There were thousands of people singing along and jumping and raising their hands.

I was at the show. It was a great day with great acts. John fogerty was quite special. Personally I really enjoyed bon jovi, it was my wife's first bon jovi show so it was special to finally see the band live and sing along all the songs with her.
In my opinion the length of the set was ok. I can not complain about a 2 hour performance. Jon was very energetic and enthusiastic and tried to get the crowd every single second. I think there were two points that made people think the show was boring. First the wlol/lost highway/wwbtf block of the set. The crowd just got in the mood with ryh/ yglabn/ btbmb and all of a sudden 3 songs that they have probably never heard in their lifes. Although they are nice songs they don't work live especially playing them consecutively. The second point is the volume of Jon's vocals in the mix is so low. You see a great front man on the stage but you can not hear him properly and it certainly hinders the interaction between him and the crowd.
Overall the band, the production and the sound were great. It was so loud, tico's kick and snare sound was thunderous=)
When I was leaving I saw a happy cheerful drunk crowd who enjoyed the show very much.
I think people who complain constitute only %0.1 of the crowd=)
Those attending rest of the shows just enjoy it. It isn't that difficult. If you are a bon jovi fan seeing them live puts a huge smile on your face. At least that what happens to me.

Aloha !

Saying it's justified to cut a show short when a crowd is not up to your expectations is ridiculous. If there's 55.000 people witnessing the band there's no reason to cut a show short. It's their biggest show in Belgium in years. If anything it should be a reason to play longer!

The show gets very bad press though. so it's not just a few die hards complaining on Jovitalk anymore.

"This weak edition of TW Classic wasn't weak because of poor organisation skills. It's weakness was it's artistic factor. Bon Jovi's is just no longer worthy of being a headliner. Jon Bon Jovi can't sing in the right key, not even if he's screaming the notes. And his vocals are always shaky at times they shouldn't be. His voice doesn't blend with the other band members either. Songs like It's My Life, You Give Love A Bad Name, Have A Nice Day and Livin' On A Prayer needed saving from the crowd, who knew this performance was really really bad. It tried not to mind by singing as loud as they could, turning the venue into a giant karaokebar. The band wasn't bad, but if the singer's not up for it anymore you could ask yourself whether visiting a karoaokebar wouldn't be cheaper and just as much fun for the 55.000 people who visited the show".

And from one of Belgium's biggest newspapers:

"Bon Jovi started fifteen minutes late. Probably because Jon Bon Jovi had lost a vocal cord somewhere backstage. He couldn't find it during his performance for 55,000 Belgian fans either.

It was painful to note that the conductor and CEO of NV Bon Jovi turned out to be yesterday's weakest link. We can only guess why, but we think the American singer must've been infected. He looked tired behind his snow-white toothpaste smile and the front man sounded nasal and was too often singing in the wrong key.

The set list was also shortened. For example, Werchter was not presented with a "Bed of Roses", and with "Livin" on a Prayer, there was hardly a single encore. This was by no means a big come back for Bon Jovi, which had not played in Belgium for eight years. "It feels good to be back in Belgium," the singer said at the start of the evening. "We still have a lot to catch up with." The band was steaming on at full power. Well, guitarist Phil X did not have the charisma of Richie Sambora (the departed lieutenant of Bon Jovi was replaced by two guitarists yesterday), but the Canadian did his job properly. The American arena-rock band nowadays also has a conga player, who likes to bare his teeth as well. He had to divert the attention of the singer, who sounded awkward from "Raise Your Hands" and came across in an early "You Give Love a Bad Name". There was clearly a reason to bury his vocals deeper in the mix.

This tour was all about the latest album This House is Not For Sale from 2016. The band realized that hardly anyone was waiting for that. In addition to the title track, only a moderately received "Rollercoaster" was played. "Runaway" came across much better. Through the fresh keyboards of curled ball David Bryan and the young generation who sang along with the song. The song started the band's career in 1982 and is now featured on the Stranger Things soundtrack. Proof that Bon Jovi still builds bridges. Jon, in turn, took off his hat. He thought it was an honor to perform after "a living legend like John Fogerty".

"Keep the Faith" started with a wonderful bass intro, but Jon Bon Jovi was in the wrong key. "Please forgive me", was painful. It seemed like a message adressed to the crowd. The singer only came forward twice on the long catwalk in Werchter. The first time 45 minutes into the set, at "We Weren" Born To Follow. And also in the final during "Lay Your Hands On Me". He almost ran up to the sound tower, to sing and jump on a small platform near the fans. Jon Bon Jovi showed commitment but during these moments he relied on the audience to sing his lines as well. At acoustic moments the singer found peace and his voice could catch his breath. "Wanted Dead or Alive" sounded "plausible." We did not find a better description in our notebook.

The band saved the big guns until the end. After "I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead" Bad Medicine followed. Catchy version, although it was not really necessary to resume it three times. During the closing song "Livin" on a Prayer, there was suddenly a loud crack in the boxes. That typified the evening, with a crack in the throat of the singer.

Bon Jovi advertised his spaghetti sauce, rock cruise and clothing line at the impressive large video wall in Werchter. This performance was not an advertisement for his vote. And that was a pity. Anyone who has seen Bon Jovi at work before knows that this man can do better.

There's another negative review as well but it's behind a paywall.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

This perfectly sums up how I felt after the show in Düsseldorf.

Did you write these reviews?

A long break? Either the band is writing their final chapter or they close the book after this tour... when you are 57 you do not take long breaks anymore. I wonder what Jon is planning on doing about his voice if anything can be done. I suppose he is aware of his condition. But long breaks are out of the question.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-G960F met Tapatalk

I have no idea what can be done with his voice but if surgery is an option it is worth considering.. risky of course but he cannot continue like this.

I still can't get why Wembley sounded so much better than Coventry or the shows I am hearing more recently.

In hindsight I should have left it at Wembley as that was a special night.

I saw this and I also disagree with you....he's nowhere near as poor as Jon. Yes he's lost range and has actually changed his singing style is recent years, after some vocal issues that he had. But all those Leppard songs are pretty tough to sing. He's not even close to having no voice like Jon. Certainly much more bearable on my ears and his timing and phrasing is still spot on, unlike Jon.

Back from my 4th and last show of this tour - their concert at TW CLASSIC, Werchter, Belgium.

Bon Jovi and Belgium, it has never been a winning combination. From 2000 on, every show in Belgium was either short(er), weird or did have reasons why I could never stand out in a good way.

Yesterday was no different and this show will go down as a concert that isn't worthy to remember in this tour. Was it that bad? Hell no. Was it good? Neither. There simply wasn't any chemistry between the band and the crowd

Let's look at the pro's and the cons of their Belgian show.

The crowd was there. 55.000 people is the largest crowd they've ever had in Belgium. But, this is mainly thanx to the fact that they headlined a festival. TW Classic has a good reputation and many people come every year to have a good time. Nonetheless, it was clear that most people were there for Bon Jovi.

About the show itself - it was their standard setlist minus the ballad in the middle and the ballad in the end. No Bed of Roses / Amen in the spot you'd expected it. No Always / I'll be there for you in the encore. As a result, this show was the shortest in the tour so far. A few guesses why this happened?

- Jon's voice was bad. Bad in comparison to their show in Tallinn or Nijmegen. So the ballads BOR / ALWAYS / stayed in the closet.
Jon's voice was drowned in the mix - as I said before : this isn't by accident or due to bad sound technicians. On the contrary, this is done to mask the shaky state of his voice.

Humo, a famous magazine in belgium even wrote : Bon Jovi took the stage with a delay of 15 minutes, probably because Jon Bon Jovi was backstage, looking for a lost vocal chord. Also during the show, he clearly didn't found his lost vocal chord.

As another newspaper wrote - Bon Jovi's songs and their trademark sound are built upon Jon's strong voice and that was exactly what was lacking during the show. Jon Bon Jovi clearly was the weakest link within his band.
The band, the performance and the show ( production / visuals ) were praised.

Other reasons why the show was cut short? The crowd. I am a Belgian myself, but the crowd at TW classic is often super lame. Why? As I said - a good portion comes to experience the festival and will be less familiar with Bon Jovi. Sure they know the Bon Jovi hits, but when Jovi pulls out We don't Run ( excellent song and the song that works amazing in live setting ) they won't know it. Same for Born to follow and even Raise your hands or Born to be my baby. These folks come to hear BOR/ALWAYS etc... Those hits could have won them over but as I said - a few big big hits were kept in the fridge.

Another problem - the amount of VIPS. TW Classic has big sponsors and so the golden circle fills up with 50% of GC ticket buyers and 50% of VIP's. Folks that do not care whether it's Bon Jovi playing or Bryan Adams.


This combination of lame crowd with a band that does not play their hits (probably because Jon's voice was not in shape ) will prevent any chemistry from happening. We all know that Jon and the band are fueled by the audience reaction and vice versa.

Finally - remember how Jon always jokes that the only band he wouldn't have as a support act are the scorpions because they'd still kick Jovi's ass? Well, ... it was John Fogerty who played a 80 minute show before Bon Jovi. He played a steaming hits packed set that rocked every damn minute he was on stage. Excellent playing, excellent singing. He set the bar extremely high. Too high for BJ ? Not for BJ up till 2013.


My conclusion - Jon will have to work hard on his vocals to see if improvement is still possible. If so, they will be able to play most of their catalogue and kick all other band's asses. If not, their options will remain limited. Either not playing their famous (demanding) hits or continuing by playing bad sounding shows where they'll have to drown Jon's poor vocals so deep in the mix that you'll barely won't be able to hear Jon sing.

A positive note though - the sound at Werchter was the best so far ( with Nijmegen). Well balanced, crisp.

As I said before - Jon can still hit the high notes, but the energy and focus it requires from him to do so is so extreme that he can only do it a few times per show. For wembley, he probably gave a 120%.