Official February 21, 2013, Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh thread

Hello Consol Energy Center!!!

We've waited a long time to play here....

I think today will be slightly altered setlist. About 5 songs will change, I think.

I think today will play Bed Of Roses,Always,Blood On Blood,These Days and I'd Die For You.

This is just my predictions, but agree it would be nice if they played these songs today!

Wishful thinkin, bud.

Always can happen. The rest.. no chance.

See I'd counter with the fact that Richie being incapable of doing anything coherent for a few years created things like the Lost Highway album in the first place, where Jon pretty much was going it alone. It's not just one factor, it's a combination of factors.

Richie's solo tour seems to have got him back in the groove though, and at long last.

Jon currently is having some sort of issues - whether vocally, confidence, sickness, I don't know. I've no doubt they'll work them out.

Sergey has predicted I'd Die For You for pretty much every show so far... If he's persistent enough, it might happen!
I wish they'd mix things up a little, but I doubt it now that Richie has a cold too. I don't know what's up with Jon, whatever it is, I hope it's temporary and things get better. But I doubt it'll happen tonight.

I'm talking about the bigger picture here, Jon has control over everything they do, and Richie being incapable? Have you listened to Richie's new record that came out last year? He's capable, things are the way Jon wants them to be. Anyway, I digress, I'm talking about the band and the songs, the post 2000 ones, the performances, everything. The man himself said that he still had the problem that he wrote the songs in a high key and he couldn't sing them, that leads me to believe the man writes the anthems, he loves the big vocal epic songs, but he can't deliver, that's why when you down-tune an epic anthem it sounds like shit. They never where Radiohead or any other band with brilliant lyrics, yeah they shone here and there but that wasn't their strength.

Anyway, live, as a performer, I imagine you don't wanna strain your voice in each freaking song you play. His fault could be that he isn't choosing the best post 2000 easy-to-sing material.

But if he was confident on his voice or if he didn't give a shit about the vocal delivery, he would sing Santa Fe every night.

I honestly believe he has 0 confidence in his voice anymore. That's why most of the passionate performances we link here each day are on a good-voice day for Jon, he feels confident and he gets in the zone. Examples would be I believe from lisbon, Roses from frankfurt, etc.

I wasn't talking about Richie now or last year, I was talking about Richie and his "Seven Years Gone" which would take us back to 2005'ish depending on when he wrote the tune.

And yes I have Aftermath, and theres some moments of brilliance just like there is on any new Jovi record, and a lot of so-so tracks. It wasn't the epic everyone who had been waiting for a new Richie record for ten years expected or hoped it would be. Worse, for me, some of those songs didn't sound like Richie songs at all, I lost believability with it. At least whatever Bon Jovi make, they sound like Bon Jovi songs.

I'm not saying at all Jon's voice - and also the change in the music he wants to make - isn't a massive factor but it's not the only thing that has affected this band.

You could be spot on with the confidence though. I think he'll get it. It took awhile on The Circle tour too. Maybe he just needs a crowd that aren't bringing their knitting to a show.

Yeah, I wonder. Pick songs that are easier to sing and sound good vocally, or pick songs that are more challenging to sing, but more well loved, and sounds less than good vocally. The two times I've seen Motley Crue live Vince Neil was an absolutely disaster. He started each show decently but he could never go the full 90 minutes. They played all the hits, and everyone in the crowd, at least those around me and those I overheard talking about it had a great time. This past summers tour was with Kiss, and anyone in attendance not affiliated with the Kiss Army seemed to agree that Crue was the far better of the two. Not a single person cared/noticed/mentioned that Vince Neil can't sing. The crowd sang all the songs for them anyways. Would fans, particularly casuals, care if Bon Jovi played more hits but Jon struggled vocally throughout? Jon's voice was pretty well shot on parts of the SWW tour and judging by videos not a single person in attendance seemed to care.

Well I believe that doesn't make richie incapable. Regarding the record, I wasn't expecting much and I got less than what I expected. I still believe it's better than the latest BJ efforts though.

I believe if the still had the voice, even with the direction his music is taking, the songs would be huge, much better than the ones we have.