What has Happened to Jon?
 

This is a genuine concern of a serious Bon Jovi fan, not the rantings of a hater. So please don't take this the wrong way...

But as someone who saw him twice on the crush tour and who has heard numerous official and unofficial live documents from all eras.... HAND Tampa #2's performance was half-assed in every sense of the word.

Maybe this was just an off night and maybe I'm off base but these concerns have been growing for awhile...

I know Jon has had to 'sing through his nose' live for awhile now.... gritting your voice up studio-style doesn't hold up over 3 octaves and hundreds of tour-dates. But at what point did he decide to just start dodging every single high note altogether? Didn't happen on the These Days tour.... didn't happen MUCH on the Crush tour... but it's happening now. He's even sleepwalking through basic vocal melodies such as 'Sleep when I'm Dead' and 'Runaway'.

Why is EVERY SINGLE SONG played at least a half-step to whole-step lower? (Except.... of all songs... the reasonably high-pitched RAISE YOUR HANDS??!)... I can understand doing it with vocally demanding material like Bad Medicine and the Ballads, but lowering the already low vocal melody of Last Man Standing just made Jon sound bored out of his mind. are those MONSTER HIGH NOTES at the end of LmS and I Wanna Be Loved REALLY too hard to hit in the original key?.. he barely varies the vocal melody at all on the studio renditions as it is...

At what point did Jon decide to stop singing 'I'll Be There For You' altogether? I know he did this on the Bounce tour (although I never saw him then) and Richie sings the song great and makes for a good change of pace... but doing that song TLFR style sucks, plain and simple. Jon, you already threw out the key change! How much easier can you make it?

As a singer myself, I know the wear and tear that a wide-ranged belter will suffer on his voice over the years. I can understand Jon not being able to sing the Slippery material as well as back in the day. But on the Crush tour, he had no qualms hitting most of his high notes on songs like Bed of Roses, KTF, and Saturday Night (and he didn't do that ridiculous 'sing the chorus an octave lower' crap he pulled on TLFR live). A man's voice will change from his 20's to late 30's... but from his early 40's to mid 40's? Has something seriously wrong happened with his voice in the last FIVE YEARS or is he just deciding to sleepwalk, knowing he can fall back on the 'audience singalong' crap that he ONLY used to do on 'Living on a Prayer' (understandably) and now pulls off on no less than 5 or 6 songs a night?

His voice got BETTER from New Jersey to These Days.. even through his solo album... then it just nosedived, but even on Crush he sounded fine... on the tour, too.

His voice is still there, the studio albums prove it. My mp3 of an acoustic rendition of 'All About Loving You', high notes intact, proves it. Did I just catch him on a WAY off night or does he still let it rip anymore at all on this HAND tour?

Other issues that have been simmering for awhile... why no songs from the first two albums other than Runaway? 'She Don't Know Me'? 'Breakout'? 'Silent Night'? 'Roulette?!!!!' Roulette is one of your best songs, dammit! Diehards would go ape-poop for it! Def Leppard, after years of ignoring their first two albums, finally gave the diehards what they wanted... will Jon (or CAN Jon) do the same?

Speaking of Runaway, I was thrilled to hear it's original version instead of the weepy piano-ballad version, but do you mean to tell me that between Jon, David, Richie, Tico, Hugh, and those two extra guys who augmented them for apparently NO AUDIBLE REASON AT ALL (never seen them augmented before)... between those 7 men, NOBODY could cover those EASY falsetto high notes at the end? sheesh.

Why play 'Everyday' at all?! That's the worst song off Bounce, an album that debuted at #2 and fell off the charts within 3 weeks! Never heard it once on the radio, either. And lyrically, it's an exact replica of 4 other songs he played that night!! Even my girlfriend commented 'I wish he woudln't play all of his 'gonna live my life' songs at once, they all get to sounding the same and lose their meaning'.

Ok, that's about enough negativity... but I was SERIOUSLY disappointed, I KNOW this band, and Jon, have so much more to offer than what I spent my hard earned money on Saturday, the 18th in Tampa. Does he EVER let it rip at all on this tour? The only time it sounded like he gave a care was on HAND and WtWyA (which are fairly tough songs to sing!... )

Positives about the show: Richie sounded great. Jon ripped some nice guitar solos when he played, which I've never seen him do. For once, he didn't medley 'Bad Medicine' with 'Shout' (which never gets old, but it's nice to see him switch up). He didn't play 'Complicated' (Imo the worst song off HAND and it's been getting a LOT of concert play for some reason). Nice mixups in the setlist... great crowd.

I'd like to hear some intelligent responses to my questions... I don't mean to hate. But I was let down, plain and simple. Bono can still rip 'New Year's Day' out like he's a kid again, will I ever see Jon's old side in concert? I'll save my future money for a filmed performance, perhaps then he'll let it all come out.

Jons voice aint what it used to be everyone knows that.
so you either go on tour and try to sing the best you can or you stay at home. i totally understand what you are saying but that power aint gonna come back hence the half step lower.

im sorry but you are talking crap about a voice changing between your 20`s and 30`s it can change any time due to circumstances. yes he was a lot stronger on the crush tour vocally but now he is not as strong. simple as that.

the performance that you saw may have been an off day i guess. but i dont think in general its jon being lazy.

there are lots of songs that he cant handle anymore vocally ( and he admits this himself) but what pisses me off is there are loads he can handle and doesnt bother with ie livin in sin , homebound train for example.

i have a recording of own in tokyo i think and they did something to believe in jon murdered it totally wrecked it vocally. because his voice has changed.

if you listen to 1993- 1996 live stuff you can totally see how is voice is wrecked he pushed it so far night in night out he s never gonna get that back.

ive never seen a bad BJ show and i think what he (now) lacks in vocal quality he makes up for in energy and enthusiasm. i would guess he had an off day ?

Everyone's been saying that Jon in general has sounded stronger on this tour than he has for years

You went on the wrong night. Had you come on Friday night, things would've been much better.

Jon smokes and we all know what that does to someone's voice (i know personally and i'm only 20) and for a singer it aint gonna have a positive effect!!

Indeed. From what i've heard he has too.

??
 

Back to one of my original questions... has anybody heard them play anything other than Runaway off their first two albums since.... hell, the 90's?

If they are in Japan they sometimes do Tokyo Road.
That's about it. They're trying very hard to bury the past. I personally don't think they should be ashamed about most of the songs from the first 2 albums. I can't say the same for a number of tunes after KTF.

To be fair all evidence suggests he has given up (at least during the tour).
I hope he has given up for good.

what sort of thing you mean ? diamond ring?