Bon Jovi in Denver 14/03/18 + How Hugh McDonald became a Rock Hall inductee

It's been almost six months since Bon Jovi were last on the road for their This House Is Not For Sale Tour. The band kicked off this leg of the tour in Denver, to make up for last year's scheduled show which got postponed then cancelled. Here's what was played:

Denver, CO, USA - Pepsi Center - March 14, 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. When We Were Us 
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 Going 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. I Love This Town 
21. Wanted Dead or Alive
22. Livin' on a Prayer

While the band has played "When We Were Us" twice before, this marked its debut as part of a tour. It was also the first time "Amen" and "I Love This Town" have been played since the Because We Can Tour in 2013. I'd personally hoped the latter had been put to bed for good, but obviously not. 😛

Videos from Denver
Taylor streamed the concert live on Facebook from part way through "Lost Highway" to the start of "Wanted Dead or Alive":


Here are a couple of videos of individual songs...

"When We Were Us":

"Amen" (Part 1):

"Amen" (Part 2):

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

Bon Jovi's next stop is Utah, where Hugh McDonald and his wife Kelli live. The Deseret News published an article about Huey ahead of the concert; it talks about Hugh's history with Jon and how Jon pushed for Hugh to be inducted into the Rock Hall with Bon Jovi:

“Jon was good enough at Christmastime to surprise me by sending me a framed copy of the email that he sent to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, telling them my history in the band over the years and that I deserved to be in with them. I can’t even explain how much it means to me,” McDonald said with audible emotion.

The story of how Hugh winged it as Poison bassist for a night is also discussed. Read the full article at this link.

Bon Jovi in Pittsburgh 05/04/17

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

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. Runaway
10. We Got It Going On
11. Who Says You Can't Go Home
12. It's My Life
13. Lay Your Hands On Me
14. Born to Be My Baby [ft. Brad]
15. Bad Medicine
16. 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 07/04/17: Jon has bronchitis. On doctor's orders, the two Madison Square Garden shows have been postponed until April 13 and 15 respectively. Bon Jovi's website still has the previously-rescheduled Denver show going ahead on April 14.

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.

Videos from Pittsburgh

"Born to Be My Baby" featuring a fan from the crowd:


UPDATE 7/04/17: More videos have been uploaded. Thanks to the commenter below for links.

Here's "Livin' on a Prayer" with Dave on the second verse:

"It's My Life":

"Bad Medicine":

This is another angle of "Born to Be My Baby" with Brad:

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

Were you at this show?

Bon Jovi in Las Vegas 25/2/17

Between the last show in Dallas and this one in Las Vegas, it was announced that Bon Jovi's concert in Denver -- originally scheduled for 14 March 2017 -- had been postponed to 14 April due to a "scheduling conflict". While there's nothing else on at the Pepsi Center on 14 March, there is a basketball game on the 13th and an ice hockey match on the 15th, so the conflict may have something to do with loading in and out and setting up the stage.

Anyway, here's what Bon Jovi played when the This House Is Not For Sale Tour hit Las Vegas:

Set list: Las Vegas, NV, USA - T-Mobile Arena - 25 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. I Got The Girl
22. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
23. Wanted Dead or Alive
24. Livin' On a Prayer

We got arguably the first big surprise of the tour in "I Got the Girl". Jon's daughter Stephanie, whom the song was written about, was at the show, and Jon got her up on stage to dance.

Videos from Las Vegas

"I Got the Girl" with a cameo from Stephanie Bongiovi:

"Roller Coaster":

UPDATE 3/3/17: Damned TV put together this multicam video of "I Got the Girl":

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

Were you at this show?

Dry County + What About Now in Denver

Bon Jovi performed Dry County in the encore of their April 16 show in Denver, marking the song's first appearance on the Because We Can Tour. Phil X played lead guitar in the continued absence of Richie Sambora, having previously played the song in May 2011 (in Montreal and St. Louis).



Jon also made mention of the April 15 Boston Marathon Bombings before What About Now.

Bon Jovi Denver set list 16/4/13

Bon Jovi's 1992 epic Dry County made its Because We Can Tour debut when the band (still featuring Phil X and sans Richie Sambora) played in Denver overnight. Were you at the show?

Denver, CO, US - Pepsi Center - April 16, 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. Lost Highway
6. Whole Lot of Leavin'
7. It's My Life
8. Runaway
9. Because We Can
10. What About Now
11. We Got It Going On
12. Keep the Faith
13. (You Want To) Make a Memory
14. Bed of Roses
15. I'll Be There for You
16. Last Man Standing
17. We Weren't Born to Follow
18. Who Says You Can't Go Home
19. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Dancing in the Streets [Martha & the Vandellas / Jagger/Bowie cover] / Start Me Up [Rolling Stones cover]
20. Bad Medicine / Shout! [Isley Brothers cover]

Encore:
21. Dry County
22. Wanted Dead or Alive
23. Have a Nice Day
24. Livin' on a Prayer

Encore 2:
25. Blood on Blood
26. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night

Bad Medicine, Keep the Faith, Runaway in Denver

Some videos from Bon Jovi's show in Denver a couple of nights ago. Read the full set list for that show here.

BAD MEDICINE - I love seeing the "bar band/jukebox" routine that used to be with "Sleep When I'm Dead" in "Bad Medicine"; I think it really freshens up a song that had become stale after being performed the same way for two decades. Here Jon tries to sing Free in the medley but doesn't seem to know it well enough, so they move onto The Doors ("Roadhouse Blues"). Very cool.


KEEP THE FAITH


RUNAWAY - "Uh-oh, it's 1984 again".

Denver set list

I'm on a break between classes at the moment so I'll just quickly post the set list from the Bon Jovi show in Denver before embarking on some reading. Doesn't seem like there was anything remarkable to comment on anyway...

DENVER, USA - PEPSI CENTER - MARCH 8, 2010
Blood On Blood
We Weren't Born To Follow
You Give Love A Bad Name
Born To Be My Baby
Whole Lot of Leavin'
Lost Highway
When We Were Beautiful
Superman Tonight
We Got It Goin' On
Bad Medicine w/ All Right Now / Roadhouse Blues
It's My Life
Homebound Train [Richie Sambora on lead vocals]
Hallelujah
I'll Be There For You
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