My first European Tour - Predictions, wishes and questions!

Hello there !

This summer I´m going for my first concerts in Europe. I´m doing the following dates:

13 July DUSSELDORF
14 July ZURICH
16 July MANNHEIM
17 July UDINE
20 July ATHENS
22 July VIENNA
24 July BRUGES
27 July BARCELONA
29 July SAN SEBASTIEN
31 July LISBON

Of course I do have high expectations. I´ve made a list of songs, putting them in "categories":

1 - Really hoping for / Pretty sure I´ll hear it
Dry County (heard before)
These Days (heard before)
I´d die for you (never heard)
Always (heard before)
Just Older (heard before)

2 - Dying to hear / Slight chance I´ll hear it (IMO, of course)
Hey God
Something to believe in
Garageland
Wild is the wind
Living in sin

3 - Dreams
Stick to your guns
Stranger in this town
It´s hard letting you go
Broken promiseland
This ain´t a love song

What do you guys think ? Some of this can happen ??!!

I do have some questions about the gigs:

1. Are the crowds very diferent according to the countries ? I´ve heard great stuff about european crowds, but I also hear that some places tend to have a quieter crowd, like Belgium. (I HEARD about it, I´m not saying is true, that´s why I´m asking!!)

2. In US, the concert´s start time printed on the ticket usually does not follow, specially when there is an opener playing. Is this the same in Europe?

3. My tickets are for the Golden Circle in every show. I know that even if I´m at the back of the Golden Circle, I´ll be kind of close to the stage, so no hurry in geting in early. But do you have any recomendations about getting close to the venues early, in order to avoid lines and stuff ?

Regards !!

Eduardo

Aloha !

Not very different, but there are differences. Belgium pretty much has, to my experience, the shittiest crowds of Europe when it comes to Bon Jovi shows. They're dead silent at times, hard to get into a show and before and after a show is done there's zero atmosphere. People from Belgium often think they're very into music and can be a bit of a snob when it comes to that, but pretty much every concert in Belgium has been shit crowd wise, and I'm not just talking about Bon Jovi. Germany has a good crowd, but they'll boo at the support act if they don't like them, or if they massively hate a song they'll raise their middle finger to the band (seen it happen one time). Italy, Spain and Lissabon have a lot more passionate crowds. Nothing beats the Dutch though, but people from Germany have a bit of an issue with that.

Yes. However, the starting time is usually the time when the first support act goes on stage. Most concerts in Europe start at 8:30, 9 with a curfew of 11 or 11:30, if there is one.

People without a Fanclub ticket who still want to be front row or close to the front row of the Golden Circle will start to arrive at 2 PM. Realize that this time the Golden Circle starts behind the catwalk, and not like the Lost Highway tour right in front of the stage. Even if you are front row of the Golden Circle, you'll still be a bit further away than usual. I'm doing mostly the same shows you're doing and wouldn't be too fussed about where you'd be.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Thank you very much for the info Seb !
I´m betting all my chips in Mannheim and Lisbon !
Besides Tokyo Road, what songs are you really hoping for ?

Quite a few of us who have never been are going to the European tour this year. We will also be in Mannheim and Lisbon and we will hope for the best. As you can see my quest is Something to Believe In but frankly I'll take anything off These Days. I wouldn't mind Let it Rock either.

Heres hoping it makes another appearence That was a stand out moment from the o2, so I do have my fingers firmly crossed, they keep bringing back some things that were played