It was also my first VHS of theirs when I bought it in 2001 before I upgraded to DVDs in 2002. In the UK at the time, it was their only DVD as Live from London wouldn't get a worldwide DVD release until 2003.
It was my first time seeing what the band were like live so I had no frame of reference. I didn't see Live from London until 2003 or An Evening with Bon Jovi until 2005 to see what they really were capable of.
As my sole source for live Bon Jovi, I thought it was amazing and played the hell out of the abridged VHS, and later the less-abridged DVD. It was loaded with hits and several "new" songs from Crush and as a new fan I was already up to speed with their albums at the time so I went in prepared, which in turn prepared me for when I first saw them live on the Bounce tour in 2003.
Looking back now, having seen much more of what the band are/were about live before and after that era, it's not really as special to me anymore. The performance overal is fine and Jon's voice is rather good for that era (compared to say VH1 Storytellers) but the show overall lacks energy. The crowd don't seem all that engaged and the band seem more on autopilot than anything else. The actual production/mastering of the DVD may have a part to play in this though as it seems very polished and almost artifical, compared to Live from London which was more raw and rough-around-the-edges.
The DVD itself is a great package in itself. It has an almost complete set, it still looks and sounds great (not withstanding my previous point about being too polished) even by todays standards and some nice extras. I would still recommend picking this one up if you don't already own it as you can probably buy it for pennys now. As a package in itself, it still stands up compared to other music DVD's out there, though perfomance-wise compared to other Bon Jovi live DVD's, it's a little low on the list compared to Live from London or Live at Madison Square Garden.
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Dave
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PSN ID: Dave_Hedgehog86
Bon Jovi Concerts:
28th June 2003, Hyde Park, London
9th June 2006, St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton.
Last edited by Dave 1986; 05-09-2020 at 08:21 PM..
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