I try not to judge today's Jon to the 80's and 90's but when I look back at those years whether it's a live show, an interview, or even just watching Access All Areas, I'm like Fuuuuuuuuck where did that guy go... It's all different from head to toe... If it wasn't for those years, I wouldn't be here typing this right now...

Some of the old school guys who used to post here like Seb, are done with it, some might have outgrown it... I still enjoy the form of it... For one it doesn't move me like it used to. When I was a kid, Jon and Richie weren't even people. I saw them as Elvis and The Beatles.. It's not like that anymore... I'm older, Jon's older, and the celebrity isn't what it once was.

I do like other bands besides Bon Jovi and I think most of those other bands, aren't as good as Bon Jovi once was in their prime either but that's okay, I can still like them... When I listen to other artists, I'm not comparing them to Bon Jovi of the 80's and that's what I do when I listen to the current Bon Jovi... Teardrop To The Sea doesn't compare to Living On A Prayer but neither does Viva La Vida by Coldplay imo... However, I still enjoy all three songs for different reasons...

I do like to mix the old with the new in order to balance the new... The internet has given me so much in terms of old school material... It's a never ending search... My collection was a tenth of what it was before the internet...

After the WAN album and tour, I was done with the band for a while... Not because it sucked, but because I needed a break. I do it all the time... After so much time had lapsed, I got into collecting soundboard and A+ audience recordings from the NJ tour... I was so into it... It brought me back... As this was going on, Burning Bridges came out of nowhere. I really dug a few of the songs and still do... I get it though... It's more or less a Jon 3rd solo album, it's a mood album, it's a bunch of recycled material... The album gave me hope that Jon could still be a decent recording artist. His voice is shot live but he sounds decent in the studio... So now I'm listening to BB one day and then throwing in some of the classic live Jovi tracks from the 80's. Found an amazing audience version of the Boys Are Back In Town from the NJ Tour. I'm balanced and back into the band again...

So then THINFS come out and I generally feel the same about it as I did Burning Bridges... I don't listen to it as it's Bon Jovi... I listen to it like it's a different band... It's like if Jon Shanks released an album and hired Jon to sing on it... That's kind of the view I take on it... It's different and I like it... No new Bon Jovi material will ever sound the way it once did... My only hope is for vault material to pop out one day...

Although I'm collecting all the Soundboard Concerts from this tour, I know I'll never listen to any of them. Probably at the end, I'll put together a compilation of the best ones or something but it's just more about the hobby.

I'm looking forward to my shows next month and once the tour is done, I'll put it all away for a while before I take it back out again and look for new older stuff to keep the balance going...

That's where I am with this band currently.. It's not all good but it's not all bad either...