one night only circle tour movie thoughts
 

from nick,

just got back, really really good, shot very well, i won't give the setlist away for those who did not see it yet, but if you think it is heavy on the hits, it isn't, some real surprises, will make a great dvd if there is one, the theater i was at in the western suburbs of chicago was about 3/4 full, everyone loved it, but had the same question, when is going to release this, much better than madison square garden, add a few more songs into the main set, and a couple more obscure songs for bonus tracks and it will be the best bon jovi live dvd to this point,

I just got back and I really enjoyed it. I still get excited when I hear the opening notes of pretty much any song except Bad Name. LOL Jon sounded great. I have to say Keep the Faith was phenomenal. I think it's Richie's best guitar work in the film. I didn't really pay attention to the set lists from the Jersey shows, so I didn't go in expecting X, Y, then Z. I was happily surprised many times. I was expecting a "greatest hits" show and that's not what it was. I saw them a few weeks ago from my balcony and I saw them tonight from a cushy theater seat. I think I could get spoiled to this stuff. :)

I saw the movie at the AMC Fork & Screen in Atlanta where they'll actually serve food and drinks at your seat which is really a table with a comfy chair. LOL Such service! I think this may have caused our crowd to be a bit more mellow than some other places. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and was pleased at some of the songs that were included and surprised by some that weren't. I pulled up my photos via Facebook and followed along. Based on diligent photo analysis, I can report that the movie was a mash-up of nights 1 and 3, but worked pretty well. As Becky said KTF came across in a spectacular way. Really stellar. I was astounded when Diamond Ring was the first song that got a big reaction from our mellow crowd. I was so happy that it was included, and it was gorgeous and got a terrific response!

I would love to have this on DVD even though it wasn't shot in nearly as much detail as MSG was.

EDIT - Seb, I saw you briefly during Diamond Ring!

from nick,

what do you mean in detail, i think it was really well done as a stadium shoot, msg was more intimate compared to this, to me it was a great representation of what the circle tour was and hopefully that's why i hope it gets releases with maybe 4 or 5 additional songs,

I just came back as well. AMAZING performance. For those that went to see it, how was the sound? The sound in the place I went to SUCKED. It was compressed beyond imagination, and it sounded like the audio was phasing at times. =/ Such a shame, because what could have been an incredible hour and a half was ruined by shitty audio.

I just meant that this had to have been made with the footage that they shot for the screens. The number of cameras at MSG was not to be believed, and I'm guessing those were a different type of camera, too. I didn't mean to imply that I had any quarrel with how this was put together. I also thought it did a really good job of capturing the feel of the shows. The aerial shots that were included were a really nice added touch. I would love to have a copy of this, and the more bonus tracks, the better!

Evidently there were technical problems in a lot of places, but I guess I got lucky in that regard. We didn't have any problems.

Terri - I saw Seb for sure during Diamond Ring and possibly briefly during Livin on a prayer.

I thought the first 5 or 6 songs apart from bad name were really slow and the audio sucked so I was preparing for a dissapointing night.

However, it was not. I was very suprised by the song choice - what they decided to include and what they didnt. Im glad they put a few in there for the more hardcore fans and they didnt play a certain song that I was suprised me a lot! Especially it being a show in Jersey.



- SPOILERS -
Dissapointments - WFTWM... ruined the end of the gig. The cheesy stepping together didnt even look cool. WLOL, Born To Be My Baby and the two circle songs superman and WWWB played together were just plain boring... oh and 3 LH songs... for a concert that was not on the LH tour, 3 LH songs was quite unnessasary.

Other than that - Sat night was electric, Faith was amazing with the fireworks, Diamond ring and SFTP was played. and no who says you cant go home! big shocker there. Bad Medicine or sleep wasnt played either. Wanted was an excellent performance, as usual. Overall, it was a great showing, and I expected a lot less from what I thought was going to be a general greatest hits show. Jon was on fire those nights, reminded me a lot of the first 12 or 13 songs from Toronto Night 2. Like Terri said, I hope they release a DVD of this, it was far better than anything released live in the last 10+ years.

I thought it was fantastic! Much better performance than the MSG (which I think is still pretty good). However, I think the songs they chose were a little strange.

Kinda spoilers ahead:

They did the 1st 6 from NMS #1 in order, so I guess I kinda expected all the songs to be shown. Then pretty much the rest of the songs are from NMS #3. The second half just feels unbalanced. Once they skipped Bad Medicine, the editing and timing just felt strange. Because even though the Circle Tour setlist stayed very similar throughout the tour, the setlist worked well and was very balanced. But the 2nd half of the movie just sped through the rest of the show. There are some key players here that are missing - Bad Medicine, Love's the Only Rule (which I believe was played all 4 nights too!), Richie song, Jon solo song, Have a Nice Day, Who Says, and the big encore song (either Always or DC). After the acoustic Circle songs, there's only a few songs left. During the Circle tour, these songs came closer to the middle of the set. I could have done without the What Do You Got video, and especially without the Behind the Scenes of the Circle Tour presentation. That would have given them at least 20 more minutes for the live show. The Behind the Scenes video is already available online.

Despite all this, it was a great time. Everyone in the theater (only about 1/3 full) was signing along, a lot of the ladies were throwing hands up in the air and cheering. The band all sounds in top shape. Jon's vocals especially were great. Some of the songs were presented very beautiful. Tony really stepped up his game this time with the direction. I don't recall if Obie mixed or not, but the mix was much better than MSG also. I have to say, Work for the Working Man was one of the best presentations here. The performance itself was great, including the little choreography with the guys. The stage work itself adds to it. Jon's ending was pretty epic. Something for the Pain was a nice surprise after they skipped Love's the Only Rule. Saturday Night...wow...GREAT!!!!! Keep the Faith also fantastic.

Setlist for those who want to know:
Blood on Blood / Follow / Bad Name / Whole Lot of Leavin' / Born to Be My Baby / Lost Highway / We Got It Goin' On / Raise Your Hands / When We Were Beautiful / Superman Tonight / It's My Life / I'll Be There For You (J&R) / Something for the Pain / Diamond Ring / Work for the Working Man / Saturday Night (electric) / Keep the Faith / Wanted / Prayer

from nick,

i would really have loved it, if they included bad medicine and loves the only rule, the other songs i could do without, didn't they also play never say goodbye at one of the shows? that would have been really cool to see