Official February 24, 2013, First Niagara Center, Buffalo thread

Hmm odd - it looks as though he saw a banner in the audience which he was responding to...perhaps one he didn't like.

All the setlists so far are beyond crap comparing to the catalogue of songs they have. The fact that there are no I Love This Town or Whole Lot Of Leaving doesn't make it good for me. I'm not settling for this shit!

Bring These Days, Lie to Me, I Believe, Something to Believe in, the Distance, Joey and Homebound Train back to the set and then we can start to talk about what is a good setlist and what is not

Why don't the band have stables of songs that they swap out of each night. A slot in the set list reserved for live my life anthems, pre slippery, cheesey sing alongs etc.

This slot gets swapped around each night. It would keep the sets fresh, give die hards more of a chance to hear rarer cuts and the casual fan would be happy because the hits will remain where they are. There is still plenty of room for new album tracks and Jon's personal favorites and most importantly it would make a far better showcase of the vast body of work they have. Everyone' a winner, especially me.

E.g -
Have a nice day/WWBTF/Everyday/Bounce
Runaway/Only Lonely/In and out of love
Blood on Blood/Wild is the wind/Living in sin
These Days/This Aint A Love Song/Diamond Ring
Captain Crash/Who Says/I Love This Town

You're not going to get any of those at very many American shows...well, maybe Joey (which IMO would make that an even more terrible set!)

It'll be different when they hit the places that These Days sold.

Blood on Blood in the 3rd slot is so much better than Whole Lot of Leavin. Still, the encore is pretty bland, don't get the fuss around it. Sure, it's a couple of classics that probably works well during a live show, but it's still nothing special. Have to give the band credit for playing these long sets though!

I'm REALLY happy about Blood on Blood there. hopefully they'll keep it. still think it should be the opener, followed by bad name and, fine, lost highway.

So now the new wave is lenght over quality? I prefer a set with 21 or 22 good songs and not this 25 or 26 filled with a lot of shitty ones

I dont know why peopl expect 25-30 songs.

Most bands do about 18-20

Time to make my full report:

I arrived downtown at 5:30, having decided to grab a few beers prior to the show. I clearly wasn't the only person to make this decision. For anyone who knows Buffalo I was at Pearl Street, and it was packed and from the look of it every single person there would be making their way to the arena. Street vendors selling illegal merchandise even made their way inside. I'm guessing doors were schedule for 6:30 but when I meandered over to the arena at that time there was a huge line that stretched almost 2 full blocks outside. It wasn't 7 o'clock until I made it in. Of course that still gave me plenty of time to bumble around before showtime. And during that time I met Jason Pominville and Marcus Foligno which had/has me thrilled. For those who don't know they play for the Buffalo Sabres of which i'm a huge fan despite their shortcomings in the win column. Seems Marcus enjoyed himself too, tweeting "Bon jovi won't stop!! #unrealshow" during what would have been the encore. Anyways, on to the show itself.

I had a single seat, in the 100 level, 4th row, several sections removed from the stage, but I was very pleased with my locale. The person beyond me was a huge fan which was nice. He knew everything up through the Lost Highway record. I know we, including possibly me, have criticized Bad Name as an opener but it works, and works very well at that. I was ecstatic when they kicked into BOB as I was fully expecting WLOL. Looking around though it was rather depressing how many people didn't seem to know it at all. BWC and Water both went over well, with my new friend behind me remarking that he really liked Water. It's My Life went over huge. I know we sometimes bitch about it, but beyond the 80's hits, it gets the biggest response, or at least it did last night.

I took WGIGO as an opportunity to grab a beer. Faith was killer. I know some people here hate Amen and Army of One but I like both and were happy to hear them played. Jon sounded really good on Amen, at least to my intoxicated ears. And I'm actually someone who loves Captain Crash so it's re-apperance didn't both me in the slightest. After Army Of One Jon announced that would be the last of the new ones, so I knew their was no shot of I'm With You which would have been nice, but I'm over it. I took Who Says as another opportunity to grab a beer. I loved the encore. I know, I know, there wasn't a rarity, or gem, or whatever you want to call it, but it was great, high energy, and the crowd was eating it up. At first I thought it odd they started with Memory, but I liked the slow build of MAM to ITA to BTBMB. And although not indicated in this thread, they ended* after Sleep, thanked the crowd and took a bow. They didn't leave the stage though and of course we knew they still had to play Prayer. I was so happy when Richie slung his double neck on for HAND.

A few more general notes. I thought Jon sounded good. At least there weren't any times when it sounded like he was struggling too mightily. Now, obviously I was quite aways away but the band also seemed to be in good spirits. Even Jon sticking close to the mic stand on most songs, which we, and I, have complained about, didn't take anything away from me having a great time. Perhaps it's more an issue for those closer to the stage? I thought the light show that accompanied was really crisp. It certainly was great having the fan behind me be as energetic and enthusiastic as I was. That helped a lot. A friend of mine also in attendance, clearly a casual, referring to BJ as a he, had a great time, posting on FB "Bon Jovi was more than amazing. He delivered way beyond my expectations I will definitely go see him again in the future!" It received a positive review in the Buffalo News. And here's a quick 2 minute behind the scenes video from a local newscast, though probably nothing new. Richie certainly seemed to have fun too, tweeting afterwards "Buffalo kicks ass! Great show... People were crazy... 7 encores..." That being a 7 song encore of course.

I think that about covers it. I had an absolutely great night. This was my fifth time seeing them, and prior to this tour I thought my desire to see them live might no longer be what it once was. I last saw them Toronto 2010 and while it was a good show, I didn't come away nearly as happy as I felt I should have after seeing my favorite band live. Of course it didn't wane to the point of me not going, obviously, and after last night, I'd jump at another chance to see them. Yes, I'd love to hear These Days, Dry County, Always, etc. but I'm still very happy with the set played. The only real issue I had was When We Were Beautiful slotted after It's My Life. I hope everyone is able to have as much fun as I did when then the see them.

Joey? Are you nuts. And what else? Wildflower?