Madison Square Garden (New DVD and Blu-Ray)

Looks like it's going to be a good DVD.

Decent setlist. I wonder why them three songs are bonus tracks, though.

Pretty strange!

Good list. Won't be playing that in order, though. 'Blaze Of Glory' as the third song is crazy talk.

Don't know if its been posted here but the dvd comes out Nov25th in Japan here's a link


http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%9E%E3...N%3DB002PAKDI2

Sooo... I just came back from the movie theatre, where they first showed the documentary, then the MSG DVD. Oh, I loved every second of it! It was amazing to see it on the big screen, and the picture was better than on most movies I've seen.

There has been enough written about the performances. They are good. Jon could do some more ad-lips and improvise, I missed that, but otherwise the whole band is in good condition and the whole thing is captured nicely.

Technichally it is their best DVD. The editing is nice overall - no fast cuts, sometimes the frame doesn't change for 20 seconds or so, just showing the stage, the band, the crowd... or JBJ. That is actually a bit annoying though, but no wonder - again, the focus is all on Jon. Therefore we haven't seen this much of Tico on a Live DVD before, what I welcomed!
Someone complained that during the solo of LOAP the camera is on Jon and people instead of Richie and guitar. Well, that's true, therefore you get to see him nail every other solo. And we have seen him doing "Prayer" before, haven't we? There is also Hugh in some pictures, so he does exist, while Bobby B. only appears during the intro of "Whole Lot Of leaving" and what he calls a guitar solo in "In These Arms". Otherwise he disappears in the back, thank you! Lorenza shows up here and there, which is fine. Not too much of her either. At times you can get lost in the fantasy that it's only the 5 of them playing. But where the **** is David Bryan??? In some songs there isn't a single shot of him, and even when he is playing and singing the camera seems to forget about him. Distracts from the good job the editor did otherwise. Even his one line in the 2nd verse of "We Got It Going On" isn't shown (while Richie's is). Shame on you! But you get a good feeling for the stage presence of the band, the arena, the crowd... very nicely done.

The setlist... well, another thing that bugs me. It is the one that Obie gave out earlier, and someone posted above here as a picture. It starts with "Lost Highway", followed by "Born To Be My Baby" next. What happens then is nothing but a disgrace. Wait for it, it's gonna be... Where you'd expect "Bad Name" to kich it, you suddenly find yourself in "Blaze Of Glory" - without any break between the songs!!! Obie (or whoever is responsible for that) edited it right INTO the outro of "Baby". I almost jumped in my seat! First, it showed me that the concert wouldn't be in correct order but a mix made by the editors, second, it created something artificial, that has never been played like this!

Apart from that, I got used to the mixed up tracklisting quite soon - because, believe it or not, it works. Maybe it's Obies way to tell the band to mix up their setlists, or they just had to find a way to blend the two shows into each other. The second half has a correct running order though. Most importantly, all the gems are there: "Living In Sin" is really really good, "Always" is brilliant, while Jons vocals in the intro of "Blood On Blood" aren't so smooth, the rest rocks anyway, and Richie nails "Dry County", and Jon holds up with the vocals - only the violin is a bit annoying. Alone to see it appear in the maintracklist of a Bon Jovi DVD - unbelievable.

There are some songs missing, of course. Most of them we knew already, like "Saturday Night" or "Any Other Day". I can also live without "Sleep", though I'd loved to see Jon & Richie do the counting into one mic. What I really missed was "Bad Medicine" after "Who Says" (another song I could live without, but I bet it HAD to be there the big hit it once was...) at the end of the mainset. But no, we go directly to the encores, Jon in his blue shirt now. "Hallelujah" got some applause from the cinema audience. It's a great performance. Jon's speech before "Wanted" is nice, and suddenly there is "Prayer" and the DVD is over. After somewhat 2 hours (I didn't check my watch).

I knew there was something missing... Suddenly, while the credits had started to roll: "Is there a doctor in the house?" There is "Bad Medicine", but only sound, no vision, along with boring credits, and faded out as soon as they end. A shame, it's a great version and would have given a DVD with many slow songs an extra rocker.

The other three songs listed must be bonus tracks, they also appeared in the end credits: "Bad Name", "Bed Of Roses", "Runaway". It's ok not to have "Bad Name" for once, and I see the reason for not putting "Bed Of Roses" into the main DVD. But "Runaway"???? No way they could leave that out!!! At least to show Dave on the keyboard... apart from the great song it is. And with Jon going on all about how it's almost 25 years ago (to the week!) that they played MSG, it should have been a must. Anyway, what is in there is bloody good.

I like the fact to get an indoor show for once. The american, seated audience is of course a bit weird as being used to european stadium concerts, but I don't mind. The atmosphere is all there. Except for "It's My Life" - the audience seems dead. But just on that one.

No, I'm really happy after all. There are some minor points of critic, but that's all. For once they delivered. Almost - if only "Runaway" and "Bad Medicine" would have been in there. Those extra 10-15 minutes would have only made the whole thing better. But I thoroughly enjoyed it (to quote the irish woman at the beginning of "Access All Areas" )

Many thanks for this!

Interesting how they re-arranged our setlist. God knows we'd never actually get that show here!

P.S. Many thanks for the review, Simon! Since we still don't have a U.S. release date, I'm afraid I may have to place another Japanese order. <sigh> Damn it, Jovi. This show happened in the U.S. Why the heck are we still wondering when we can get it?!

They segued Born To Be My Baby into Blaze Of Glory? Seriously?!

That is a very, very odd setlist.

It may be odd, bit apparently it works. Although I honestly can't see how blaze is the 3rd song. Oh well. And for the people who think it's fake: it's already fake as it's 2 nights and not 1. I would rather them kind of rearange the songs to maybe have better flow.... But again... Btbmb into blaze? I dunno..

Could the bonus tracks be versions of those songs from other gigs perhaps? Just thinking out loud...