Texas turmoil for Bon Jovi in Houston & Dallas

I put off posting anything about these shows because... well, I didn't really want to watch any of the videos. I mean, Jon has sounded pretty painful for several years now unfortunately -- but it was Houston that triggered a string of "Last Man Standing" quotes (specifically "That boy don't lip sync").

But let's back it up a bit. Here were the set lists.

Houston, Texas, USA - April 26, 2022

Toyota Center

1. Limitless
2. The Radio Saved My Life Tonight 
3. You Give Love a Bad Name
4. We Weren't Born to Follow
5. It's My Life
6. Beautiful Drug
7. Born to Be My Baby
8. This House Is Not For Sale
9. Just Older
10. Let it Rain
11. Keep the Faith
12. American Reckoning
13. Whole Lot of Leavin'
14. Do What You Can
15. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
16. Lost Highway
17. Roller Coaster
18. Have a Nice Day
19. Livin' on a Prayer
    
    encore:
20. Wanted Dead or Alive

 

No "Bad Medicine" or "Who Says You Can't Go Home", making it the shortest show of the tour with only a couple more left (presumably). Jon reportedly got a pre-gig IV drip and had the bandage on his arm during the show.

 

Scroll down for videos/dissection.

Dallas, Texas, USA - April 28, 2022

American Airlines Center

1. Limitless
2. The Radio Saved My Life Tonight
3. You Give Love a Bad Name
4. We Weren't Born to Follow
5. It's My Life
6. Beautiful Drug
7. Born to Be My Baby
8. This House Is Not For Sale 
9. Just Older
10. Let It Rain
11. Keep the Faith
12. American Reckoning
13. Whole Lot of Leavin'
14. Do What You Can
15. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
16. Lost Highway
17. Roller Coaster
18. Who Says You Can't Go Home
19. Livin' on a Prayer
    
    encore:
20. Wanted Dead or Alive
21. Bad Medicine

 

"Have a Nice Day" was dumped after whatever happened at the previous show.

Videos from Houston 

"Have a Nice Day". This was the song immediately before "Prayer" -- Jon pulls out of the end of the first line, turns around and makes an explosion gesture at his throat, which foreshadowed what came afterwards:

"Livin' on a Prayer". Jon's always been pretty awkward at miming when it's called upon for TV appearances -- but he does try to make a decent fist of not singing down to the front rows so it may not have been too obvious on the night, I dunno:

To be fair, I don't think "Prayer" has ever been 100% live -- they've played to a click track and sung over some playback since the 80s. But it really saddens me to see Jon struggling as much as he is.

Jon did come out after that "Prayer" debacle and sing "Wanted Dead or Alive" (i.e. not on playback), but the crowd took the whole first verse and Phil X's harmonies are turned up loud enough to drown out the lead vocal:

Videos from Dallas

"Livin' on a Prayer". He is singing it this time:

"Keep the Faith". Just a great song and a great showcase for the band. Despite not being the classic Bon Jovi lineup, this is still a good group of musicians and I think that has been forgotten amidst all the voice dramas:

One more show left for the 2022 Tour, unless they announce new dates...

---

Feel free to share your thoughts below. 😊

Want to stay connected? You can find us on Facebook @blameitonthelove, Instagram @blameitonthelove and Twitter @bonjoviblog.

Bon Jovi in Dallas 26/03/18

After getting all excited over "Blood on Blood" yesterday, Bon Jovi reverted to almost the same set we've seen for much of this year. There were a couple of differences: "When We Were Us" was dropped for the first time on this leg of the tour; "Whole Lot of Leavin'" was back after being dropped in New Orleans; and "Because We Can" (which had replaced "Whole Lot of Leavin'") stayed. Here's Bon Jovi's full set list in Dallas:

Dallas, TX, USA - American Airlines Center - March 26, 2018

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. Because We Can
7. Born To Be My Baby
8. Who Says You Can't Go Home
9. It's My Life
10. We Weren't Born To Follow
11. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
12. We Got It Goin' On
13. Keep The Faith
14. Amen
15. Bed Of Roses
16. Lay Your Hands On Me
17. God Bless This Mess
18. Have a Nice Day
19. Bad Medicine
    
    Encore:
20. Wanted Dead Or Alive
21. Livin' on a Prayer 

Videos from Dallas

"Livin' on a Prayer":

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

The band now has a few days off before the tour resumes in Boston...

Bon Jovi in Dallas 23/2/17

"Labor of Love" made its tour debut at Bon Jovi's show in Dallas on Feb 23. Here's everything that was played:

Set list: Dallas, TX, USA - American Airlines Center - 23 February 2017

1. This House Is Not For Sale
2. Knockout
3. You Give Love A Bad Name
4. Lost Highway 
5. Whole Lot Of Leavin'
6. Roller Coaster
7. We Weren't Born To Follow
8. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
9. We Got It Goin' On
10. Who Says You Can't Go Home
11. It's My Life
12. We Don't Run
13. God Bless This Mess
14. Scars On This Guitar
15. The Devil's In The Temple
16. Lay Your Hands On Me
17. Born To Be My Baby
18. Have a Nice Day
19. Bad Medicine
20. Keep The Faith
    
    Encore:
21. Labor of Love
22. Wanted Dead Or Alive
23. Livin' On A Prayer

American Airlines Center also presented the band with a custom belt buckle to commemorate eight sold-out shows at the venue.

Videos from Dallas

Maritza streamed the concert on Periscope.

Here are some individual songs from YouTube:

"Labor of Love":

"This House Is Not For Sale" with the pre-concert intro and rising curtain:

"Bad Medicine":

"Keep the Faith":

If you have any links to videos, feel free to share them in the comments. 🙂

Were you at this show?

Bon Jovi Dallas set list 16/10/13

Dallas got a similar set list to the show in San Antonio, but it's nice to see Blood on Blood make a comeback in the encore. Were you at this show?

Dallas, TX, USA - American Airlines Center - October 16, 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. Born To Be My Baby
16. We Weren't Born To Follow
17. Who Says You Can't Go Home
18. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
    / Takin' Care of Business - Bachman-Turner Overdrive cover
    / Start Me Up - Rolling Stones cover
    / Jumpin' Jack Flash - Rolling Stones cover
19. Bad Medicine
    / Shout! - Isley Brothers cover

Encore:
20. Runaway
21. Wanted Dead Or Alive
22. Have A Nice Day
23. Livin' On A Prayer
24. Blood on Blood

Last Man Standing in Dallas

Last Man Standing from Bon Jovi's Have a Nice Day album has had a couple of runs in recent shows. This is the performance from Dallas on April 11. Jon altered the third verse lyrics (possibly not on purpose) but, assuming it was a mistake, he recovered pretty well.

Bon Jovi Dallas set list 11/4/13

Bon Jovi's Dallas show (and Phil X's 6th of the tour) brought a couple of surprises including Last Man Standing, while That's What the Water Made Me again opened the show. Were you at this concert?

Dallas, TX, US - American Airlines Center - April 11, 2013

1. That's What the Water Made Me
2. You Give Love a Bad Name
3. Born to Be My Baby
4. Raise Your Hands
5. Runaway
6. Lost Highway
7. Whole Lot of Leavin'
8. It's My Life
9. Because We Can
10. What About Now
11. Work for the Working Man
12. We Got It Going On
13. Keep the Faith
14. (You Want To) Make a Memory
15. Bed of Roses
16. I'll Be There For You
17. Last Man Standing
18. We Weren't Born to Follow
19. Who Says You Can't Go Home
20. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Dancing in the Streets [Martha & the Vandellas / Jagger/Bowie cover] / Start Me Up [Rolling Stones cover]
21. Bad Medicine / Hot Legs [Rod Stewart cover] / Shout! [Isley Brothers cover]
Encore:
22. In These Arms
23. Wanted Dead or Alive
24. Have a Nice Day
25. Livin' on a Prayer
26. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
27. Always
28. Old Time Rock 'n' Roll [Bob Seger cover]

Dallas review: Bon Jovi has lost its snarl but that's not a problem

Here's a review of Bon Jovi's first night (April 10) in Dallas by Mike Daniel for the Dallas Morning News:

Bon Jovi has lost its snarl. But that's not really a problem. It's by design, as demonstrated by the band's polished-to-a-mirror-shine performance Saturday at a long-sold-out American Airlines Center.

Read the full review here.

Videos from Dallas

A couple of vids from Bon Jovi's second show in Dallas.

SOMEDAY I'LL BE SATURDAY NIGHT - Most of the performances this tour have been acoustic; this is one of the electric ones. There's a really cool section with some additional lyrics from about 2:40 onwards.


HAVE A NICE DAY - This seems to work as an encore opener. Lively performance with attitude.


CAPTAIN CRASH & THE BEAUTY QUEEN FROM MARS

Dallas 2nd night set list

Part of Bon Jovi's second show in Dallas was streamed live via Ustream. The webcast was scheduled to be the first four songs but we got six before a message popped up saying they were extending it as a token of appreciation to "the best fans in the world", and there would be four more songs in four minutes. (I think a new video for "When We Were Beautiful" was shot during that break). When the webcast resumed, we got the extra four songs and no more, with the stream cutting off before Richie took the stage, much to my chagrin. Still, I did get to watch half a Bon Jovi show live for free so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. :P

According to an e-mail I got from Ustream a few hours before the show, this webcast was "the first live streamed concert available on the iPad through Ustream’s iPad free viewing application. It will also be available on Ustream’s viewing applications for iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices."

Anyway, thanks to Jovination for the rest of the set list. But let me just say that "Love's the Only Rule" deserves to be played every night on this tour and I'm actually quite disappointed that Jon seems to have decided otherwise lately.

DALLAS, USA - AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER - APRIL 11, 2010
Blood on Blood
We Weren't Born to Follow
You Give Love a Bad Name
Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
Born to Be My Baby
When We Were Beautiful
Superman Tonight
We Got It Going On
Bad Medicine w/ Hot Legs [Rod Stewart cover]
It's My Life
Homebound Train [Richie Sambora on lead vocals]
(You Want To) Make a Memory
Bed of Roses
Squeeze Box [The Who cover]
Something for the Pain [acoustic]
Keep the Faith
Work for the Working Man
Who Says You Can't Go Home
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night

ENCORE:
Have a Nice Day
Wanted Dead or Alive
Livin' on a Prayer

St Paul and Dallas videos and story

There weren't really any rarities to come from Bon Jovi's April 7 and April 8 shows in St Paul or the first night in Dallas, and I'm keen to avoid slowing down this site with too many videos -- I currently have the webcast for the second Dallas show embedded at the top of the page -- so it might be best to direct you to Hath's Circle tour blog for videos from the past three shows:

• St Paul (April  7, 2010)
• St Paul (April 8, 2010)
• Dallas (April 10, 2010)

Hath and her team have been compiling an extensive media guide to each show all tour so give them a HAND. ;)

(Ok, that was a terrible pun. Hopefully Bon Jovi deliver some awesome surprises tonight so I can go back to gushing about the band instead of making bad jokes. :P )

Also, for a feelgood Jon Bon Jovi story, here's one about him visiting a homeless shelter in St Paul:

It is highly unusual for an international rock star to spend two hours at a homeless shelter. However, hours before his sold out show at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Jon Bon Jovi was walking around People Serving People on a "fact-finding mission."

Read the full article here.

Dallas 1st night set list

Bon Jovi's first night in Dallas, TX. Tomorrow is the live webcast via UStream, which I'm guessing will kick off with "Blood on Blood". (For the benefit of international fans, I believe the live stream begins Monday at about 2am GMT).

DALLAS, USA - AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTRE, APRIL 10, 2010
Happy Now
We Weren't Born to Follow
You Give Love a Bad Name
Whole Lot of Leavin'
Born to Be My Baby
Lost Highway
When We Were Beautiful
Superman Tonight
We Got It Going On
Bad Medicine w/ Roadhouse Blues [The Doors cover] / Shout [Isley Brothers cover]
It's My Life
Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals]
Hallelujah
I'll Be There For You
Love for Sale
Something for the Pain [acoustic]
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [acoustic]
Keep the Faith
Work for the Working Man
Who Says You Can't Go Home
Love's the Only Rule

ENCORE:
Runaway
Wanted Dead or Alive
Livin' on a Prayer