Seventeen Stops on the 2010 Circle Tour

Highlights
• Starting with two massive shows in Montreal. Twenty-nine songs were done each night. Ten songs were changed from night one to night two. In addition, two different covers were done in Bad Medicine, and Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night was acoustic the first night and electric the second.
• Hearing seven different songs from The Circle over the two nights, including Happy Now in the opener slot for the first time ever. Unfortunately, those were the only tracks from the album that I would hear in spite of doing fifteen more shows. My first show of the tour would be the ONLY time I heard Thorn In My Side.
Happy Now - Thorn In My Side - • Hearing Richie’s version of Homebound Train for the first time.
• Hearing two songs that I’d never heard from These Days . . . back-to-back. Amazing.
Diamond Ring - Something For The Pain - • The first Always of the tour, which was the twenty-eighth song performed on night two.
• Love For Sale as one of the songs on the Circle.
In spite of all that, the most magical moment of those two nights was probably when Ole, Ole came rolling out of the rafters of the Bell Centre after Livin’ On A Prayer on night one. The sound built and built, and I saw Richie say “We have to play!” to Jon. Jon nodded yes as he put the monitors back in his ears for a second encore. It wasn’t over yet!

• Spending three wonderful nights in May at the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey.
• Dry County . . . twice. I’ll never get over the thrill of hearing those opening notes.
Night one - Night two - • Never Say Goodbye (even with screwed-up lyrics), Always, Living In Sin, Diamond Ring, I’d Die For You . . . some of you may be lucky enough to go to shows where these songs don’t qualify as special treats, but here, they’re notable and very much appreciated.
Living In Sin - I’d Die For You - • Getting together with friends, new and old, for these shows and for the after-shows around the dining room table in Ridgewood. A little food, a beverage or two, music of our own making – some good and loud . . . and some just loud. It really was a grand time!

• Closing out the 2010 U.S. shows with two nights in Chicago. I hadn’t planned to go, but I woke up the morning after getting home from the trip to Boston for the Foxborough show knowing that I just had to be there. I bought a plane ticket and started the search for tickets and an affordable hotel room before I left for the office that morning. I’ll never be sorry that I made the trip!
• The biggest highlight of night one was undoubtedly Keep The Faith with Sympathy For The Devil. (I thought this was the first time I’d heard it, but a little research showed that I’d actually gotten this at my very first Jovi show on the LH tour. I remember a lot from that overwhelming night, but not Sympathy.)
• Have A Nice Day was absolutely inspired on night one. Jon sang it with incredible passion and anger, and Richie was all over the stage with the doubleneck.
• Night two had almost as many changes as Jon claimed it would have, and they really were quality changes. All of the following were a thrill, but Damned was the biggest treat of all. The intro was beautiful, and Damned just plain rocked!
Blaze of Glory - Damned/If Loving You Is Wrong - Turn The Page - Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night - Dry County -
• Other random special moments/thoughts:
• Hearing Never Say Goodbye for the first time at Mohegan Sun.
• Also at Mohegan Sun, Jon’s terrific story leading up to Hot Legs as the cover during Bad Medicine, the hauntingly beautiful Miss Fourth Of July and the rollicking cover of Squeeze Box.
Bad Medicine/Hot Legs - Miss Fourth Of July - Squeeze Box - • I’ll Be There For You in Charlotte.
• Last Man Standing opening the first show after Jon’s calf injury. We’d joked about it, of course, but who thought they’d really do it?! Speaking of Jon’s injury, a massive tip of the cap to him and to his medical team. He didn’t miss any shows, didn’t seem to cause any additional damage at the shows he did and was back in the form we’re used to in an amazingly short period of time. Outstanding.
• Seeing Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes open for Bon Jovi in Ohio and then joining Jovi for a terrific version of Treat Her Right. Great fun!

Regrets
• At my first two shows in March, the band performed six songs from The Circle. By the last two shows in July, they were down to just three each night. After hearing seven songs from the album the first weekend, I’d have never guessed that I wouldn’t hear any of the other tracks. I especially regret not getting to hear Bullet and Brokenpromiseland and only hearing Thorn In My Side once. Even Love’s The Only Rule was missing from my last five shows. It was too good for that.

• In spite of doing seventeen shows, I didn’t get to hear a single track from Bon Jovi or 7800º Fahrenheit other than Runaway. Jon gave up on those songs way too quickly, as far as I’m concerned.

• In seventeen shows, I only heard Richie do Homebound Train twice, and those came in the first four shows. After that, thirteen shows and Lay Your Hands On Me thirteen times. Homebound Train was too good to be put out to pasture like that.

• Hey God, Something To Believe In, These Days, (It’s Hard) Letting You Go, Let It Rock, Wild In The Streets, Wild Is The Wind and Santa Fe . . . the O2 shows got all of these, and I have little chance of hearing them unless I get out my passport and head for Europe. It’s hard not to feel a little bitter about how Jon writes setlists for the casual fans and completely ignores the most loyal fans at the majority of U.S. shows.