Aah, good ol' Sydney 2010... love both night #1 and night #3 to death. Night #2 was pretty good, too, but Jon's voice got somewhat shot during the second half of the show and the song choices for the encore were very disappointing to say the least (bar Love's The Only Rule). However, the acoustic set in the middle of the main set was absolutely stunning and (IMO) saved the set/show from being a relatively mediocre one (compared to most post-O2 sets).

And no, the autopilot renditions of Just Older and I'd Die For You didn't make the set any more special. The only highlight of night #2 - and a big one at that - was really the incredible acoustic section, plus maybe Jon singing LYHOM instead of Richie (which was pretty rare during the Circle/GH tours overall).

I actually rate that I'd Die For You performance as one of the best from the post-2000 era - proper tempo and no Jon or Bobby anywhere near the solo :D
Up until the end of the acoustic set I'd rate the concert as high as the others, simply because it showed a great flow when listening to the bootleg. And so many of my favourite songs at the time (Superman Tonight, No Apologies, I'd Die For You, Never Say Goodbye) being in there surely helped as well. There's no doubt that the single performances from night 3 edge it out, but I still loved that 2nd night. At some point it comes down to personal taste I guess :D
What was pretty cool was that Bad Medicine had actually finished and Jon demanded Tico to kick into the drum beat for Pretty Woman right at the end of it. I don't think they've done that ever again. Unfortunately there's no video of it on YT.
The acoustic rendition of NSG was stunning - I didn't think Richie could still pull off these overtones in 2010:
https://youtu.be/f8GTzCNBgMQ?t=37m12s

God bless the drunk person who had spilled their drink over the sound console and hence created a short-circuit in the PA system midway through the show. Otherwise these performances wouldn't have taken place :D

Thanks for another great video, man! Wow, that performance was unexpectedly great (even for '01)! :D

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=7724s&v=rMyaCy1Ca3k

The last show of the These Days tour, and oh boy, what a great show it is! Maybe, it's the best from 1996, after Yokohama night 2.

Probably at least 15 shows in 1996 were better than Yokohama night 2 :D

I agree. Yokohama night #2 was actually a crap gig for 1996. Jon's voice got shot halfway through Always and My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms was simply a butcherfest in terms of the band's performance overall (even though Jon sang it well). Both night #1 and night #3 were miles better, similarly to Sydney 2010. :D

My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms wasn't really a butcherfest, the only major f*ck up was when the band forgot to go into that heavy riff after the 1st chorus and also the last note of the solo. Jon's vocal performance made up for those mistakes. There were some bum notes, but it was a solid vocal delivery.

Those two are better than the Yokohama performance of My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms.

Without a doubt, one of the best shows I've ever seen by any band:

https://youtu.be/zIWQtn1jGgM

The 2nd night is/was up there as well:

https://youtu.be/gIRi85rL9jg

Those were the days - the absolute peak of Bon Jovi both as a live and a studio act.

never heard this before...sounded pretty good imo..maybe he should try something like this if he wants to pull it out nowadays

Just because it's acoustic doesn't mean it's any easier for Jon to sing. It's in the same key as every non-TLFR Always performance since 1995. If anything it's harder to hide the bum notes when you're in the audience when the guitar's and drums aren't blasting.

Hence, your suggestion to try to do Always this way makes no sense, sorry.

i think jon's problem is not about hitting notes in that key(or at least not the biggest), it's definitely about tempo and breathing. An acoustic rendition could give him some space for breathing and for some changes(for example, he could sing that "and i'll be there" 1 step down like he did in yokohama, imo that would definitely ease jon's singing during the chorus...) that in an electric version couldn't be possible. less shouting=more low tones=better rendition

Some song that was never released. No real demo of it either. This video is what you could call a demo of that song.

That song later became Staring At Your Window With A Suitcase In My Hand.

Great energy, unforunately they didn't play the full song.

While talking about Staring At Your Window With A Suitcase In My Hand... my favourite songs from Destination Anywhere are Queen Of New Orleans and Janie, Don't Take Your Love To Town

Great performance of Always. The band are at the top of their game and Jon sings additional lyrics. A great, emotional vocal performance. It's also nice to see Dave and Tico giving Jon an admiring faces at the end.

Absolutely the best Always performance ever, alongside Inglewood 2017... I mean, Milwaukee 1995:

https://youtu.be/BPl8qsMvxPE

A great performance indeed! Jon even puts on the raspy voice (as on the studio version) during the verses. His voice gets absolutely shot halfway through the performance, though (it even cracks quite audibly a couple of times), but as long as there's energy and passion like this, it doesn't matter one bit. Without a doubt, one of the most impressive/convincing HAND performances I've ever seen. The only thing missing is Richie flashing out the finger after the "when the world gets in my face, I say..." part.

Also these two are in my top 5 performances of Always:

Here Jon nails every single note. It's absolute perfection.

Here the performance is in the studio key and I give it extra points for that. Jon nails most of the song but is out of breath on the " I'll be there till the stars don't shine" part.

Underrated song. The video is interesting. The band ( without David ) were in London I think to promote Sex Sells, which later became Crush. The footage is from late 1998 or early 1999 I think. During the video there is also a funny moment where Tico has a cut out figure of Dave in his hands.

Year after year, month after month, probably even week after week I keep coming back for that performance of Always. Hell, it must be Jon's best vocal performance on any song since 1996, alongside the Sydney (night #3) versions of STBI and These Days...

This one is in my top-3 as well:

David was missing because he had a severe injury after almost cutting one of his fingers off in an accident with a saw. That's why Tico has that cut out figure in one of the shots.

I'm in a Japan 2001 mood tonight:

https://youtu.be/D6O3V2KiqQI (Tokyo)

https://youtu.be/0Uj7VeZpMAU (Osaka)

Hard to decide which one's better... both are superb. Those setlists!

Yeah, I knew that.

I don't know what makes me love this version of Happy Now as much as I do... maybe it's mostly the way Jon sings "everybody's just tryin' to find a way home" around 1:57. Overall, this performance reminds me quite a bit of the Sydney 2010 one:

https://youtu.be/VBKDhBf0azY

For me Osaka is better because Jon delivers a very good rendition of STBI. In the Tokyo show, his voice cracks and sounds rough on STBI. So I give the edge to Osaka.

When We Were Us
 

Here you go:


Cheers

Oops, just posted it on the other thread. Ouch, just ouch.

Here's the rest of the concert:

Such a shame that the RNRHOF comes at a time when the band, well Jon, Its on its last legs.

My favourite performance of LYHOM. I don't know what it is , but there's something about this performance that I really like.

Best performance of IML. Jon even goes for the first 2 lines in the raspy voice from the studio version.

It's good, but I don't think it's any special by 2000 standards.

Now a truly amazing IML performance would be one where Jon went high during the last chorus on "my heart is like an open highway", has he ever attempted that live? I'm pretty sure that he hasn't, but it's worth asking while we're on the subject.

I don't think he ever went high on that part live. But for me that performance I posted above is the best for IML. What is your favourite IML performance... The Crush Tour?

My fav was 2001 on SNL. They sounded really tight and the harmonies were perfect.

Hard to say, because as long as Jon's voice was working and he wasn't cheating on the "Frankie said I did it my way" nearly all performances are the same. There were never any significant ad-libs or other variations.

Obviously, it has to be one of 2000-2001 not just because of Jon, but also because Richie's backing vocals declined at a similarly rapid pace in 2002-2006 and they're a big part of IML chorus live.

The three performances that come to my mind right now are Philadelphia 2000 (Jon sang the chorus a bit differently and the crowd was great), MSG 2005 (simply incredible crowd) and 9/11 relief show (Jon's voice sounded really strong, plus it's pro-shot, so it would be my go-to performance from an audio quality standpoint). Not very original answers, I will admit that.

The first time they ever played It's my life was on Rosie...and he did sing the hight part at then end...best live performance ever of it's my life!