Oostende review - Laura and Taija

Right after the Bremen concert, we caught the night train to Oostende. We didn't have the tickets for the concert, but bought them as soon as the tourist office opened in the morning. We had no hotel to stay in, so we headed to the beach to get some sleep. It was very cold because of the sea wind, but we still managed to get ourselves burnt badly, sleeping there for four hours.

Marijke sent us an sms to come and spend the day at the venue, and we went there in the afternoon. The local promoters weren't very cooperative, they wanted to fill out the pit with GA people, but fortunately that didn't come to happen.

Mike and Tom joined us later in the evening when their coach from England arrived. We were numbers 10 and 11, Tom and Mike 21 and 22. Some people left the queue during the night, so we moved up a little. The night wasn't as cold as in Bremen, but still cool enough. We managed to get some sleep, Tom and us more than Mike, who was kept awake by a drunken Belgian.

In the morning, just as we had cleared out our sleeping bags and what-have-yous, it started pouring rain. Tom and Mike decided to go for a walk in the rain, while Taija and I just sat there for a while, before seeking shelter. The rain lasted for a few hours, and left us all more or less soaked. At some point, Taija said she wished we had gone to Paris instead.

Around midday, the queue was moved to another entrance. That went peacefully enough. At some point it started to rain again, but not quite as heavily as in the morning. We made a lot of banners requesting Tico to sing. Especially after the tease in Bremen, we really wanted him to sing.

The list was done and it worked amazing, as in the previous shows. The gates were opened at around two thirty, and we were handed out wristbands at the entrance. Kevin wanted us to queue inside the gates until the mud in the pit (which was deep, we were told) had been cleared away. We watched in amazement as these poles that were stuck up kept falling down in a very dangerous-looking way. The wait took a while, but finally we were let in four by four, to find that the pit had been covered, but with the mud still being visible at some points. The smell was quite horrible. But cheers for not making us stand in a mud knee-high.

We ended up centre of front row between Jon and Richie. Tom and Mike took their places behind us. It was a long wait which was passed mostly by sitting down and talking, and playing cards (and boys, it's Viking line, and it's a ferry company ). The opening acts made the wait for Bon Jovi seem even longer.

The first one, (idol 2003 or summat) we had heard a lot of bad things about, so we didn't even bother to stand up when he started playing. But as it turned out, he wasn't all that bad, he had a good voice and was singing covers most of the audience knew. Ending his part of the show with Rocking in the free world was a smart move on his part.

As for the second opener, who or whatever that was... The first time the singer opened his mouth, we bursted into an uncontrollable giggle. His voice was quite not what we expected, and we couldn't stop laughing. (Sorry, Tom and Mike, we must've been horrible ). Carola, for her part, kept us entertained with her one-woman jamming show. This was the worst opening act we've seen since Babylon Zoo (Helsinki 96). Danny and the roadies were trying to set up the lights for the sides of the stage during the opening act, and we watched this spectacle with great interest. Because of the strong wind, they couldn't get them up and had to leave them below the speakers. Also, the back curtain of the stage stayed down, probably also because of the strong wind.

We were afraid that with the wind, Bon Jovi would come on stage late, especially worried because we knew they had to finish early because of the curfew. The opening act played around 15 songs, topping their performance off with a version of Kylie's Can't get you out of my head. And that 15 songs too much, and we really missed Live!!!

It was very cold waiting for the band, but as soon as the intro to Bounce started, all suffering because of the rain, cold and the horrible opening act(s) was forgotten. Jon, in his black leather pants, wasn't smiling and didn't seem to be on as good a mood as we've used to seeing him. During Bounce, we held up our banner saying "In Bremen you promised us Tico would sing... how about now!" Jon read the banner and nodded.

During Wild in the streets, all of us who had Tico banners held them up. Jon didn't seem to notice them in any particular way.

As the concert went on, the band's mood seemed to increase.

To our great delight, Lay your hands on me returned to the setlist, only with a shorter, but still a great intro. Some of the anthemic quality had been removed, but the intro still saw Jon noting that since it was Sunday, we were invited to Jonny's church of rock'n'roll.

Keep the faith and Sleep when I'm dead were without medleys or extra verses this time.

In Saturday night, we bursted out laughing when Jon was at his mic, raised one of his eye brows and flashed The Smile at us. Hih. That man sure knows how to keep is front row happy. Also Fleur got a lot of Jon's attention all through the concert, and she also received his plectrum. She was also shown on the screen a lot of times during the concert.

In general, Jon spoke more than in the other shows we've seen.

Richie was on an exceptionally great mood. He went over to the peopöe on stage to sahke their hands. In Wild in the Streets he gave his plectrum to a guy there. Once he was over there, Jon said to the audience "can you say: Rrrrrichieee" and we could.

There was a lot of space in the pit, and the audience didn't seem to be quite as loud as usually. Jon's voice was amazing, altho not quite what it was for example in Mannheim (says Laura, Taija thinks he always sounds perfect ) And he didn't do as many rock screams this time.

The distance returned to the setlist. This is a reallz good song live, but this time it wasn't as breat taking as in Mannheim. In this song especially, the missing background curtain took really something away from the lightshow.

In These Arms is always great to hear, one of the best songs in the set. This time, Jon did all the singing and according to Taija, even tho it was great to hear David sing in Bremen, Jon with his voice is the one to sing this song.

After ITA, Jon went to get his guitar and returned to his mic and said: "This is something off the Slippery album we haven't done in six or seven years." At that point, we hid the Tico banner and looked each other. Laura thought that we're gonna hear something rare, whereas Taija thought: "Could it be.." Funny how many things get through you're head in a fraction of second. After a short pause he said: "This is for you", pointed at us, flashed The Smile, and the band started playing I'd Die for you. We started screaming like crazy, jumping up and down and almost crying. There are no words to describe how we felt, and how great the song was. As far as we could notice from the cloud nine, we weren't the only ones enjoying the song. The song seemed to be over way too fast. As the song was ending, there was a guy who ran across the stage, with a security guard following, and jumped off the stage in full speed. After the song Jon smiled at us and went to Tico's drums. We hugged each other, and Carola said afterwards that Jon had watched us, smiling. He came back to his mic, and said "is it ok now girls?" or something to that effect. We were screaming and thanking the band for the song. We were having as much fun as we ever did, with or without the clothes... After that, Jon started talking about the guy, and said that he propably got taken backstage, got his ass kicked, and is propably sitting there now eating our food and drinking our beers.

Richie's I'll be there for you followed, but we didn't pay too much attention. Taija was still crying, Laura smiling stupidly. We received a lot of smiles and thumbs-ups from our friends and even from people we didn't know.

Yet another amazing Undivided followed. We tried to hold up our Tico banners, but without success.

BoB always comes as a big surprise to us, because the beginning is somehow different from the album version. We're wondering about Danny (from me, Danny and Bobby), he probably isn't a medicine man anymore. Jon's always singing "Danny's doing the best that he can"

The encore was short, again only two songs. Just Older is always one of the highlights, Bad Medicine ended the show without Shout.

What a night! By far the best evening with Bon Jovi we've ever had! We want this show on DVD!

Next stop Zurich

C'mon Taija!

She did it

great

says Tom... :

he did one - i'm a big anorak for those things so I counted !

i nearly did this post:

"Sounds great, wish i could have been there" but then remembered I was.

Hopefully someone can get the show on video and onto DVD - i'd buy the dvdrecorder myself and do it if a video exists! lol

Again a great review girls !!! Really honest !!!! Made me feel the same way about the concert like I was there again ... God, I miss it badly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought the show was great ... And I can believe you had thé time of your lives when they were playing I'die die for you especially for you !!!!! I knew I started screaming when I heard Jon saying This one is for you ... i was like screaming to my friends :Ow my god it's for them it's for them !!!!!!!!!! Was very happy for you ... think you girls deserve it !!!!! And yes, I surely enjoyed the song a lot !!! I bet it's your all-time favourite now??????

Great!!!! You do your thing in London too.


Whaaaaaaaaat?!?!?

we all were so happy for you girls.....you deserved it.

Wahooo... Thanks!!

I think that where Mannheim was the best I've ever seen Jon, Ostend was the best I've ever seen Richie!!

Mike