Dave's Detroit Review
 

Bon Jovi
July 7th, 2008
Palace at Auburn Hills, Detroit, Michigan, USA

***If you only want to read the concert review scroll down to “CONCERT REVIEW”, otherwise feel free to enjoy, or despise my completely verbose ramblings.

***There are some pics at the bottom of the entire review.

Well, kids, it’s been almost 2 years since Julie and I saw Bon Jovi live. And even longer (almost 5 years) since I was inspired to write any kind of review for a show. I am resisting the urge to read other people’s reviews of the show till after I finish mine.

To start at the beginning, we had seen Bon Jovi live about 50 times from 2000-2004 and pretty much loved every minute of it. Sure there were some shit shows (Cincinnati ’03), but not many and they were certainly balanced out by the fantastic shows (Grand Rapids ’01, Chicago ’03). The release of “This Left” frankly left us uninterested after the initial novelty wore off and when “HAND” arrived, despite a few great tunes it didn’t seem to have the same luster and fun of earlier albums or even of the early release of HAND that we had been listening to for a while. We did see a concert for each of these CDs and both were mixed experiences for us. I enjoyed the Borgata Left show and found some respect for an album I basically hated, while Julie loved only the acoustic catalog tunes and the new tracks and covers that weren’t “Left” Julie loved the HAND show and fell in love with Nickelback as an opener, subsequently buying all their CDs and collecting a few live shows as well. I loved the first half but unfortunately our son suffered from heat exhaustion and I spent the second half of the show with him in first aid cooling off.
While the box set was fun, it certainly wasn’t going to inspire a tour and most of those songs were left off of albums because while fun to listen to once or twice, they overall are not top 10 singles of typical Jovi caliber. The release of Lost Highway with it’s much proclaimed “Nashville influence” was not a cause for celebration at our house. While I had heard some snippets much prior to release (in fact I am pretty sure there are other complete tunes from these sessions in the Jovi vault), the novelty quickly wore off and despite the fact that we wanted a new Bon Jovi album to love, this just wasn’t it.
When tour time rolled around we decided not to go see them for this tour. I had just started a new company which was very time consuming, my father was very ill and hearing the reviews and recordings of the “special” Newark run of shows convinced us that Bon Jovi had lost the “magic” both in songwriting and performance. Better for us to remember them as they were than as sad money grubbing caricatures.
Well of course things change J
The US tour featured really very little that seemed special from reading reviews on the Bon Jovi boards, but despite being resigned to having only memories of “Bon Jovi – The Great” we kept reading reviews and message boards hoping for some glint of the former glory. The European tour reviews were awesome, lots of rare songs and stunning performances and miraculously Jon had a voice again. When the last few US shows were announced we decided on Detroit because geographically it is close enough to drive there and back on the day of show. Our hopes were high and we got tickets quickly.
I had never used Stubhub before but it was a decent experience, they are very good at communication, though the fees are a bit steep, but if you are going to use a scalper, I guess use a good one.

There wasn’t much of a wait for our show but we read the reviews of the previous nights show in Canada with baited breath. OHHH, grimace, shudder, wince…
We have seen Jon have a bad night before, sometimes something that isn’t that noticeable to the audience can instantly change a great show to a palpable, grueling chore.
There were all kinds of excuses and speculation as to the cause of the abbreviated lack-luster show. The six most likely candidates are provided here:
1.) Giant hordes of man-eating insects (Jon probably avoids DET due to his allergies, and the venue certainly was aware of the infestation on their own grounds and should have taken care of the situation before it became a problem for paying customers, it’s not in Bon Jovi’s contract to bring along an exterminator and it is contractually the venues responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace for performers.)
2.) A last minute key change Jon decided on to help preserve his voice for an upcoming DVD filming, but forgot to confirm with his band.
3.) Aggravation at Richie’s sinus infection for jeopardizing the same DVD filming
4.) Bad sushi
5.) Realization that now that Bobby wears lifts in his shoes, Jon is once again the shortest person on stage (Tico gets extra height as a synergy bonus for his advanced skill in overall coolness)
6.) Internalized rage at Nikki Sixx for not only owning the masters to their own music but also for outing Jon as a patron of prostitutes and a cock blocker on page 127 of his engrossing though pricey (about 30 bucks I think) book “The Heroin Diaries”.

General consensus amongst fans who saw the show was that it was short, and plain vanilla. Consensus amongst internet pundits of Jovi tripe was that they were saving themselves for Central Park.

7/7/08 – pre show
Julie and I opted to rent a car for this show as our trucks are gas/diesel hogs.
We stop around noon at Enterprise and rent a Nissan Sentra which is pretty comfortable and gets great mileage (at 4 hours each way gas mileage was important), on the way home from Enterprise the car’s idiot light for brake problems comes on, then off, then on again. Well back to Enterprise where they switch us out to a Chevy Cobalt which is actually an anagram for the original moniker which was too long for the chrome trunk badge – Crush Or Bruise All Ligaments and Tendons. I kid you not, my F350 7.3L Turbo Diesel rides like the massage of a thousand nubile concubines compared to the brutality of that 4 wheeled little pugilist. And of course I didn’t realize how badly it was beating my body till I entered the exquisite construction and detour zones of Detroit. I was bounced worse than a half dressed Hilton sister from a royal wedding reception.
But I digress…
As I get older I am more anal retentive about planning for things like this little trip. I am surprised that Julie puts up with me J

I actually made a packing list……to see a concert…..I am loosing it, clearly.

 2 bon jovi tickets (OK important not to leave them on the desk)
 REDACTED
 charger cable (for recorder, maybe not necessary but you never know)
 usb adapter (as above)
 microdrive (memory card hard drive for recorder, it’s in the recorder I can’t forget it)
 microphones
 battery box ( for microphones, always with them)
 fanny pack (for my junk)
 REDACTED
 2 SDHC cards (for camcorder 16 gigs each for @1.5 hours of HD video each)
 extra battery for camcorder
 Garmin (saves my life and more time than I ever imagined, inventor should get Nobel Peace Prize for preventing more spousal arguments than anything else, ever!!)
 printed mapquest directions (Garmin might die)
 stubhub printout (in case of ticket problems)
 laptop (in case Julie can’t sleep on the way home we can do review)
 laptop charger (long review, more power)
 briefcase (gotta stuff all this crap in something)
 cell phone (ET phone home, rent it today on DVD or Blue-Ray disc)
 extra battery
 power converter (so car can charge any of this junk)
 2 pillows (nappy time)
 blanket (lullaby, and goodnight…..sing it people, nobody can hear you)
 notepad with pen
 2 towels (afraid it would rain and it did)
 sacrificial SD card (in case security says we cant record and wants to take the card, a bit of slight of hand and the security goon gets a 16Meg card that has been in the junk drawer for 2 years instead of a 16Gig card that is kinda expensive and loaded with Jovi)
 baseball cap
 extra T-shirts (again in case it rains)
 evening medicine (damn diabetes)
 lantus (double damn diabetes)
 2 syringes (triple damn)
 cooler ( for water and medicine)
 snacks (chips, trail mix, jerky)
 4 frappacinos
 10 bottled waters
 extra battery pack for microtrack (in case internal dies, which it did)
 2 iPods (his and hers, silly right?)
 Digital camera (cause we aren’t taking enough stuff already)

Pretty pathetic eh? All that technology and wires it looked like a lunar landing mission not a concert J

Anyway we loaded the car, grabbed some cash for parking from the ATM, a little lunch from Taco Bell and we are finally on our way. The actual trip was pretty uneventful, a little construction but nothing serious. Parking at the venue was $15.00, but our tolltaker said we could park free if we could sing Michigan fight song (we are from Ohio and huge Buckeyes fans <as all right thinking humans should be, dammit>), I managed to hum a few bars of the Michigan State fight song but had to pay the toll J We consolidate the gear we are taking in and head for the gates.

Right outside the venue there are a lot of people handing out what looks like some sort of pass on a lanyard. As we approach the girl tells me to take a bunch, give them to friends who couldn’t come. She handed me four of them. It turns out to be a slick ad for Saturn cars. <pic below>

***DVD ALERT***The signs inside the doors say they are taping all remaining tour dates to use as possible B-roll footage for an upcoming possible DVD release.

**VENUE SECURITY**
Once inside the building we walked to the lines of people going through the security checkpoint. A few of the security personnel were saying “please have your bags open” as they waved people past to the ticket scanners, but in general if you didn’t appear to have anything dangerous on your person they passed you right through with you cameras, camcorders, whatever.

***MERCHANDISE***
We decided to get our swag first and Julie picked out a couple of shirts and a tour book, total tab $170.00. All of the shirts are $40.00 except the sports jerseys, hoodies and collared shirts which are $100.00, tour books and bandannas are $30.00, they had other stuff but it was so crowded we couldn’t see. They do take credit cards so you don’t have to take a wad of cash with you. < PICS BELOW>

We quickly found our seats and had a quick hotdog (note to self, $4.00 hotdog tastes like $ .30 hotdog from grocery store) before the openers, All American Rejects, came on. We met another nice couple from Ohio (hi Joe and Lynn), who weren’t diehards but were celebrating their 2nd wedding anniversary at the concert, they seemed to really enjoy themselves and liked AAR as well. Our seatmates on the other side were a trio of young girls who made a total of 5 beer runs AFTER the initial beer seating J. In a particularly funny (for me) moment, at the end of the concert everybody was taking pictures with everybody else and Joe told the young beer-fetcher (who had her butt inches from all of our faces on each and every beer run, due to the tight seating) in a jocular tone “if you turn around I can take a picture of your butt. Well since everyone is deaf from the crowd noise (no peeking ahead I’ll get to the review in due course) she can’t understand him and answers “ you can’t grab my ass” Joe is obviously slightly amused and a little embarrassed (his college graduate children are older than she is and he is just joking around) and tries again “I could take a picture of your butt” again not hearing and obviously a tiny bit creeped out she asserted “ you can’t grab my butt either” Joe hung his head in defeat and gave up trying to yell loud enough to be heard. I couldn’t stop laughing J

**CONCERT REVIEW**
Onto the main event – we have seen Bon Jovi in Michigan a number of times and they have always been special shows in one way or another; Auburn Hills 2000 got “Damned” for the only time that tour. In 2001 Grand Rapids got the greatest show of this decade (link here), and Detroit got a 2 night onslaught later the same year, and the Comerica Park stadium show in 2003 was an unprecedented success with the inclusion of the Goo Goo Dolls and Sheryl Crow.

All American Rejects played their set to a very sparse crowd. There was a banner hanging from the ceiling of the arena that said BON JOVI SOLD OUT 11 TIMES, but as the openers played I thought there was no way this was a sell out it was 75% empty floor to roof. AAR were pretty good, I don’t know any of their songs but the crowd seemed to like them. They were definitely high energy and almost seemed desperate to get a positive response from the audience. At several points the banter onstage went like this
Singer: “ how ya doin De—Troooit?!”
crowd: wooooooo..
Singer: “ how ya doing’ for BON!! JOVI!!! DE!! TROIT!!!!?
Crowd: <maniacal apeshit cheering>

They have more energy can possibly healthy for humans, I pulled a muscle just watching their antics. The singer can sing, but seemed to have a bit of trouble keeping the other guys on pitch for the harmony bits. There were at least 50 cell phones recording video throughout the AAR set, check a youtube near you for more details.
They did announce they were playing a new song from their forthcoming album, which also seemed to get good response. Joe really liked the band.
It seemed like they played a longer set than most openers I have seen for the Jovi’s, maybe 10 tunes. Very talented keyboard player. They complemented Bon Jovi lots of times.

There was an ad to text message a song request on the large video screen prior to the Jovi’s taking the stage.

Lost Highway – started kind of slowly like the band was waiting on Jon to come out, band sounded good and tight.
Four smaller video screens with one huge screen above them.
Jon: black leather open front jacket with designs all over it in black, black jeans, black takamine with initials
Richie: black shirt, button front open, black sparkly vest with tails, multiple necklaces, sunglasses, black and white sambora lumpy guitar 2 buckers and a trem, corded, black jeans.
Dave: jeans and a black leather suit jacket with large Canadian maple leaf on back (I think) 3 banks to the right and 2 to the left, he also spits off the back of the stage constantly J
Lorenza: black, black, silver belts, violin
Tico: covered in cool, hiding behind Pearl skins with “HITMAN” in heart and dagger logo, he has a very short haircut now. Sideburns daring all near to question his authority at their own risk, gloves
Hugh: all black, shades, Sadowsky, P bass, orange Gatorade and 2 kinds of bottled water at his back
Bobby: all black like his idol Hugh J, pearl shaped axe black and white, nearly as ugly as richie’s.

Born To Be My Baby – crowd is really fired up and into it, this is gonna be a good show I think. Even the people behind the stage are dancing. Lights projected from below the rear stage make cool designs and the reflective surface of stage reflects the video from above.
Smokin’ Solo by Richie, damned ugly guitar, but it sings. Jon is lit so brightly that he looks a little pale or washed out..

You Give Love A Bad Name –

Summertime –

Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen From Mars – Richie Blond strat tortoise guard, 2 hummers, entire audience is into this song swinging back and forth all the way up into the balcony, a great crowd favorite despite diehards protests.

Runaway – once upon a time Waaaay back in 1983!
Crowd is nuts from the first keyboard lick, great mix of guitar and keys, richie’s cord keeps getting stuck on his pedal board, Tico, Hugh and Bobby are having a conversation throughout song and laughing, jon seems inspired and on fire, whatever happened North of the border didn’t seem to follow them to “that state up North”
Great guitar tone for the solo, and not the standard solo, ad libbing, hell yeah!!!!
Jon on Black Tele gold hardware and plays the outro solo SWEEEEET!! Richie is singing with gusto
Jon makes guitar god faces during his solo

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead – cool video work on screens whole crowd is clapping with intro, it’s ****in’ LOUD in here. Singin’ the Oh Yeahs
Jon and Richie together at the mic
Richie dark blond 335 Gibson, lorenza on stage, at some point Dave lost the jacket but has long sleeved brown shirt on, Jon tele still,
Tasty key licks in break, guys keep poppig up in the middle of the stage from the rear.
Jon does his boogaloo shoes dance and claims to have a pocket full of quarters and a jukebox full of hits and then asks the band what to play and then asks them if they are gonna play in his key tonight (!!!) starts to laugh into

Twist and Shout – spirited, crowd loves it, richie is chewing gum and jon is doing spirit fingers then he points at Bobby, then asks all the band members individually if they have a song for him then calls Bobby down to the front of the stage and calls him a Brian Jones Lookin Mother****er and Bobby kneels down with his guitar and starts to play

Start Me Up – jon does all the jagger dances he is on FIRE tonight and seems to be having a great time, does a jagger impression while singing, really nice, richie walks to the edge of the stage to slap hands with a bunch of fans

Sleep reprise – they finish it up, Jon is having problems with his in ear system I think, he has his eyes closed a lot and keeps looking down into the pit on stage
Great camera work, Jon plays the outro solo on this one too then he and Ricie cut some heads DAMN this is pretty impressive 2 JON SOLOs both good in one show

Whole Lot of Leavin’ - it starts quietly but it looks like tico is hitting every drum in the set, but the mix doesn’t let it through
Bobby grabbed an Ovation blonde 6, much more violin in this one but it’s not obnoxious really
Richie on a les Jr. dark cherry burst
PAFs seem a weird mix for this tune but it works nicely, jon back on takamine
Oh shit now I get it the Jr cuts like a plasma torch through the mix at the solo
Cameras going off like mortar shells in here its so bright Jon is still lit up with all the lights out, strange screen graphics, the seats are still mostly full, very little beer running
As dave’s hair gets wet he almost looks like he has dreads, maybe the next album will be reggae influenced

Ill Be There For You (Richie Vocal – Jon says: song we’re gonna do for you called IBTFY, Jon and Richie do the beginning guitar part together, then as Richie walks away Jons says “come on Rich Sing to me” and Richie comes back over and starts to sing while Jon plays guitar, acoustic, for the whole song not leaving the stage. Gold sparkly strat with white pickguard, jumbo headstock, richie sounds good, I guess whatever vocal problems he had are gone. Crowd is singing along word for word. Dave and Lorenza are goofing off
Dave nailed the first part and they had his mic turned on in time too !!!!!!
Crowd does the scream
Jon is singing without a mic pointing to people up in the balconies
Solo is subtle not brassy, , a little extra lick
Second Dave part the board turned him up too slow, I bet they run a pitch corrector and turn him up slow to give it a chance to lock if he is off a bit, just a guess
Richie black cowboy hat, richie improv vocals, audience singing and waving their arms
Daves shirt has sparkles on the back
Bobby takes the outro solo, he is making guitar god faces and the tone is shreddin, another ass-ugly guitar that sounds good (still the egg thing), very long outro solo, nice and displays more lead ability than I have heard Bobby do before, he is shimmying across the stage towards jon and richie past hugh
Hughs cabinets are Ampeg
Jon and richie finish at center bumping shoulders with big smiles

Any Other Day - not a song I have listened to much but crowd doesn’t seem to realize it’s not off of slippery J I like this a lot better than the album, subtle instrumentation
Jon is play acting the lyrics, nice vocal blend, Dave is doubling jon on the whole thing it looks like
That solo isn’t from the album, very nice
Violin solo is actually good, more nice guitar and BIGGGG KEYS alright, love a nice honky tonk organ sound
Oh shit Jon pulled out his monitors and threw them down the pit
But he is dancing again and applauding the band

Cliché #1 how we doin so far, OK, were just getting warmed up time to kick this in to gear (triple cliché’)

We Got It Goin’ On – wow crazy stage lights and a bangin mix, Jon is dancing on the back of the stage across form chicks behind the stage
Richie silver les paul type but different headstock not a gibby looks metal but not like dobro
Dave belts out his line
Richie cranks his too
Jon gets the crowd to scream
Nice solo, funky tone
Oh shit Richies voice just cracked bigtime on his second shout out
Bobby black strat

It’s My Life – audience singin really loud, richie back to lumpy creature, huge stage lights are like the bands of a parametric graphic EQ, very cool
Dave is making faces at people in the audience
Richie isn’t singing much, tico looks bored, ok pretty cookie cutter but the crowd loves it

Keep the Faith – yeah I love this song Jon is jumping around a lot tonight cool guitar sound not sure which guy it is almost a honk sound
Jon sounds strong
Richie went out to the wing on his side to play a great solo somebody held up a sign that said “you rock this Dog” and girls held out roses to him
Not the big bang boom version but good a great mix of jon s voice and richies plaintive wailing, the onstage lights simulate fireworks too cool Richie ran out on the bobby side wing for the second solo he is full of energy
Gorgeous performance

These Days (richie vocal) – Jon asked Richie if he wants to sing and he says he will try and then tells us he apologizes for having a sinus infection and that he is gonna play these days. natural tele so far he sounds fine but is changing the melody to stay lower oooh a few cracks the chorus is kicking his ass, dave is helping but richie sounds like he is in pain on the choruses, nice vocal lines in the verses
Argh violin solo, but I don’t hate it that much , ohh she flatted a note
Richie just nodded for lorenza to come down with him his fingers certainly don’t have a cold he is jammin’ the duet works for me

You Want To Make a Memory – my favorite from the album, but kinda dull live till the solo, Jon is on a small side stage surrounded by women and their cameras, jon takamine, richie yellow strat
Dave sang the outro descant voice with lorenza, no richie

Bed of Roses – Jon still on small stage no guitar, regular version, no left, richie tobacco burst strat, dave seated for the first time all show, small stage is mobbed but security is in there, jon white very short sleeved v neck tee with tats showing, a black suit vest over unbuttoned, now he is singing to someone, big smiles from jon as he starts touching hands and then kisses a woman, there is a frenzy now, more hand touching and high fives for the guys, a girl is playing with his butt, now for the solo he pulled up a girl in a purple top to dance and kiss then he swatted her ass and motioned for her to get back in the pit, kneels down to touch more people, really good vocals especially for all the motion, now down to the crowd heading for stage going very slow touching everyone maybe 150-200 people total another kiss, he looks spent now, but the fans are loving every second flawless vocal really flawless.

Have a Nice Day – yeah!!!! My live fave from HAND richie doubleneck tele, assorted happy and pissed smilies onscreen, jon’s dancing but he looks visibly tired like BOR kicked his ass vocally, he bows to richie at the solo and goes to the magic cup, phenomenal show so far

Who Says You Can’t Go Home – it’s alright, richie is playing a beautiful figured cherry sunburst music man lookin’ axe with an ESP paul style headstock trem, richie is smiling like it’s the eighties and they are singing together at center mic now add lorenza to that mic
Richie is acting like he is trying to knock her over
Too many “it’s alrights” for me, stop already, please
Damn crowd loves it though

Bad Medicine – great lights, girlie silhouettes onscreen, jon wiggles pelvis, girls scream
Jon touches more audience and runs out on ramp to touch hordes more, jon wiggles ass girls scream, super tone for solo, new jon dance no better than any of previous dances J
More ass wiggling and obligatory screams, jon makes the “what can I do” gestures, are you still with me out there?

Shout – not a surprise but new twist to the beginning

Encore Break

Wanted Dead or Alive – richie taylor double neck, jon pale blue short sleeve shirt, rich hat and black sleeveless Tee with “blessed” on front and sequin celtic cross on back, jon takamine, dave black t-shirt with sequin pistols and skull on front, jon looks slow and relaxed, audience sings at the wrong spot as always, richie sings pretty nice, solo on lumpy, everybody is smiling, traditional center stage ending but richie is stuck on his pedal board and has to jerk on the cable with his hand, triumphant fists in the air and then jon bumps fists with richie

Livin On a Prayer – Jon solo start, flashbulb madness, audience is louder than jon by the first oh-oh,
Keys a little quiet, guitar too
Richie changes the talkbox part, extra syncopation, nice, jon is singing kinda ?lazy? directing the audience who are belting it out
Jon is doing slow motion karate moves and letting the audience do all the heavy lifting
He belted out the last line before the solo, now it’s sambora time
Jon only sang about 8 words total after the solo he looks happy but tired
They are bowing it must be over
all seven bow then just the four

Kinda short I guess but high energy and a great show

I think I have figured out my problem with Bon Jovi – it’s overdose. While this setlist was nothing along the lines of the European sets the show kicked major ass and I had a great time. If I only see one show a tour I bet they will all be great, just too much familiarity breeds contempt.

And I realize the US will never get shows like Europe as different songs were the big hits in each area. It would be downright stupid to play an all rarities setlist for a US crowd, they would hate it and not come the following tour.

If he does nothing else perfectly Jon knows his audience. You cater to the adoring masses not the bitching few who will still spend the dollars while bitching.

A few thoughts on the DVD and next few shows.
I am betting they will play a setlist very similar to this but a bit longer both nights at MSG with this core setlist being the planned DVD. Richie wants 2 bon jovi songs he does well on there to help inspire new (not hardcore) fans to give his new solo effort a listen without assuming it is a “guitar album” by that bon jovi guitarist.

I hope I am wrong and the coming days bring a string of the obscure but my gut says it’s time for final honing to try to produce the live album the band and fans have always wanted and never gotten.
Also I am laying even odds the DVD is never released, Jon is a perfectionist and has filmed and recorded lots of shows with release intentions none of which matured.

Ok I am done, I have it on good authority that a nice fan recording of this will surface soon, so keep your eyes on the change.

Dave

nice review! long but detailed , i liked it :D

Nice review.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it.

This alone is enough for depression but unfortunately I agree with you.

I'm glad you enjoyed the show Dave - as I was watching the setlist last night i figured that you must have been really pissed to have driven all that way (not to mention the HD camera) for a plain vanilla show. As you say - perception is everything and you have had a break.

Awesome review! How do you remember all that info?!

Thanks for the great read!

He has to take notes - it's the only explanation (other than a better brain retention rate than mine LOL)

BTW Dave - did you have to write in black on grey? It's damn hard on the eyes. When I first saw it (before reading) I thought you had composed a eulogy for Bon Jovi :(.