The worst live Bon Jovi show of all time...?
 

Clickbait title aside, I thought it would be interesting to have a discussion on what the worst show in the history of the band was?

This is NOT to be critical of the band (there can be a lot of reasons a show sucks), but think of it more of a dive into the bands history.

In my mind the following factors might be worth considering:
1. Band member illness/absence
2. Poor setlist
3. Technical issues
4. Bad crowd

So what do you think?

Think Jon was very ill during Pittsburgh 2017 meaning set was only 16 songs.

Aloha !

"A show in New Jersey has the band performing at the top of their game".

Bon Jovi at New Meadowlands Stadium, night number 4.

Obie had been bigging this show up while walking through the Diamond Platinum Turbo era or whatever it was called back then, saying they had a spectacular opening song for this show. Show started with Raise Your Hands. Yep. Whoop-di-doo Obie. This was also the first show since the shows at the O2 arena so some fans expecting at least some rare songs to be played tonight. Maybe Let It Rock? Something To Believe In? Would they dare (It's Hard) Letting You Go? Nope. We Got Open All Night. From Bounce. Fantastic.

On top of that Jon came out and was in a bad mood right from the start, Richie was sloppy and started making small mistakes, Jon ignored Richie for a bit, the band was tiptoeing around Jon, crowd was dead after Kid Rock had just blown these American minds with a cigar smoking vinyl scratching pyro show, Jon's vocals were poor, several bad looks from Jon to Richie, Richie looked guilty all night, no effort from Jon trying to win the crowd over, Richie sweating profusely, a poor setlist and eventually while I was walking out Jon tore his calf muscle and limped off stage.

Easily the worst Bon Jovi show I've ever seen.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

For me, although my birthday lol it is STILL the worst show for me. Happened on August 21, 2005 at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt Pleasant, Michigan. The show was expected to be short as it was before HAND was released and more or less some sort of favor Jon was probably paying back but it was really short, 14 songs, and the band was completely hung over (aside from Tico I'm guessing) after partying down in Milwaukee post the Miller Park gig the night before. Everyone was like a statue and it was a make shfit venue outside of the parking deck. The whole thing was a mess!

No question. Sarnia Bayfest 2008.

Richie was sick but still sang TWO songs, flies were out of control and pissing Jon and the band off. Twist and Shout started in the completely wrong key.

I've told this story before but as the show ended I turned to the people I was with and comically mouthed WHAT THE **** WAS THAT really cartoonishly while in the second row and turned back to get a BIG stink eye from Jon. He knew the show was shit and was already in a foul mood.

The entire ride back we tore the show apart haha.

The Scottish show in 2013 I attended was bad. They didn’t want to be there. Came on late. Awful set list. Half empty stadium. Jon moaned about being cold.

Not to forget Richie's giant screw-up in HAND

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Dusseldorf 2011. Expectations had run high and they were so off. Both the performance and the setlist.

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Malaysia 2015... JBJ almost couldn’t talk, the weird thing is that the next day (Singapore 2015) his voice improved and sounded very different. *shrugs*

Sofia 2013 was bad... it was highly anticipated here, they had never been here before. Jon had hay fever, struggled mightily as the set went on. The highlight of the show was probably BOR, when the fans were giving roses to Jon and threw lots of them on the stage .

Glasgow 2013 - Jon shit, crap crowd , one hour 45 set. Dreadful

Glasgow 2003- crowd were shit. Jon average.

Probably Nashville 2017.

The video of the full show has been removed from YouTube, but Jon sounded SO bad... the setlist was pretty crap as well (WFTWM in the first half of the main set, BWC in the encore, and so on).

PS. And no, I wasn't there in person, but I could still tell from YT that it sucked ass.

Hull 06 has to be the worst. It was undersold, raining, had a terrible crowd and Jon was in the worst mood I've ever seen him in. He doesn't smile, look at the crowd and barely moves and considering this was in 2006 when he was relatively young makes it even worse.

The band are also sullen looking which adds weight to the rumour that Richie got news of his father's terminal illness prior to the show.

Skip to 3:16 for the moment Jon says "One more f*cking time" and rushes the end of Bad Medicine.

https://youtu.be/jWeySGhzZGY


Wanna see what Prayer would look like performed at a funeral? Look no further!

https://youtu.be/UnOykv5rfLw

Funny you mention the Miller Park show, I was there. It was also my least favorite Bon Jovi show. I remember reading that although it was a free show, they promised to do at least 20 songs but they only did 15 or 16. Completely vanilla set, which was expected, it was a free show after all.

Holy cow, forgot about this one! The flies and the heat! Yea that was another bad one!! Memories lol!


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I think Hull really takes the crown, simply because it was not down to health or other circumstances, but the band simply don't giving a **** about the gig (especially Jon) and completely disrespecting their audience.

Though that 2013 gig (was it Saratoga?) that had been billed as a normal tour concert and ended up being Jon playing with his KOS friends probably would've put me over the edge, had I been there.

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I was in the boonies for that one but yes it was free so I had no expectation. I put too much into the casino show because it was my birthday!


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I don't think I remember this as the worst show - but in retrospect it is right up there.

And Seb's comment about Meadowlands night 4 was spot on - we all came home from that and we were depressed. It was such a downer.

The difference about the shows in 2010/11 was that the general level was good, but when they were off, they were really off.

Like Penn State university in 2011. Not a single song in the broadcast was done without mistakes, they even forgot the solo in Make A Memory. After the previous show had been in Sydney two months prior, it seemed like the nightmare of nightmares.

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C'mon guys. Put videos up to go alongside the bad shows that are referred to. It's far more interactive then [emoji14]

I was at both shows (and Jakarta, Bangkok) on that tour and wasn't under the same impression.

The iHeart Radio... Tho I'm not sure if it counts as a concert, because of the small setlist.

Jon was so out of tune, that was really bad.

Which one, 2012 or 2018? Both were horrendous.

Hmmmmm... Maybe I have a super ear and a super smell that I can smell alcohol from long distances.

2012 off course

More (from 2016): https://drycounty.com/jovitalk/bon-j...t-ever-t69490/

Hahah......

Nijmegen 2006 was bad for me. After queuing all night and being in front row and very tired. My mood was horrible as was the show. Second show that comes to mind is Düsseldorf 2011 plain setlist and performances.

- Chicago 1987 Night 2 (the band had no monitors for the entire show and said that they must've sounded horrendous)

- Dublin 1988 Night 1 (well documented on the AAA video and the audience recording gives you a glimpse of how bad it might've been)

- Brussels 1988 (something seriously pissed Jon off during the show, he made a snarky remark at the beginning of Prayer and they even threw out Wanted, having the show clock in under 90 minutes)

- Santiago 1993 (according to attendees, the concert was shifted to a side field with just 5,000 tickets sold, the sound was off all the time and the band members were yelling at each other on stage since they were pissed off)

- Madrid 1996 / Padova 2001 / Washington 2006 / Pittsburgh 2017 (Jon was sick and advised by doctors not to do the show, but thought he was smarter and they all turned into nightmare performances)

Agreed about Dusseldorf 2011 - I wanted to like it but it just fell flat.

Sometimes what’s going on in your life effects how you feel at a show. So for me the first one is...The palladium gig in London in Oct 2016.
My father in law had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in the Feb. He had about a year to live but was doing well. I entered the ballot for tickets but didn’t get any. Luckily someone on twitter gave me 2 so me and the wife went. From start of Oct the father in law took a huge turn for the worse.
We came out the gig, got come and soon as we walked in got a call to say he’d been taken to hospital (pretty sure gig was on the Monday) and he never came out. He died on the Friday.
Now, that aside cos it was the first time we went to a Bon Jovi gig not 100% in the mood but it dawned on me that night that I really disliked the THINFS album. The band were playing it well but I was thinking this album is terrible apart from a few. Still feel that way about it.

2nd - not the bands fault but MK Bowl 96.
I dragged 2 non Jovi fans all the way to the gig saying how good they would be etc and the weather was horrific. It thundered and lightening and pissed down all day. Real shitty support including a local band and Joan Osborne didn’t help but by time Jovi came on it was so windy the sound went up, up and away. You could stand there talking at normal volume and hear every word everyone was saying. It was a cold drab horrible day. Not the bands fault but you really need the weather if you outside in a field!


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Well, I agree. I'd Sofia, BG as well. Show stopped halfway cause of Jon's hay fever.

The best moment and memory of the show was the interaction with Jon during the catwalk setlist, I was only 16 then and was pretty special. Other than that, didn't came anywhere close to Athens show performance wise since Richie was also absent.

Was a fun night but also a disappointment. The ladies next me who were part of our roadtrip got the roses home :mrgreen:

Rock in Rio 2013 was not only the worst BJ gig I’ve ever been to, but one of the worst gigs of any band I’ve ever attended. No Tico, no Richie, and a setlist with WLOL, LH, Crash, WAN and MAM resulted in a very boring experience. Most of the crowd around me sat down on the floor and began searching for entertainment on their phones.

It sounded as a cover band

This is, of course, a very subjective opinion limited to youtube videos, but I seriously think the Madrid show from a couple days ago is worth considering as a potential contender. Jon sounded f*cking disastrous and the setlist was bland as hell - easily one of the worst European shows the band has ever played, at least.

I imagine it's one of the worst European shows. But it's still better than a large chunk of the American leg in 2017 both in terms of setlist and performance. Not to mention 2015 as well.

Actually, as mind-baffling as it must seem, I think Jon sounded better (at least in some ways) in 2015 than he does now. His range was even more f*cked then than it is now, but his tone was much more pleasant to listen to - no whispering or noticeable bum notes in the low/middle range, not for the most part anyway.

Don't believe me? Take a listen:

https://youtu.be/YUaOyxYkz3s

Pleasant? His voice in 2015 live was at its weakest. It had no power at all, nothing. At least nowadays his voice sounds marginally more powerful. Only marginally though.

Agreed, it's horrendous. And I absolutely don't get how people can go back voluntarily to videos from late 2013 to actually to 2017 just to try to find some notes that "weren't so bad". That's actually pretty sad.

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Actually,it is the worst Ive ever seen Jon
He made a lot of mistakes,the band had even to stop Amen and begin again due to Jons mistake.
He was suffering all the show,and the audience were also suffering cause it is not nice seeing a person having such a bad time.
I dont know if it was due to alergie or the hot temperature but since the first song you could noticed something wasnt going well

I only listened to prayer but that sounded miles better than he sings it now.