Sunday, December 23, 2018

That time I met Phil X + Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Lee-Ann and Phil X
Lee-Ann and Phil X
I hinted in my blog post on the Sydney show that there might be a separate post about meeting Phil X so... here it is.

As you may have noticed, Bon Jovi didn't come to Perth on their This House Is Not For Sale Tour. Once I'd got over my indignation, I saw an opportunity to visit Sydney for a week, spend some time with family and friends, and go to their concert at ANZ Stadium on December 8.

The day before the concert, Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan, and Tico Torres were doing a Runaway Tours Q&A, but Phil X was doing a free meet and greet at Guitar Factory Parramatta, so I decided to go meet him.

I'm always a bit apprehensive about meeting people I idolise or admire (in case they turn out to be jerks or otherwise disappointing) but Phil was super chill and so nice to everyone. When it was my turn, he asked me my name and introduced himself.

I had brought my print of a painting of Phil by artist Jag Lall, and gave it to Phil to sign (along with a gold marker so it would show up against the dark paint).

"Did you paint this?" Phil asked.
"My friend did it," I replied.
"That's awesome!" Phil said.

Phil autographed the print and got me to hold it up so he could take a picture of it on his phone. One of the staff members then offered to take a photo for me. "We should get the painting in it," Phil said. The staff member took a picture of Phil and me, with Phil holding up the signed print, and it quickly became my top Instagram post of the year.



Afterwards, Phil carefully put the print back in its protective cover for me (of his own accord, I didn't tell him to do it, lol). Two sisters waiting behind me borrowed my gold marker, and after Phil had signed their stuff, he handed the marker back to me and thanked me for coming. I thanked him and the staff before making my way back to the city where I was staying.

I know there are fans who have met the whole band, or met band members in more natural situations than this, but I'm just happy I had a positive encounter. The closest I'd gotten to the band before was meeting roadie Mike Rew in 2010, which was pretty cool, but this was better. (Sorry Mike.)

Phil has also released his own version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", and the video -- featuring Bon Jovi band members and crew -- was made on the Australian tour. It made me smile, so check it out if you haven't already!

Phil X - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town:

Monday, December 10, 2018

Bon Jovi in Sydney 8/12/18

Bon Jovi ended the Australian leg of the This House Is Not For Sale Tour in Sydney. I'd spent the week in Sydney catching up with family and friends before going to the concert on Saturday night so it's been a busy few days, but I'm finally home in Perth and writing this blog post.

Here's what was played in Sydney:

Sydney, NSW, Australia - ANZ Stadium - December 8, 2018 set list


  1. You Give Love a Bad Name
  2. Raise Your Hands
  3. Lost Highway
  4. Who Says You Can't Go Home
  5. This House is Not For Sale
  6. Roller Coaster
  7. We Weren't Born to Follow
  8. We Don't Run
  9. It's My Life
  10. God Bless This Mess
  11. Born to Be My Baby
  12. Have a Nice Day
  13. Keep the Faith
  14. Bed of Roses
  15. Lay Your Hands on Me
  16. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
  17. Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars
  18. Livin' on a Prayer

    Encore #1: 
  19. Bad Medicine
  20. Wanted Dead or Alive
  21. I'll Be There For You

    Encore #2: 
  22. Blood on Blood
  23. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night


Videos from Sydney

"Blood on Blood":

"Someday I'll Be Saturday Night" plus the final bows:

"Born to Be My Baby". Jon goes into the crowd and sings in front of the person filming:

"Livin' on a Prayer". Jon dips into the crowd for this one too:


If you have any videos from Sydney you'd like to share, feel free to link to them in the comments.

My thoughts


Jon's vocal issues have been pretty well documented by fans over the last few years. But he sounded good by current standards, even if he was kind of running out of steam in the second encore (I'm still glad he did the second encore though). There are concerts where he's been pretty much rooted to the spot and clinging to the mic stand while sounding average, and that obviously doesn't make for a good show. In Sydney, however, he was moving around, working the crowd, and being a front man worth seeing. I had the best time, and I'm really glad I made the trip.

Plus, as I briefly mentioned in my belated Brisbane post, I got to meet Phil X in Sydney... I might do a separate blog post about that?

I'm also quite proud of the fact that the lead singer of my favourite band is one of the few Americans who can pronounce "Melbourne" and "Brisbane" correctly. 😛

Birds of Tokyo were great as the support act too. They're from Perth, by the way. Hopefully Bon Jovi can make it there next time. 😉

Were you at the show?

Where to next?

Bon Jovi have announced tour dates for Europe in May, June, and July 2019. The Sydney concert also coincided with a Runaway Tours trip, so there was a Q&A with Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan, Tico Torres, where it was reportedly revealed a new album is slated for release in 2019.

Bon Jovi in Brisbane 6/12/18

I know this post is much later than usual, but on the day that I would've posted it (December 7), I caught up with some friends who were doing the whole Bon Jovi Australian tour and met Phil X. And then the day after (December 8) was the day of the Sydney concert, which I was attending (and yes, that post is late as well). And the day after that (December 9) I was flying home to Perth.

Anyway, Bon Jovi's Brisbane show brought some more surprises with it, including the tour debut of "Last Man Standing".

Brisbane, Qld, Australia - Suncorp Stadium - December 6, 2018 set list


  1. You Give Love a Bad Name
  2. Raise Your Hands
  3. Lost Highway
  4. Who Says You Can't Go Home
  5. This House is Not For Sale
  6. Roller Coaster
  7. Runaway
  8. We Weren't Born to Follow
  9. It's My Life
  10. New Year's Day
  11. Born to Be My Baby
  12. Have a Nice Day
  13. Keep the Faith
  14. Bed of Roses
  15. Lay Your Hands on Me
  16. We Got it Going On
  17. Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen From Mars
  18. Bad Medicine

    Encore:
  19. Last Man Standing
  20. Blood on Blood
  21. Wanted Dead or Alive
  22. Livin' on a Prayer

Videos from Brisbane


"Bad Medicine":


"New Year's Day":


"Last Man Standing" and part of "Blood on Blood":

If you have any videos you'd like to share from Brisbane, feel free to link to them in the comments.

Were you at this show?

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Bon Jovi in Adelaide 4/12/18

Bon Jovi's This House Is Not For Sale Tour rolled into Adelaide and brought with it a few somewhat unexpected changes...

Adelaide, SA, Australia - Botanic Park - December 4, 2012 set list


  1. Lost Highway
  2. Who Says You Can't Go Home
  3. You Give Love a Bad Name
  4. Raise Your Hands
  5. This House is Not For Sale
  6. Living With the Ghost
  7. Runaway
  8. We Weren't Born to Follow
  9. It's My Life
  10. God Bless This Mess
  11. Born to Be My Baby
  12. We Don't Run
  13. Keep the Faith
  14. Bed of Roses
  15. Lay Your Hands on Me
  16. Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen From Mars
  17. Bad Medicine

    Encore: 
  18. When We Were Us
  19. Blood on Blood
  20. I'll Be There For You
  21. Wanted Dead or Alive
  22. Livin' on a Prayer

Videos from Adelaide

There's been a marked lack of good videos from this show at the time of typing, but I'll check again later. If you'd like to share any videos from Adelaide, feel free to link to them in the comments.

Edit 6/12/18: Videos have arrived!

"Living with the Ghost". This is probably my favourite song from the album, and it's good to see Jon start to move around and perform this instead of being glued to his mic stand the entire time:

"When We Were Us":

"Keep the Faith":

Other notes


Jon dedicated "It's My Life" to  two brothers who were victims of a convicted Adelaide paedophile:

"These two brothers they put on masks and they fought a childhood abuser," Jon Bon Jovi said to the crowd.
"They met him in court today and he was sentenced to jail.
"We have to protect our children, it's not easy when you have to stand up in court and face your devil.
"So for those two brave brothers, my heart, my respect, this is for you guys."
Read the full story on the ABC News website.

You can also watch this report on 9 News Adelaide, which includes Jon's words at the concert and an interview with one of the brothers:


Were you at this show?

Sunday, December 2, 2018

Bon Jovi in Melbourne 1/12/18

Bon Jovi kicked off their Aussie tour at the MCG, where my football team, the West Coast Eagles, won this year's AFL Grand Final. (Sorry, I had to throw that in. 😛)

I wasn't at this show, but I did attend both Melbourne shows (at a different venue) in 2013 (the last time Bon Jovi toured Australia) and have fond memories of freaking out because I finally got to hear "Dry County" and "These Days" live. That didn't happen this time around, but here's what did get played:

Melbourne, VIC, Australia - Melbourne Cricket Ground - December 1, 2018 set list

  1. This House is Not For Sale
  2. Knockout
  3. You Give Love a Bad Name
  4. Whole Lot of Leavin'
  5. Lost Highway
  6. We Weren't Born to Follow
  7. Roller Coaster
  8. Who Says You Can't Go Home
  9. Born to Be My Baby
  10. It's My Life
  11. God Bless This Mess
  12. We Don't Run
  13. Keep the Faith
  14. Bed of Roses
  15. Lay Your Hands on Me
  16. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
  17. Bad Medicine

    Encore: 
  18. Blood on Blood
  19. I'll Be There For You
  20. Wanted Dead or Alive
  21. Livin' on a Prayer


Videos from Melbourne

"I'll Be There For You":


"It's My Life":

If you have any Melbourne videos you'd like to share, feel free to link to them in the comments.

Were you at the show?