The Unpredictable Tour 2008!!!!!!!!!
 

OK, it is clear now that the band are shaking it up and changing songs around more time than on any post 2000 tour.

Jon is singing better now than on any post 2000 tour.

So for those of us that have been whinging for years about the boring set lists we need to shut up for a bit - yes, some of the songs that have come in would not be the ones we would like (Misunderstood, for example) - but you can't have everything.

The bottom line at the moment is that this has got to be the most exciting Bon Jovi tour since the 'These Days' tour.

HOWEVER (and there is always a 'but') :

Because Jon has raised the bar with 'OWN', 'Always', 'Hey God' etc etc anyone who goes to a show and doesn't get a rarity or gets a bog standard set list is going to be mightily hacked off.
It makes me wonder why the band look at certain towns / cities / shows and characterises them as 'special' and therefore worth interesting choices or 'normal' and only worthy of the normal set. I haven't managed to spot a pattern as to the choices yet, has anyone else?

Jon reads backstage sometimes, he made that clear in an online chat, and I think they might be changing it because so many people starting complaining on the boards that the setlists are starting to get boring or all the same, and some were getting shorter. I don't think he picks which towns are more special, I think he's been reading.
He might decide the lists by the crowd. I know in Las Vegas he ended the show early and I have a feeling it was because half the people in section B on the floor were all sitting down.
In Denver someone held a sign asking him to play a song and he all the sudden said something like "Were going to play _____ since she held up that sign asking"
Who knows what's going on, I'm happy, I just wish they could have played One Wild Night and Always at the shows I've been. But theres always MSG both nights! :)

I noticed a pattern since the last tour. The crowd i say most of the time has a lot to do with it. During the Have a Nice Day tour in Dallas last year they played about four more songs than they did in Houston. Now I was only at the Houston show, but the only difference I know of besides crowd noise, is that Dallas was SOLD OUT.

During this tour, I saw them in Dallas. It was one of the loudest shows I have ever been too, and Jon mentioned it was SOLD OUT, we got a rarity or two. Nothing too much to bark at, but we did get 26 songs. While, the next night, I went to OK City for the show, the crowd was quieter, you could see seats still opened in the stadium, and Jon only changed up 2 songs. Thats it. And OK City only got a total of 22 songs that night. So I think it's obvious, that the crowds have a lot to do with it.

The Kansas City shows 1 and 2, both SOLD OUT. Hmmmm.

Not to mention the band's almost in Europe, where we have more broad tastes; different stuff is always played over here. They might be practising for the Euro shows.

I like that idea ;)

Quite... A few songs off These Days, Always was a big hit in the UK....

Always was a big hit everywere.

Yes it was - even here in the "tasteless" US.

I can only hope that some of this kickass stuff will come home to MSG :)

I like to be optimistic - but we've basically had a show with 1 rarity, and then another with the same + 2 more - and people are expecting this trend to continue? Obviously, I hope that it does, very much so - but look at every other setlist recently before expecting anything great like this to continue.

Pffft, there's always (hoho) one that brings little things like facts into it!