Greatest Hits tour ~ song list & choices
 

we have a little over a month to go until the last N.A. shows and with 22 shows into the tour by now there’s a pretty clear idea of what songs the band have chosen to play on a regular basis and what songs are being dropped in comparison to The Circle tour (i’m treating these as 2 separate tours).

i compiled a list of all songs and the number of times they have been played since Penn State’s show in february. looking at the list and keeping in mind this is supposed to be a Greatest Hits tour and the last one for a while, what do you reckon of the song choices? are the songs that have been played on every or nearly every show representative of the band’s career? a lot could be said about the meaning of “representative" and this would be an interesting discussion in itself, but in this specific context, and putting it in a simplistic way, i mean “representative" here as “popular" ~ songs most casual fans would recognise.

is WSYCGH representative of Bon Jovi and has the song achieved the same sort of status in Jon’s eyes as Prayer or Wanted in such a way it is justified being played at every single show? they aren’t a country band so looking at things superficially i’d say definitely no. however the “cowboy theme” has been present since the early days. (can “cowboy theme" and “country" be put in the same bag? maybe not but one thing probably led to the other). however we don’t automatically think “country" when we think of Bon Jovi. the same could be asked about Lost Highway or We Got It Goin’ On. there are 3 country or country-influenced songs in their top 12 most played songs on a Greatest Hits tour. would it be more “accurate” to pick just 1 country song as a representation of an era/period? or is it fair to say WSYCGH and the Lost Highway album have the same weight as New Jersey or Keep The Faith? (for example, i absolutely love If I Was Your Mother but i don't see it as representative of Bon Jovi's sound nor has it been a popular song. the difference here being they haven't been playing it.)

easier stuff ;) what song(s) should in your opinion have made it to this list but so far haven’t, what song(s) are being overplayed and what song(s) have been done once or twice that should be played more often even if not regularly? (let’s try being a little realistic.)

also, and excluding the countries where the band will perform for the 1st time as these will most likely get the hits, do you reckon Europe will get the same core of songs as the current N.A. leg give or take, up to this point? it’s something i wonder as i personally reckon the UK residency plus another 3 european dates hardly constitute an European leg, so as far as i’m concerned they haven’t toured Europe for The Circle yet. in practical terms i’m not sure how relevant this is though, as some The Circle dates hardly got any The Circle songs :-?

sorry if i digressed :) here’s what’s been played so far:

22/22
Livin’ On A Prayer ~ Wanted Dead Or Alive ~ You Give Love A Bad Name ~ Bad Medicine ~ It’s My Life ~ Who Says You Can’t Go Home ~ We Weren’t Born To Follow

21/22
Lay Your Hands On Me (Richie) ~ Born To Be My Baby ~ Keep The Faith ~ Lost Highway ~ We Got It Goin’ On

19/22
Runaway ~ I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead

18/22
Have A Nice Day

17/22
The More Things Change ~ I’ll Be There For You

14/22
Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night

12/22
Blood On Blood ~ Pretty Woman

10/22
I Love This Town ~ What Do You Got? ~ Start Me Up

9/22
In These Arms ~ (You Want To) Make A Memory ~ Whole Lot Of Leavin’

8/22
Bed Of Roses ~ Work For The Working Man

7/22
Love For Sale ~ Dry County ~ When We Were Beautiful ~ No Apologies ~ Hot Legs

6/22
Shout

5/22
Blaze Of Glory ~ Always ~ Just Older ~ Last Man Standing

4/22 ~
Something For The Pain ~ Diamond Ring ~ Superman Tonight ~ Love’s The Only Rule ~ Squeezebox

3/22
Living In Sin ~ Hallelujah

2/22
Raise Your Hands ~ These Days ~ The Radio Saved My Life Tonight ~ Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars ~ Thorn In My Side ~ Chapel Of Love

1/22
I’d Die For You ~ Wild In The Streets ~ Hey God ~ Something To Believe In ~ Mystery Train ~ I Got The Girl ~ Thank You For Loving Me ~ Summertime ~ Happy Now ~ This Is Love, This Is Life ~ Jumping Jack Flash ~ Dancing In The Street ~
Bad Case Of Loving You ~ My Funny Valentine ~ Roadhouse Blues

Interesting to note that pretty much all the songs I'd want to hear are found in the bottom third of that list. :(

Aloha !

Who Says You Can't Go Home was only succesful in the USA where all of them line dancing idiots suddenly realized they liked Bon Jovi because it included a fiddle. It makes perfect sense of playing it there, but apart from that it made zero impact in the rest of the world.

Every country has different charts and songs do differently in every country. Hey God is a well known smaller single in Europe yet it never charted in Germany, for example. If Jon (or you) is really out to represent the band towards fans all they have to do in Europe is play more nineties stuff and drop stuff from the period 2006-2010. These Days was one of the biggest albums of 1995 like Crush was one of the biggest albums of 2000. However, These Days spawned 5 hit singles while Crush only had 3.

I do think that Europe will sadly get the same core songs as North America does, yet Born To Be My Baby and Who Says You Can't Go Home were never that big of a hit over here and are both terribly overplayed. Sure, the first one goes over well, but it's about time the band retires the song in Europe and gives something from the nineties in return. Something For The Pain was bigger than Who Says was, as was This Ain't A Love Song, Lie To Me, I Believe, Dry County, and even Real Life. I'm not saying Real Life should be played live, but it just goes to show at how small of a succes Who Says really was. (example: Who Says charted at 54 in Germany, Dry County at 41) And it's about time Jon starts asking himself questions like "What would a casual enjoy more, 50 alright's or 1 awesome guitar solo?"

Jon has never been out to represent the band though. The setlist is a combination of big hits and songs he wants to sing. And if you're lucky he'll throw you a bone, but even then the bones he throws are songs like an electric version of Sat. Night nowadays. If a set in Europe would contain 24 songs, there should be 8 songs from the eighties, 10 from the nineties and 6 from the last decade. That would represent Bon Jovi well in Europe. It'll never happen though.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

WSYCGH did reach #5 in the UK though (that is one spot better than the lead single). Other than the US, I reckon Who Says should be dropped and played only on the rare occasion, while HAND gets played every night. In some countries, such as Australia, HAND was their last major hit.

I also thing SFTP, TAALS and TYFLM are bigger hits than most think. I am constantly surprised by how many of my non-Jovi-loving-friends know SFTP. I'm very glad it has become somewhat of a regular again this past tour.

BTBMB was really only a major hit in the US and some European countries. It only reached #30 here in Australia. Still, I think it works great live and should be played quite often (perhaps not as often as it has been though).

And like I usually say, BOR and Always should be played at every show. They were big hits in every damn country (much bigger than IBTFY in a lot of places).

Finally, they need to bloody play something from Bounce! (other than boring Open All Night). Bring back Undivided, Hook Me Up, The Distance or Bounce (or even Everyday/Misunderstood if they want the 'hit' of the album).

IMO, the songs that should be played every night because they are the 'hits' (outside of the US) are LOAP, YGLABN, WDOA, BM, BOG, KTF, BOR, Always, IML, HAND (and possibly ITA). In the US you'd add BTBMB and IBTFY (and possibly WSYCGH).

Songs like WGIGO, LH, WLOL, ISWID, ILTT, should be swapped around more often with other non-hit songs. Of course anything from The Circle is welcomed pretty much considering we've been somewhat deprived of them.

I cant beleive that WSYCGH came in at #5 here. I hate that song.

Just done a bit of research and its amazing to think that Lost Highway and Do What You Got came in at 117 & 127 in the UK. Thats unreal.

Although I do feel the reason DWYG came in so low is that it was released the same day as the GH2 - Great decision by the label that one!

Bare chart positions don't always tell the full story- WSYCGH hit No.5 the week they were playing stadiums in the UK, and they had the advert constantly scrolling across the screen saying to text a number to get the live version from that show, when in fact we ended up with the Boston version which had already been released, and all these counted towards the chart.

Who Says gets the crowd all riled up in the US, and the song was a huge hit here. It's not going anywhere.

FACT - These Days had a better crowd reaction than Who Says in Vancouver.

I'm not too picky what they play, I could care less if they played Jingle Bells. Just happy and grateful they are still around and playing.

As long as they play at least one rare song when I see them live, that's all I need.

I'd Die For You, Thank You For Loving Me, Damned, Diamond Ring, Dry County, Last Man Standing, Pretty Woman, My Funny Valentine, Just Older, Love's The Only Rule, Happy Now. Seen them 4 times, and they played a lot of songs that I had in my wishlist.

My friend is gonna see them the first time and he is gonna enjoy it if they play the regular 2011 setlist, most people here won't but its his first time, just like many others seeing the band first time. I know my first time, I loved it when they played the 'vanilla setlist'. Even if I don't like some songs they perform live, I still sing along and have a good time and enjoy what I payed for.

Too many people being negative here. Some bands play the same set list each night, sometimes even on each tour.

Aloha !

That's nonsense. Bands who play the same set every night on one tour completely revise the set the next tour and bring back stuff they haven't played in a long time. With Bon Jovi the core of the setlist has been the same for about 10 years now, and it's not just a core of 8 songs, it's a core of 10 songs in a 24 setlist. Almost every Bon Jovi show has Bad Name, Prayer, Wanted, Bad Medicine, I'll Be There For You, Keep The Faith, Sleep, Sat. Night, It's My Life, Have A Nice Day and Who Says. Once a song is dropped of the set it'll never make it's return as a regular but will always be a rare song. Just look at I Believe after the KTF tour, These Days after the These Days tour, One Wild Night after the OWN tour and Have A Nice Day after the HAND tour.

Further on, I've yet to find a band who playa the same set every tour, especially one with about 10 studio albums out.

I also read that you became a fan after The Circle was released. Everything is still new to you which means you've got no idea of what you're talking about here. Wait a few tours and you'll find that everything gets more of the same, and you'll start to want to hear other stuff as well. The fact that the entire b-selection of the setlist can be pin pointed down now for 10 years shows that there really is not that much variaton as Jon sticks to the same songs tour after tour after tour. The beginning of The Circle tour showed some hope and there have been some changes with Dry County making more appearances than planned, but 80% of all shows have setlists that are the big hits + songs for Jon, instead of songs for the crowd.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan