Official March 2, 2013, BB&T Center, Sunrise thread

I admit I didn't want to go blindly toward anything collins ridge said about the show and the bad crowd - maybe the fact that for him it sounds like just the crowd's fault (why??) sort of discredit the whole situation .... it seems it was not a good show as no one said a word .. I have never seen such a 'Hush hush - let's not talk about it ' situation after that show .. I know quite a few who went from the usa and from europe from japan etc .. .. they are all like dead today ..no comment no photos of them partying like crazy after the show- NOTHING

So he had birthday shows in 2008, 2010 and 2011. All three were pretty good shows (especially by American standarts), Jon was in good mood, threw in a couple of medium surprises (including the obvious Just Older) and now he plays the same set as the last two shows MINUS the 3rd encore. Not even Just Older was played. What a joke.

He definitely won't get away with such behaviour in Europe, but I'm worrying that if he only starts trying to be good in Europe, he won't get to see him (and the setlists) being great like 2011. The way things are moving it defintely seems as the biggest surprises all of us are gonna get in our leg will be Always, These Days, Dry County and Wild Is The Wind.

Except for the cool instrumental jam system at the end, that was sad to watch. The "smiling, charismatic, flirty" showman was nowhere to be seen. Whatever is bothering him, whether some type of physical pain (maybe his back because his "dancing" does not look natural), or a breathing issue (he was skipping over words) or mental stress, he's clearly not able to leave it backstage at showtime.

Open All Night TWICE?! I'm officialy jealous. That song is great, I love the Bounce acoustic ballads.

Aloha !

Going by the responses the crowd gave the song I'd say you're the only one. I heard it in New Jersey, what a dreadful song to play live.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Here's my review:

First off, I usually read all the setlists here and comments but never participate. I just want to throw my two cents after the seeing the show.

I came to show without seeing the set from Tampa, but came with a little high expectations being Jon's birthday show. It was nice to hear Raise Your Hands. The band was tight, and the set worked really well. I could leave out two or three songs and replace them with personal favorites, but it is hard to please everyone when you have a 30 year catalog. So there's the setlist, on paper it looked 'ok', live it was really good.

The crowd: yea, it sucked! Jon mentioned two or three times that it was his birthday and they didn't care. There was ONE attempt to sing happy birthday but they started playing a song and they didn't try again. Two things I did notice, in IBTFY Jon told Richie to sing it, and I guess he didn't hear him or something, so Jon sang it, and there was a LONG pause between LAO and the house lights. Maybe we were going to get another song, but once the lights came out everyone was already walking out. Very weird audience, but South Florida audience's SUCK!

So, after seeing the Tampa set, I could only suspect that a combination of being tired from a three hour show the night before and the sucky audience they played it safe.

I've seen a few people say this, and I think it's kinda funny. You guys make it sound like you'll murder Jon and his family if he keeps static sets and doesn't move. Fact of the matter is, the fans can't really stop him if he wants to do that. By the time you realize that it's the same-old-same-old, you're already at the show and the band still collects the check.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hope you get shit shows. I KNOW things will be better in Europe, just because the energy level is exponentially higher. It's just a bit funny seeing that vague "Jon won't get away with this" threat.

Yeah, I think it's more the case that if they did it this time round, people definitely won't be back next tour. In a stadium show, it just wouldn't wash.

Not even "Just Older"? Well, it's so strange after an quite interesting Circle tour setlist wise how little JBJ changes things up this time around. It's like he has forgotten certain parts of his catalogue. And I'm talking about stuff they have played on recent tours.

Could it be that the "sucky audience" was rebelling against the "No Banners" tweet from Matt. Also, many had probably not even seen that tweet, and made "Happy Birthday Jon" banners and other types of banners that were taken away from them at the door.

Bon Jovi fans are a tight group, especially with FB groups, Twitter, etc. Many go to pre show parties whether within the venue or at other places near the venue. Word could spread very fast, as to how to react to this show, thereby sending Jon a message of sorts. IF that is the case, it sounds like they succeeded.

The only problem with that, IF that is what happened, is that Jon does not *seem to care*, these days...



Many thanks for your review!