Bon Jovi's halfway there in Tampa (but Wanted Dead or Alive isn't?)

We're at the halfway mark of Bon Jovi's 2022 Tour since no further dates have been announced after April as yet.

Since it was back to back shows again this weekend, I was going to combine the two consecutive Florida shows into one post like I did with Charlotte and Raleigh in North Carolina.

And then Bon Jovi went and skipped their national anthem "Wanted Dead or Alive" and I just had to put down my hot cross buns and chocolate eggs (Happy Easter, by the way) and say something. Anyway, let's breathe first, and look at what was played.

Tampa, Florida, USA - April 15, 2022

Amalie 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. Just Older
10. Let It Rain
11. Keep the Faith
12. American Reckoning
13. Whole Lot of Leavin'
14. I'll Be There For You
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. Who Says You Can't Go Home
21. Bad Medicine

 

"Wanted Dead or Alive" was actually in the printed set list -- it was supposed to open the encore but they just straight up didn't play it. I guess this scenario was flagged in Savannah, when "Wanted" was listed as an audible (but did end up getting played). Still, it's a Bon Jovi show. You can't not play "Wanted"! Jon, my love, if you need to preserve your voice then please drop some of the other songs that literally no one goes to a Bon Jovi show to hear.

In other news, percussionist and king of cool Everett Bradley didn't take to the stage after testing positive to COVID, along with some 15 crew members. Everett's backing vocals have actually become really important to the current Bon Jovi live setup so I don't know if that played a part. But seriously, no "Wanted" is a no-no and I cannot stop thinking about this.

Selected videos from Tampa

"The Radio Saved My Life Tonight". This is one of my favourite songs from 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong so a legit joy of this tour has been seeing it in the set:

"Just Older". Been good to see this one in the set too. David Bryan's vocals seem so much higher in the mix here but that's maybe not a bad thing:

"Livin' on a Prayer". This is another song that you can't just not freaking do at a Bon Jovi concert, even if you have to lower the key:

"I'll Be There For You". I don't think it's a secret that I'd prefer Phil X to be taking all the solos:

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Feel free to share your thoughts below. 😊

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

We're all alright! Hello Wisconsin! Bon Jovi in Milwaukee

Sorry about the title, I was just thinking about That 70s Show for some reason. 😜

But after two identical sets to start the tour, we got a few set list changes when Bon Jovi played in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA - April 5, 2022

Fiserv Forum

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. Just Older
7. Born to Be My Baby
8. Beautiful Drug
9. I'll Be There For You
10. Let it Rain
11. Keep the Faith
12. Lower the Flag - acoustic
    
13. We Don't Run - acoustic
14. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night - acoustic
15. Who Says You Can't Go Home
16. Lost Highway
17. Wanted Dead or Alive
18. Roller Coaster
19. This House Is Not For Sale
20. Have a Nice Day
21. Livin' on a Prayer
    
    encore:
22. In These Arms
23. Bad Medicine

Selected videos from Milwaukee

"Bad Medicine". Well, Jon's moving around a bit, the backing vocals sound pretty good, and the band members seem to have a good vibe with each other:

"Lower the Flag". One of my favourite songs from 2020, and I'm glad it's made its tour debut. Plus, Jon's current tone actually kind of works to convey the mood of a song like this:

"Just Older" comes with added "sha-la-las" on this tour:

"In These Arms". Part of me wants David Bryan to sing this one permanently, but unfortunately that would just highlight the difference between him and Jon vocally:

"I'll Be There For You". This is an emotional experience for me, honestly, but probably not in the way it's supposed to be:

Anyway, we're a week into the tour but no dates have been announced beyond this month so I don't know what happens after April. I guess we'll find out soon enough.

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Feel free to share your thoughts below. 😊

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

Jon Bon Jovi's Sex Sells listening party

Back in 1998, Jon Bon Jovi was making what was possibly going to be his third solo album, Sex Sells. This album later morphed into a band album and became what is now known as Crush.

A recording from a listening party, where fans were asked to rate potential tracks for Sex Sells, was recently uploaded to YouTube. The sound quality is not great and there are people talking over it, but fans will recognise some of the tracks as early versions of songs that were eventually released on Crush, on the 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong box set, as B-sides on singles, or (in the case of "Real Life") on the soundtrack for EDtv.

Listen to the recording here:

Here's the track list:

1. Just Older
2. Hush
3. Save the World
4. Shadow Dancing
5. Good Ain't Good Enough
6. Stay
7. Real Life
8. I Got the Girl
9. You Can't Lose at Love
10. Gimme Some

Thanks to the reader who alerted me to this. 🙂

Happy birthday, Jon!

Jon Bon Jovi turns the big "Hawaii Five-O" (50 years old) today.

You all knew the "Just Older" reference was coming so I'll just leave you with a little video.

Billy Falcon's Bon Jovi songs

Bon Jovi has collaborated with Billy Falcon a lot over the years... Here are Billy's versions of some of those songs.

when we were were beautiful by Billy Falcon

Superman Tonight edit by Billy Falcon

Everybodys Broken edit by Billy Falcon

Love's The Only Rule demo edit by Billy Falcon

Videos from Udine

July 17, 2011 marked Bon Jovi's first Italian show in eight years and it was one to remember.

Spanish Harlem / Bed of Roses

Spanish Harlem was a surprise but nice little intro to Roses.

Lie to Me / Always

Lie to Me was unplanned (it wasn't on the printed setlist) but I love this song pairing. And how good does this crowd sound!

Just Older

Jon dedicated this to Max, the fan who organised the crowd choreography to form the American flag and the word "JOVI".


These Days

One of the best songs this band has ever released... The "whoa oh ohs" were a cool finish.

There were a heap of great songs at this show and great videos too, so be sure to check out Hath's Circle Tour Blog for a complete video guide! :)

Videos from Dublin 1

As promised, here's but a sample of Bon Jovi videos from their first of two nights in Dublin (June 29, 2011)...

Bad Medicine / Gloria / Not Fade Away / Oh, Pretty Woman

Jon rattles his skull cane/maracas, hams up his "crippled" state and pays lively tribute to Irish women, while Tico Torres gets to kick off a "jukebox song" in this marathon Bad Medicine medley. Though to be honest, as much as I love Not Fade Away, I'm not sure it works that well here.

Blaze of Glory


Just Older


I'll post videos from the second show in my next post.

As usual, more great video links can be found on Hath's Circle Tour Blog.

MSG, New York videos, JBJ's birthday

Bon Jovi... live from Madison Square Garden. I should really be in bed now, so instead of rambling on, I'll just let the videos do the talking. Most of them are from the second show (February 25) but "The More Things Change" is from February 24.

Dry County


Bed of Roses


Love for Sale


These Days


And because it's ticked over into March 2 where I'm from, meaning it's officially Jon Bon Jovi's 49th birthday...

The More Things Change


Just Older


Happy birthday, Jon! ;)

Videos: The More Things Change, This Is Love, Just Older from Pittsburgh

Who wants to see some Bon Jovi videos from night #2 in Pittsburgh (February 12, 2011)? They played two new songs, so you know what that means... Video Showcase Time. :)

The More Things Change / Lost Highway

"The More Things Change" is probably my favourite new track from the Greatest Hits and Ultimate Collection. It sounds decent for mine, though Jon looks as if he's concentrating too hard on the teleprompter too hard to really get into the song. But to be fair, there are actually quite a lot of lyrics in it, and I'm sure he'll get better with practise (hint, hint). Jon swapped over to a cool new Takamine guitar with a heart and dagger logo for "Lost Highway".

This Is Love, This Is Life


Not too bad, albeit not as powerful as the studio version which would have been difficult to replicate live, but I think it has promise as a live track. Hope they keep performing this and "The More Things Change" to iron out the kinks (and because, in my opinion, they are both superior songs to "What Do You Got" and "No Apologies").

Just Older


Bon Jovi opened with "Just Older" instead of "Blood on Blood" which makes for a nice switch. Jon also made a personal change, playing an electric guitar on the song.

More Sydney 2nd night videos

Here are some more videos from Bon Jovi's second Sydney show (December 18, 2010).

Last Man Standing - I'm not 100% sold on this as an opener, but I do like the song so I'm glad they brought it back on this tour.


Just Older + I'd Die For You - I've always wondered why "Just Older" wasn't a single. It's nice to get a Slippery When Wet album track too.


Homebound Train - This is a perfect Richie Sambora song, both vocally and... guitarily (yes, I just coined a word). Suits him much better than "Lay Your Hands on Me".


Lay Your Hands on Me - Jon on lead vocals, the way it was supposed to be. ;)


Wanted Dead or Alive - I don't showcase "Wanted" on the blog too often, since it's played at every show anyway, but this was basically a duet between the crowd and Richie. A few people have mentioned that David Bryan looks annoyed about Richie getting to sing the second verse. I don't think I'd read too much into his expression though.


In These Arms - If there was one "major" criticism about the three-night stand in Sydney, it would be that neither of the big ballads "Always" and "Bed of Roses" were played. They did at least get "In These Arms" though.

Even more Meadowlands videos

A selection of videos from the third night (May 29, 2010)...

DRY COUNTY - Sounds stronger than it did the first night. Amazing song.


I'D DIE FOR YOU


JUST OLDER


JUMPIN' JACK FLASH / I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD


SOMEDAY I'LL BE SATURDAY NIGHT (electric) - Cool jam near the end.


DIAMOND RING


IN THESE ARMS


And a couple of earlier videos that I didn't post here or here...

RAISE YOUR HANDS from the first night (tour debut)


BED OF ROSES from the second night - This isn't the first time they've played "Roses" this tour but this is probably the best performance of it, vocally at least. Jon's going for (and hitting) the original notes as opposed to singing the This Left Feels Right melody over electric instruments.

In These Arms & partial Just Older in Sacramento

Videos of a couple of songs made their tour debut in Sacramento on March 2, 2010.

IN THESE ARMS - Cue screaming girls. ;) Someone also throws a vintage T-shirt onto the stage.


JUST OLDER - It was, of course, Jon Bon Jovi's 48th birthday and the band opened with the most appropriate song in their discography.

JBJ & Friends at Starland videos III

Three more videos from the Feb 23 fan club show at Starland Ballroom.

Previously posted videos here and here. Full set list available here.

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE (partial)


JUST OLDER (partial)


LIVIN' ON A PRAYER (acoustic)