So what's the verdict on the new songs?
 

Aloha !

They've played 5 of them almost every night now, and we've heard live versions of Bullet and Happy Now. According to Jon this record was meant to be played live, and there'd be full album nights because this album would be fantastic live and more of that talk.

We Weren't Born To Follow;
Not a very good studio track, and the live version doesn't make it a lot better either. It lacks power and it never became a big hit, so why even bother playing it live when there's album cuts that are better songs?

When We Were Beautiful;
I know many of you love the song, but to me it's very boring live. It sucks the energy out of the show and there's nothing "atmospheric" about it, even though they appearantly try very hard. When the songs finished there's just this silence on most recordings I've heard, because they've really lost the crowd on that one.

Work For The Working Man;
I've read some reviews from people saying how the visuals made it better, but to me the visuals add nothing but cheesy images. Sure, they look good, but it's been done before. The song still sucks, the meeeheeeeyn is still awful and it once again lacks punch. Also, the part where Hugh, Richie, Jon and Bobby come together looks awfully choreographed.

Superman Tonight;
One of the first songs that works better live than on the studio track but I still think it's a terrible song. Jon admitted recently that the radio didn't pick this up and neither does the crowd. It does get one of the better crowd reactions, but it's not a killer live track or anything. I remember many people saying that this song would be huge live, well, it isn't.

Bullet;
It's been played live only 2 times and although it sounded better than I imagined Jon struggled with the song the first time, even though it's piss-easy to sing. There's no need to use the maracas on this one and it doesn't work live. Too many tempo changes and Bon Jovi hasn't been good with that since 2000.

Thorn In My Side;
The biggest surprise of the album. They really took this one to another level, this almost sounds like a rocker of the good old days. Almost, because it's anything but. Yet the end solo where both Jon and Richie take lead and do a dual solo is something they have never done before if I remember correctly, and it surprised me that Jon decided to take this one out of the set.

Love's The Only Rule;
Could've been way bigger had the chorus been higher and the "oh-oh-oh-oh's" had been higher. In the end Jon tries to get the audience involved (even let some people in the crowd sing it, who'd have thought Jon would ever do that?), but no real reply. It's nowhere as loud as it should be because there's just not enough energy in it. Still, together with Thorn In My Side these 2 songs work live.

BrokenPromiseland;
Like expected, they'd perform what fans would consider the best song the least amount of times. It's not really a shame, Jon struggled with the chorus and it kinda dragged a bit.

That's 8 songs they've performed live and only 2 of them really work, of which 1 really is better than the studio version. I do think Jon knows because there have been zero full album nights, and crowd response has been weak compared to songs like Story Of My Life, Have A Nice Day, The Distance or Bounce. As proud as they might be of When We Were Beautiful; it sucks live. Unlike previous albums (Yes, even Lost Highway) There's no killer live track on this album, and I honestly wonder if anyone really thinks that this album is an album that should be played in full. For an album that was supposed to be awesome live it really sucks, half of Lost Highway worked a lot better live than these "rock" songs on The Circle.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I've already posted what I think on Matrix's topic about whether the live versions are better than the studio versions.

http://www.drycounty.com/jovitalk/sh...ad.php?t=50552

I think they're still very much finding their feet with the new stuff and all of it has the potential to be great but they need to work on stuff to get it properly nailed. A lot of it is about becoming comfortable with the tracks and you can see how they're really growing into some of the more regular ones with each passing show.

'Thorn In My Side' was ALWAYS going to work live. It's catchy and the quiet intro means that once the drums, bass and distorted guitars kick in, it grabs the attention of everyone in the arena. We've seen a similar reaction to the track when we've covered it and people have even commented about how good that specific track is after our gigs. It's a belter live and I love the outro solo even if it is pretty basic. It's the showmanship that steps the song up a notch.

'Superman Tonight,' as I mentioned in the other thread, has the potential to be brilliant but they've still got to fine tune a few things and that's the case with a number of other tracks you mentioned as well. I honestly believe that they'll be very well received by the time they get over to Europe and that will give the band the confidence to make the songs feel more organic in a live setting and shake off some of the 'stiffness' they have at the moment.

My favourite is Happy Now :D this comes across really well and heartfelt.

Love's The Only Rule love it live

When We Were Beautiful I like this on the record and live Jon puts a lot of emotion into the live performance.

We Weren't Born To Follow its an ok track

Work For The Working Man really dont like this as a single or live, just doesnt work.

Superman Tonight its not huge, but still enjoy listening to it live.

Bullet not sure, not that keen on it as a record.

Thorn In My Side this has also surprised me , works much better live.

BrokenPromiseland wonder why they dont do this one on the set list ....

If they ever do fast cars I will bury my head in shame.

Dawn

'When We Were Beautiful' comes across just as good. Nice and atmospheric. Love the song.

'Superman Tonight' doesn't work. Needs practise. The intro itself is very messy.

'Bullet' comes across better live in my opinion. Cool as hell with Jon and his maracas in my opinion.

'Thorn In My Side' again works well, but I'm not a fan full stop. Decent end solo.

'Brokenpromiseland' doesn't work live, which is a shame. Best song on the album by a billion miles.

'Love's The Only Rule' awful full stop.

'Happy Now' awful full stop.

All of the reactions to the circle songs stump me. I understand where you guys are coming from but I wonder what your are basing your opinions on. Is it the YT videos or the sub par bootlegs that float around. Maybe I'm biased cause I've seem everything except Bullet and BPL and I am enjoying them. They might work for me but it don't work for you and that's okay.

For my money, 'Happy Now' works the best of the new songs. The crowd digs it and Jon puts a lot of energy into it.

And people can say what they want about Lost Highway and how songs from it shouldn't dominate set-lists (and I agree whole heartedly) but 'We Got It Going On', 'Any Other Day' and 'Make a Memory' work very well live. 'Whole Lot of Leavin' goes over pretty good as well.

Won't get into long details.

We Weren't Born To Follow - Works and sounds good.
When We Were Beautiful - Doesn't work, but sounds good.
Work For The Working Man - Works and sounds good.
Superman Tonight - Doesn't work and doesn't sound good. And Seb, no WAY is the live version better than the studio version.
Love's The Only Rule - Doesn't work but sounds good.
Happy Now - Works and sounds good.

That's all I've seen in person.

WWBTF - Crap.

WWWB - Not bad, could be better, though.

Superman Tonight - Has it's moments. Another that could be better.

Bullet - I was quite impressed with it. Sounded alright and will be better if they carry it on.

Thorn In My Side - Brilliant. The added solo is class.

Brokenpromiseland - Unfortunately, sounded crap. :(

Loves The Only Rule - The best one out of the lot. On record and live.

Happy Now - Perfect opener. Didn't sound that good live when they first done it, but when it opened the show, it sounded brilliant.

I haven't listened to any of these since January. I only like the first 3 songs of the Circle, the rest are boring.

Ice