Toronto Review
I have just got back from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto and I have a sore throat.
This is my fourth Bon Jovi concert. It is the first time that I have seen them in an arena, and it is also the smallest Bon Jovi concert I have been to. The others are Osaka Dome, Wembley Stadium and McAlpine Stadium (Huddersfield). I can say without a doubt that this is the best concert that I have attended.
The Goo Goo Dolls started nearly bang on time, entering the stage a few minutes after 7:30. There is a reason why the Goo Goo Dolls are not popular in Europe.... They resorted to the usual support band tactics of mentioning the words 'Bon Jovi', just to get a scream from the audience. There songs were unimaginative, their act was boring, their guitarist showed the usual signs that most unskilled guitarists show: jumping around on the stage and moving their legs a lot. They are just an average band with below average skills, who happen to have got lucky with writing a couple of songs which sound catchy. The rest are throw away pop/nu metal/soft rock tracks which are extremely boring. Europe shall be lucky if they don't get them as a support act; at least 'Life is a Rollercoaster' has some anthemic quality to it...
About 20 minutes after the Goo Goo Dolls left the stage, Bon Jovi entered. They started with Bounce and the reaction of the crowd was standard for the first song of the main act.
Classics followed such as You Give Love A Bad Name, Livin' On A Prayer and Wanted, which appeared quite early in the set. The reaction of the crowd was good.
It was clear that the crowd weren't familiar with Bon Jovi's lesser know songs. The beginning of Joey resulted in some boos from my area of the arena. Many people went to the toilet, or to the bar during this song. When they started playing Damned, which alone was worth the price of the ticket, many people sat down since they didn't know the song. It was good to hear a song from These Days, but many of the idiots there thought otherwise.
The satellite dishes were used to good effect during the show. I was reminded by my friend who has a physics degree that they are infact satellite dishes and not just satellites. During Bad Medicine they showed an extremely attractive asian girl dancing. Sadly, she never took her clothes off, if people want to see that they will have to download Kobe Tai off of Kazaa, when they get back home.
An American flag also kept appearing on the dishes. This resulted in my friend and I booing, which many Canadians surrounding us agreed with.
The sound quality was good, the audience were loud for the songs that they knew, and polite (for the most part) during the songs that the didn't. I guess the fact that it is indoors means that all of the sound stays in the building. Although it was obvious that the audience were going to get more after the end of the main set, it didn't stop them from screaming it as loud as they can.
The only problem with the concert was the fact that, as usual, it finished with the appalling 'Twist 'n' Shout'. The reaction to a cover song is never as strong as the reaction to a recognised Bon Jovi song. They have plenty of songs to chose from in their back catalogue, so why not choose one of them?
It seems that Jon really really fancies himself. He frequently shook his arse in the direction of the audience, and his jeans should've made him be able to reach the high notes in Saturday Night and Livin' On A Prayer. Unfortunately they didn't. I also noted that Richie snapped his guitar string towards the end of Saturday Night, I don't know how he did this since he doesn't end songs with frantic playing anymore, just the repeated playing of the final chord. Oh well, I guess they are getting too old to be going over the top like they used to.
Despite these things, it was a great concert, and it beat the others that I have attended hands down.
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02-21-2003, 08:41 AM
