O2 residency ends - JTers overall opinions

Are you sure????? i love live dvds and i think bon jovi dont have a dvd release apart from live in london that compliments thems as one of the best touring acts, msg dvd was decent but not superb. personally i dont think a dvd from o2 would be a great idea, a stadium show from latin america, europe or giants would probably have a more enthousiastic crowd. nevertheless i dont think an o2 dvd release is going to happen, obie said that they recording the shows but wasnt specific and if they were recording for a dvd there would be signs and more cams

I bare this with 4/10. Im quite disapointed

Performance OK

Very high prices, after 5 nights at O2, my wallet is quite dark and empty

The worst--> SET LISTS: Standards, with a few of surprises everynight if u are lucky... I cant stand why Who says, Sleep when im dead, Capt Crash and any LH song are gems they play everynight!!! OMG even HAND has become a rarity!!! They have had an incredible oportunity to try new songs and not make a standard set!!!!

What a fan wants is Rarities... and 12 nights at O2 were planned that way as Prudential last Tour (they said they would play entires albums, one night would be with Box Set, other one more acoustic, other one with many rarties etc... i feel quite annoyed and disapointed with this. i think jon is a liar)

Finally, this is the Circle Tour, not Greatest Hits Tour or Lost Highway Tour 2... i thought one night would be with the entire circle (Which IMO is much much better than LH) ...have u heard LTOR, TIMS or Brokenpromiseland(The best for many) live??? If you have, you very lucky guy... 6 O2 shows, lost of money wasted... and nothing of that

No hope for listening live I believe, Stick to your guns, 99 in the shade, Hearts breakin even, My guitar lies Bleeding, If i was your mother, I am, Dirty little secret, any stuff of 2 first albums...anymore

have a nice day!

I disagree, I think it gets going by song 3. That is when the crowd really wake up. And as a front man, Jon hasn't lost any of his ability to keep the Crowd hanging off his every word.

^^^^^^ That

The shows had some fantastic highlights but also, so so many low points.

I've always said that I really don't have a problem with the basic setlist when it is performed with passion, when there is something spontaneous or something different about each night's performance of, say, Captain Crash. Unfortunately 80% of (almost) every show was identical in every sense of the word - from the speeches, to Richie screwing up the solos (stupid things like hammering on/off with the tremelo bar and not having the volume turned on! which happened many times), to Bobby and John's choreography.

Jon proved at certain times that he can perform like he used to. As Florin said, Bad Medicine becomes a highlight because of the way it's sang.

Overall I'd give the shows an average of 6/10 and out of 8 shows I went to I'd say 6 of them were at around 5-6/10 and then one was an 8 our of 10 and the other a 9.

In fact in the "9" the highlight for me wasn't Wild Is The Wind (Richie screwed the guitar up), Wild in the Streets (a great song but also one that used to always be in the set and so I've seen so many times before) but Paint it Black and SDIBSN (the only electric performance and the best I've seen in this decade).

A real enigma of a band!

It's Hard Letting You Go was very poignant for me because I nearly snapped and walked out of the show once Have A Nice Day started. It also was a statement from the band as if to say "this is what we're still capable of doing" and then with the caveat "but we choose not to!". I felt the same with Let it Rock (going into IML), These Days (acoustic), STBI...

I think it's very true that It's Hard Letting You Go, and I think I'm finally at that point where it would be very healthy for me to let the band go.*

* probably it won't be my last shows but I can't ever see myself going to a show with that excitement any more about what to expect (or rather what not to expect!).

In conclusion, I'd do it all over again (despite rip off prices and fanclub members complaining they are scared of heights when trying to get their free tickets upgraded). Despite having paid £XXX for tickets and sitting next to schoolkids and 'VIPS' who have got the tickets for free and spend the whole shows on their Iphones and Blackberries... despite 6 out of 8 being autopilot shows (including the very last night with the exception of the encores).

I'm glad so many people enjoyed the residency but I don't think it was special enough overall. I'm very grateful for the Let It Rocks, Homebound Trains (which anyone who knows or remembers me will know how special it was for me to hear these two) and the strange thing is I would give up hearing those songs if the core setlist could have had a constant and consistent level of excitedness and passion from the band running through it. I had the one show on the Saturday which was a mixture of this passion and the rare songs (and very little in the way of new material) which was a great balance for me. Unfortunately that was it!

Having been to 3 nights across the run I have to say I feel some sympathy with jon. Most of the people in the arena that I saw were casual fans who didn't want to hear 'santa fe' or Richie singing, the atmosphere changed drastically during the rarities and jon knows this.

They played with more passion and jon sang better than at anytime since 1996 I reckon and we have to give them kudos for playing so many rarities but I think the band are aware of what happens when they do play a rarity. 90% of all the people there just want to hear 'bad medicine' and 'sleep when I'm dead' and I think this is the same with any band that has been around for a length of time. There us a disparity between what the die hards want to hear
and what the band have to play to appease the casual fans.

These O2 shows have been the best bj shows I've seen since 1996 so they deserve dome credit. Yes, there are songs I've never want to hear again that they play every night but that's my problem, not theirs.

Right, I have just written a lengthy review and then it logged me out so I lost it..this will now be a much shorter review!! Grrr

I went to 3 nights (the 8th, 20th and 26th) the 8th was the best night for me and I still can't get over hearing Dry County as this is one of my faves and one I never thought I would hear live.

I originally was not too happy about all the shows being at the O2 even though it is quite good for me regarding location. I enjoy seeing the band at stadiums due to the atmosphere so was a bit apprehensive about the O2 (where were the Mexican Waves ha ha! or cheering/chanting before the band come on?!) However the O2 did surpass my expectations.

Thought the band were on top form and Jon's voice was the best I have heard it in years, they seemed to really be enjoying the concerts. Even though I really look forward to seeing Richie I can't help agreeing with some of the comments on here regarding his recent creativity and stage presence. Tico and David are fantastic and I espcially enjoy watching Tico!

Ok, so the setlist was pretty standard in parts but I personally was pleased with the rarieties and songs they do not usually perform live that were included over the nights. Now I would love to attend a concert which is dedicated to say one album such as These Days, Keep the Faith etc but this would not suit the people that are unable to attend multiple nights and enjoy hearing the hits. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Bad Medicine this time. For me, they can leave out Captain Crash, Who Says You can't Go Home and I love This Town but appreciate some people enjoy hearing these. I am not sure why but Blood on Blood doesn't do it for me as an opening song, I really don't know why this is though as I like the song!

I was quite surprised at the lack of Circle songs considering this is what the tour is called but I can't help enjoying the older songs.

Overall the run of concerts were bloody fantastic and I throughly enjoyed them, think this is the best I have seen them in recent years. Looking forward to the next round of UK gigs!.

A couple of minor observations:

1. While I obviously wasn't at the 02, the opening of the show as more or less the same as the shows I attended, and I really don't get how anyone can say the show doesn't get going. I can say the opening song not going over to well as it's either been an album cut (BoB, LMS) or a new song (HN) but pretty much from Bad Name on, the place exploded. I would honestly say that I think the core setlist of this tour works miles better than that of the last 2.

2. Frankly, I don't understand what else people could have wanted out of these sets. Bon Jovi have always, and probably will always have a standard setlist structure. They did in the 80's, they absolutely did in the 90's, and they do now. That's part of the deal, like it is for every band. That being said, almost EVERY night of the run (excluding the first night and the David-Less night) got at least one or two rarities that a year ago NONE of us would have dreamed of hearing. Hell, 7 These Days songs were played at these shows. I think that's more than the last three tours combined.

Shows were great but to be honest, I hope they don't do The O2 again. Bring back the Stadiums

I'll post before reading the other opinions!

I thought the run was superb. Given how much we were impressed by some of the LH sets, every night blew those shows out of the water.

I could never have guessed that I would hear the songs they pulled out after the LH Tour: Something For The Pain (Regularily), Let It Rock, Its Hard Letting You Go, Open All Night, Fourth Of July, Hey God and Santa Fe!

Despite the ticket problems, every night was near enough full- obviously some more than others had cheap/free tickets or upgrades, but the atmosphere at mostly all nights was great.

Night 1- Standard US Hits based setlist, but was good to hear this as it was the first time here on the tour. If they continued with this set it would have been a let down but they didnt!

Night 2 was immense, my favourite probably of the lot. DC and Always in the encore as well as plenty of changes.

Night 3 started a bit deja vu from Mon, but again the walkway and Hey God were the shake up.

Night 4 had Let It Rock of course!

I wasnt at the Dave-less Night 5 so couldnt comment, although when I looked at the setlist I wasnt disappointed to have swerved it but as we all know with these tours, the setlist is not even half the story.


Night 6 (17th) was my upgrade night so was a personal highlight regardless of set, but we still got some nice acoustic treats and a great show.

One I do regret missing was the Sat 19th show, an epic setlist. Sun 20th I also missed.

Back for the 22nd and I was very disappointed with this one. Garageland was about the only high setlist wise along with Always. But its all a personal experience- I had seen it all before, combined with a friend pulling out on me at the last minute so I couldnt give someone else the ticket I had paid for, and the seats/crowd being the poorest so far.

Didnt do the 23rd, and then the 25th was due to be my last- I enjoyed that a lot, great performance and of course Santa Fe!

Thanks to Womanofthecity/Neurotic for getting me in to the final night, Its been fun on Twitter communicating with all the nutters doing many nights on the O2.

The final night was bittersweet being the end, I was hoping for a balls out ending. It didnt happen in the main set, but it sure did in the encore.

On the whole the residency was a great success- if only they had been able to price the tickets better and we could have legit had these crowds every night.

Only disappointments- Not enough Circle songs on a nightly basis. If they are coming back for a GH2 tour then there is even less chance of them, this was the time to play them. The crowd was receptive to them for the most part.
In the end I think we got: Follow, Beautiful, Superman, Thorn, Working man and Bullet. There was really no excuse over 12 nights to not set aside 1 space for each song to have played the whole album over the course of the residency.

Next minor niggle- Jon and Richies usual pre tour bullshit. Dont promise shit like album runthroughs unless to plan the follow through with it. We dont forget the crap you say to get us to part with our cash for tickets- we'd do it anyway, but you set yourself out for a letdown when you dont deliver on your promises.

The only niggle with the structure of the setlists is sometimes they were too static- then my view of doing 8 nights would be different of someone doing less. It was a bit jading in such a short space of time, plus working every day too, so a samey set would make me more grouchy than it should! BUT its because when Jovi are good- like on night 2 or last nights encore, they are so good it makes you wonder why they cant keep it at that level. It makes me mad when WLOL or LH are played multiple times and songs like Brokenpromiseland or Thorn off the current tours album are left out.
I may be sick of Crash but the crowd like it. They dont like LH- most nights plenty of people sat down. Dont give them that excuse. Play a "Rarity" that the die-hards know- Blaze, Always, One Wild Night etc..
Some of the criticism on here was unwarranted- but its keeping them on their toes I hope. These sets were a pipe dream previously, but even these sets become boring if its the norm every night. The end of the US tour was way too static- they should throw a bone every night to make each gig unique they have enough songs to do so. As I experienced with songs like Open All Night- it doesnt have to be a good song I enjoy, just something different to experience.


But the positives outweigh the negatives- I enjoyed myself immensely, and the people I went with did too for the most part. My mate, who I take to Jovi and he takes me to Muse gigs, wasnt (and still isnt really) a fan, but enjoyed the 10th June gig so much he turned up on Friday and bought a ticket at the box office on his own. He couldnt stop going on about it.
Only my brothers were disappointed with the 22nd gig- again a combination of bad seats and crowd added to this but they said they preferred Coventry 08. To be fair, they have been to some of the better gigs previously when I took them, so to get a more "standard" one didnt impress them.

So I enjoyed The O2 lots- I got excited enough beforehand to start posting here again despite the shitty ads and discovered Twitter in time to have fun with the PBPs. It was a pleasure to be able to give an instant reaction be it good, bad, indifferent or just abusive! And getting replies, and seeing the other usual crew doing the same!

I do hope they carry better sets back to the US and get even better when they come back next year. Its been a great month to be a Jovi fan, today starts a massive comedown.

God, I dont half babble lately!