Kuba's Paris show review

It’s been more than 24h since the show in Paris finished and I still can’t stop thinking about it. I would like to share all my thoughts with you but I don’t know where to start. I won’t judge the show song by song, because all of them were great. I danced, jumped, sang and shouted from start to finish. In the meantime I took some photos and videos. I passed the camera to my wife for my favourite songs so I could jump and shout even more(KTF, ILTFY, LIR, LOAP) By the end of ‘Prayer’ I lost my voice almost completely and probably few kg from sweating also By the way, I apologise in advance for my shouting and singing in some parts of few videos, I just couldn’t stop myself from doing that

No matter what some of you may think, set list on paper are nowhere near to the real show. I can agree that on paper our set list may look not superb but actually the show was spectacular. First of all those set lists are perfect for the casual fans. Even songs like Captain Crash or Sleep are extremely well received by the audience, even though most of us would like them to be changed for other songs (including myself). Songs like IML, YGLABN, BM, WDOA, LOAP, WGIGO, BTBMB, BOB were the ones that the crowd loved the most. That’s why they play them in each show. And WGIGO is perfect for live shows and those stairs made of robot-screens are amazing. I personally like the song very much and I think it deserves its place as a staple in each set.

First of all I would like to underline the importance of the audience in Paris. The thing that hit me right away was the fact that after few first lines of BOB everyone have stood up from their seats. I mean literally everyone. And what’s even more interesting, they have never sat down back again until the very end of the show. You will be able to see it on my videos. You could easily feel brilliant atmosphere and vibe in the arena. And Jon noticed that right away. Moreover people knew all the lyrics, almost to each song. There were a lot of moments when Jon let the crowd sing and they did that easily. I bet that is one of the best parts of his work – too see and hear thousands of people sing his songs, word by word. There was a great moment after WGIGO. After the song finished it seemed like they were about to start the next song but the crowd started to sing WGIGO again and Jon let them do that. It was great. I managed to capture that at the beginning of BM video which was the next song (you will be able to see it soon). One thing that might lower down the crowd attention at some point (as much as the bands’ attention) was the temperature and humidity in the arena. It was extremely hot and I am not sure if air-conditioning worked well. It was hard to breathe at times, but maybe it had also something to do with my jumping also

And the most important thing - Jon’s voice is absolutely amazing and Richie is a killer on guitar and his solos are perfect. They were definitely not on auto pilot. They were on fire. And I mean red hot fire. They might be tired because of the humidity but definitely not autopilot. Jon had smile on his face all the time and you could easily see that he truly enjoys the show very much. He was very much pleased with the reaction of the crowd. You could feel the connection between the band and the audience during the show last night. It was great for both sides. As a prove for that was the thing that I jumped and danced on LH and WSYCGH even though I don’t like those songs. When you hear them live, it’s just different. The band takes you to an unknown place - to Rock & Roll Heaven and you just enjoy every second of it and you just don’t want to leave this unbelievable place. No matter what they play.

For me the biggest highlights were BOR and KTF. But to be honest each song had its highlights and I enjoyed each one of them. The only thing this show missed in my opinion was ‘Dry County’ or ‘Something To Believe In’ or ‘These Days’ (my personal wishes). Basically one or two more songs for die-hards. I think it was close to that. After the ‘Prayer’ finished the audience tried to shout for a second encore. But arena stuff hit the main lights after few seconds and it was obvious that they will not return and people stopped shouting. But I do not have any hard feelings towards the band that they did not play them, because they left their hearts and souls on the stage anyway, without a doubt.

My second thought is not only about this show but in general few previous shows. I don’t know why the band has stopped playing songs from the new album. TIMS and LTOR were amazing live in US leg. Bullet also worked well. And the strangest thing for me is that they do not play BPL, which is easily the best song from the new album. I agree with many of you that Jon gave up too soon with that. And I think that the crowd in Paris actually received the new songs very well, especially WWBTF and WWWB and got involved into them. Especially sha-la-la’s of WWWB. I have the video of it and you will see that for yourselves.

And one more thought. After seeing it personally right now I am sure that their shows are worth every cent you pay for it. The guys truly deliver a great performance this tour. It was way much better from my previous (and the first) show in Bristol in 2008, and I thought that they were fantastic then. Right now they were way better. And now I can also say that indoor shows are better, at least for me (Bristol was in a stadium). Stadium shows in Europe start too soon and it gets dark only at the end of the shows and you just miss most of the light/screen effects. In arena the scenery is much much better.

I don’t know how to describe how I loved the show. And no matter how hard I try, those of you who haven’t witnessed that personally will not understand that. I hope that my videos will show at least a small part how great it was – the band and the crowd. I waited for the show for almost 9 months after I have bought the tickets in late October and traveled over 1600km one way by car just to see them. Moreover what was originally going to be trip for the show only, turned out to be a magical family trip. At the end I went to Paris with my wife and our not even 1 year old daughter (11,5 months) and my parents. We have spent 6 amazing days in Paris and area (including Versailles and Euro Disneyland) and we had an amazing time together. The show was the last point of our stay in Paris and what a finish it was. And all of that because of a rock band from NJ - 2,5h show turned into a 10 day trip (right now we are half way home, in Germany, visiting our relatives).Great, isn’t it? And only BON JOVI can give you that

Here’s something for the start – my favourite of the night – BOR. I will try to post the rest asap but it will take some time. I have recorded in HD and all videos have about 7GB so a lot of uploading ahead of me. I have many songs, including LIR Enjoy this one and wait patiently for the rest of videos and some photos!

Bed of Roses – Paris, Bercy, 16.06.2010:

A Bon Jovi show is a magical experience. Glad you had such a great time!

This is a point that many people here on the board forget while watching song titles get posted. I couldn't agree with you more.

It sounds like you had an absolute blast - I know the feeling It's why we all keep going back.

What a wonderful review! I'm so glad you had such a great time. Many, many thanks!

New title for thread: "THIS is how you write a review".

Aloha !

Glad you enjoyed it, but didn't think you wouldn't.

Yes they were. They weren't at the start, but the band were a bit off tonight. Richie made a lot of mistakes, he had problems with his guitars very often (didn't work properly during There For You), he nearly missed the intro of Raise Your Hands and there were more things like that. Jon zoned out of it once he realised he'd lost the crowd after Lost Highway, and went on autopilot during Bed Of Roses. Sure, vocally he delivered, but most of the emotion was lost. I was surprised he was willing to do Let It Rock and he did read a lot of banners, but even during Let It Rock he sort of walked through it.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Kuba
I was thinking about the Paris show and how you are doing up there. I am glad to hear that you enjoyed the show. You are a living example to support the idea which we both tried to put forward several times and which Kathleen used to and still does strongly defend: the show works, the paper setlist does not! The show is an actual experience, a setlist is a cold analysis, a register of titles. It is like an analysing a recipe for a cake and consider in theory all its ingredients, instead of eating the cake and enjoying its actual taste: ) All in all, people who, like you, experience the show, come back happy. Those who sit at the computer are complaining! You see – not all songs that you were dreaming about and which you mentioned to me several times as your favourites were played. But still you enjoyed the live experience to the utmost!

I am looking forward to your videos on you tube. One of them – Bed of Roses, is just superb! (you must be quite an experienced camera operator: ) No earthquake-seasickness to be seen, the shots are close, the audio is great). And you are right – Jon is at top form and so are the guys! And no autopilot. It can be all said judging by your footage. But it must be more evident when you are at the show!

I would like to see you dancing and jumping: ) Not to be seen on the videos: ) As to the crowd – it must be a mystical experience to show that kind of excitement with the entire crowd. Be a part of the great wave of extatic feeling running through all.

As to the band’s giving up songs from the new record – I think they simply want to meet everybody’s expectations and they play some shows where oldies prevail and then they will come back to the songs of The Circle. You know, if they were to make every fan happy (and as many people so many individual tastes) during a single show it would have to include all the stuff and last for some 24 hours. Like Classical Greek drama competitions which were going on from dawn to dusk: ) Can you imagine Jon and the band members after such a marathon? ha ha: )
Still, it is great that you had your absolute number one – KTF!


now, the experience that you had is yours and it will stay with you for ever. I am happy for you to have a memory like that to be stored for ever. It is such experiences and memories which, even though they are rare, build up our individual lives and make our existences great.


Sorry for this elevated tone: ) but it is your post, its style and mood which inspired me to write comments in that vein: )

Thank you all for the kind words about my review. I am glad you like it.

Here's another video - Let It Rock Unfortunatelly it is in two parts, but I have missed only few lines of the song in the middle:

Let It Rock - Part 1

Let It Rock - Part 2

I will try to upload the rest tomorrow