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

Lol Runaway replaced Dry County. Somebody get a hitman to deal with jon please.

All those songs tanked and the reaction they got from 10 people wasn't worth it. Sad but true.

This is a good set IMO. Only real downer is seeing I love this town on there. But it must work, and it was after a 25 song set so, having that as the last song wouldn't be so bad. It would give people the chance to get to their cars and beat traffic

Hey Everyone! So I was at the show last night and this is what I thought:

Pro's
Stage is awesome.
Venue is great. I saw Bon Jovi there is 2010. The weather was perfect, which is a miracle in and of itself for Chicago.
Jon's voice was good. He struggled on some songs, most noticeably Always, but it didn't sound as bad as early on the tour. He sounded quite good on some others.
It wasn't just the JBJ and Friends show. David and Tico were heavily featured on the jumbo screens as well.
The setlist was pretty good. Sadly, nothing from These Days but I finally got to see In These Arms live.

Con's
No Richie. This is the first show I've seen without him (I've also seen them in 2008 and 2011 at the United Center and at the Allstate Arena over 10 years ago). It just isn't the same without him. It was so strange to see Phil X do the intro to LOAP and Bobby doing Richie's solos. Richie definately has a huge stage presence and the interaction between him and Jon leaves a hole. Can't help but compare this show to 2010 and 2010 was phenomenal (performance, vocals, etc).

Merchandise was ridiculous. $45 was the cheapest shirt and $55 for a tank top! Also, the shirts either had the Bon Jovi heart/dagger, some kind of flag/army theme or just Jon's face! Only one had Jon and Richie! One even had Jon posing with JBJ on there!

The audience had a lot more middle aged, suburban soccer moms. Not sure if it is Richie's absence, the album or the excessive touring keeping some away. I couldn't believe how many people didn't know KTF. So many go just to hear LOAP, IML and Bad Name. People were leaving after Bad Medicine and then many after Prayer. It is a 60,000 seat place so in the big picture it wasn't that many people leaving but I have never seen that happen before.

Interesting Notes
Jon tried to sing the chorus to BWC but no knew the words.
I swear, and my friend does as well, that he was crying during Make a Memory (because he was thinking of Richie!).
Before Wanted, he made a comment about the crazy technology world we live in and how everything he says is recorded and then proceeded to say "thank you for 30 years of friendship, support and patience". I say he was giving a shout out to Richie! Ha ha.

My Takeaways
Jon is a great front man and Bon Jovi is a great live band. When Jon is on stage he doesn't come across as the ignorant jerk that he does in interviews. Maybe because he isn't trying to be something he is not.... If he and Richie work out the differences and the band gets back to making good music, they can get back to the top and stay there. The talent is there and I do think they can produce more hits. I don't think they are on top any longer as the last times they have played Chicago they always had back to back sold out shows. But if Richie doesn't come back or they keep coming out with mediocre at best records, they will slowly but surely continue to lose fans.

Don't yell at me for this super long post!

Thanks for the review!

And thanks for quoting that entire post just to say those 4 words!

We had an awesome time. A few random notes from the show: The crowd was loud and appreciative all night . . . Friend Bill said beforehand "The set will be the set, and it will be about the encore" (he was right) . . . I thought Jon sounded good throughout. He occasionally skipped a line (e.g. Born To Be My Baby), but otherwise was solid. He fought through Always, and since that is maybe my all-time favorite song, and favorite live, it was worth it. Phil X's solos in Always kicked ass! . . . Loved that we got In These Arms (another favorite). Only wished David would have sung a verse for something different . . . Actually, I think it would have added a lot to the show if Jon would thrown in something else like Superman acoustic or the bit of Never Say Goodbye they've played a few times . . . The signs in the pit (Welcome Back to the USA) and the few people throwing confetti during Captain Crash? Lame . . . Didn't really miss Richie too much. Mostly noticed on some backing vocals and during Wanted . . . Jon made a funny comment at the beginning of Wanted. Something like "When your boss asks you what you did over the weekend, you can say 'Oh nothing, I just jammed with Bon Jovi, that's all" . . . As much as it pains me to say it, replacing Dry County with Runaway was probably the right move given the crowd and venue. Runaway went over huge, and I'm just not sure Dry County would have, except with a select few (like us) . . . It didn't affect the show, but a little surprised What's Left Of Me or Army Of One weren't even on the audible list. Interesting that These Days was on the list, but I don't think there was ever a realistic chance of that!

For making the right call for an American market? Sure, agreed.

I've seen Dry County at shows in the USA several times and it always goes over like a lead balloon. People don't know it and they lose interest because it's so long. It doesn't matter that it's a GREAT song. People want to hear stuff they know.

Capt. Crash is only known because they've shoved it down our throats at show after show. If Jon would do the same with the better songs in the catalog, they'd be known, too. I'm sick and tired of Jon getting a pass for playing only the songs that the lowest common denominator portion of the crowd knows.