Official July 12, 2013 -> Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, USA thread

I have yet to attend my first Bon Jovi show, but I have some acquaintances in and around my town who went to a recent show just to "go out for a night". They were casuals who only knew "Prayer," "Wanted," and the other radio hits. When I told them some band trivia, they looked at me like I had two heads and said, "Who cares! We just want to stare at Jon all night!"

Well, there you go. Jon could sing anything and they would just stare at him and appreciate the view. So why not sing something good out of the back catalog. People such as that aren't going to know many songs anyway.

They're also going to take plenty of bathroom and beer breaks, so there's no real need to blame the song being played for the constant migration.

I don't know why I can't get over it. It isn't even my problem anymore, but I feel for friends that will be going to the upcoming shows knowing how they're hoping to hear some of stuff that they played in Europe - most notably TAALS.

Home from Chicago. This was a really, really good show. My first with the car stage, it's very cool looking. The setlist was good, the show flowed well, people were dancing and singing alot. Jon's voice was solid, not spectacular, but solid except for on Always which he struggles with. Biggest change for me from March was how good Phil X has gotten with the bands songs. In the past he has always been technically excellent but this is the first tiime I've seen him be "into" the bands stuff as well. By that I mean he's comfortable up there with them, he's got a feeling for the songs now. It made it that much more fun to watch.
I did miss Richies vocals on some songs, but thats more because I've heard them a 1000 times and know they should be there, rather than because the band hasn't done a very good job of adjusting to his vocal absence because they have overall. For me this one rates a very good time, happy I saw it show.
And before anyone freaks, yes Richie not being there makes for a very different show. Would I rather he was there??? Yes but this way is not by any stretch of imagination bad. This version of BJ is still a pretty amazing live band, Still very fun to see and oh yeah Jon is working his ass off to be an excellent performer.

I couldn't agree with this more.

I don't understand this conceit that "welp, North Americans are dumb and uneducated, so they should just treat them that way." It's not OUR fault that Jon evidently doesn't have enough confidence in himself and his better material to put it out there night in, night out, the way he does with shit songs. You're an artist, you already made it big, why not go out there and PROVE to people these rarities are good shit? What happened to the Jon that noted during the KTF tour he had to go out and PROVE KTF was a class song? That Jon is gone. He has no balls, and no faith in his own stuff. If a bunch of casuals and ass-fans leave because they don't know Dry County, good. The hell with them. It's your masterpiece, play it! Don't replace it with Runaway. No balls. And no respect to the minority that DO genuinely appreciate their work (like us).

I can't believe fans are trying to give him a pass by blaming it on the culture of this continent. It's all about whether Jon has faith in his own shit or not. If he fears an audience won't know a song, then he should introduce it with a few words before playing it. If he wants them to appreciate his work, he should belt out the lyrics and put his heart into it. I saw a show here in Philly last week in some tiny venue with some small time band, and I don't think I or anyone else knew most of the songs... but they sold it to you, you could get into it. You just gotta go out and prove it.

I've discovered over the years that going in with no expectations except it's going to be a fun, good time and at the least a good show helps. I go expecting the hits some new stuff, a couple of Jon's favorites and if I get something more rare it's icing. For me it's more important that what is played is played well and the show is really good, like last night, than whether or not I get a rare song. Doesn't mean I'm not jealous as hell of Europe and places that get all that stuff, cause i am.

I also left my spot to a casual fan, that at least will get some excitement in return from their money. When really "rare" songs were played in Hawaii and Seattle, at the start of the Circle tour, oh man if I was excited! to overnight see that as the majority of concert goers were left blank, Jon decided to go back to the same format, that will keep happy the casual fans, and I understand they are the bulk of the ticket sales, but when I realized that not even one/two rarites were going to be played for the die hards (with perhaps the exception of NJ/Toronto), I said ok... enough Wanted, LOAP, HAND and Runaway... good bye.

European fans, you are very much envied.

I don't neccesarily disagree with you asa die hard myself but reading your post made me think of Vancouver last tour. First night was all the big hits plus Always . It was a great show. Second night Jon changed 7 or 8 songs. For me night two was a better show because some less often played songs came out to play, the performance was again great. But all around me on night two, all i heard was why isn't the set the same as last nights, I came tonight because i saw last nights set online, this is good but last nights set it what I came to hear etc.... and I have to say no one could have worked any harder than Jon did on night two to "sell" a show.

My problem is that I went to Europe, and I saw the difference in the band and heard the songs that I'd so desperately wanted to witness live. As ticket-time approached for this tour, the thought of seeing the same show over and over again held no appeal. I went to the show here in Atlanta, and by the time it was over, I knew I was done. I want them to do what Jon is always saying that they do - change the setlist nightly, change the setlist on the fly, play for 3 hours . . . . I want them to be all about the music, but they aren't, and those things are just what Jon SAYS, not what they do. It's no longer enough for me. Clearly I'm in the minority, since so many of my Facebook friends are still ecstatic after their shows.

If people were looking up the previous night's set, I doubt they were casual fans. More likely it was people who had their heart set on certain songs, like Always. In any event, selling a song takes more than one stand at a city. It really does take the whole tour. And again, are you doing it for yourself, to prove your music? Or are you doing it to please random clowns?

I don't know, the whole idea of having to go in with "no expectations" and to "just have fun" is really depressing. When you gotta do that to enjoy a show, I think it's time to bow out as a fan.