Official June 29, 2011 - RDS Arena, Dublin, Ireland thread

I was about to say the same thing Terri.

Great great pics but the HAND one is truly fantastic! Thanks for posting them.

Just watchin those clips makes me sit here with the biggest smile on my lips. This band haven't sounded this good since 96! This is absolutely amazing. Jon sounds amazing, but Richie, oh god! I've never seen Richie play this good since the 90s. He really plays the solos note for note correct! Amazing to watch

Looking forward for tonights PBP !

Aloha !

I also noticed how Jon struggles more with the lower songs than with the songs in a higher register. It just shows that now that he's warmed up his vocals again he can pull it off a lot better than when he barely played the songs that were in a higher register (Always, Dry County, These Days).

Actually, Richie does a little screw up in Dry County. I do wonder what you mean by note for note correct though. Are you talking about playing it like it was recorded in the studio? Richie was in better shape during the Bounce tour but quite limited by the selection of songs they had back then.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Amazing show last night...cannot wait for tonight,heading into town soon to have something to eat then heading to the rds...pics from last night are on my facebook page...some great ones of the guys on the ramp...

i just downloaded the hrc bootleg, havent listened to it yet. i have to say i was intrigued by your quote seb...i always notice the king of swing really really closely and since the 00s i think its this tour reached both his personal high and low in different shows the past years.
it looks like he really came back on fire but its not rare that he misses notes, sth not so common in the past, why do you think he was better in the bounce tour? judging by you tube i cant spot sth better. i believe richie reached his top in 93-96, one show especially in argentina 95 and the wembley ones are magnificent guitarwise.

Aloha !

On the Bounce tour he actually played around the original guitar solo's. He rebuild the guitar solo of Hook Me Up and did additional riffs here in there in songs like Sat. Night. Comparing this to the HAND, LH and now this tour he's just copying the recorded solo's for the later songs note for note, there's not a single performance of Born To Follow where he actually plays around with the song. The same for a song like Love's The Only Rule. He plays it note for note like it was recorded, but in doing so the song becomes very stale. Yes, there's the guitar outro but that one has been rehearsed note for note so Jon won't get lost. The Bounce tour was also the last tour in which Richie rarely ****ed up, even though that might also be partly caused by a very limited amount of songs that were done live.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

What do you mean seb by "by a very limited amount of songs that were done live"? that there were many guitar parts played by dave? richie always tried to play the songs as near as possible to the recordings maybe jon has a big part on this though. i d like to see links from you tube or sth with a couple of songs where richie is loose and on fire from the bounce era , if you have sth particular in mind.
richie is a guitar god for sure imo, but he could really be out of this world if he seeked more often solo ventures and cooperations with really good and versatile musicians. the combination of the technique-the feeling-the melodies and his voice could make him a legend,(i mean he has worked hard for sure for his talents but imo hasnt matched his full potentials)
having said that i believe both richie and jon have still some great tunes in them waiting to be written.

Night 1 was great. Richie was beaming all night and bouncing around the stage, he looks and sounds like a new man.

Jon as with night 2 was constantly interacting with the crowd and ad libbing all over the place.

No complaints, but night 2 beat it in most departments.

BTW, GA is full of cunts.

Even in the videos, the difference between the Richie we saw here in the U.S. during February and March and this "new and improved" Richie is dramatic. I'm sure it's even more obvious in person. I'll never agree with the decision to keep touring when he was out, but whatever he did/wherever he went during May was clearly the best thing for Richie.

Yeah, he was a sorry sight on the last U.S leg. I always stood by my theory that all the chewing he was doing was linked in with the booze. He didn't chew once in the 6 hours I saw him.

It made me happy to see him happy, I know that sounds soft, but it's true.