Supersonic's all mattering topic on the current setlist.

True, but that's where the wild card slots come in, in my mind anyway.

I'm not too fond of the song, but I truly believe Always should be played every single night. It's just too damn famous, was too much of a hit and it's the one that pleases more fans and casual fans alike.

But everytime it gets to the chorus you can see it in Jon's face, almost like he's saying, "Ohh shit this ****ing chorus again!!"

I believe there is no such thing as a perfect set list when it comes to most singers and bands. I saw NIN on the farewell tour and Trent played what I expected him to play, except for Closer. I never walk out of a show saying they played everything I want to hear.

Hi,

Despite the very mathematical anf theorical aproach of that set list I don't think it would make things interesting enough (definitely not for me). There are a number of reasons, but the most important is: It is way too static!

1) Not very long ago I heard ACDC hard core fans were doing a petition for them do diversify their set lists. Basically they play the same 20 songs all around the globe for the 2 years of each of their tours. Is it a good set list? No doubt about it. But for hard core fans who go to multiple nights, we want to see different things. At least they should do what Metallica do: have 2 very different Set lists so when they play 2 shows in the same city, they can diversify.

2)There's also the issue of the different markets, North America vc Europe vs Japan there whould be different kind of set list. That is one thing I must say Johnny always had into account. For instance in Europe and Japan they should have more 90's stuff, while in North America for instance they could throw in more Country songs for example.

Now my contribution, so you don't tell I only know how to criticize and not how to build a solution:

1) Why not to look at what was played the last time the band was in a city and try to give something completely different. Metallica does that, for instance I saw them in Lisbon in 2007 and 2009 and there was smth like 6 songs that were played at both shows - in a +/- 21 song set list. Meaning that in 2 shows I heard about 30 different songs.

2) There's a guy who perfected set lists and please 99% of their crowd, why not copy a good model? We all know the guy's name, he's even Johnny's hero. The guy in his 60s plays 3 hours, leaves spots in the set list for requestes, is willing to play any song from his catalog and you can never know what you'll get.


But most of all I want to say that the most imortant for me it is not the set list.
In 2008 I saw a dream set list in Brussels. and God what an awful concert. Just the night before I was in heaven in Amsterdam - aand it's not because of Stick to your guns, listen to Faith or Sat Night, the band was on fire. It's the passion, how the band deliver the songs. Rock in Rio in Lisbon had standard LH Tour set list, absolutely no surprises. But guess what? One of the band's best shows I ever witnessed. If you look at Barcelona's set list (played in the following day) it is way much better - the band played more 30 minutes, adding songs like Hey God or Roses original. And now if you ask me which one was better? Rock in Rio by far.

Bottom line. Whenever you go to a concert even if you don't get your favourite song you'll hardly get out of the venue disapointed if the guys play with passion. That's what Bruce and his gang do every time they step that stage. And that's what I'd like to see Johhny do, and not only every now and then, whenever he is with a good mood.


Those were my 5 cents to the topic, I hope they're usefull.

True but, for instance, they are doing Bed Of Roses with Jon sucking in the chorus. Always would be so much better, and it sounded better too. I understand that it requires a lot more vocal effort but he's there to sing and they're not doing particularly exigent or long sets these days..

I'm pretty confident Always pleases the higher % of people at a show.

Aloha !

I'm not saying they should play those exact songs, I'm saying they should build it up like that. There's nothing that's too static about it.

Hence this being the list for North America. When basing it upon the European market the list would be different as in it (just an example) having 2 songs from These Days and only 1 from Have A Nice Day.

I wasn't talking about what was played last time or how they should mix it up when playing 2 shows in the same city. However, if the band would play 2 shows in the same city Jon could build it up exactly the same yet it could be completely different apart from the few songs that have to be there. Just look at this;

This is build up the same way as the setlist I posted earlier in the topic. However, the songs are mixed up and the order is slightly changed. Yet both sets please the same fanbase the same way.

Springsteen's model wouldn't work for Bon Jovi. Bruce Springsteen has only had a handful of big hits and is therefore capable of changing around much more. People don't go to Springsteen to hear the hits, people go to Bruce Springsteen to have a good time, they don't really care if they get Born In The USA or not. I agree on the requests and 3 hours etc, but a Bon Jovi show just isn't 3 hours long, and when looking at a time slot of 2 hours and 15 minutes this is the perfect set for a Bon Jovi show.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Seb the sooner you come to terms with the fact that the setlists aren't going to radically change the better it will be for your well being : ) (of course there will be some exceptions)

Ok, I get it. What you have is a heuristic on how to build set lists. And even though I can easily agree that it is a fair distribution of songs per album/hit/fan pleaser/etc... it is still to abstract, meaning that even if it is a good point to start working from, it is not enough to build a solid set list.

Given your heuristic they could play either awful and dream set list. it's too generic.

For instance you'd have to take into account certain things:
- Market (we already agreed on that);
- Multiple-cities (we already agreed on that);
- Last set list you played in that city (we already agreed on that);
- Completely drop the some stamples that may have worked but are now overplayed (exemple: Born to be my Baby, Capt Crash, Sleep). Eventhough they havenot played Crash or Sleep I think they'll be tempted to play them somewhere and specially in stadiums.
- To bring rare songs - this one I have to give Jon a credit - Homebound Train, Smth 4 the Pain, first 2 records stuff....
- Mandatory songs (Prayer, Wanted, It's my Life at least)
- crowd reaction to rocker/ballads

I know their set list must have a structure which your heuristic perfectly fits, but there are simply more things to have into account when doing a template set list for the tour.


On that one I must disagree. It did work in 1996 when the band completely deconstructed their set lists and from the ashes build a fresh set list with well defined segments that allowed them to manage the efford throughout the show and play for 3 consecutive months almost 3 hours on each concert. They even managed to play shows like Paris and Frankfurk which mixed up 95 and 96 set lists. I know this was a very particular tour, not very long, but even if they had cut half an hour on the show, it was smth that would work, because people had a blast while hearing hits like Prayer, Faith, Wanted (acoustic), lay hands (with the marching band intro), Medicine redone in the begining of the show with Gloria in stead of Shout, Always, etc...; album tracks like Die 4 u (acoustic), Blood, in these Arms (acoustic), Sleep with new medleys; a handful of songs from the new album: All I want is everything, my guitar lies bleeding, smth to believe in, pain - they even managed to skip some singles - Love Song and Lie to me were barely played. They really managed to fresh thing either introducing songs and revanping regulars. As you know that tour was massive and very successful. That's the kind of approach I want them to do every time they start a new tour. But I also want them to leave some blank spots so they can surprise fans untill the very end - just as they did in the LH Tour.

Other example is the 1995 tour in which they played throughout the whole world, truly their last World Tour - if you compare the set lists with the ones of 1993, eventhough they initially only had 2 more songs to play, they have enough changes to make it feel fresh. And they managed to evolve the initial set list to smth completely different in the 8 months the tour lasted.

I think it is fair to say to say those 2 tours were fun and there was nobody disapointed eventhough there were shows they didn't play songs like Never Say Goodbye, There for you, Bed of Roses or Born to be my Baby.
Songs like Raise hands, Sleep, Story of my Life, Die for you, Wild in the Streets, Blood, I Believe, Hey God, Older, Any other day, Love this Town, Bounce, Dry County, Smth 2 believe in, Tokyo Road, Get Ready, etc... (the list goes on and on) simply work live. I've seen it happening because when the band plays those with passion the crowd simply falls at Jon's hands. Yes, they need to play 5/6 hits, sure! But so does Springsteen - as he always does.

Now, I don't know if the new set list work - I haven't seen them yet this tour - but there are certain things I believe are going in the right direction:
- Fair amount of songs they haven't done in a loooong time - maybe they should always have a song either than Runaway from the 2 first records as a stample spot, that could vary: Get Ready, Tokyo Road, Only Lonely, Roulete, etc....
- Acoustic Set: Smth that hadn't last in 2000 and in 2005 (since they stopped doing that part of the show before they got to Europe for instance), but had worked well in 96.
- Richie doing Homeboud. After giving him These Days in America in 2008 and letting him play There for u for 7 consecutive years it was time to give him smth fresh. Nice it's not a slow one. Even better that it is one he can jam a lot.
- Blood mandatory - It's a fan favourite that is fair to be heard on every show. Now I don't know if it works as an opener, specially when Follow is the 2nd song - I'll have to wait and see.
- Raise your hands, Capt Crash and Sleep were droped. Those songs are good, but have been over played and can easily be replaced.


I for once would like them to risk a bit more - drop Born Baby, and either Medicine or Bad Name (I honestly don't think both songs are really necessary - for instance in Amesterdam 2008 Medicine was not played and I bet no one felt the show was poorer because of it) and keep doing what they did during the LH Tour, mix set lists and surprise us until the very last show.


But that's just me, I know everybody has it's own wishes......

Yes you can try but as the old saying goes you cant please everyone all of the time. So i think although they are repeating setlists its still far better than what we have had in recent years.