I went to see the band in Louisville last night at the first-ever Hullabalou Festival at Churchill Downs (home of the Kentucky Derby). After waffling on buying tickets for the longest time, I decided to go since it was only 80 minutes or so from my home (and I usually see them in Nashville - 3.5 hours away - I live in southern Indiana). One of my worries was that, since this was a festival, the band would play a strictly 'hits' show and I wouldn't get anything rare. I've seen them three times before in Nashville (Sept. 1995, April 2008 and April 2010). The 1995 was epic (at least in my memories). I was disappointed by the 2008 show and, somewhat, by the 2010 show (where my upper-tier section sat down for about half of the show).

All that being said, last night in Louisville was the best show I've seen since 1995 even though I heard nothing but hits and they opened with bleeding "Lost Highway."

I made an effort about 10 days before the show to not listen to any Bon Jovi music and limit my blog reading to articles I looked at no set lists and I stayed away from most posts here.

Doing that brought me more surprises in that I didn't have the set list memorized and I enjoyed the actual MUSIC more after "fasting" for a week or so. Even though the set, on paper, looks "boring," it was great fun. The crowd ate it up and the band, from my point of view next to the sound tent, seemed to be having a lot of fun. Richie's playing was spot on and Jon sounded great, even though they both had sweat pouring off of them (it was very, very hot out there). Only Tico seemed to be suffering (he had a pained expression on his face quite a bit) but I can see why.

I read this board and blogs fairly often and I realized, after last night, that we miss the point a lot (me included) by moaning about the set lists. The guys are playing for the audience in front of them and if it works there, maybe we should let it be. Would I love to hear These Days in its entirety? Abso-freakin'-loutely! Would it work in front of an arena or stadium crowd? Not a chance. The band isn't playing for me watching on YouTube, they're playing for the people in the building and that should be all that matters. Maybe, one day, they would do a rarities tour where they play theaters (yeah, right).

This "boring" show re-affirmed my love for the band and what they are capable of live. My wife, who does not like Bon Jovi in the least even had a great time and sang along quite a bit (something she didn't do when I dragged her along in 200. THAT is saying something about Jon's and the band's ability to put on a killer live show (even at 50 years old).