What a way to end a tour it had been! Much better than the webcast.

Definitely, alongside Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo 2010 and Lisbon and London 2011. Edinburgh '11 was pretty good (at least judging by the setlist). The best North American shows were probably Montreal '10 (especially night #2, but night #1 was pretty solid as well), NYC '11 (nights #2 and #3 were awesome judging by YT - night #1 seemed to be an auto-pilot gig with a standard setlist), Philadelphia '11 (probably one of Jon's most energetic and "let's-melt-their-f***ing-faces" live performances since 2000) and Vegas '11 (definitely the best setlist the guys have ever played in Sin City - BOBITA, Blaze, both BOR & IBTFY and DRY F***ING COUNTY...). Toronto (night #1), Montreal (night #2) and Vancouver '11 were great, too.

Barcelona had a great setlist and crowd energy, but Jon's voice was off a bit. Mannheim was stunning! The crowd was great, Jon'v vocals as well and that Hey God performance at the beginning of the encore just blew everyone away. Even Hallelujah which I had dreaded before was immense. Still ranks on the 2nd place of all 11 Jovi shows I've seen.

For me, in Barcelona Jon's vocals were kinda inconsistent (not meaning the sheer atrociousness of the THINFS tour, where Jon would first nail Always and then struggle to stay in key on Captain Crash, but by '10-'11 standards). I Believe sounded a bit flat and strained in places, but due to the extreme rareness of the song, it was easily forgivable. Saturday Night started out as quite a shout fest, but the ad-libs after the solo more than made up for it. STBI was very decent, even good, but towards the end of the song Jon seemed a bit winded and had to shout again while going for the last high notes. Hey God was solid as well, with Jon getting more and more confident with his vocals as the song went on. However, he dodged a couple of the highest notes on the last two choruses, but still went for most of them and sounded fine in general. Always was flawless, with Jon going for every single high note, giving his absolute all on every single one of them and sounding immense throughout the song.

Here are the performances:

https://youtu.be/8xPEVYuU4CE (I Believe)

https://youtu.be/G4o4tU1Djes (Someday I'll Be Saturday Night)

https://youtu.be/_DjC6wHrcq0 (Something To Believe In)

https://youtu.be/8sPMHDzU0vk (Hey God)

https://youtu.be/eHmToXnpvPg (Always)

And yes, Mannheim was epic, indeed. The version of Hey God you mentioned above is probably among Jon's finest vocal performances in concert since 1996, or at least since 2001. The way he goes for the choruses takes my breath away and makes me feel even more pissed about the current situation:

https://youtu.be/IX00TId2bHQ

Dominik, you lucky bastard... (just kidding). :-D

In my honest opinion both Barcelona and San Sebastian belong to the best post-2k BJ concerts. Actually, in San Sebastian Jon sounded even better than he did in Lisbon (where he actually sounded really good in general - the mix was f***ing horrible on the bonjovi.com live stream and made Jon sound very "tinny/hollow", I think Obie's the one to blame for that), and while Lisbon got probably the best setlist overall since 1996 (I mean, getting Get Ready, Letting You Go, Any Other Day, These Days, I Believe, This Ain't A Love Song and Always in the same show is a practical miracle), San Sebastian got some extremely exciting stuff, too. The last (hopefully not for eternity) live version of Wild In The Streets was a bit off-the-track and Jon dodged a couple notes, but it was still great fun to hear. Living In Sin and Wild Is The Wind were awesome, even though Jon struggled a bit on the choruses of the former track. And then, all of a sudden, it happened. THIS AIN'T A F***ING LOVE SONG was played for the first time since Randers 2008 and only for the second time since 1996. Do I have to say it was pretty much perfect?

https://youtu.be/IEsxRl9BWsg

The way he went for the last "YEEESSS I'm wrooong..." with that good ol' raspy voice of his sends shivers down my spine. Sure, the ending was even better in Lisbon, but as a whole, Jon hit the other high notes better in San Sebastian.

These Days and Always were phenomenal that night as well (actually, I think the San Sebastian version of Always was Jon's last truly great rendition of the song - he struggled quite audibly on the first two choruses in Lisbon):

https://youtu.be/Qi9SIBtAcVU

https://youtu.be/RGCF0ElZBJs

The MSG show (night #2) on February 25, 2011 was probably one of the best BJ concerts as a whole since 1996. I know that some (if not many) of you prefer the third night from March 6, but night #2 got a better setlist, better length, no technical hiccups and truly incredible vocal performances by Jon on Always & These Days (with the latter being performed for the second-to-last time in the USA until now - MetLife Stadium, NJ on July 25, 2013 was the last one):

https://youtu.be/GOybhCyJoDE

https://youtu.be/NTMYcSmGjrg

That version of Always must be among Jon's finest post-'96 vocal moments, and These Days is sublime as well, with him REALLY going for the last two choruses. The first high "Ain't nobody left..." sounds extremely rough with Jon straining miserably to belt it out like he did in the nineties, but after just a few seconds, he ends up nailing it perfectly.

God, how I miss those times... and to think most of you (I wasn't a Jovitalk member yet) probably were still a bit disappointed with Jon's vocals back then. If only we knew what was about to come in no longer than 2.5 years :( :( :( :( :(

Definitely - but I still think Jon sounded better in at least London, Dublin, Mannheim and Udine. Probably in San Sebastian as well, at least in terms of consistency.

I definitely was one there. Being totally gutted by the trainwreck show that had been my previous one three days earlier and having heard them being off in Zurich as well, I wasn't expecting much. Needless to say that I was really blown away by what they delivered. Especially the encore which had originally been planned to be When We Were Beautiful / Wanted / Superman Tonight / Prayer was stunning after they had completely changed the songs around.

Night 2 had a great setlist but I remember watching all 3 shows pretty much back to back in 2011 (they had all been filmed from the screen and it was almost like watching Pro Shots) and night 2 was too much going through the motions. Still very good, but what made night 3 special was actually the PA blowing out. Up until then it hadn't been anything special but the overall energy after their return and the anger put the 2nd half on another level. I don't care if he had dodged a note here and there with the passion the whole band put in. That matters much more to me.

Case in point: Dry County. Back on the LH tour they did it on the final night in Twickenhamd and I remember members of here being at the show and saying that it was rather disappointing, even though every note was spot on. Simply because Jon did it on autopilot. Giants 2006 had a much more bumpy version, yet I'd prefer it since it was really passionate.

For me, the best version of KTF this year so far:

https://youtu.be/_ouRGTAnRh8

Yes, I know Jon's voice doesn't sound particularly impressive. Yes, I know Richie's not there. But goddammit, the energy level is high for 2017 - Jon was on fire in Toronto, that's for sure.

https://youtu.be/5ECE6YLisXY

Also, this must be one of the best post-2k versions of LYHOM (from Toronto night #2). No kidding, as while Jon often sounds forced and kinda breathless, the "Lay my hands on YOOOOOOUUUUUU..." at 3:28 tells me one thing that I'm extremely happy to be aware of. It's this:

Jon's still got it. He may not be able to display it throughout a three-hour show anymore, but it's still there - he just has to work harder than previously to pull it off. The ol' muthahumper can still sing.

The South American leg of the THINFS tour is just about a month away from now. I'm 100% sure most of you are going to have a great time (I can't attend any of the shows, unfortunately, but I'll be checking out + commenting the PBPs), even though Jon's vocals probably won't match the level of September/October 2010 in any case. Let's face it: the guy has had his fair share of many kinds of problems during the last four and a half years. He's also not going to get any younger, and while a 55-year-old man is NOT *old* by any means, he's also NOT a spring chicken anymore and will never be able to match the physical/visual, let alone vocal, intensity he used to deliver constantly and consistently even as lately as in the early 2000s. Jon's heyday is definitely far behind, and being the extreme perfectionist we all know he is, he'll probably call it quits himself when he thinks he's not up for singing in public anymore, but then again, maybe he'll find other ways of displaying his abilities. Maybe he'll start acting again? Who knows. But for now, I can definitely appreciate his vocal struggles, as I know he keeps on trying just to make us fans forget about our everyday worries and step on the time machine to have the time of our lives.

Bon Jovi as a band will also probably be buried within 5-10 years. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised at all if this was their last big tour. All the guys are in great physical shape currently, but remember that Tico is starting to be in his mid-60s and has struggled with his health during the last couple years. Hugh is in his late 60s already and, unfortunately, will probably retire within a few years. John Shanks isn't only the second guitarist of Jovi - he's a successful record producer and has to get himself time to support other bands than BJ as well. Dave's got his Broadway things besides BJ. Phil X also has his own band, and while he's probably going to be the lead guitarist of Bon Jovi as long as the band will keep on going from now on, I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if the guy wanted to do something else as well.

Let's enjoy the rest of Bon Jovi's career as much as possible and remember that even rock gods are only human. They probably won't give us so bad of a show on this tour that our fandom will end because of it.

So, as a conclusion, be grateful that the band is still here and, most likely, about to kick some asses next month.

As JBJ sung in Sydney 2010:

"Someday I'll be saturday night.
I'll be back on my feet, I'll be doing alright.
I gotta tell myself to shine again, get on the floor and dance again.
Stand in the light again... it's alright.
And it's worth the fight - I'm alive.
I gotta say: someday I'll be saturday night.
You're gonna hear my voice!
Saturday night.
You're gonna hear my name!
Saturday night.
I'll be okay.
Saturday night.
It's alright, it's alright.
Saturday night.
Alright, alright.
Saturday night.
Someday.
Some way.
(Scream)".

I agree with a lot of the above... I do think the end is coming too... Let's face it, Jon is shot... it all caught up to him way too quickly. During TC/GH tour, I thought that that was going to be the Jon we'll get for the next 10 to 15 years... and although there were some get moments with high energy, the guys voice just isn't there anymore...

I think Jon needed to prove that there is a Bon Jovi without Richie but now that he's done that, I give them one more and that's it... Jon will go on as a solo artist...

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