Bon Jovi Melbourne set list 8/12/13 + Review #thefinal7

Bon Jovi returned for night 2 in Melbourne and let's just say, as a diehard fan you'd be pretty annoyed if you went to the first show and skipped the second, but luckily for me I saw both... Were you there?

Melbourne, Vic, Australia - Etihad Stadium - December 8, 2013

1. That's What the Water Made Me
2. You Give Love a Bad Name
3. Raise Your Hands
4. Lost Highway
5. Whole Lot of Leavin'
6. It's My Life
7. Because We Can
8. What About Now
9. We Got It Going On
10. Keep the Faith
11. Amen
12. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night - acoustic
13. Diamond Ring
14. (You Want To) Make a Memory
15. Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars
16. Born to Be My Baby
17. We Weren't Born to Follow
18. Who Says You Can't Go Home
19. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
    / Start Me Up - Rolling Stones cover
    / Wipe Out - The Surfaris cover
    / You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC cover (Phil X vox)
20. Bad Medicine
    / Shout! - Isley Brothers cover
encore:
21. Dry County
22. Wanted Dead or Alive
23. Have a Nice Day
24. I Love This Town
25. These Days
26. Livin' on a Prayer

First things first: I finally got Dry County and These Days live!

When I arrived at the venue, I didn't know what sort of show to expect but started to get really excited when I heard Diamond Ring being soundchecked. A few songs into the show, Jon promised there would be a lot of different stuff for night 2, and while the first 10 songs were identical, hints of change came in the acoustic/semi-acoustic set on the circle platform, which hadn't been utilised the previous night. Most people in the stands sat down and waited for a big hit during this part of this show -- A few sang along to Saturday Night -- but I was delighted to get Diamond Ring.

Maybe only a handful of the crowd knew what was coming when David Bryan played the first chord of Dry County, but I was so happy I wanted to cry. And to get These Days as well... I was, perhaps greedily hoping for Always, the return of Bed of Roses, maybe even Never Say Goodbye but I knew it was highly unlikely. And I've managed to forgive Jon for throwing I Love This Town into the show. :P

I have videos of Diamond Ring, Dry County, These Days, and the Sleep medley but it might take a while to upload. I was also back in the stands, so there might be people on the floor who have better videos.

Some of my criticisms of night 1 still stand, including Jon's voice, the overrepresentation of Lost Highway, and the lulls that come with certain songs they keep playing. But I thought in terms of performance the show was great, with Jon seeming to find an extra gear in the energy department.

AC/DC went down a treat as soon as Phil started that opening riff. They really should play this at all the remaining Australian dates. There are five more to go. I've got one more show personally -- my hometown gig at Perth Arena...

Meanwhile, I don't know if someone had a word to Kid Rock or not but he changed most of his set from the first night. Telstra Road to Discovery winner Jesse Teinaki opened the show.