I enjoyed the show BUT - I would have won money had I bet on the setlist and the opening number.

The setlist was very basic - no big surprises other than Richie. That surprise ****ing rocked in my opinion but I have liked Richies voice for a long time now. Another notable was In These Arms which was done very well surprisingly. I didn't think I would ever hear that live again in that version. Some of the extra singers help cover the fact that Jon doesn't sing some of the highest notes.

The rehearsals for 70 + songs would have been all the different arrangements that they did. Very little was played with the same arrangement as they used to - even though the songs themselves were pretty much the same except for the Lost Highway stuff.

Where I was sitting (in section C row 13) the sound was horrible - very muddy and dirty except in the higher ranges. I don't know if this was an arena problem or a Bon Jovi sound problem. I guess I'll see tonight. Other people I spoke with thought that the sound was great so it may have been the arena. It seemed to swallow up the sound big time.

I'm not as down on them for the same old setlist as Seb is - I go to these shows because I like the songs and I like the sound of them. It is very simple music to begin with and it makes me happy I was pleased to see that they can still rock with the best of them - I was afraid that they would turn it down a notch or two. Had they done that - coupled with the relatively boring setlist I would have been very disappointed.

The arena itself was fantastic - as was the local staff. There were plenty of first night problems though. Tickets scanners weren't working all the time - elevators had some problems and the food people didn't have everything they were supposed to. Small potatoes though overall.

So to sum it up - it was an excellent show with only a few surprises. I will judge the entire effort after hearing more shows and seeing if they really do change the setlist from night to night.