Aloha !

They've played 5 of them almost every night now, and we've heard live versions of Bullet and Happy Now. According to Jon this record was meant to be played live, and there'd be full album nights because this album would be fantastic live and more of that talk.

We Weren't Born To Follow;
Not a very good studio track, and the live version doesn't make it a lot better either. It lacks power and it never became a big hit, so why even bother playing it live when there's album cuts that are better songs?

When We Were Beautiful;
I know many of you love the song, but to me it's very boring live. It sucks the energy out of the show and there's nothing "atmospheric" about it, even though they appearantly try very hard. When the songs finished there's just this silence on most recordings I've heard, because they've really lost the crowd on that one.

Work For The Working Man;
I've read some reviews from people saying how the visuals made it better, but to me the visuals add nothing but cheesy images. Sure, they look good, but it's been done before. The song still sucks, the meeeheeeeyn is still awful and it once again lacks punch. Also, the part where Hugh, Richie, Jon and Bobby come together looks awfully choreographed.

Superman Tonight;
One of the first songs that works better live than on the studio track but I still think it's a terrible song. Jon admitted recently that the radio didn't pick this up and neither does the crowd. It does get one of the better crowd reactions, but it's not a killer live track or anything. I remember many people saying that this song would be huge live, well, it isn't.

Bullet;
It's been played live only 2 times and although it sounded better than I imagined Jon struggled with the song the first time, even though it's piss-easy to sing. There's no need to use the maracas on this one and it doesn't work live. Too many tempo changes and Bon Jovi hasn't been good with that since 2000.

Thorn In My Side;
The biggest surprise of the album. They really took this one to another level, this almost sounds like a rocker of the good old days. Almost, because it's anything but. Yet the end solo where both Jon and Richie take lead and do a dual solo is something they have never done before if I remember correctly, and it surprised me that Jon decided to take this one out of the set.

Love's The Only Rule;
Could've been way bigger had the chorus been higher and the "oh-oh-oh-oh's" had been higher. In the end Jon tries to get the audience involved (even let some people in the crowd sing it, who'd have thought Jon would ever do that?), but no real reply. It's nowhere as loud as it should be because there's just not enough energy in it. Still, together with Thorn In My Side these 2 songs work live.

BrokenPromiseland;
Like expected, they'd perform what fans would consider the best song the least amount of times. It's not really a shame, Jon struggled with the chorus and it kinda dragged a bit.

That's 8 songs they've performed live and only 2 of them really work, of which 1 really is better than the studio version. I do think Jon knows because there have been zero full album nights, and crowd response has been weak compared to songs like Story Of My Life, Have A Nice Day, The Distance or Bounce. As proud as they might be of When We Were Beautiful; it sucks live. Unlike previous albums (Yes, even Lost Highway) There's no killer live track on this album, and I honestly wonder if anyone really thinks that this album is an album that should be played in full. For an album that was supposed to be awesome live it really sucks, half of Lost Highway worked a lot better live than these "rock" songs on The Circle.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan