The Bon Jovi set list debate
 

A lot has been made of the set lists this tour, I guess every tour. Some have said lack of variation or show length etc. There are examples of other big acts giving the same set every show. For example:

IRON MAIDEN THIS 2008 WORLD TOUR

Intro: Churchill's Speech
Aces High
2 Minutes to Midnight
Revelations
The Trooper
Wasted Years
The Number Of The Beast
Can I Play With Madness
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Powerslave
Heaven Can Wait
Run To The Hills
Fear Of The Dark
Iron Maiden
Moonchild
The Clairvoyant
Hallowed Be Thy Name

This is a nice set as they are only playing stuff from the 80's, with the exeption of 'Fear Of The Dark' Iron Maiden are one of my fav bands but you will get this same set list wherever you see them, 2 night stint or at a single show. It's not a long set either to be honest.

My point is that at least there is some variation from BJ. The downside however is that there is no guarentee what set you will see from BJ. It could be routine or you just may be lucky. I think I would rather have the chance to be at that lucky show than to have exactly the same set every night.

I do like the way Iron Maiden just say **** it we are playing songs only from the 80's like it or lump it. Would BJ ever do that rather than trying to please everyone. Maybe it's time to think of the die hard fans.

I think all BJ have to do is dust off a couple of songs not played for a while like:

Homebound Train
I Believe
Hey God
Next 100 Years

If they made those songs a standard part of this tours set list who would complain. They could leave out:

Raise Your Hands - Heard this every tour now since 2001
Born To Be My Baby - Heard this every tour now since 2000
Runaway - Great song but maybe not at every show
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead - Heard this every tour now since 1993

This would make sense I think.

I think overall im pleased with the jovi setlists.. The problem with a band as big as bon jovi is.. they have waaaaaaay too many songs out there to play them all live.. they tour new cds so they play a good amount of the new songs on the current tour which takes away from older songs they could play. Ive been lucky enough to hear the songs i really want to hear when they come to my town.
there was a discussion about htis a few weeks ago, i DO think they should start swapping out sleep when im dead for blame it on the love.. that would be cool to hear every now and then. Other than that, they play the hits. for the new fans and the old, and they do their share of changing the setlist

I think this is a debate that can never end, and happens on almost every artist's boards. Hell, we have a HUGE topic going about this on the Billy Joel boards I'm on. The bottom line is that Jovi is middle of the road here. They change their sets more than a lot of other acts (Hell Joel plays the same show, minute for minute, every night for about a year) but for every Billy Joel and Iron Maiden that don't change, you've got Bruce and and Pearl Jam who pull out different sets a lot, and people always compare to that minority. Bon Jovi is about on par with U2 as far as set changes in that there seem to be several set sets of songs, and then a few interchangables. I also think some people here don't want variety, as much as they want to hear their favorite songs. Hell, setlist wise, they change up more now than they did on the TD, yet because those shows were so damn good. And honestly, if they played Dry County, Hey God, WITW, and I Believe every night in the exact same order, people would love it. And there's nothing wrong with that, but I hate that it gets masked as wanting variety. Hell, I wish they'd play 5 or 6 different songs every night, but I also understand that 80-90% of people at concerts want hits, combined with them pushing a new album. Funnily enough, I actually think a future GH Tour would delve deeper into the back catalogue than any tour in support of an album.

Aloha !

The big difference with a lot of bands that play the same set every tour is that they change the core of their set every tour. And I know, all bands have their standard 5 or 10 songs that appear every night.

The thing with Bon Jovi is that they have a core of 15 songs that appear almost every night and make smaller hits like I'll Sleep When I'm Dead or Born To Be My Baby regular songs. Also, if on a tour song x is played 15 times and song y is played 15 times, it's safe to assume that you'll either get one of those 2, thus making both of them a regular.

Besides playing those 15 songs, they play 5 or 6 new songs and 2 album cuts like Bounce, Radio or Capt. Crash, a few covers, and there's your Bon Jovi setlist.

If Wild In The Streets, a song that has been played for 20 years now, replaces Runaway, that's not variation. When you can predict which song will replace which song, that's not variation. Just because you change a song doesn't mean it's real variation. Variation means that no Bon Jovi show, besides the 10 standard songs, is the same, and that Bad Name isn't always in the second slot. Beisde that, they have been playing the same big hits for 10 years now, and the same big hits have been lacking. Always, This Ain't A Love Song, Dry County, I Believe, Something For The Pain, Lie To Me all have been big hits in Europe, yet tour after tour Jon keeps playing Born To Be My Baby and Raise Your Hands.

This setlist has been the same for 8 years now, and with every tour the more rocking tunes disappear, and less fan favourites show up. And this is why a Bon Jovi set is far from spontaneous, lacks real variation and is not as surprising as they try to make it look like.

Many bands keep the same set on tour, and rarely change in on tour, but before a tour starts those same bands start to think about which song from which certain album should be brought back to life. When a tour from Bon Jovi starts, Jon starts to think which songs they played last tour so he remembers them this time and doesn't have to rehearse them. Big difference.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Look at Prince, i went to a few shows on his 21 night residency last summer, and although it was billed as 'the last time he will play his greatest hits' each show's set was different, with rare gems and medleys thrown in everywhere.
With him you get the feeling that no song is protected, any song can be replaced.
It makes it all the more exciting for the punter, and with the amount of material that Bon Jovi have they really have no excuse for not expanding thier options a bit more.
I mean c'mon, Prayer, Bad Name, Its My Life, & Wanted are surely the only tracks that NEED to be played, that leaves 14-20-ish songs to play around with.
I wish they would respect the long-term fans and mix it up a bit (never going to happen).

Aloha !

Yet they play the same ones every tour.

Then would it hurt if Bon Jovi played This Ain't A Love Song instead of I'll Be There For You? This Ain't A Love Song was a far bigger hit in Europe then I'll Be There For You was. A Bon Jovi show can be filled with hits and yet be completely different than last tour.

Here's an example of last night's show at Pittsburgh:

1. Lost Highway
2. You Give Love A Bad Name
3. Raise Your Hands
4. Runaway
5. Bounce
6. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
~ Jumpin' Jack Flash
7. The Radio Saved My Life Tonight
8. In These Arms
9. Knockin' On Heaven's Door (acoustic)
10. Blaze Of Glory
11. Whole Lot Of Leavin'
12. Born To Be My Baby
13. We Got It Going On
14. It's My Life
15. Bad Medicine
~ Shout
16. I'll Be There For You (Richie Sambora on lead vocals)
17. (You Want To) Make A Memory
18. Bed Of Roses (This Left Feels Right version)
19. Who Says You Can't Go Home
20. Have A Nice Day
21. Keep The Faith
22. Livin' On A Prayer

Encore:
23. Wanted Dead Or Alive
24. I Love This Town

Now here's the same set with some replacements and Bad Name in another slot:

1. Lost Highway
2. Hey God
3. 99 In The Shade
4. In & Out Of Love
5. Blood On Blood
6. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
~ Glory Days
7. Garageland
8. In These Arms
9. Blood Money
10. Blaze Of Glory
11. Whole Lot Of Leavin'
12. You Give Love A Bad Name
13. We Got It Going On
14. It's My Life
15. Bad Medicine
~ Gloria
16. Stranger In This Town
17. (You Want To) Make A Memory
18. I'll Be There For You (acoustic)
19. Who Says You Can't Go Home
20. Have A Nice Day
21. Keep The Faith
22. Livin' On A Prayer

Encore:
23. Wanted Dead Or Alive
24. I Love This Town

Both sets have exactly the same amount of hits, yet the second set is surprising, has gems in it and looks fresh. And that's the big difference. Out of every Bon Jovi show over 70% of the set is lacking spontanity. Sure, during Born To Be My Baby Jon smiles, laughs, waves and dances, but he's done that for 8 years now. Time for a change.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

If you think about it, the band have played over 60 different songs on this tour thus far. Of course, some of them are covers. But also, that's without the likes of Always, Hey God, I Believe, Dry County, In & Out Of Love, This Ain't A Love Song, One Wild Night etc...

So imo, there really is no excuse (apart from those songs which are now difficult for Jon to sing). They need to one day (preferably before this Tour hits Europe) all sit down, take a good look at their back-catalogue and realise that there's still a way to make a show more magical without using Dry County (if they don't wanna use this song anymore).

In reality, they still have time to make these future shows more memorable than 2006 or 2003. Question is, have they got the guts to take up this Challenge?

Holly shit dammit there's just about a week left before I see Iron Maiden!!!!!!!
I'm ****ing psyched!!!!

If you look at Maiden´s set list from 2007 tour and 2008 tour, there´s not that many same songs.

IM2007

Different World
These Colours Don't Run
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
Wrathchild
The Trooper
Children of The Damned
The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
For The Greater Good of God
The Number of The Beast
Fear of The Dark
Run To The Hills
Iron Maiden
2 Minutes To Midnight
The Evil That Men Do
Hallowed Be Thy Name

And if you compare set lists from Bon Jovi´s HAND tour and the current one, well, let´s say I prefer the way Iron Maiden does it. At least they change the list a lot from tour to tour.