Bon Jovi wrapped up the first leg of their This House Is Not For Sale Tour with a second show at Madison Square Garden. Here's what they played:
New York, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden - 15 April 2017
This House Is Not For Sale
Knockout
You Give Love a Bad Name
Lost Highway
Whole Lot of Leavin'
Roller Coaster
We Weren't Born to Follow
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
We Got It Going On
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's My Life
We Don't Run
God Bless This Mess
New Year's Day
Lay Your Hands On Me
Born to Be My Baby
Have a Nice Day
Bad Medicine
Keep the Faith
Encore:
Raise Your Hands
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars
Wanted Dead Or Alive
Livin' On A Prayer
While the only other Bon Jovi shows that have been announced so far are Rock in Rio and the Dick's Sporting Goods Open, David Bryan tweeted that this was the last show of this leg of the tour, indicating that more gigs should be announced before too long. Videos from New York, Night #2
Bon Jovi brought their This House Is Not For Sale "home" for the first of two shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. (These were, of course, the concerts that were rescheduled after Jon got sick.) Here's what was played on the first night at MSG:
New York, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden - 13 April 2017
This House Is Not For Sale
Knockout
You Give Love a Bad Name
Lost Highway
Whole Lot of Leavin'
Roller Coaster
We Weren't Born to Follow
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
We Got It Going On
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's My Life
We Don't Run
God Bless This Mess
Scars on This Guitar
New Year's Day
Lay Your Hands On Me
Born to Be My Baby
Have a Nice Day
Bad Medicine
Keep the Faith
Encore:
Runaway
Blood On Blood
Wanted Dead Or Alive
Livin' On A Prayer
If you've been following the set lists at all, the main set should be quite familiar to you by now. There were a couple of changes in the encore.
Bon Jovi performed the second of two consecutive shows in Toronto on their This House Is Not For Sale Tour, and here's what was played:
Toronto, ON, Canada - Air Canada Centre - 11 April 2017
This House Is Not For Sale
Knockout
You Give Love a Bad Name
Lost Highway
Whole Lot of Leavin'
Roller Coaster
We Weren't Born to Follow
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
We Got It Going On
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's My Life
We Don't Run
God Bless This Mess
Scars on This Guitar
New Year's Day
Lay Your Hands On Me
Born to Be My Baby
Have a Nice Day
Bad Medicine
Keep the Faith
Encore:
Always
Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars
Wanted Dead or Alive [Phil X vox on 2nd verse]
Livin' on a Prayer
The main set was identical to that of the first night (I kind of thought they'd at least swap "New Year's Day" out for "The Devil's in the Temple", which used to be in that slot. Maybe I'm overly optimistic!). But we did get "Always" and "Captain Crash" for the third and second time this tour respectively -- they replaced "Raise Your Hands" in the encore. Phil sang the second verse of "Wanted" again, presumably because he's originally from Toronto, but he does sound good... Dare I say a lot stronger than Jon does these days. 😞 (However, I've said on various forums that the Lost Highway Tour proved Jon could get back to sounding awesome after a period of deterioration in his voice, so I'm hopeful that he could return to that level again.)
Videos from Toronto, Night #2
In my opinion, this is the best "Always" of the tour thus far:
After a few days off due to bronchitis, Bon Jovi resumed their This House Is Not For Sale Tour with the first of two consecutive nights in Toronto, the only Canadian (and indeed non-US) shows of this leg. Here's what was played:
Set list: Toronto, ON, Canada - Air Canada Centre - 10 April 2017
Hot on the heels of the "playback" scandal in Uncasville, Bon Jovi played a short (approximately 90-minute) show due to Jon being ill. Jon pulled a fan from the crowd up to sing "Born to Be My Baby" and David Bryan sang "Livin' on a Prayer" from the second verse onwards. Here's what was performed:
Set list: Pittsburg, PA, USA - PPG Paints Arena - 5 April 2017
This House Is Not For Sale
Knockout
You Give Love a Bad Name
Lost Highway
Whole Lot of Leavin'
Roller Coaster
We Weren't Born to Follow
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
Runaway
We Got It Going On
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's My Life
Lay Your Hands On Me
Born to Be My Baby [ft. Brad]
Bad Medicine
Livin' on a Prayer [David Bryan vox on 2nd verse]
"God Bless This Mess", "New Year's Day", "Keep the Faith", "Raise Your Hands", and of course "Wanted Dead or Alive" were the songs cut from the planned set list. Jon apologised midway through the show for "singing like shit". He has reportedly been sick since Saturday night, which is concerning with the Madison Square Garden shows coming up.
Now, I'm kind of torn here. Part of me is thinking, "This is your damn instrument, Jon, stop wrecking it. Reschedule the show, take the hit on social media. There's no point being a 'fighter' when you're a professional singer who can't sing." Plus, as a fan, if you'd saved up to go to this one show, it wouldn't be unreasonable to feel a bit ripped off. But then there are fans who have travelled for the show and can't get refunds on accommodation and airfares. And aside from the fact that Jon doesn't typically cancel when he's sick, he probably felt like he had more to prove after what happened in Uncasville. It got picked up quite a bit online, and now casual fans, former fans, and non-fans alike seem to think Jon routinely mimes entire shows, which is patently false. Even now, there are people claiming Jon is "conveniently" sick because he "got caught lip syncing". So whether he did the show poorly or cancelled it, it was a no-win situation for him.
UPDATE 08/04/17: Denver has now been cancelled. I'm assuming it wasn't logistically possible to go from NYC to Denver and back again. And doing so many shows in close succession whilst recovering from bronchitis may not have been the best idea. But cancelling a show that had already been postponed, in favour of the two MSG shows, effectively tells Denver fans that they are worth less than New York fans. I'd feel pretty hurt in that situation.
Bon Jovi rehearsed for their This House Is Not For Sale Tour at Uncasville's Mohegan Sun Arena, and they returned there on April Fool's Day for a proper show. Here's what was played:
Set list: Uncasville, CT, USA - Mohegan Sun Arena - 1 April 2017
This House Is Not For Sale
Knockout
You Give Love a Bad name
Lost Highway
Whole Lot of Leavin'
Roller Coaster
We Weren't Born to Follow
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
We Got It Going On
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's My Life
We Don't Run
God Bless This Mess
Scars on this Guitar
Lay Your Hands on Me
Born to Be My Baby
Have a Nice Day
Bad Medicine
Keep the Faith
Encore:
Wanted Dead or Alive
Livin' on a Prayer
Apparently the venue has a strict curfew, but nevertheless, it was a very short set with no surprises. (Previous shows there have also been short, but in the past, they've often thrown a bone to the diehards anyway. Not so much this time.)
There were actually two songs that were on the printed set list and crossed out. One was the song after "Scars on this Guitar", which I presume (based on other shows) was either "The Devil's in the Temple" or "New Year's Day". The other was the first song in the encore, which I'm guessing was "Raise Your Hands".
If you'd like to share any videos from Uncasville, feel free to link to them in the comments.
Were you at this show?
UPDATE 04/04/17: After I posted this, some videos of "This House Is Not For Sale" from this show were posted online, causing an uproar over possible lip syncing. You can view the discussion thread on JoviTalk. Basically there was a studio version of the song playing during the live performance, that went out of sync with the band:
Given he's always going on about integrity, the idea that Jon could be lip syncing a song that should sit comfortably in his current range would break my heart (particularly when he doesn't even sing the higher parts of the chorus; the rest of the band does). It would hurt more than the thought of his once good voice being gone forever. But... if he were lip syncing, they would only need a vocal track, not the full band. And they'd use a recording that sounded live, not a studio version.
Jon's brother, Matt Bongiovi, provided this explanation on Twitter:
— Matthew Bongiovi (@TheMattBongiovi) 4 April 2017
In case the image doesn't load, it reads:
"Sound Crew recorded soundcheck so the lighting crew can reset lighting marks. They were able to reset timecode to the recording and reprogram lights. The recorded program was not closed so when the lighting ques started the soundcheck started to play over the band performing. Therefor a cluster fuck of sound. They quickly realized program was closed and the show went on. Nothing to do with background tracks or vocals or anything other then a tech that fucked up" (sic).
Bon Jovi headed to Philly on their This House Is Not For Sale Tour, and here's what was played:
Set list: Philadelphia, PA, USA - Wells Fargo Center - 31 March 2017
This House Is Not For Sale
Knockout
You Give Love a Bad Name
Lost Highway
Whole Lot of Leavin'
Roller Coaster
We Weren't Born To Follow
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
Runaway
We Got It Goin' On
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's My Life
We Don't Run
God Bless This Mess
Scars On This Guitar
New Year's Day
Lay Your Hands On Me
Born To Be My Baby
Have a Nice Day
Bad Medicine
Keep the Faith
Encore:
Raise Your Hands
The Fighter [acoustic]
Wanted Dead or Alive
Livin' on a Prayer
An acoustic snippet of "The Fighter" was the big surprise of the night, making its tour debut. And "Runaway" was played for the second concert in a row, despite not being on the printed set list.