Worst shows?
 

Since we have a "best shows" thread, I thought I'd start this one. I guess Dusseldorf would earn a "worst" rating for the 2011 European leg. How about other nominees over the years? **I'm not talking about disappointing set lists ** but those shows which clearly or even spectacularly failed: shows that never took off or stalled out or fell flat. I don't think there is that many of them.

Include your nominations along with your explanation of why the show failed: the band or Jon being out of sync with each other, with the audience, obvious vocal or sound problems, exhaustion/illness, behind-the-scenes tension, bad audience--whatever. I heard about Hull for a long time before I checked out the YouTube clips. Any other clips that should be sought out?

And yes, it is a given that BJ is one of the top live bands ever and that they consistently give great and sometimes magical shows. Let's also admit that even standard BJ shows leave most of their fans happy and satisfied.

-New Meadowlands Night 4: July 9, 2010
Been discussed to death, but to put it succinctly:
-Jon was pissy and low energy from the start, and was weak vocally.
-The band was totally out of sync.
-Richie F'd up during HAND, and Jon got clearly pissed off, blatantly on stage.
-The setlist was terrible.
-The encore was about as bad as can be for a stadium show.
-Jon hurt himself badly during Glad All Over, the second to last song of the night.
-Jon/the band actually had the gall to release a statement saying that Jon was ready to "launch into a never ending encore" before he got hurt, which was clearly not true considering the state of the band that night, and the amount of songs that had already been played.

Aloha !

- May 30, 2003: Schalke Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Jon came on stage, threw a glass of water into a journalists' face and refused to talk at all during the show up until the point where he had to as it was Richie's turn to sing. The whole performance was on auto pilot and Jon sounded dreadful.

- June 28, 2003: Bounce Tour - Hyde Park, London, UK
Hyped up as the last show of the tour, many rare songs would be played, we'll play requests and we all look forward to going there. It turned out to be a very mediocre show that was long, Jon who was on auto pilot, sounded shit and the sound went up and down all night. The location and crowd saved it a bit, but show wise this was very below par. Afterwards many fans raved on how immense it was considering they played for 2 hours and 45 minutes, but a long show doesn't always mean a good show.

- May 25, 2006: Have A Nice Day Tour: Goffertpark, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Bon Jovi had played in Amsterdam 3 times now yet due a contractual thing between promoters and ticket sellers they were forced to play in a park in Holland. It had been raining all day, cleared up just before show time but Jon could never be arsed. He never, ever got the crowd on their feet due to a terrible setlist and a very nasal performance. Halfway through the show no one bothered anymore and when the songs from This Left Feels Right were performed it turned into a joke.

- May 22, 2008: Lost Highway Tour - Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
What was supposed to be a huge kick off of the European tour ended up being quite disappointing. The band being jetlagged from their show in Abu Dhabi and Jon who thought that after throwing the fans a bone by playing Always was enough resulted into a show that became very predictable. It wasn't the worst show, but definitely below par.

- June 27 and 28, 2008: Lost Highway Tour - Twickenham Stadium, London, UK
Like usual, the supposedly spectacular ending of the tour. It didn't really happen that way. The first night was auto pilot, yes the setlist looks good on paper but the delivery was poor. Dry County was perfect note for note, but no one cared. Not Jon, not the band but certainly not Jon. After the second show that, like in 2003, was very long, all I could say was "Jon was definitely not there with his thoughts". It started promising, but right after the second or third song Jon wasn't there anymore. Years later it turned out that he was busy organizing the Central Park performance, which was a clear example of how him being the CEO interfers with him being the performer. The afterparty we had in London was brilliant, but I felt I threw away 220E for 2 shows I could've easily lived without. Those 2 shows were proof how surprises in a set do not mean a great show.

- July 9, 2010: The Circle Tour - New Meadowlands Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA
Being hyped as "Round number 4!" where there were plans for a round number 5 which didn't happen in the end, this show was easily the most dreadful show I'd ever seen since the show in Holland back in 2006. Richie pretty much messed up every guitar solo, missed his cue in Have A Nice Day, Jon who was flat all throughout the performance and took everything out on Richie and a crowd that was clearly there for Kid Rock. Some claimed it wasn't horrible, but if messing up every guitar solo isn't horrible they either don't hear it or their standards for horrible are a bit different compared to mine. It's the first show where I walked out because of utter boredom.

- July 24, 2010: The Circle Tour - Gilette Stadium, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Another big stadium show they struggled to sell out (12$ tickets were sold etc.). Jon didn't care about the show, it was bog standard with nothing in there to keep anyone entertained apart from Jon. The crowd didn't give a **** either, I'd bought 2 of the 30 dollar tickets and we both saw an insane amount of people walking around all the time. The second show where I walked out because I was so bored.

- June 12, 2011: 2011 Tour - Olympiastadion, Munich, Germany
A show of which Bon Jovi knew fans were expecting a lot off. A show of which Bon Jovi knows a lot of die hards travel there based upon previous experiences, and a show of which I thought was rather disappointing. I know, Blaze Of Glory, Dry County, Always, These Days in one set, but that didn't matter. Jon couldn't sing any of them properly and none of those were sung with passion apart from These Days. The entire show was one big snoozefest for me. I never felt the crowd were on its feet the entire time either though later reports indicated that the parties were now in the general admission area which made sense, but it was a sad indication of what CEO Jon had now started with the snobs being up front.

Typing this I do realize that some of you might've seen these shows and thought they were great. However, I've seen shows that were great, and once you've seen more than just a few shows you start to notice things that others don't. I recognize the hand gestures Jon does to Richie, or can just see when he's on auto pilot. I've seen shows with a very standard setlist (Edmonton, Saratoga) that were a lot more fun than shows with a killer set. It's still a sad thing that as soon as Jon's vagina starts to bleed the entire world has to know and suffer.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I still don't think Gillette was that bad Seb. It wasn't good, and is certainly on the lower ebb of Jovi shows I've seen, but it was miles above terrible shows like NMS 4 or Pru 10, IMO anyway.

It's Schalke 2003 and Bremen 2003 for me with the Schalke being worse.
The whole security messed up big time, it was really hot before the show,Jon was in a very bad modd and shape (vocally) and even went off stage during KTF. Stil don't get why they played an acoustic version of AALY. I was glad to hear Hook Me Up but it was really bad overall.
Bremen was short and the encore was a joke since I Believe sounded dreadful.

I know that everyone was disappointed by the Twickenham shows, but I quite enjoyed the second night. It was the worst show of the three I atteded which doesn't say much since I went to Hamurg and Munich that year. I Loved Santa Fe and Blaze. I thought I Believe sounded way better than in 2003 and Always was stunning. I still get chills when I think about it.

Munich 2011 wasn't really special apart from maybe These Days and I expected a lot more, but it was still a solid gig.

I thought this thread was about the recent tour lol

If not, then Hull needs a mention :D

Dusseldorf 2011.
Not only the worst Bon Jovi show I´ve seen, but the worst show I´ve seen of any band ever. The setlist was mediocre, Jon was even worse, the band was very off ...

I thought the NM night 4 show was "saved" by Jon's injury as it 1. allowed him to plead to the crowd "New Jersey I NEED you" and get a response and 2. it allowed the media focus to be on the injury and his playing through it rather than the show itself.

I think it deserves a special mention as a worst show since it was in front of the home crowd who expected much, much more (and much different from nights 1,2,3). The Jersey boys really let down Jersey on this one.

And plus, there were high expectations after the o2 run. People were wanting some songs like These Days, Let it Rock, Something to Believe In, among others.

The only Bon Jovi show that I have ever gone away from - absolutely disgusted - was NMS night 4.

Dusseldorf 2011-07-13 was pretty bland too but not quite as bad.

Even the recent 2 shows that I saw without Richie weren't as bad as NMS night 4. I would have thought it was just me - except that I had a houseful of people that agreed with me.