I'm just curious. What makes you think he wasn't smoking then?

Him stating exactly that. Somewhere back between 2008 and 2010 he said that he had quit smoking 'cause that would've made his life insurance go through the roof.

Do you think he stuck to it, though? ;)

I have no idead and as of now I don't think it would make any significant difference in his vocal performance anyway.

smoking never does any good to any singer but I know smoking rock stars and their voices aren't as crappy as Jon's so it's really an individual thing ;)

Not exactly true.

He said that in 2010 that he quit "before the tour". And then I remember there was a video of him walking in the streets in September or October later that year with a cigarette, so I think it's safe to assume that was a short-term thing and not something that contributed to his voice. In the LH tour he was still a smoker, as evident in WWWB documentary, which was the time when he showed that progress.

I used to blame him a lot for smoking and ruining his voice, but I don't anymore. It's obviously stupid to do so, but I don't believe that was the main reason for this decline - singing incorrectly through his throat at the top of his range was.

I guess this is why I asked the question. I've seen pictures of Jon smoking off and on through the years from ACE up through some of these later releases. I know some of the earlier ones were reportedly to harden his image but a lot of them weren't publicity shots; and I don't think the PR thing went back to pre-Jovi days. :)

I remembered something about him quitting because of high insurance, too. I just couldn't remember when that was. But given when you said he quit, that would only have a few months prior to the show in question so I don't think quitting would have made that much difference in that short amount of time. At least, I know it took longer that that for me to realize a significant improvement after I quit. But as Eveline said, everybody's different.

And BJfan99, I wasn't challenging you, I really was just curious. :)

A truly epic performance of BOR from London '10:

https://youtu.be/7HVykpwP5N8

That note at 6:57 - good old days...

Also, here's a beautiful rendition of IBTFY from Des Moines '11:

https://youtu.be/9RPW3ZkaLY8

Oh, how I miss the long ad-libs Jon used to do at the end of the song... that build-up truly is something else. Overall, it's a performance out of this world, and probably the best post-'01 version of IBTFY (Charlotte '10 was great, but the ad-libs at the end are what really makes it the live song it is, and that version didn't have any) I've heard, alongside this:

https://youtu.be/m_YUvtynmW8 (NY/Uniondale '11 - Jon's raspy "YEEEAAAH!" at 6:53 gives me goosebumps, as it's probably the closest thing to a scream he has ever done on IBTFY since '01. The ad-libs are wonderful as well, resembling the ones of Always at Wembley '95 very strongly: "...through the wind, through the snow, through the rain, I'll take the world off your shoulders, I'll ease the pain...". I really, really, really, really, REALLY miss Jon as the singer and performer he used to be.)

I was at this Uniondale show. We had tickets long before we knew that Richie would not be there. This entire show absolutely blew me away - and I was not expecting much. Jon seemed to work 200% to make up for the fact that Richie wasn't there. This version of IBTFY was incredible as was Saturday Night.

Saturday Night from Endicott '17:

https://youtu.be/2Qkr7A5OoWY

At 3:23 Jon actually hits the high note on "night at a time"! That said, the rest of the performance is truly cringeworthy.