Rock in Rio Live Stream

So here's my detailed review.

After my two Meltlife shows in July, the only reason I went to Rock in Rio is because a friend of mine asked me to go with him. He was going with his girlfriend and they broke up last week, and he didn't want to waste that amount of money. So we hit the road on friday morning. It's a five hour drive from where I live, so I had plenty of time to chat with him about the band. I talked about how this year hasn't been good for the band, because of Richie's issue, Jon's voice problems and so on. However, I still hoped for a good show,mainly because the crowd in Rock in Rio is usually great. As I arrived at the hotel, I read about Ticos's absence. Needless to say that I lost all my hope and prepared myself for the worst.

i arrived at the "Rock City" just in time for Nickelback. I found a spot halfway between the front and the back, on the left side of the stage. I must tell you: I know NOTHING about Nickelback. I don't know their songs, set lists, but I was blown away by their energy: the whole place was on their feet for the whole show. Everybody around me was singing all the songs and going crazy all the time. The whole set was filled with uptempo songs, and judging by the crowd reaction, mainly hits as well. When the show was finished, I thought to myself: Bon Jovi's recent sets won't NEVER top that. Jon will put the crowd to sleep if he doesn't change the set for a more rockier set. And so it was ...

Opening with Water was ok. Everybody was pumped because the band had just entered the stage, and everybody seemed to appreciate the song. However, when Jon kicked into the "somebody take me to the C" routine, I knew we were in trouble. He was bored out of his mind, did the basic "Rio de Janeiro on a Friday Night" line and kicked directly into Bad Name. The crowd went nuts, but I was really bothered by Jon's terrible vocals, the low volume of the sound, and mainly by the band's sound: it was horrible. They were sounding like a tribute band at best. Raise Your Hands and Runaway followed, but somehow didn't go over that well. People were standing still for Raise Your Hands and followed Jon's hand movement during the chorus, but didn't seem to care for the song. Runaway was better, but I've seen better reactions for the song in America.

The LH/WLOL combo was a disaster. Nobody reacted to those songs: everybody was silent and standing still. The show wasn't good at that point, but after that it went completely downhill. During the break in WLOL, I felt bad for Jon. He stood there waiting for a reaction and it never came. He noticed it, and went for the the last chorus. When the song was finished, there was the biggest silence I've ever heard on a concert. It was incredible.

So, time for It's my Life. Everybody went nuts for it. But that was the problem with the whole set: every time they managed to get the crowd going with a song, they lost them with the next one(s). It happened again with Because we Can, What About Now and WGIGO. I noticed that the people up front were much more active than the people standing close to me, and that's understandable. They are the die-hards that arrived at the venue in the morning and stood hours in line to be there. And that's the people that the TV camera's were chasing. They are the ones that sang the chorus of Because We Can with Jon. And even though I was close to them, you could barely hear them. The silence was embarrassing. By this time, my friend asked me: "That's your favorite band ? Nickelback was 10 times better".

Keep the Faith lived things up a bit, but what happened after that really made me sad. A lot of people gave up on the show. People started to sit on the floor, play Candy Crush, and worse: lots of people started to leave. The whole sequence starting with Memory up until Who Says was the worse time I've ever had on a concert. Nobody cheered, nobody cared for the songs. Jon was bored, completely on autopilot. It was a complete disaster. They brought the girl on stage for Who Says, but I was done with the show. Sleep and Bad Medicine followed, the crowd came back to life, but the damage was already done.

The encore was what you'd expect of a festival setlist: hit after hit. This is what Jon should have done since the beginning. The crowd were on their feet, singing, bouncing. Even with Jon's horrible vocals, the band's horrible sound, I'd still find it enjoyable to listen to 100.000 people singing my favorite songs for 2 hours. After a horrendous performance of Always, the show was over.

There's no way that Jon didn't notice that things were not going over well. For me, there is only one explanation: he doesn't give a shit anymore. He can't be bothered to rehearse a song or two that people here seem to like (Missunderstood, for example). He won't include songs that are already rehearsed and are a sure win (I'll Be There For You, These Days, Bed Of Roses). For me, this band is done. Nickelback seemed like a real band trying their best to impress the 100.000 people in front of them. Jon looked like a businessman working only to collect his paycheck. There was no passion, no interaction, no feeling.

This is the set they played:

That's What the Water Made Me
You Give Love a Bad Name
Raise Your Hands
Runaway
Lost Highway
Whole Lot of Leavin'
It's My Life
Because We Can
What About Now
We Got It Going On
Keep the Faith
(You Want To) Make a Memory
Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars
We Weren't Born to Follow
Who Says You Can't Go Home
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
/ Start Me Up - Rolling Stones cover
Bad Medicine
/ Shout! - Isley Brothers cover
Encore:
Wanted Dead or Alive
Have a Nice Day
Livin' on a Prayer
Always

I'm sure I would be here writing a completely different review if this was the setlist.

That's What the Water Made Me
You Give Love a Bad Name
Raise Your Hands
Runaway
Born to Be My Baby
Lost Highway
It's My Life
Because We Can
Blood on Blood
Keep the Faith
Bed of Roses
I'll be There For You
We Weren't Born to Follow
Who Says You Can't Go Home
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
/ Start Me Up - Rolling Stones cover
Bad Medicine
/ Shout! - Isley Brothers cover
Encore:
Wanted Dead or Alive
Have a Nice Day
Livin' on a Prayer
Always

I'm not asking for rarities. I'm talking about songs already rehearsed that they can easily play and would get everybody going, even without Tico and Richie

So that's all I can say ... I'm glad I went to multiple shows in Europe 2011. How I miss that band ...

What I find amusing is that you only now realize this when it was this way for years. That's almost the only thing we talk about. That and Richie's dog killing habits.

To me that period was like the last chance of hope for the whole band. In 08 Jon put out at times shockingly good vocals, which persisted to an extent into the next tour, and part of me really thought, maybe, just maybe, he'd capitalize on his restored voice to put out a better album (since Jon's shitty vocals are one of the main things holding their studio work back). But that never happened. The Circle- which I nonetheless still defend to an extent, and really do love some of the songs off it- featured pretty bland vocals from Jon Bon. And then on WAN he sounds horrible, which has been the performance-quality the entire tour. You know, Richie and Jon being shallow assclowns sucks, but that never spelled the end of the band to me near as much Jon's voice being seemingly gone for good.

http://brucespringsteen.net/shows/09...janeiro-brazil

The boss knows how to do it... at least they got one great show from NJ

Wow we were doing so well without anyone mentioning Bruce!

The Garageland spirit is dead.

That was an excellent set for a festival like this. My only complaint is that Because The Night wasn't played

Jon is starting to look like Rod Stewart. Will the housewives depart to a younger more invigorated pin up or will they stick with the dishevelled shit head?

I've just put a bet on at the bookies that Jon will replace himself on the next tour whenever he feels ill. It'll still be Bon Jovi though, oh yes.

Thank you guys for keeping it honest, at least here (with a couple exceptions), we can talk about better days, when great great, and when bad bad, not like at the FC board, that when great wonderful, amazing, one of the kind, etc.. and when bad (enter your favorite excuse) and still the best band of the world!

At least, for most of the fans on site, it had to be great, because when you are starving, even a crumb is better than nothing.

And I see Jon using the marketing 101 again, (tour selling that bad?), yes... bring to the stage an "average" fan to kiss her, so who many others now are buying/updating seats, to be the next one, gosh!

Great review. I was there and agree with all you wrote. Why play four songs from Lost Highway in a festival and kill your casual audience.

No Born To Be My Baby (big hit in Brazil) but Whole Of Leaving
No I'll Be There For You (big hit in Brazil) but Make A Memory
No In These Arms (big hit in Brazil) but We Got It Going On

Other hits here: Blaze Of Glory, Never Say Goodbye and.... Misunderstood yes Misunderstood.

Jon made a big mistake.

P.s.: Bruce's concert was really fun and intersting because of the interaction with the crowd. But in the middle of the concert half of the crowd left.