The reason of all the Lost Highway songs...?

Perfectly said! I agree with every single word you said and every example of the songs you mentioned.

My words exactly. If Jon would be fond of "Hey God", "Damned", "Dry County", "Next 100 Years", or more Circle stuff, and he would play them regularly as he was proud of it, the whole perception of the band could be changed by training - away from the "yeah, we had some pop hits and then the country stuff in the last 10 years" to "hey look, we wrote some brilliant rock music when we had our moments". I mean, that killer solo at the end of "Thorn In My Side"? Should train people alone that there is more than the obvious suspects.

I kinda like LH, but the way it gets played over stuff from The Circle is beyond any reasoning.

Aloha !

That's just making up a silly excuse. WFTWM doesn't work because people don't like it? Isn't that sort of the point? They're playing a song no one cares about, and the choreography doesn't make it any better either.

Again, that's making up an excuse. A song shouldn't need to be performed with Jon on the circle or wherever in the venue. It just doesn't work, Jon puts all these "feelings" in the song, gives a long speech on how the world is changing and all of that, yet when it comes down to the song it just drags and never really lifts off.

Sure it would, but it's the same with Last Man Standing. Place it anywhere else in the set and the moment is lost. There's a reason WWBTF is played as one of the first few songs. It's got the visuals, it's got Jon going for it, but there's just no energy at all. Jon walking around on the stage wouldn't make the song any better. Jon doesn't walk around on stage for KTF either, yet that one seems to work, and it always has, even before it was as big as it is nowadays.

Again, you're saying that they need to change the arrangements or the video behind it in order to make it work. However, when it boils down to the song itself, it just doesn't work. Jon loves it, and many people on this board love it, but it's not going over well.

I've yet to see a show where Love's The Only Rule works as well as people on this board claim it does. I've seen it twice in performed in a stadium 4 times and no matter how hard Jon tried to get the song going; people just didn't go for it. It just didn't work. I've been told it works better in arena's but apparantly that didn't do it for Jon either considering they mostly play arena's and the song rarely gets an outing anymore.

Now the only song I agree on is Thorn In My Side. However, if the songs Jon thinks are the best of the album don't work, why bother trying with songs you're not too fond of? It's not a matter of keeping them in the set either. Lost Highway is 2 years old, The Circle just a year. How does keeping them in the set make people more familiar with them? Even if they did they'd only have heard them either one time or just never before.

Again, you're saying the songs need to be played so Jon gets to see behind the stage seats. There's plenty of other songs on which he can do that. It's not like the screens won't flip unless We Got It Goin' On is played. You're making it sound like as if the songs need to be played in order to do what the band does, but Memory isn't more useful than any other song is.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Taking on WGIGO: That song really works well. I wasn't too fond of it until I heard it live on the LH. It was a definite highlight, it got poeple going, and well, I did enjoy it. So I kinda see the point in keeping it in the setlist. "Make A Memory" is one of my all-time favourite BJ songs, and I'm yet to hear it, so I'm glad they still keep it around. When it comes to WLOF and LH, just one of the two should be played per show.

That would make 2-3 LH per night, and that would be just fine with me, while they would of course play no less than 4 song off the Circle. I hate it when a band abondons the 2nd last album. It's like saying: It was good enough for that tour back then, now here's the new stuff, and then the obvious classics. If they're proud of it or enjoy it: play it. Like I said: 2-3 songs per show.

Personally I don't mind "I Love This Town". And there could be room for "Any Other Day" here and there, if not, well, I don't bother. Just don't play twice (or more) as much off LH than TC! And do not leave out some of your defining gems while overplaying the LH stuff!

Memory should stick around. It may not work the best, but it's arguably their last recognizable hit. WLOL may have been a single, but it didn't do well and shouldn't still be here. Same for Lost Highway. WGIGO and ILTT are unknown to the casual audience, and shouldn't be played. (Although ILTT was used in the MLB playoffs for 2 seasons, but that's no reason).

Basically, they should play Memory regularly, and rotate LH and WGIGO as the other song. 2 LH songs is plenty.

Sounds like you are saying album tracks should per se not be played, or just if they are, like "Blood On Blood", from the classic albums? Or are you just speaking about LH stuff? Because I think songs like "Last Man Standing", "Undivided" or "The Distance" should get played here and there.
I know the first one mentioned still gets its share, but "only" as an opener. I'd love to hear it later in the set - I know Seb would disagree. But I never thought it worked as an opener. I've seen it once in 2006 being played in the middle of the set, and it rocked (they opened with RYH). After the acoustic set would be a fine spot. Actually I would love to see LMS as a substitite for WSYCGH. But going off topic here...

Not necessarily. They should play album cuts occasionally, but they shouldn't shove them down our throats like they have been with the LH album cuts. The songs you listed there, plus many more, deserve to be played more. It shows that there's more to Bon Jovi than just Prayer and Wanted.

Of course, some of the classic album cuts (RYH, BoB, ID4U) can be played as often as they want.

the record company didnt beleive LH would be a hit.. I think Jon is proud its a hit and its headlines of rock band gets country chart hit ... I think he will keep including these songs for a long time to come.

Dawn

I agree that LH is overrepresented. I wish they would play more "Circle" songs for this tour. It seems the WGIGO plus LH plus WLOL is getting their nightly showing.

I understand that WGIGO is the song that gets Jon to the back of the stage area, but there are TONS of faster paced songs he could use there. Of course, we aren't his advisors (although I wish we were! LOL).

I do think that LH is probably easier on the vocals than These Days or 7800 since it's a newer CD. As someone else said, older stuff is further removed from the band, and it might make them feel more like a nostalgia act. Remember, Jon states from time to time that if they become a nostalgia act, he's gone. I think he's not ready to "be gone" yet. As to why he's choosing LH tracks over Circle acts -- I can't say unless it is because of the perceived success it had.

I'm from NC and now live in SC. I can tell you that there are far more country radio stations in this area than rock. I am not pleased by that, but it's just simply true. I am not drawn to country music, but a lot of rock fans from the 80s DO now listen to country. When grunge and rap hit the scene, I think a lot of them migrated to country because let's face it... "new country" is closer to "old rock" than grunge or rap ever was.

Some bands are still out there doing "rock" -- Hinder, Nickelback, Five Finger Death Punch, but they are not 25 + yr veterans in the business. This means they get more radio airplay on new rock radio.

I actually like Lost Highway. A lot. I'm just not sure I like it as much as Jon does.