[symbeline]

Originally Posted by Thinny

Just listened to In These Arms, good effort apart from that appalling solo from Shanks. Not as bad a Bobby's but close...

I though it was only me. Everybody says how much better Shanks is, but that solo was nails on chalkboard.

At least he doesn't make Bobby's O faces

[symbeline]

If ITA was not awful is because Dave was singing his heart out.

I'm still puzzled as hell. So many praise the band because they sound tight and they have so much fun onstage (to be fair, they do) and this is the tour were they are most underutilized. For no reason at all. They have these very very poor setlists with lots of slow and forgettable songs and they don't even bother to bring back the jukebox portion or Dave singing a verse or many other things that could compensate for Jon's shortcomings.

Oh, I forgot. Jon now serenades his female fans, that's how this tour will be remembered . He's sooooooo hot!! What are the haters complaining about, he cares about the fans. If you don't think that a dance and a kiss (ewww really, it's fvcking gross) is Jon putting a lot of thinking and effort into the show you are just a shitty person and a bitter hater.

It's pathetic, I'm sorry. I hope this is their last tour.

[MarcDLV]

Originally Posted by symbeline

If ITA was not awful is because Dave was singing his heart out.

I'm still puzzled as hell. So many praise the band because they sound tight and they have so much fun onstage (to be fair, they do) and this is the tour were they are most underutilized. For no reason at all. They have these very very poor setlists with lots of slow and forgettable songs and they don't even bother to bring back the jukebox portion or Dave singing a verse or many other things that could compensate for Jon's shortcomings.

Oh, I forgot. Jon now serenades his female fans, that's how this tour will be remembered . He's sooooooo hot!! What are the haters complaining about, he cares about the fans. If you don't think that a dance and a kiss (ewww really, it's fvcking gross) is Jon putting a lot of thinking and effort into the show you are just a shitty person and a bitter hater.

It's pathetic, I'm sorry. I hope this is their last tour.

chill out!

[Captain_jovi]

Originally Posted by symbeline

If ITA was not awful is because Dave was singing his heart out.

I'm still puzzled as hell. So many praise the band because they sound tight and they have so much fun onstage (to be fair, they do) and this is the tour were they are most underutilized. For no reason at all. They have these very very poor setlists with lots of slow and forgettable songs and they don't even bother to bring back the jukebox portion or Dave singing a verse or many other things that could compensate for Jon's shortcomings.

Oh, I forgot. Jon now serenades his female fans, that's how this tour will be remembered . He's sooooooo hot!! What are the haters complaining about, he cares about the fans. If you don't think that a dance and a kiss (ewww really, it's fvcking gross) is Jon putting a lot of thinking and effort into the show you are just a shitty person and a bitter hater.

It's pathetic, I'm sorry. I hope this is their last tour.

You're all over the place with this one. I applaud them for dropping the jukebox stuff, it's tired and David not singing a verse would be cool but doesn't signify that it's more of a Jon tour in the least.

[JackieBlue]

Originally Posted by symbeline

...I'm still puzzled as hell. So many praise the band because they sound tight and they have so much fun onstage...

Generally speaking, I think people initially see and hear what they expect, or hope, to see and hear; and it's sometimes hard to get past our original expections enough to be objective.

From the beginning, Jon said that THINFS was "a band record" and the band were having the best time they had ever had. He said that he looked around while they were doing the first promo show and saw that the band were happier than they had ever been. Everyone was having so much fun that he realized he was going to have to do more shows. So people were expecting it to be that way from the start.

IMO, that's the only explanation for why people were saying how much happier and unified the band looked in the THINFS video, when the only eye contact made was once between Jon and David; and the only time "the band" were in the same shot was in the performance scenes. Even then, the smiles looked forced to me and it seemed like Phil-X was the only guy in the room who looked remotely happy, or even at ease.

It's similar to what happened with LH. Jon and Richie had said it was Nashville-influenced and perhaps made a passing reference to country music somewhere along the way. So, a lot of fans made up their minds that they weren't going to like it before they ever heard the first note of songs that are no more "country" than SIBSN or TAALS. It took ages for that stigma to go away. It's just been in the past few years that several have acknowledged that LH was highly underrated by some of the fans, themselves included, and that it actually wasn't as bad, or as country-sounding, as they thought it was when they first heard it.

[symbeline]

Originally Posted by MarcDLV

chill out!

I'm good. It's a beautiful sunny day and I'm heading to a party. Life is good today

[symbeline]

Originally Posted by Captain_jovi

You're all over the place with this one. I applaud them for dropping the jukebox stuff, it's tired and David not singing a verse would be cool but doesn't signify that it's more of a Jon tour in the least.

I don't care about either of those things tbh, but it's something that requires 0 effort on their side and shows they are putting some thought into the shows. Remember they had rehearsed 90+ songs. Remember that Jon mentioned some songs he knew the diehards wanted. This just shows a lack of care imho.

But it doesn't matter what I think, social media tells me I'm very wrong. I'm so sick of reading the same comments about the shows, all the pictures and videos showing Jon smiling, dancing and kissing fans, all the gushing... this is not my band.

There used to be a time when one would see discussions about music, setlists and performances outside this board. Now all that conversation has disappeared. And don't you dare express some constructive criticism. The backstagers have win (cue sad violin music).

[symbeline]

Originally Posted by JackieBlue

Generally speaking, I think people initially see and hear what they expect, or hope, to see and hear; and it's sometimes hard to get past our original expections enough to be objective.

From the beginning, Jon said that THINFS was "a band record" and the band were having the best time they had ever had. He said that he looked around while they were doing the first promo show and saw that the band were happier than they had ever been. Everyone was having so much fun that he realized he was going to have to do more shows. So people were expecting it to be that way from the start.

IMO, that's the only explanation for why people were saying how much happier and unified the band looked in the THINFS video, when the only eye contact made was once between Jon and David; and the only time "the band" were in the same shot was in the performance scenes. Even then, the smiles looked forced to me and it seemed like Phil-X was the only guy in the room who looked remotely happy, or even at ease.

Nah, they seem truly happy. I've only watched bits and pieces since the tour started but judging from what I've seen, what I see fans talking about, etc. there seems to be a genuine camaraderie between Phil, Shanks, Dave, Tico and even Everett. Edit because I forgot Hugh! Poor thing is always an afterthought. He's a trooper, he's good with anything or anybody.

[Captain_jovi]

Originally Posted by symbeline

I don't care about either of those things tbh, but it's something that requires 0 effort on their side and shows they are putting some thought into the shows. Remember they had rehearsed 90+ songs. Remember that Jon mentioned some songs he knew the diehards wanted. This just shows a lack of care imho.

But it doesn't matter what I think, social media tells me I'm very wrong. I'm so sick of reading the same comments about the shows, all the pictures and videos showing Jon smiling, dancing and kissing fans, all the gushing... this is not my band.

There used to be a time when one would see discussions about music, setlists and performances outside this board. Now all that conversation has disappeared. And don't you dare express some constructive criticism. The backstagers have win (cue sad violin music).

Because this is North American setlists. NOTHING. HAS. CHANGED. It's the same tired album cuts sprinkled in with some new songs and the hits. If you honestly believed Jon was going to shake up the setlist with 90+ songs I have a ton of swampland to sell you. Like, I totally understand WHY you're upset but at the same time we know this band, we know how stagnant the setlists get stateside, we know the cities that tend to get a bone tossed in. Everything else goes down like a stone. Remember 2010 when the first two albums got some play? They were gone completely within five shows. But since 2000, and probably prior, it's always been like this.

[symbeline]

Originally Posted by Captain_jovi

Because this is North American setlists. NOTHING. HAS. CHANGED. It's the same tired album cuts sprinkled in with some new songs and the hits. If you honestly believed Jon was going to shake up the setlist with 90+ songs I have a ton of swampland to sell you. Like, I totally understand WHY you're upset but at the same time we know this band, we know how stagnant the setlists get stateside, we know the cities that tend to get a bone tossed in. Everything else goes down like a stone. Remember 2010 when the first two albums got some play? They were gone completely within five shows. But since 2000, and probably prior, it's always been like this.

Never believed that for a second but at the same time it was clear since pretty much the beginning that Europe was a very very distant possibility. And they still kept taking about rehearsing tons of songs that weren't even played in their usual fav places in NA.

NA setlists have been unnecessarily static since at least the NA leg of the LH tour (prior to 2007 they didn't have as many modern "hits" that American audiences could know, so it made more sense) but they have NEVER ever been this static for no reason. We discussed this already the past leg, it is not the vocal difficulty dictating the setlists because there are plenty of post 2000 songs that are as unknown and easy to sing as the mediocre and frankly baffling choices they are making. The current setlists scream "nostalgia band who plays the hits and does the bare minimum to keep fans happy". I commended the band (Jon) for all the THINFS songs and the stories, it was the only savin grace of the last leg. I would have understand it if they swapped them for more known hits but, Amen and BWC? Defies logic

Edit: the point I'm making is that this level of "we don't give af" is telling the European fans that it won't be worth it again. I don't complain because I like typing lots of words, I want them to have this last successful tour and stop before they end up a joke. I don't think they can go on being successful with NA audiences only but who knows, I could be completely wrong