Here's our review of the show, sorry it's a bit long... We got carried away. But we still left so much out of it!!! Anyone who reads it through completely, say "ho!" (we haven't done it ourselves...)

We arrived at Maimarktgelande around midnight. The first thing we noticed was that Laura’s camera was all wet (a bottle of water had spilt in her bag), and was not functioning. We had absolutely no idea where to go and were wandering in the dark. Suddenly we noticed that we had ended up in the field, and there was no security around. The half-built stage was towering right in front of us, and as any true Bon Jovi fan would surely do, we went to take a closer look. There were some members of the crew around, but since they didn’t pay any attention to us, we decided to go for the stage. The girls just climbed up to the lower platform, but Mike went the distance and climbed up to the real stage! After taking photos, we decided to find the entrance and try to get some sleep. We ended up numbers 7, 8 and 9 in The List. The night was foggy, cold and humid, but we managed to get some sleep. The girls in their shared sleeping bag more than Mike who was ill-prepared and had no sleeping bag.

During the morning, there was confusion around the group of fc members about where to queue, and the whole bunch went back and forth between various gates. Thanks to The List and the well-behaving fans, the order was kept. Besides just writing our names down, we also got the numbers written in the back of our hands.

Gradually more and more fans arrived, but thanks to numbers 1-6 (you know who you are – a huge Thank You to you guys!!!), The List was going around. The security, from the initiative from the fans – namely Carola (sp?) separated the fc members and the GA fans. Around eleven, we were moved to Tor 4, which was quite a long way from the main entrance (and to the right instead of left as was instructed by BSWJBJ). Once we got there, in a surprisingly ordered manner, Carola was shouting out names according to The List (which had around 200 names at the time) and organised us in rows of eight. Besides Carola, there was this one security guy who worked very hard all through the day to make it all happen – a big Thank You to him too.

It was really hot, and we were sitting right under the blazing sun, relaxing and trying to find whatever shade we could. The wristbands were supposed to be handed out at one o’clock, but it comes as no surprise that they weren’t. Just before they were handed out, the security gave a big speech about what was going to happen, where we were going to go and how we were supposed to behave. They said they need to get us out of the sun into the shade, which was by that time a very good idea. We were let in the gate, and as they checked our tickets they handed out the wristbands, pretty much in the order of The List.

We were strictly ordered not to run or cause any trouble, or the wristbands would be cut off. The security guided us into a stand at the side of a sport pitch. We were sat down on the seats in the order of The List, filling the stand from left to right, bottom to top. After everyone was in – almost 800 fans by now – around 20 security guards showed up, something which we were very relieved to see. We were escorted to the field in rows of three or four at around four o’clock.

Once in the pit, we found ourselves quite in the centre of the first row, between Jon and David. Immediately, the security guards started handing out cups of water, throwing water on the audience, and basically having one big water war which included both the security guards and the fans in the pit. It kept us (and them ) amused for about an hour or so.

After a wait that seemed to go on forever, Live got up on the stage. They played the same setlist as before, and “gave a very solid performance,” says Mike who thoroughly enjoyed them, and “it wasn’t too bad, plus the singer had a great body,” say Laura and Taija, “and Runaway and Heaven were very good,” Laura continues.

After Live, it was only less than half an hour to go. It was a strange feeling because you couldn’t see people on the sides, like you do in the stadium shows. Also, you could only see people as far back as the back of the pit.

We knew that the concert was about to start when we, through a see-through part of the stage, spotted Tico doing his warm-ups. Then the opening music started playing and the crowed went wild!

Bounce started the show, and the crowd was totally up for it! From the first moment, it was obvious that Jon and the band were on a very good mood. Even Hugh was dancing around with a big smile on his face. Bounce is a perfect rock concert opener! During Bounce, Jon took a good look at Laura and Taija’s banner, smiled and nodded. Cool!

The beginning of the set was pretty standard, with a cheery version of Wild in the Streets and an amazing a cappella intro to Prayer. It was Runaway, however, that really got us going, from the first few notes from David’s keyboards, the mood of the concert was set.

Keep the faith included an extra verse with Jon putting up his best jungle performance “for the first time since Erfurt,” says Mike.

In these arms… pure ecstasy!!! (“as it has been in each show so far,” says Mike)

The Distance worked very well live, and was easily one of the highlights of a concert full of highlights. The stage looked awesome with the thousands of little blue lights. Taija thinks she just found a new top 10 song! Richie’s solo in the end was great.

The night before, Taija said that she would like to hear Bed of Roses but that it wasn’t gonna happen. The band proved her wrong and made her – and the 67,000 other people – very happy! The song hasn’t lost one bit of it’s power! And to Taija’s and Laura’s great relief, there were no girls up on the stage to steal Jon’s attention and for him to dance with.

With Undivided, the band created such an atmosphere it’s impossible to describe. The whole crowd – Germans, Finnish, English, French, Dutch, Italians, Austrians – and the band were as one, undivided. The silence after the song was deafening. Jon let it go for a while, but then said to lighten the mood up, we need a fun song. And that is exactly what Misunderstood is live! Jon was smiling at us during Misunderstood

After Jon handed the spotlight over to Richie for a breath-taking performance of I’ll be there for you, Richie broke into a really heart-felt intro. The crowd responded to the song so much that Richie put in an extra couple of minutes solo – amazing! During the final chords of the solo, Richie paid his respects to his die/hard fans by pointing at them, asking them to sing the “I’ll be there for you” part. But even the extra solo didn’t satisfy or silence the crowd. The lights went off, but the crowd – all of the crowd – kept chanting the whoa part over and over again. Jon came out, listened to it for a while, said “you still want more?”, started playing the chords with his guitar, and sang the final “I’ll be there for you” bit with the crowd, played some more and was finally forced to call it off.

After I’ll be there for you, we thought that Blaze of Glory could not hold a candle to the atmosphere Richie had created, but the crowd really responded to the song. For us three, the song held special meaning, having raised our weary heads in the morning with an old coat for our pillow and the earth our bed.

After Blaze, Jon turned his back at the audience and went up to Tico’s drums to take a sip of his tea. Then, he just stood there with his back at the audience for a while. Taija and Laura instinctively knew what was to follow. But still, hearing Jon scream “two, three, four” sent us to the seventh heaven. And judging by the way the girls were jumping up and down (“I swear, Taija was jumping at least half a meter into the air, for real,” says Laura), that’s where they were heading. This is the song the girls are looking forward to hearing 8 times the most.

“Hook me up had us hypnotised,” say Laura and Taija. From the second verse to almost the end of the song, Jon was singing at the camera, with his face right in the big screen, his blue eyes looking directly at each and every person in the crowd.

In the middle of Saturday night, Jon was chanting “I’m alive” repeatedly and broke into a real rock scream a la 80s. During the solo, Richie, Jon and Hugh were swinging their instruments just as if Alec would’ve done were he there. That made the crowd even more ecstatic. Also, during the song they did an extra verse, going through the days of the week. Between the days, Jon had bursts of coughs, but kept going with an amazing voice.

The lights went down, and everyone but David left the stage. The spotlights were on him as he played minutes of intro to what we thought was Right side of wrong. Then Jon came out and broke into Joey. This song sounds great live! At the end, everyone stopped apart from Hugh and Tico, and Jon was improvising with the crowd. Then, it got heavy again and they played it out. Amazing!

For the encore, we wre just expecting the usual. What we got, however, was something quite different. When the opening chords to These Days were played, the crowd went abso-f*cking-lutely crazy! The performance was awesome, Jon was putting his heart and soul into performing and singing, hitting all the notes. “As if we would’ve minded or noticed,” say Laura and Taija.

During Just Older, “my most anticipated and rewarding song of the concert,” Laura says, Taija and Laura were swinging their barrier from left to right. Hugh noticed that and began swaying along in time to us with a big smile on his face. Also, during the song, Jon was singing: “we were younger and braver, with secrets that we’ll take to our grave, we’re just too old men still standing here shoulder to shoulder”. After the “and I’m just…” part, the pause seemed to last forever, people were screaming their hearts out, and Jon was laughing.

Something has to be said about the energy of the songs of the second encore. Captain Crash, Bad Medicine and Shout don’t look much on paper, but – WOW!!!

Captain Crash was surprisingly good! “How can they not play a song that gets 67,000 people wave their arms up in the air,” says Mike.

Whilst introducing David at the end of the show, Jon said “and probably for the last time, somebody call the promoters cause I’m going to jail” and laughed. But the best speech of the night was when Jon introduced Richie, calling him e.g. “King of Swing”, and then said “my better half, Richie Sambora”. Awwww! “At that point I could’ve cried,” says Laura.

In the end, Jon said “I don’t wanna go, I really don’t wanna go but I have to”, and he really meant it. The two hours and fifty minutes, going well over the curfew, showed just how much he was enjoying it. Jon and the band were on such a good mood and this really had the crowd enraptured from the first to the last chord. And for a long time afterwards.

Jon’s voice was at its best, even recovering from sore throat. He was screaming like in the golden days. “The best I’ve heard from him,” says Mike. Especially in Shout, his screams sent shivers down our spines. And he seemed to go on forever with his voice.

Laura and Taija owe an apology to the people in JoviTalk… Forget all about what we’ve said about not wanting to hear slow songs in concerts. Bed of roses, Joey, Distance, I’ll be there for you were all performed with so much emotion from the whole band, it was impossible for us not to get swept away by that! It was more than once the girls were on brink of tears – the slow songs were absolutely beautiful!

And it’s true what they say – ALL Bounce songs really rock live. The audience received them very well, and knew the lyrics to each of them.

If we are to sum up the day in one word, “amazing” wouldn’t be strong enough. The fc arrangements, the security people, the weather, the audience, the band, the setlist, the light show, the atmosphere, our position in the first row… it was all… well, yeah, more than amazing!

Here’s the setlist from BonJovi.com (modified):

BOUNCE
YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME
WILD IN THE STREETS
LIVIN' ON A PRAYER
EVERYDAY
RUNAWAY
KEEP THE FAITH
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
IN THESE ARMS
IT’S MY LIFE
THE DISTANCE
BED OF ROSES
UNDIVIDED
MISUNDERSTOOD
JOEY
I’LL BE THERE FOR YOU (Richie)
BLAZE OF GLORY
HOOK ME UP ??? (editorial note: we’re pretty sure Hook was after BTBMB!)
BORN TO BE MY BABY ???
I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD
RAISE YOUR HANDS

Encore 1:
THESE DAYS (this was in the encore, opposed to what read in bj.com)
JUST OLDER
SOMEDAY I'LL BE SATURDAY NIGHT

Encore 2:
CAPTAIN CRASH & THE BEAUTY QUEEN FROM MARS
BAD MEDICINE
SHOUT

Next stop: AMSTERDAM!!!