Auckland review + videos

Scott Kara has reviewed the December 5 Auckland gig for the New Zealand Herald. It criticises parts of Bon Jovi's catalogue but ultimately it's not a negative review:

There are times where it's more like Bruce Hornsby and the Range than Bon Jovi.

These later songs sound sedate and a little bland in comparison to the rousing Bad Medicine and It's My Life from 2000, which was the band's last truly memorable anthem.

But despite the bouts of blandness, Bon Jovi are still superstars, even in their late 40s, early 50s.

Check out the full article here.

Speaking of Auckland, that was the best set of this leg so far, so let's have a few videos, shall we? ;)

NO APOLOGIES - Making its live debut. Not exactly my favourite song, but this is the track that Jon had wanted as the lead single from the Greatest Hits, and it's not a bad first up performance. Another video of this was uploaded to Bon Jovi's Facebook page, so you can check it out if you haven't already seen it.


ALWAYS - Yes! Very nice Richie Sambora solo too. Please play this in Perth.


BAD MEDICINE - Jon compares himself to Justin Timberlake, lol.


WHEN WE WERE BEAUTIFUL (partial) - Jon's dedication to the Pike River Miners.

Wellington review + Gearing up for Perth

Short, positive review of Bon Jovi's December 4 Wellington show from Karen Hurley for the New Zealand Herald:

It was an all-singing, all-dancing cowboy and cougar convention as Bon Jovi fans "whoa whoaed" along to the pop rock band's greatest hits at Wellington's Westpac Stadium last night.

"Is this New Zealand or New Jersey?" said the band's frontman: Jon Bon Jovi felt so at home for his first North Island concert in 15 years that he could barely tell the difference.

Read the full article here. She mentioned something about Richie Sambora's guitars being the fifth member of the band, which is nice praise for Richie, but a bit insulting to my boy Hugh McDonald if I do say so myself.

In news closer to home, literally, Bon Jovi's next show is in Perth on December 8. I'm not expecting anything crazily rare, but hopefully it won't be completely vanilla either. I'm not sure what the Subiaco Oval -- I mean, Patersons Stadium -- security will be like on Wednesday, but I'll do my best to get videos especially if anything a bit out of the ordinary occurs.

Here are my requests, in case anyone from the Bon Jovi camp reads this:

• "Bed of Roses" and "Always" (or at least one of the two). We didn't get either in 2008 and prior to that Bon Jovi hadn't played in Perth since 1992. The one recurring complaint I heard after the '08 show was the lack of "Bed of Roses" and "Always". And both are on the Greatest Hits, so it makes sense.
• ANYTHING from These Days. And while I have my preferences, I really do mean anything.
• Anything from The Circle that isn't played at every show. "Love's the Only Rule" would be a good song to do. This IS still technically The Circle tour. And Lost Highway re-entered the ARIA charts after the last Australian tour, peaking at #2. It can't hurt to give The Circle a chance, even if it's now competing with a Greatest Hits compilation.
• A new song from the Greatest Hits and Ultimate Collection other than "What Do You Got?". As of the December 5 Auckland show, "No Apologies" looks a real possibility. I'm keen to hear "This Is Love, This Is Life" or "The More Things Change" though.
• No "I Love This Town". Jon, even if we serve you up some great weather and a great crowd and you start feeling around 10pm that you actually do love Perth, please do not sing this song. And even if we deliver crappy weather and a boring crowd, please do not punish us with this song. :P

Anyway, three sleeps to go. For all my cynicism online, I can't wait!

Meanwhile, here's "Summertime Blues" from the Lost Highway tour in Perth... January 25, 2008:

Auckland set list

Finally, something different! Jon started out in the crowd, as Bon Jovi opened with "Last Man Standing" instead of "Blood on Blood". "No Apologies" also made its live debut and you can watch the video via Bon Jovi's Facebook page.

"Bed of Roses" and "Always" were both played and I'm desperately hoping that will also be the case in Perth on Wednesday night. ;)

"When We Were Beautiful" was again dedicated to the 29 men who were killed in the Pike River Mine disaster. Cheers to @Super_Kiwi for supplying the PBP.

Auckland, New Zealand - Vector Arena - December 5, 2010
Last Man Standing
You Give Love a Bad Name
Born to Be My Baby
We Weren't Born to Follow
Lost Highway
Whole Lot of Leavin'
When We Were Beautiful
It's My Life
No Apologies
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Start Me Up [Rolling Stones cover]
We Got It Goin' On
Bad Medicine / Shout! [Isley Brothers cover]
Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals]
Bed of Roses
I'll Be There For You
Work for the Working Man
Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars
Runaway
Who Says You Can't Go Home
Keep the Faith

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

Check out Hath's Circle Tour blog for videos as they come.

Wellington set list

Bon Jovi played the first of two shows for their New Zealand fans tonight. They did visit NZ on the Lost Highway tour but I think this was the band's first show in Wellington. The set is kind of short and will probably seem familiar to anyone who was been following them (or anyone who had a look at the Tokyo set list). Over at JoviTalk it was speculated that Jon had made a playlist on his trusty iPhone and just figured out how to "shuffle" late in the set. ;)

Apparently Jon did make mention of the recent New Zealand mine tragedy at Pike River. Thanks to @Super_Kiwi for the PBP.

Wellington, New Zealand - Westpac Stadium - December 4, 2010
Blood on Blood
We Weren't Born to Follow
You Give Love a Bad Name
Born to Be My Baby
Lost Highway
Whole Lot of Leavin'
When We Were Beautiful
It's My Life
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
We Got It Goin' On
Bad Medicine / Oh, Pretty Woman [Roy Orbison cover]
Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals]
What Do You Got?
I'll Be There For You
Work for the Working Man
Raise Your Hands
Runaway
Who Says You Can't Go Home?
Keep the Faith

ENCORE:
Wanted Dead or Alive
Livin' on a Prayer

Check Hath's Circle Tour blog for videos as they come.

Auckland show moved to Vector Arena

From BonJovi.com:

Rock’s global icons, Bon Jovi, return to New Zealand in December as part of The Circle world tour.

Bon Jovi will play Westpac Stadium in Wellington on December 4 as originally scheduled, however the Auckland show on December 5 has been moved indoors to Vector Arena.

Said Promoter Paul Dainty “When we planned the tour we believed we could move the huge Wellington outdoor show to Auckland overnight but with the sheer scale of their show this has proved unachievable. We have been forced to move the 5th December show indoors to Vector Arena.”

Ticketholders for the Auckland show will be contacted by Ticketek to arrange replacement tickets for the new venue OR a refund. 0800 Ticketek (0800 842 538) or www.ticketek.co.nz.

Replacement tickets will be issued by Ticketmaster from the 1st November at which time all enquiries should be directed to 09 970 9700 (0800 111 999) or www.ticketmaster.co.nz for further details.

Coming full circle to NZ + Melbourne sold out

Here's a snippet of an article by Desmond Sampson in the New Zealand Herald, featuring an interview with Jon Bon Jovi:

"But I think the one good thing we've learned from doing that - from pushing ourselves - is that when you think you've had enough and feel like you shouldn't be on the road, you really shouldn't be on the road.

"That's why we're looking forward to coming out to New Zealand now," he adds, excitedly. "This time we're ready and able, as opposed to the first time we came in 1987 when we were completely exhausted and it felt like we'd been pulled across the rack, getting on that plane to Australia and New Zealand.

"When I look back on it, we shouldn't have done that tour because we were beat, so we didn't do ourselves or the fans justice," he admits. "But it wasn't anyone's fault - we were all caught up in the moment and kept hearing: 'there's another great opportunity; a chance to add another date to the tour; to play New Zealand', when really what we should have been told was `take some time off, go to bed ... '

Read the full article at this link.

Also, according to Ticketmaster, the Melbourne show on December 11 is sold out and unlike Sydney there won't be a second date added. Apparently only 20,000 tickets were available when the show went on sale to the general public today, while 30,000 had gone to pre-sales and competitions beforehand. I think Melbourne sold out on the first day of the general sale on the Lost Highway tour as well, so I'm surprised they haven't scheduled another concert.

EDIT: July 9 - Some General Admission (Standing Room) tickets were released for Melbourne today. They're selling on Ticketmaster for $153.

2nd Sydney date added

From BonJovi.com:

TO OVERWHELMING DEMAND A 2ND GRAND FINALE SYDNEY SHOW HAS JUST BEEN CONFIRMED FOR SATURDAY 18 DECEMBER!
July 6, 2010

GENERAL PUBLIC TICKETS TO ALL AUSTRALIAN BON JOVI SHOWS ON SALE 9AM TOMORROW MORNING THURSDAY 8 JULY!

Bon Jovi pre-sale tickets are on sale now and the response has been so overwhelming that Dainty Consolidated Entertainment has added a second and final Sydney show for Saturday 18 December, which will go on sale to the general public with all other shows at 9am on THURSDAY 8 JULY.

More information at this link.

The Australasian leg of the Circle tour is now as follows:

December 4th, 2010 - Wellington, New Zealand - Westpac Stadium
December 5th, 2010 - Auckland, New Zealand - Mt. Smart Stadium
December 8th, 2010 - Perth, Australia - Subiaco Oval
December 11th, 2010 - Melbourne, Australia - Etihad Stadium
December 14th, 2010 - Brisbane, Australia - Suncorp Stadium
December 17th, 2010 - Sydney, Australia - Sydney Football Stadium
December 18th, 2010 - Sydney, Australia - Sydney Football Stadium

Australasian tour dates

I posted Bon Jovi's Australian dates last night; New Zealand dates have also been announced.

December 4th, 2010 - Wellington, New Zealand - Westpac Stadium
December 5th, 2010 - Auckland, New Zealand - Mt. Smart Stadium
December 8th, 2010 - Perth, Australia - Subiaco Oval
December 11th, 2010 - Melbourne, Australia - Etihad Stadium
December 14th, 2010 - Brisbane, Australia - Suncorp Stadium
December 17th, 2010 - Sydney, Australia - Sydney Football Stadium