This was the second time in as many tours that Bon Jovi has played in Des Moines, Iowa without Richie Sambora. Amen and Army of One made a return to the set, bringing the total number of What About Now songs to five.
Were you at the show?
Des Moines, IA, US - Wells Fargo Arena - April 14, 2013
That's What the Water Made Me
You Give Love a Bad Name
Born to Be My Baby
Raise Your Hands
Lost Highway
Whole Lot of Leavin'
It's My Life
Because We Can
What About Now
We Got It Going On
Keep the Faith
Amen
Bed of Roses
I'll Be There For You
Army of One
We Weren't Born to Follow
Who Says You Can't Go Home
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
Bad Medicine / Old Time Rock 'n' Roll [Bob Seger cover]
Blame It On The Love's host Blogger was down for more than 24 hours so I couldn't access the dashboard to update. Some recent posts might be missing but they should be restored soon. And if you have a blog, back it up! You never know what may happen.
Anyway, I can now give you Bon Jovi's set list for Des Moines... though it's virtually identical to that of the previous show in Columbus, apart from the addition of Saturday Night in the encore.
Des Moines, Iowa, USA - Wells Fargo Arena - May 12, 2011
Lost Highway
You Give Love A Bad Name
Born To Be My Baby
We Weren't Born To Follow
Runaway
It's My Life
Work For The Working Man
We Got It Goin' On
Bad Medicine / Roadhouse Blues [The Doors cover] / Old Time Rock and Roll [Bob Seger cover]
Lay Your Hands On Me
(You Want To) Make A Memory
Bed Of Roses
I'll Be There For You
Who Says You Can't Go Home
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
Blood On Blood
Have A Nice Day
Keep The Faith
Encore:
When We Were Beautiful
Wanted Dead Or Alive
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
Livin' On A Prayer
Check Hath's Circle Tour Blog for links to videos and media from the show in due course.
Well, the tour may be over but we can still relive some of those magical moments that made it so special... and that's exactly what I intend to do on this blog (in no particular order). God bless YouTube and all the wonderful people who take it upon themselves to record history! ;)
The first of my "magic memories" is the performance of "Always" in Des Moines, Iowa on April 20. To put it into context, Bon Jovi had not performed the electric version of this song since 2003. They performed the This Left Feels Right version during the Have a Nice Day tour and hadn't played any version during the Lost Highway tour. Diehard fans were certain the original "Always" would never be played again. Deep down, we knew Jon simply couldn't hit those notes anymore. I reckon Bon Jovi themselves thought the song had been permanently retired too.
Then the impossible happened. Take a look at the video below. Jon's a little tentative (In later performances, he moves around more freely) but he is nailing it. I remember first reading it had been played and shaking in disbelief; waiting what seemed like an eternity for even snippets of fan videos to be uploaded; and then watching, spellbound, with an immense heart-warming pride. It's not something that every fan can understand but just watch and see. :)
in the encore.