My Stuttgart and Munich review

It took me some time, but finally: here´s my review of the Stuttgart and Munich shows!

We were five guys from Sweden that rented a minivan and took off. We left at 5 am on Friday the 26th and just like that, 17 hours later, we were in Stuttgart! We visited some clubs in Stuttgart in the evening and then headed home to the parking as we slept in the van.
A good (that´s irony) nights sleep later, we bought breakfest and beer and headed off to the que.
As we never got the whole become-a-fan-club-member-2005-if-you-want-to-get-up-front-thingy, we hade to run like idiots. But that we did, and we made it into the pit! Wohoo!
It was hard though. The field seemed to be 2000 miles long and I was wearing shoes that look good, but definately not is made for running.

The first opening act was okey. I thought the first two songs were very good, but then it got a bit... average. And the singer kept playing, I don´t know who you translate this but, airguitar? Like all the time. And that puts a big L in his forehead. It was a bit funny, though.

Then Nickelback entered the stage. Actually, I thought they were quite all right. They have some good songs and I can really see why they´re opening for Bon Jovi since they have the attitude of a stadiumband. A lot of smiles and good interaction with the crowd. The drummer looks very cool also.
But then, there´s something hilarious about them. And not in a good way. Chad has a very feminine way of... well, moving. Like my friend said when the band entered the stage: "Yup, that´s a girl with a beard all right".
All in all, they did a good job.

Then it was time for Bon Jovi. Last man standing is absolutely not the best way of opening a show. It´s too slow and Jon sings in a very low key. You just wanna sing your ass off when the band enters and... well, you can´t. It´s too low!
I was very glad to hear Bounce instead of boring Everyday and I thought the setlist in general was very good. Seven songs from Slippery! No complaints here ..

As everyone has been saying, Richie is not the same! Yeah it´s cool when he messes up his face during the solos and he always wear very cool clothes, but I demand more of the man. Sure, he´s been through a lot, but people pay a lot of money and travel very far to see the band.
I´m very satisfied with I´ll be there for you, though. It´s one of the highlights in every concert. The solo in the end is true magic, but it´s always rather hard to hear since the crowd is singing their asses off.

Another highlight, if not THE highlight, were Bad medecine/Shout. That one is a killer this tour!

Encores were great, I was very glad to hear Never say goodbye. I was lucky enough to hear the acoustic version of the song in Kiel on the Bounce tour. It was amazing then, and even better know. Jon does a very good job singing it and Richies solo... well, it took my breath away. An excellent way to end a show.

I gotta say that Jon sounded brilliant throughout the whole show. He had a litlle problem in Keep the faith but otherwise... He sounded better than he has in a very long time.

And: I grabbed Jons hand during In these arms! I know I sound like a 13 year old girl but I can´t help it: I grabbed Jons hand!

So the show ended and we went to sleep in the van. The next morning, we drove for another three hours in the pouring rain. We had a quick meal at Pizza hut, then went to the que.
I think we asked like ten german secutiry guards about where we should que and got ten different answers. So finally we went with the que that were most suggested and of course we ended up at the wrong end of the stadium.
So again, we ran like idiots and made it into the second section like one minute before they wouldn´t let more people in. And then we managed to walk by some guards who didn´t pay attention and once again we were in the pit. I could get used to that.

Since I´ve always been more of a reader than a writer at this forum, I don´t know so many people, but I ran into Florin (devilsson). He was, as expected, a very nice person. Though, he did seem a little bit disappointed when we discussed the World Cup in soccer, and the fact that Sweden easily qualified and Romania did not...

However, I´m sure he got happier when the first opening act started.
It was the worst I´ve ever seen on a stage! It was hilarious.
How they had got the honour of opening for Nickelback and Bon Jovi, I will never know.
Nickelback next. How you remind me was good, guitarist got crazy during Never again, Chad was feminine... Everything was normal.
I gotta say one thing though: I´m amazed by the way BJ-fans welcome the opening act. They´re always so nice! They sang along, had Nickelback-signs and even did these pahtetic devil-horns throughout Too bad! You people are so nice! ..

And then Bon Jovi. An amazing performance. I´ve seen that some members here at the board have som complaints, but I´m totally satisfied. To me, it was nothing but pure magic. Band was excellent, setlist was excellent, Jon was beyond my wildest dreams.

Setlist started of the same as Stuttgart. I don´t really understand why they keep playing I wanna be loved. It didn´t work in Stuttgart, it didn´t work now.
I like it on record but live it´s just lame.

I´ve stated earlier that it´s no use at all playing Radio if they don´t lower the key so Jon can get up there in the chorus.
In Munich it included a nice speach, but there´s no power at all in the chorus. A waste of time.

Otherwise, everything was amazing. I really like the acoustic version of Blaze, and even though Bed of roses were played in TLFR-style, I liked it. Jon sang the last chorus as the original one and it sounded great. I think it worked out good to slow it down a a little with BOG, BOR and IBTFY.

Then came Bad medicine, again a killer. I was very impressed. I don´t even like that song very much.

And then, the wonderful encores. We had written Dry County on a swedish flag and brought it two both shows. So just before Jon started to sing "Across the border..." he pointed his finger at our flag. Sweet.
A little victory for the bad Bon Jovi-country that Sweden is.

The Philly Soul-thing during Keep the faith was very funny, as someone wrote earlier.
And then the last song; These days. We got both Dry county and These days. A 40 year old italian next to me cried like a baby.
But I can´t blame him. Jon does sing TD with a lot of emotion.
Just one complaint: Where´s the harmonica? Bring it back Jon. Now.

So that was the whole thing. Three hours of magic. The crowd was awesome, you could tell by the look of Jons face that he also thought the night was very special.
Good idea whoever was handing out Smiley-ballons before the show started. It was very cool. Party, party!

So that´s all! Sorry Florin that I couldn´t join you and the other JT-members for a beer afterwards, but my friends wanted to start the ride home.
After another 20 hours on the road we were finally home.
Happy, but tired.

Thank you for taking the time to write your review of the two shows. Sounds like you picked two really good ones.

deb

Thanks for your review~ sounds like you had a great time and got to hear some great songs!!

This part made me sad to hear. I noticed Richie seemed was not into one show i was at early in the tour but I thought he was happier these days and more into the shows. I hadn't heard about him being down or not himself in a long time.

I AM SO JEALOUS!!!!

Haha I don't blame you!!


Awesome! I wish he would bring back the harmonica too but I haven't heard it in person in 11 years! I'll take These Days anyway I can get it!!!

Hey Emil!

It was really great meeting you and indeed, I am extremly disappointed that Romania didn't make it to the WorldCup. In the end, it was one goal that we got in the last minute against, who?, ANDORRA. Well...that IS sad.

About the after-show beer: I had a broken toe so all I wanted was going to bed. Later on, I managed to kick a huge stair in the stadium and that it was for me. I needed a painkiller overdose to survive Nickelback. An adrenaline overdose helpd me get over Bon Jovi. So much about the beer.