-45.
Got These days -and Always could have been worse judjing by Audibles(oh ya why play WWWB-WGIGO and not play Lay your hands on me and In these Arms ,swap those around and would have been much better buts thats a personal taste thing.

ahhhh yes. Forgot that one, wondered what it was. It was a shame really as the band looked up for it (saying that, what a set tonight!!). Still, I had never heard Bed of Roses at all my Jovi shows before this year and now got it twice!! Maybe next time, I will hear it fully and properly (Munich Jon spitting and 1 2ing into the mic as it went off and last nights low guitar!!). Not much luck I must say!!!

O2 was great inside as the music just stayed in. I was at Twick Night 2 which was rubbish with a half empty stadium. You are right about the audibles!! The band was also only on at 8.10 instead of 8 so that was another 10mins down the tube! Lay your hands on me in Munich was cool with the jamming session though I thankfully saw less of Bobby last night!

Personal taste is absolutely right, they will never please everyone and certainly everyone left buzzing because of the last hour!

Guys dont apologise for the sound, lol, not your fault unless you are in charge of it. I know little about music, cant sing or play a note, but if i picked up on it, it must have been well rotten for people who can sing and play! Will be interesting to know if they sorted it tonight!!

Jonty where the **** were you situated at the show?

I was standing at the front of GA and the sound was fine. The only sound problem that night was the feedback off Richie's guitar on the Prayer intro.

You're talking like someone who wasn't there or had a shit seat.

The crowd were great, Jon was quite clearly moved at the end too.

Your review is laughable.

Re: sound issues. At Murrayfield it was apparent from watching videos afterwards that there was a definite difference in what the audience heard depending on where they were stood.

Case in point - Richie's STBI solo. I was dead centre in GC and heard the first note die completely but Richie didn't play the string again or do anything drastic to try to fill the emptiness. Alan's video from stage right also highlighted this but when you watch videos taken by others from stage left, you can hear the note ringing, albeit not as pronounced as you would expect. It's really bizarre.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

This Jonty fella must have been in the stand or something because in standing everything came through perfectly.

It was quite windy on night 1, so that and maybe some sound rebounding off stands/ walls gave people a false impression of the actual true sound.

The comment about Tico being afraid to hit the snare because of echo made me laugh my balls off.

It would seem you have to have balls to say anything negative on this site!! I was using a lot of heavy sarcasm in the review - for example the Tico drum part. Plenty of people heard the sound issues and it's not the first time there has been major feck ups this tour! Bed of roses in Munich another example with mic problem! The review was not slagging the band, more the sound boys!!!!!! Seb kindly explained how the band hear it. I was sitting in the stand to David's side half way along the cat walk. It would be some going to write a review having not been there. My mates in stand opposite, halfway down my stand and in front of the tower in GA all heard the issues plus others. You will note I said everything changed after BOR so that isn't a coincedence! Can I say you guys in GA seemed to be having the most fun during the whole show out of everyone!

I would never sit in the stand you see. The speakers are pointed out towards the standing crowd, so even when the sound isn't at it's pinnacle it's nice and clear down below.

GA was pretty raucous on night 1 indeed