The grass is Greenville for Bon Jovi

Yeah, that was an awful pun and may or may not be my silly attempt at distracting you from the fact that I'm falling behind again. But hey, I work full time and spend a lot of that time in front of a computer screen so sometimes watching videos and blogging isn't necessarily my priority afterwards. I'm sure it's no skin off Jon's back. 😜

Anyway, show #6 of Bon Jovi's 2022 tour took us to Greenville -- which was actually the scene of the opening show of the This House Is Not For Sale Tour way back in 2017. Gosh, that feels like a lifetime ago.

Here's what happened in 2022...

Greenville, South Carolina, USA - April 11, 2022

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

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. I'll Be There For You
10. Just Older
11. Let It Rain
12. Keep the Faith
13. American Reckoning - acoustic
14. We Don't Run - acoustic
15. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night - acoustic
16. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
17. Lost Highway
18. Roller Coaster
19. Wanted Dead or Alive
20. Have a Nice Day
21. Livin' on a Prayer
    
    encore:
22. Who Says You Can't Go Home
23. Bad Medicine

 

Selected videos from Greenville

 "I'll Be There For You". I mean, the voice is what it is. But the crowd "whoa-oh-ohs" are always cool:

"Keep the Faith". Phil X is fire and hands-down my favourite thing about live performances of this song:

"Born to Be My Baby". Jon can definitely still do his front man thang, I won't deny that:

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Feel free to share your thoughts below. 😊

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Bon Jovi in Greenville 8/2/17

Bon Jovi kicked off their This House Is Not For Sale Tour in Greenville, South Carolina. In case you missed the promo shows, the new look touring lineup is as follows:

• Jon Bon Jovi on lead vocals (obviously)
• David Bryan on keyboards
• Tico Torres on drums
• Hugh McDonald on bass (finally "official" after more than two decades)
• Phil X on guitar (also elevated to "official" member) 
• John Shanks on guitar (a somewhat controversial move after a decade of mixed feelings from fans about his producing skills)
• Everett Bradley on percussion

Tour photographer David Bergman shot this video as the band was heading to South Carolina. (It was also Dave Bryan's birthday).

Here's what was played at the concert:

Set list: Greenville, SC, USA - Bon Secours Wellness Arena - 8 February 2017

1. This House is Not for Sale
2. Knockout
3. You Give Love a Bad Name
4. Born To Be My Baby
5. We Weren't Born To Follow
6. Lost Highway
7. Roller Coaster
8. Working Man for the Working Man
9. Because We Can
10. We Got It Goin' On
11. Who Says You Can't Go Home
12. It's My Life
13. God Bless This Mess
14. Scars on This Guitar
15. The Devil's In the Temple
16. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
17. Blood on Blood
18. Lay Your Hands on Me
19. Have a Nice Day
20. Bad Medicine
21. Keep the Faith
    Encore:
22. Always
23. Wanted Dead or Alive
24. Livin' on a Prayer

A few comments on the set list:

• I love This House Is Not For Sale (the album) so I hope they keep playing lots of tracks from it. But it'd be better to spread them throughout the set instead of putting them in blocks (or as casual fans might call them, "bathroom/drinks breaks").
• Speaking of new tracks, play "Living with the Ghost"!
• I was hoping "We Weren't Born to Follow" would be dropped by now. And surely putting it next to "Born to be My Baby" only highlights the fact that they have the same chorus. "Love's the Only Rule" would be a better song to play from The Circle.
• Why is "Because We Can" still being played? That singalong didn't work on the Because We Can Tour and it sure isn't going to work now.

Some people in attendance live streamed part or all of the show online, but I was at work and couldn't watch. There don't seem to be any videos on YouTube yet, but you can watch/listen to this Periscope stream (from "Roller Coaster" to part of "Have a Nice Day"). I'll update this post with a selection of videos if they pop up. Apparently Jon acknowledged his vocal troubles during the encore, saying he'd been working hard on it and his goal was to sing "Always" on the first night of the tour.

Were you at this show? Or are you going to any of the other dates that have been announced of this tour?

UPDATE 11/2/17: I've been surprised by the lack of quality videos from this show, but some soundboard recordings (audio only) have been uploaded on YouTube.

"Always" -- I think Jon sounds decent in parts... not anywhere near his best obviously, and not at Lost Highway Tour level... but better than he's sounded in the last three or four years. I hope he's got a vocal coach because I don't believe it's too late to get his voice back, but it'll take time and work.

"Lay Your Hands on Me" -- This made a return after not been performed at all on the Because We Can or Burning Bridges Tours, and I'm glad it did.