Louisville Dilemma

I've seen the band 3 times (1995, 2008, 2010). Nearly every time I've had to travel 3 hours to go see them.

In July, however, they are coming to Louisville, an hour and a half from me. If you had told me a few years ago that I'd be wavering on going, I'd have said you were crazy. However, now, that's the case.

The Louisville gig is a festival and I don't want to pay $150 or more to brave the crush of the crowd at Churchill Downs just to hear the same basic set I heard in Nashville in April.

What do you guys think is the likelihood of a generic set list at a festival (i.e. not strictly a Bon Jovi show)? Since it's a festival, my hunch is that the set will be a 'hits' show.

Anybody been to see them at a festival? What the set like?

The stage that Jovi's on has reserved seats, doesn't it? I decided not to go to that one, but I thought that's what I saw. If so, you wouldn't have the usual crush like at a regular festival. I would expect a pretty generic setlist, though. Something similar to Nashville would be what I'd anticipate, and that's why I decided to go to Massachusetts the next day instead. I can at least hope for something a little different. Still, if it were Louisville or nothing and it were only an hour and a half away, I'd be there . . . but that's just me.

I saw them at Summerfest in Milwaukee last summer which is more like a concert held in conjunction with a festival. The rest of the stages are ones you just wander up to and pick a spot, but the main stage is an amphitheater that requires a separate ticket. It was a pretty standard setlist. (Of course, the band wasn't on tour yet. They were still working on The Circle.) The show was still a lot of fun even though there were major issues with the sound.

Yes, there is reserved seating (I refuse to do general admission at a festival - but that's my personal problem .

I'm going back and forth on it. I'm almost certain it will be a hits set list but they're my favorite. But I've seen them this tour. Back and forth.

I'm going to Louisville if I can find someone who'll go with me. If the band was only an hour and a half from me, I'd go see them even if they were only going to play five songs. That's not very far to have to travel.

Bought my tickets today. Second section of reserved seating (so approx. 47 rows back from what I can figure) in the center toward Richie's side just a hair (Richie basically taught me to play guitar via their CDs and tab so i'm excited about the positioning).

I think, deep down, I know this will be a generic 'hits' show and probably shorter than an average show (suck). However, my favorite band doesn't hit this area too often so I figured i'd better bite the bullet on this one.

And of course the draw of the Northeast Nutballs who'll also be there

LOL Does this club have t-shirts and a secret handshake?

If I don't buy a plane ticket soon, I may not be there after all. I keep hoping that Delta will cut me a deal, but they don't seem to be in the mood.

I imagine it would be mostly generic. They threw in some curveballs like LMS and Only Lonely at the festival in Holland a couple week ago. However, I would be willing that had a lot to do with the crowd. US crowds tend to not be so crazy, especially at a festival where I figure even less people would know most of the bands material. On the other hand, that could be a good thing because they might be willing to take a couple risks since they're not playing to a crowd where 100% of the people came to see them.

They posted a schedule on the festival site and Bon Jovi will only be playing for an hour and a half (9:30-11:00). So it's not likely we'll get any kind of special song.

Aww Becky, that sucks. I almost bought a ticket to that show but decided not to since the festival was new. I was afraid that it could be a disorganized mess, but I never thought they'd bring in a band like Jovi and then give them such a short time slot.