Official June 12 2013, Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff Thread

'Never Say Goodbye' -

That one did mate ....... Even if it was just a minute ....

Well, that was a ......... not quite sure how to describe it!! Not a bad show by any means, but certainly not one of the best. Got into the stadium around 6.15 and it was absolutely pissing down, was thinking uh-oh, short show, Jon in a bad mood (only half right!) Decided to take shelter until as late as possible, the rain stopped around 7.15 and I then took my spot near the back of the DC on Phil’s side.

Realised that the band were coming on at 7.45 and immediately thought that the show would be shorter, either due to the weather/ Jon wanting to save himself for the weekend/the fact that it was a small show. Curfew would have been 11pm so that wouldn’t have been the reason. Anyway they came on just after 7.45 and finished 10.15, so whilst a good 15/20 minutes shorter than the shows at Birmingham and Manchester, nearly 2.5 hours is still decent.

Stadium was full as far as I could see, which was suprising given all the groupon offers/lucky dips etc, guess the offers were taken full advantage of! All seats were full, but I couldnt see how full the back of the pitch was.

Positives
Crowd seemed good throughout, except for the Diamond circle!
Jon seemed in a good mood, you can tell he’s giving it as much as he can to make up for Richies absence.
Dave and Tico and really enjoying themselves and giving their all
Phil’s enthusiasm is great, helps the show along and he plays off Tico and particularly Dave a lot. You can tell he’s really enjoying himself.
Let me entertain you was a nice suprise in Faith although the drums and keyboards seemed to cut out just as they started playing it!
Its only rock and roll was played as an intro to Sleep which was nice, although maybe Pretty Woman or something with a better singalong would have gone over better.
Enjoyed the new songs. Water works as an opener until the outro, which goes on too long in my opinion. Because We Can worked very well, all the stadium seemed to be clapping along. I quite like I’m with you so that was nice to hear.
The ‘medley’ part was a bit strange, you could almost sense Jon wanting to do more but you could see he was reigning himself back (to save himself for the weekend). NSG and Blaze i think were both done as a result of banners on the front row. Should have done all of NSG, the crowd was singing along loud to that one, and it wouldn’t have been difficult for Jon to sing. A verse/chorus of Blaze could have been done as an intro to Wanted?? Jon did get pissed as Tico didn’t finish the song when Jon did, but he soon stopped his strop! (Dont **** with Tico!)

Negatives
Jons voice was weaker than it was on the weekend so you could tell early on that we may not get Always/these days etc
Phil is doing as good a job as possible filling in but there are some songs that you really notice Richies absence (Wanted, I’ll be there for you)
The stage looks great but the catwalk is really underused, only on Bad Medicine last night.
Little short, second encore would have pushed the show to 2.40/2.45, and the crowd certainly wanted more. A lot of casuals were disappointed Always wasn’t played, would have finished the night nicely if it had been.

All in all a good show, last saw them 2 nights in Dublin so was going to struggle to compete with those shows, but all things considered Jon and the band delivered a good show last night.

Nice review , thanks . Nothing will ever top the tour before or the one before that or the one before that all the way back to the slippery tour so i guess we just have to take it all in and enjoy the little bit we are still getting

Hey guys, my take on the show.

Got there early queued up about 230 got in at 420ish and was second row in GC with a great spot all the way through. We had a little space infront of us all the way through before the show just because i expected a big push when they came on and there was a elderly man with a bad leg infront so didnt want him injured, and when the support came on 2 cheeky bitches decided to push through into that spot and ive already had 2 gigs partially dampened because of idiots like that so we just pushed straight back infront and they dissapeared then.

Anyway onto the show. Water is a good opener...for the right crowd. Where i was standing it was all casuals the only place that looked like they were working at all to please jon was DC i though the crowd was dreadful. Jon had to ask all the seated people during Bad Name to stand. The show stepped back into the usual routine and even though it was my first this tour i knew what was coming before it did.

The main set ended quite short in my opinion and i thought he was going to come back with a big 2/3 encores. He played requests apparently(not sure what the printed set was?) but he played the wrong ones, there were plenty of signs for bounce etc in DC he just ignored. Never Say Goodbye was a nice surprise it was just Jon with his acoustic and Hugh backed him up here and there, i was surprsed that Never Say Goodbye was actually one of the songs that the crowd actually sang to, maybe it was just because i could hear them more?
Im With You was a great song to hear but again no one knew it.
Blaze of Glory...I was very surprised that this showed. It was not part of NSG Jon was just having a bit of fun. Again it was just Jon until after the second verse when Phil attempted to play the riff(without slide though) and tico but they got major stink eye and it all stopped. After that i knew the show wasnt going to be much left. After Prayer finished i looked at my watch and saw it was too early for it to be over, was waiting for a 2nd encore with maybe Always and These Days if lucky...waited, waited and then the crew came on stage and took away the instruments

All in all it was a great night, hoping for better in future with Richie but Phil done a good job definatley not the same though. The shortness of the show was not down to rain, it hardly rained when they were on i think during Bad name the heavens opened for about 2 mins then stopped all night.

A quick question to people in DC, during Water someone had a sign that had something to do with Richie on and Jon saw it and shock his head and gave mini stink eye to the person, what did the sign say?

Really enjoyed the show last night. As posted above, it was a little short and no great surprises, but solid and enjoyable.

The rain before the show was shocking (even for Wales!), so stadium filled up quite late, but from where I was sat the pitch was pretty much full, right to the back.

Had very mixed feelings about Phil - he did a great job and without him there may well not have been a European tour, so credit & thanks to him, but lot of soul missing without Richie. Especially missed Richie during Wanted.

Still don't get the whole Matt banning banners thing, because Jon seemed to genuinely enjoy reading through the ones in DC and reacted to several (even if it was a shake of the head or a mutter & a smile).

The stage is just incredible. Took soooo many photos of it. Best stage I have ever seen.

I thought the crowd was great - mostly casual fans but really into it and definitely better than the crowd at Bristol (nearest show to Cardiff) a couple of years ago.

I enjoyed the new songs - Water really is a great opener and the crowd loved Because We Can. Jon does seem to make odd choices about the running order - the place was absolutely rocking after Faith/Let Me Entertain You and he then kills it dead with Make a Memory.

Still can't think of a better way to spend a Wednesday night. Excited about Hyde Park now.

Thanks again to nrm123 for info about parking etc. Parked in St Davids for 7 hours costing £6 (bargain). Got bus from centre (as recommended) for £1 each (bargain). Came out after the show and asked where the shuttle buses were. "Helpful" steward replied "you'll be lucky mate!". So we walked but only took 20 mins or so and back on the road home 50 mins after the show finished. Happy days!

I read on some other fanboard that this mash-up medley was played for Rosie.
She died last year all of a sudden and friends of her held up request banners with her favorite songs which then lead Jon to doing this medley. If it's true I think it was a very nice gesture from him.

Right, this tweet makes sense now:

Big Apple Jen ‏@bigapplejen 11h
Jon @BonJovi ..thank you for honoring our beloved and much missed Rosie tonight.. #respect

Don't know Rosie or her story but I was at the O2 the night she got to kiss David. So funny x

My Review of the Show.

We got in the stadium at roughly 6pm because we were seated on the side so wasn't in a rush to get in. Felt sorry for the supporting acts because it pissed down but they loved it.

Must say the stage is absolutely amazing! Band came on just before 7:45, Water is a good opener but casuals weren't very into it but still clapped along. Jon said that it was good to be back in Wales and out of England for a while, and said I better shut up before I start a war! Huge cheer from the crowd. Because We Can actually goes over very well with the crowd, surprised to see so many people singing to it, did a short acoustic version after with the crowd singing back to him.

Keep the Faith was just amazing! Was nice to see Let Me Entertain You included with it. (You want to) Make a memory didn't go down very well, see people going for drinks etc, was hoping for Bed of Roses. I'll be There for you went down very well and got the crowd back into it.

Before Ill Sleep When I'm Dead they sung Its Only Rock and Roll. Was pleasantly surprised with I'm With You, Jon said it was a single in Europe and this is his favourite part of the show because he gets to do requests. Superman Tonight was a nice surprise, someone held the Superman logo up.

Was talking with a few people outside and apparently Never Say Goodbye and Blaze of Glory was for someone who died (I think) and that was her favourite songs. If true, is a nice touch by Jon. After that Jon went to Tico and it looked like he said 5-10mins. Prayer was just amazing, especially with Prayer '94. Nice change from the usual intro. After the bows it really looked like Jon wanted to do more. Left the stage around 10:20.

Was talking with security outside and apparently it started early and ended quite early because there was an issue with some trains not running, and its quite a walk back to the train stations. So they wanted people to have enough time getting back.

Overall was a great show, may look boring on paper but the crowd was really into it and the band enjoyed themselves.