Rockin' All Over Germany - my reviews of the German shows

I just read part 4 of the review but it's a nice read. Thanks for sharing!

I salute you.
TS

Very much enjoyed reading these. I love reading about 'your' moments. I hope to experience the same someday, although time is running out on Bon Jovi now.

I enjoyed reading this all over again Dominik - one year down the road. We all had such a good time and if we are lucky we might get to do it one more time before the band hangs it up.

And per my final comment last year - I DID finish the Mannheim matrix

What a cracking review! I remember reading this when you wrote it and it really got me excited for the Barcelona & Portugal shows but reading it now was totally different. It made me think of the whole experience you get going to the shows, the build up, having a laugh in the crowd, anticipation of the setlist etc - Nice work man

Round 1 – Olympic Stadium, Munich: ”What’s Left of them?”

That was the question that started the trip on Saturday morning with me. My mom and my aunt, both witnesses in 2008 and 2011 in Munich, joined as well. Originally there was a fourth ticket that we had purchased, but it seemed as if it was cursed somehow. In the first place my cousin (who usually also joins in on the concerts at the Olypmic Stadium) bought it, but needed to get rid of it due to having to work. We passed it on to a friend of mine, Johnny, but he forgot about a wedding he had to attend and couldn’t come with us either. At last my dad planned on going to see the show with us (he has already tickets for Cologne), but due to personal issues (see even here stuff like this happens) he bailed out of it 2 days before as well.
So it was the three of us heading to Munich and to say that I wasn’t overly excited would be an understatement. I pretty much expected nothing, had no anticipation for the concert at all and only ended up going because I wanted to meet a few friends I pretty much never see except on Jovi tours.

From where I live it’s a four-hour drive to Munich and we started at around 9:30 in the morning since we expected a lot of traffic due to the Pentecost holidays in Bavaria, which began on Saturday. But to our surprise we arrived at the stadium in less than four hours and decided to spend some time lying in the sun at the park that surrounds the stadium before heading to the entrances.
Around 4 pm we went to the beer garden which is located right between the stadium and the Olympiahalle (where Pink was set to play to a sold out crowd at the same time). I met Ronny there who in fact is the only one I somehow constantly see between Bon Jovi tours as well (usually on concerts of the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, the Richie Sambora solo tour or a couple of weeks earlier at the Champions League semi-final Bayern Munich against Barcelona).
After we just had finished our first beer Marc and Mark appeared. This was actually some kind of a special moment since I felt like I knew Marc pretty well since late 2008, but in fact we had never met before. We already did some multicam compilations (both of Munich 2008 and the entire Circle tour / he’s DonWaldone on Youtube) which some of you might know and since he and Mark have a band called Back To Fate and we’ve written some songs before it all felt very familiar right from start. We lined up in the burning sun, sold our spare ticket (for a lot less than face value) and entered the stadium at around 5:30. Our tickets were GA since I experienced in the past (especially in Munich) that you have a better time on the infield with people who are much more into the show.
We ended up on the left side pretty close the back of the Golden Circle and now it was all about killing time. Both concerts (Pink and Bon Jovi) were sponsored by the local radio station “Bayern 3” and a band consisting of workers from there opened. They weren’t as bad as I feared and since they only covered well known songs the crowd responded quite well. After half an hour they were off and I decided that I needed to get rid of some of that beer I had drunk outside. Going to the toilet is a bitch and it took me almost 45 minutes to return to my spot, also due to me having to war a special ASO orthosis on my right foot which had been absolutely fine since the 2011 tour (where I had a bone broken) and decided to get injured just before this tour (in fact the timing of it is so well that my foot could fit right into the Bon Jovi family regarding their clever and well-timed choices with this album and tour…). In retrospect it was a good thing I was out of the stadium that long since, by the time I returned, Christina Stürmer was almost done and everyone seemed already annoyed by her. The last two songs of her set were still to be played and that was already more than enough for me. Thinking about having to sit through this two more times this tour didn’t really cheer me up. So we waited for the band to kick off the concert. We kept sending messages back and forth with Johny, but as the connection was poor all night long and most of our texts arrived 40 minutes late we failed to meet that night.

While waiting for the band I took some pictures of that stage which already looked cool in the daylight, but would turn out to be just killer as soon as it darkens.
5 minutes after 8 the intro started and the band hit the stage with That’s What The Water Made Me. First thing I noticed, besides the GC being half empty at the back (the stadium was pretty much packed otherwise) was that the crowd once again showed more enthusiasm in the GA area where we were standing. The song isn’t bad as an opener, people clap and go along with the well-driven chorus but the end bored the audience. This outro “solo” by Bobby was more or less a variation of two notes, holding each one for like forever. There was no punch or tempo behind it and Jon kept standing next to him smiling like a kid the entire time. Another “downer” was the sound at that point. The volume was nice but it was just a wall of everything. Tico’s drums were pretty unclear und muddy, in fact, I sometimes saw him hitting them on the screen but couldn’t hear it. Furthermore you couldn’t make out David or Phil over anything Bobby played, but I noticed how happy the band’s replacement guitarist was to be up on stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=I2rTmbJE9Jg
Anyway, the song was done and since Marc and I have probably listened to hundreds of live versions for the Ultimate Live Collection on the Circle tour we knew Jon’s standard phrases by heart. I started by saying “somebody take me to the C” and he went on with “oh Munich on a Saturday night”. I added “get up out of your seats, this ain’t television” and each of those predictions were pretty much correct – word by word. Bad Name followed up and by the verses you could tell that Jon was willing to put more into it than usually. The crowd loved it and Bobby didn’t butcher the solo as much as I had feared before. They went on with Born To Me Baby which sounded way slower to me than two years ago and got me a little concerned since Jon didn’t go for any of the “na na na’s” in the end. Raise Your Hands was next and at that point I didn’t enjoy the concert at all. Tons of the neat licks Richie places here and there were missing and Phil sounded like he was totally out of grove – it all came over quite staccato-like. Near the end of the song the time machine appeared and I really enjoyed it (first time I saw that live), plus they put some effects over Jon on the screen which enhanced it. He shouted “Stop!”, all the lights went out and with a reverb effect you heard it a few more times before he started talking about “some young punk kid” and David launched into the song. The reaction was immense, but completely faded on the next song: Lost Highway. In my memory that one worked quite well on the Lost Highway tour but here it stank. Really did. No one cared and the image on the screen above the Buick showing some landscape passing by in slow motion the whole time seemed to put the audience asleep. Afterwards Jon asked the audience: “Are you with me out there?” and from where I was standing there was close to zero reaction at first. He repeated the question and it was obvious his smile was forced. At that point I turned to Marc telling him I wasn’t enjoying it at all and that the not-responding audience might lead to this turning into a nightmare (we all know where Jon’s mood usually goes in those kinds of situations).
It was obvious “It’s My Life” was needed to get it all back on track and halfway through the song the majority of the fans woke up and the stadium got louder and louder. Jon seemed to notice it and it was like he flipped a switch and turned into the “I’m-showin’-you-how-a-****in’-rockstar-does-this” mode. From then my mood turned quite fast, even though my much-hated song Because We Can was next. The audience went with it and also didn’t drown out on What About Now (which I personally quite like). By that time the mix kept getting better, which leads me to the question why I heard them trying out their instruments for one hour (Jon only sang half of Because We Can during the soundcheck) if the needed another 60 or so minutes during the show to figure it out properly…
Jon’s vocals were quite average but every time the band hit a chorus you could hear David and Bobby coming in at an almost equal volume level which gave many songs a bit more energy and dynamics.

We Got It Going turned out to be the usual crowd pleaser and since it started getting dark the stage got more and more impressive. I wasn’t too happy about the song selection (all through the mainset), but knew at the same time that the hope for a real rarity was vague and the way Jon entertained everyone made my mood rising.
Finally Keep The Faith came on, Jon was into it, forced himself through the song and then the jam session came on. Meanwhile during Lay Your Hands On Me, two years ago, there was almost no reaction to it (which is ironic since it sounded quite similar) the audience went nuts by the end of it and for the first time there was loud cheer for Phil X.
I expected Bed of Roses to follow up but to my astonishment it was Make A Memory. I mentioned in the beginning of this thread (review of Dresden 2011) how bad it worked back then and was pleasantly surprised to see the crowd liking and singing along to it. Dave’s keyboards were quite prominent which gave it a nice touch though Phil X completely screwed the solo. He’s just not that type of player for a song like this and I thoroughly missed Richie here.
Now Bed of Roses followed, many sing-alongs, good solo and Jon still staying on the main stage!
4 songs followed up which may look like a snoozefest on paper, but actually worked live (Johny sent me a text with “Where are the rarities?” during that time).
When We Were Beautiful was coming up and I have explained before how important that song was to me when it came out and how it did absolutely nothing for me 2 years earlier. Now here it was again, same place, almost same time of the concert and my experience was so different! I may add that the meaning of this tune rose even more for me in early 2012 when I was completely unhappy with my studies and only wished to return to the time and the people I had met during my civil service (where I worked with disabled children). The line “So much less meant so much more” really got a whole new meaning to me during that period. So there was this song again and Jon sold it! He sang the verses with so much determination that I was just standing there, being stunned and soaking it in. Furthermore ad-libs were done over the outro:
Crash and Born To Follow were up next and Phil screwed the intro of the first one so much that I wasn’t sure whether this was supposed to be Crash or Blood On Blood. The lead single of The Circle had great stage animations and the fans went with everything, at least from where I was standing.

During Who Says I got the impression that Jon’s vocal qualities were fluctuating throughout the night. He came back with a scarf after Roses, his noise got red more and more and his eyes were swelling. During the verses of Crash and Who Says I thought his vocals were going to blow out, unnaturally on songs that should be easy to sing for him (even nowadays). Bobby got more prominent in the mix vocally and pushed Jon through, but the frontman seemed to regain some confidence in his abilities during the encore. But we’ll get to that.
First on was the highlight of the night: I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead!!! Near the end of the solo both Marc and I screamed Jon’s typical “everybody!” – totally unplanned and since Jon really said it in this moment we both had a good laugh about. Ronny, who was standing right next to me, was filming at that moment and you can hear it at 11:45 here:
I was waiting for Bobby to start a song, but Jon said “I got one” and launched into Jumpin’ Jack Flash! They did one verse plus chorus and got a big cheer for it, then added Start Me Up which brought out an even bigger crowd response. Jon seemed to get into the “Jukebox” mood and announced one more, then turned around to Tico and started strumming Rockin’ All Over The World. This was the moment I thought the roof will be blown of the stadium, it was so loud I barely heard the band anymore and people were jumping up and down all around me.
I expected Bad Medicine to have a cover in it as well, maybe Pretty Woman, but all we got was the Shout teaser and the typical reprise. While the stage design and setup blew me away during Sleep, I didn’t like the new animations on Bad Medicine that much.
The song was done and they were off. I looked at the watch which is right left to the stage in Munich and noticed that they were just across the two hour mark. That made me wondering how much the encore would be or if we’d really get the first Munich concert in over a decade with only about two and a half hours show time.
While these thoughts were racing through my mind the cheering swapped from the front rows to the back, announcing that the band had returned. Dave started Dry County and even though Phil played it very close to Richie’s original, the feeling just wasn’t there. Jon struggled vocally, but as we sang along I didn’t notice it that much until later when I saw a video from it. Still I think he sang better than in 2011 (only in Munich) on that tune.

So this was the second time I got Dry County and again it didn’t blow me away like I always imagined it would. Last September I saw my first open air show of my friends from Bounce and got a version of the song that absolutely stunned the shit out of me! No, there guitarist doesn’t always play it note by note and 100% identically but he poured the same soul in it that Richie does (or did) and made it spectacular that way. Not to speak of the singer kickin’ Jon’s ass nowadays. This just showed me that without the right feeling to it this song is worth nothing. Nothing.
Wanted followed, Jon asked the fans to hold up their cell phones and sing the first verse and that created an amazing atmosphere. Phil actually did a decent job, but it was the audience that fed of Jon’s energy and vice versa.
On Have A Nice Day they reworked some of the screen animations and made them look a lot cooler! The guitar tone was quite edgy and rough and pumped the audience. During the final verse Jon’s voice seemed to fade again for a moment (right before “When this world tries to drag me down…”) and just as this happened the cameras switched to David and his face expression showed some concern. It can be seen at around 14:35 on Ronny’s video:
Prayer was the song they had chose to basically end the show. This one is always a sure-fire tune to make the crowd go completely mad in Munich and I had the feeling that with Phil X it regained some of it’s punch and energy. Awesome!
The official setlist ended there and the audibles were: In These Arms, Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night, Always, These Days and Blood On Blood. Minus the latter all of them built the 2nd encore. David got to sing the first verse of In These Arms, but by the time they had adjusted his microphone volume properly Jon appeared out there on the circle and took over on the chorus. During that performance he seemed to get back a bit of confidence into his voice as we was holding the final note longer than he usually does nowadays. He picked up his guitar and started strumming the E-chords of Saturday Night which resulted in the fans overpowering him in the first part of tune. The solo was disappointing though as it was more or less just a repetition of the basic chords. I’m sure with Richie by his side Jon would’ve gone for an improvisation, but here he pushed back to the final chorus and then walked back to the stage. Tico immediately hit the drums for Always and Jon gave his all on that one, going for all he had left and making it a great performance, even though his voice was shot to pieces by the end of it.
He then paused to enjoy the applauds and seemed to think what to do. Then he pointed at a sign in the front row and David started These Days. He added a little thank you speech and then mentioned “We’ll get through this one together. It’s called These Days”. It really was a great moment and the audience carried the song all the way through, knowing it word by word.
When the final bows were done and the band turned around Jon kept waving behind his back like “get a little louder and we’ll give you one more!” For a crowd in Munich that’s the least of a problem and they did a third encore with which they ran over the curfew.
And, setting aside that Jon usually plays I Love This Town because he can get cheers easy that way, Munich is one of maybe 3 cities in the world where I believe him in meaning that song. He pushed it on and on and then they called it quits with the concert clocking on 190 minutes exactly.
I was exhausted but had had great time, especially with Marc who sang along to each song as enthusiastically as I did. All of my credits go to the band though and especially to Jon who didn’t let the slow beginning ruin his mood, but worked his ass off and gave 130% until the very last minute. This even covered for most parts his fading voice and I’ve never seen this guy working harder on stage for the fans respect.
Did I miss Richie? Sure as hell! Did I have a great time? I had an amazing experience, regardless of the bad start and my lack of motivation beforehand and I even go that far and say that out of the last 3 concerts in Munich this one was the best.
We afterwards took some photos, caught something to drink and then everybody disappeared into the night. I had been thinking about selling my Stuttgart ticket before but after this night I made my decision to go. No, I’m not happy with Richie being replaced but with a band that delivers as hard as they did I don’t feel the need to let them down.
Any who knows the odds? Maybe the King of Swing will be back in 4 weeks (I know the chances are rather slim). Anyway, I’m looking forward to it!!!

Great Review Dominik. I'm so glad to read that you ended up enjoying the show despite all the negativity about Richie and Jon's voice. It's so nice to get caught up in the concert and not care about any of that shit.

And as far as I'm concerned meeting up with like minded friends at a concert is one of the pleasures of life. I hope Stuttgart turns out to be as good - if not better

Great review, that's got me up a bit for my upcoming gigs again, the last night with all the BS has made me a bit apathetic for the first time regarding the band, but the review and the pics have got me looking forward to it again.

That beer looks delicious.