Theories on UK set lists

Ok, anyone got any ideas as to why us Brits are getting inferior setlists to the rest of europe?

Let me say first - as fans we fall into two camps.
1. The fairly casual, haven't seen them that many times - play what you want type of fan

2. The more serious, have seen them loads, know what they are capable of , type of fan. This board has a lot of them, myself included.

I have seen BJ on every tour since 1986, making 14 times so far and I have felt really let down by the three UK gigs so far. I missed Wovlves because my daughter was ill in hospital, so the tickets are still sat in my wallet. I spent a large part of Wednesday night/Thurs morning debating whether or not to get a wildcard ticket for Manchester because of this (she was out of hospital by then) and it was only my wife who stopped me really, pointing out that the wolves set was rubbish so why spend more money?

I pointed out that this increased the chance of Manchester being special.

Oh what a fool I look now!

Why are we getting bog standard 'hits' shows when Jon has said time after time that it is the UK, Japanese and German markets that really keep them going? The rest of europe got some classic sets with stuff like 'Blood on Blood'. 'I'd Die for You' and the three These Days songs - us in the UK (apart from Dublin, oddly) have got nothing special at all.

It will make it worse if they now do extra stuff at London - rubbing our faces in it as if they are saying 'The only show we care about in the UK is the London one'

Any thoughts why because so far this is shaping up to be the worst tour in years.

Ps I am coming from the viewpoint that These Days was the last great tour they did - unusual songs, risks taken and extras thrown in left, right and centre. acoustic slots. I have a sneaking feeling they are coasting at the moment

the set list rocked.... I mean we got a really special ending to the concert in shout, and then 2nd to last song Captain Crash, wow..... a real treat for us Brits.

Then don't forget in Wolverhampton we had I got the Girl.... I mean that's better than any Homebound Train, Lay Your Hands, Blood on Blood, I'd Die for you we might have wished for

ARGH you'd have thought people would have had enough of this by now! But no! Lets all complain about the setlists some more, just so everyone knows for the 1600th time that they're not liked! Look, I don't know about you, but when I go to London tomorrow, I'll be seeing my FAVOURITE band playing some of my most FAVOURITE songs. If thats your defenition of crap, then you are an EXTREMELY hard person to please. So you may not get 100% the show you want, because, horror of horrors, the band actually do have other people to please besides you, believe it or not. So you don't get exactly the setlist that YOU personally want, that automatically makes it a bad show does it? God, for people that listen to a band with uplifting optimistic lyrics, you're all BLOODY MISERABLE. I'm going to London tomorrow, and I'm gonna enjoy it whatever the hell they play

Keep On Rockin'

ahem

goody for you

Thing about the set lists is that they're not changing at all. Bon Jovi always change them about, bring in different songs, do something different. Look at some of the European sets for instance, Munich and Ostend. Problem with what the band are doing is that it;s the same old same old. Also I think it's a very poorly devised set list. They have all the big hitters early, and in actual fact, if you leave after 40mins you won't miss much! Captain Crash kills the concert dead. If you're going to play it do it early, because that late on it really does bring the tone down. Particularly last night, after Lola, when I think the band had the audiance in the palm of their hand, and then they did that I'd say there's pretty much a majority who want to hear Dry County, and if not like most of us hear desperate to hear it, woudln't mind it, and would like it as much as I got the Girl or Captain Crash. Same with a lot of others, but the band just ignore these... Wolverhampton there were banners for Hey God, Dry County, homebound Train e.t.c, yet did the band try to please the fans with the sets? no!

I'm not misserable, I've just spent over £100 on two concerts that in actual fact weren't worth it. Manchester maybe passed of as an OK Jovi concert, nothing special, but worth going to, ejoyable. But Wolverhampon for me was just a huge let down. This has been said before, a set list can't make a concert, but it can spoil one. If they were to do my idea set with no passion, no drive it would make a bad concert. Yet with the set they have, I don't htink the band on fire could make the concert better than just very very good....

For me to get 100% the show I wanted they would have had to make about 4 changes, maybe something very unexpected like Homebound Train or Fear, somethign like Livin in Sin, Something to believe in, and say Bed of Roses. You know that niether of the last two are fav's of my by any means, in fact I usually find Bed of Roses a bit, erm... but still, it would be a change, it would make the set list much much more enjoyable, I'd have heard something I really wanted to hear, and it would have made the show. Basically I want them to live up to my expectations, and I expected a few changes, and didn't get them. It's such a small thing for them to do these few changes, but it makes all the difference to fans like me. I dont' expect my dream set list, I'm realistic, and I think I was right to expect a lot more than I've had this week

im sorry u didnt enjoy the concert fully..i think wot is perhaps annoying most ppl is that these shows were follwoing some hot stuff from germany and holland....bit surpising i must say, but im gonna enjoy wotever is thrown at me on saturday.

Agreed.

'Let me say first - as fans we fall into two camps.
1. The fairly casual, haven't seen them that many times - play what you want type of fan

2. The more serious, have seen them loads, know what they are capable of , type of fan. This board has a lot of them, myself included. '

Sorry dude, but I fall in neither of these categories. Why? I'm not a f**king casual fan like you say, nor am I a 'serious' fan that's seen them loads of times!!!

Actually, I'm a very serious fan who has had f**k all chance to see them in the last 3 or 4 years, and I'd gladly take any set that has been on the UK tour so far. So give the band a break with regard to their sets and just let them play!!!!!!!!

Honestly, it's people like you who just don't appreciate the band like some do, and I'm talking about people who have seen the band multiple times too.

It's all relative... Like I said, I know people who've seen them for the first time this tour who think it's amazing. But unfortunatly I'm not going to apreciate a show when I know the band is below par. The set sucked, and that's a reflection of the band. The setlist at Huddersfield the other year was unimaginative, but then they came out and blew 60,000 people away at Milton Keynes, changing things around, they were inventive, and Jon was ****ing hot. So much better than I've seen on this tour.

If Bon Jovi don't live up to Milton Keynes I'm going to be disapointed, that's just the way it is for me now. Especially as I know for a fact theyr'e capable of coming out and doing a show like that every night, and as far as I know they have done a few times in Europe this tour.

The Wolverhampton show was great, I loved it. I know the set list wasn't what I particularly wanted but I made the most of what I'd paid for. But if they'd just thrown in Blood On Blood, Dry County, Homebound Train or something, it would be something that could have made the night the best show I'd ever seen. For me, they performed brilliantly but just one or maybe two songs could have easily made a big difference.
Surely the band could realise that about 3 quarters of the audience have seen performances of these songs many times before and that we would love it if we could just hear something different for a change. How would that affect them in a bad way? Surely it'd be a good thing for them, who knows?