Me watching a Bon Jovi tribute...

I'm a little biased since they're from my hometown but I'm a big fan of West Aussie Bon Jovi tribute band Slippery When Wet (not to be confused with their namesake in the US). I saw them for the umpteenth time here in Perth over the weekend. Here's a little snippet of the crowd at that gig during "Always", as filmed by their guitarist.

Slippery When Wet at the Camfield


If you know what I look like, you can see me in the front row. Thought I'd share for a bit of fun between tour legs. 😄

Richie Sambora Soundwave Perth 3/3/14 & Melbourne 28/2/14 set lists

Richie Sambora finished his Australian tour by playing at Perth's Soundwave Festival, with he and his band dishing up a few surprises.

Perth, WA, Australia - Arena Joondalup - March 3, 2014

1. Paranoid [Black Sabbath cover]
2. Nowadays
3. Burn that Candle Down
4. Lay Your Hands on Me
5. Voodoo Child [Jimi Hendrix Experience cover]
6. Learning How to Fly with a Broken Wing
7. Don't Change [INXS cover]
8. No Surrender [acoustic/Bruce Springsteen cover] / Wanted Dead or Alive
9. Livin' on a Prayer

Being my hometown, not to mention the final Soundwave to be held in Perth (It'll be an "east coast only" festival from 2015) and possibly the only chance I'll ever get to see Richie do a solo gig, I decided to head up to Joondalup. Unfortunately I didn't get the video everyone wants (i.e. Paranoid) -- I think I was too stunned! Plus I was staying for the whole day/night so I needed my phone battery to last.

I had an awesome time and really enjoyed Richie's set, which was like a big jam session, but I've heard mixed reviews from various people that I can certainly understand. I don't think No Surrender was rehearsed -- Richie was mumbling his way through all the words -- and it's only because it's one of my favourite Springsteen songs that I recognised it when it started.

Two friends of mine also saw Richie's set. One thought he was "shit" and "off his f***ing tree". The other described the show as "passionate dirty blues guitar sex" and reckons it was the best version ever of Lay Your Hands on Me and Wanted. All agreed that Orianthi was brilliant. I'd give the performance a 7/10 but I would love to see Richie at one of his own headlining gigs, rather than the lunchtime slot at a festival that's not really his genre.

Meanwhile, this is the set list for Richie's Soundwave gig in Melbourne on February 28, which I'd been looking for:

Melbourne, VIC, Australia - Flemington Racecourse - February 28, 2014

1. Burn That Candle Down
2. Nowadays
3. Lay Your Hands On Me
4. Every Road Leads Home to You
5. Don't Change [INXS cover]
6. Wanted Dead or Alive
7. Voodoo Child [Jimi Hendrix Experience cover]
8. Livin' on a Prayer

Did you catch Richie at any of the Soundwaves in Australia? What did you think of his performance?

Bon Jovi Perth set list 12/12/13 + Review and Videos

After originally leaving my hometown off their Australian tour, Bon Jovi slipped into Perth last night for what was the 100th show at Perth Arena. Were you there?

Perth, WA, Australia - Perth Arena - December 12, 2013

1. That's What the Water Made Me
2. Lost Highway
3. Whole Lot of Leavin'
4. You Give Love a Bad Name
5. The Radio Saved My Life Tonight
6. In These Arms - David Bryan vox on 2nd verse
7. It's My Life
8. Because We Can
9. What About Now
10. We Got It Going On
11. Keep the Faith
12. Amen
13. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night - acoustic
14. Thick as Thieves
15. Born to Be My Baby
16. We Weren't Born to Follow
17. Who Says You Can't Go Home
18. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
    / Rockin' All Over the World - John Fogerty/Status Quo cover
    / Start Me Up - Rolling Stones cover
19. Bad Medicine
    / Roadhouse Blues - The Doors cover
    / Wipe Out - The Surfaris cover

encore:
20. Wanted Dead or Alive
21. Have a Nice Day
22. Livin' on a Prayer

I had a feeling a shorter set might be on the cards after Adelaide the night before, but I didn't know what to expect at the first arena show of the Australian leg. It was a strange set, and I don't entirely agree with all of it, but I had a lot of fun and the band seemed to as well. Perth Arena is a little over a year old now and has proved a fantastic concert venue. And it was nice not to be able to predict the whole first hour! I was happy to get "The Radio Saved My Life Tonight", which is easily one of my favourites on the box set. "Always" was listed as an audible and would have received a great reception in the encore -- I'm sure the crowd would have sung most of it for Jon.

Here are my videos of "Radio" and "Thick as Thieves".

Bon Jovi - The Radio Saved My Life Tonight (live) - Perth 2013 #thefinal7


Bon Jovi - Thick as Thieves (live) - Perth 2013 #thefinal7

Videos from Perth

A small selection of videos from what has now jumped to the top of the list of favourite concerts I've been to: Bon Jovi's Perth show at Subiaco Oval/Patersons Stadium on December 8, 2010. In all honesty, the acoustics at Subi are pretty average but it's the only venue big enough for huge acts like Bon Jovi and U2, and there is at least one worse sounding major venue in Perth. A good show is still a good show.

No Apologies - Not a huge fan of this song, but I've enjoyed it live.


Bad Medicine / Shout! - I would have preferred a different medley song, but the crowd lapped this up and so did I. Jon flirting with someone in the crowd about 3:33 into the video.


Something for the Pain - YESSSSSSSSSS!! ;)


Livin' on a Prayer - The grand finale... and yes, that's your friendly neighbourhood Jovi blogger at about 3:45. What a knob. :P


Check out Hath's Circle Tour blog for more video links and multimedia from the show.

Also, here's a teaser video for an interview with Jon. It was shot in one of the boxes at Subi... but I'm not sure when the actual interview is going to pop up.

Reviews from Perth

Just read my after hours review of Bon Jovi's concert in Perth last night (December 8, 2010). Whoa, I hadn't realised how fangirly I sound, haha. For what it's worth, I didn't shed any tears for "Always" -- not that there's anything wrong with crying. I was very happy though. ;)

Anyway, here are some other reviews (with photo galleries and/or videos)...

Mara Fox alluded to Bon Jovi's formulaic song structures and the exorbitant ticket prices that we probably all know about by now, but her review for PerthNow is positive overall:

With blond hair waving, blue eyes flashing - and a honed white smile that was just too darn rock-star-ish to resist - legendary rocker Jon Bon Jovi got 38,000 fans to their feet at Subiaco's Patersons Stadium last night.

'If finger-lickin' mainstream rock, lashings of musical apple pie with dollops of whipped sentiment on top - delivered in an '80s blow-dried package (hell yeh!) - isn't your thing, then possibly the Bon Jovi concert is one to avoid.

Read the full review here.

Daile Pepper wrote a positive review too:

Patersons Stadium in Perth was packed with long-loving fans of rock superstar Jon Bon Jovi last night as the band kicked off their Australian tour with one almighty rocking gig.

Wearing a leather/snakeskin shirt unbuttoned to reveal his manly chest, tight black pants with added rock star sparkle and his trademark sexy stare, Bon Jovi lead the band through a set that spanned their three-decade career.

Read the full review at WA Today.

Dan the Internut (online content producer at Mix 94.5, the radio station that presented Bon Jovi in Perth) also blogged a review at the Mix website:

The crowd went bananas as the band hit their straps on the very first song of the night, the band (and Jon Bon Jovi in particular) looking in fine form. What is it about rock stars? They just don't seem to age.

When the band hit crowd favourite "It's My Life", something obviously kicked in for Jon. "Now they're waking up", he remarked to the band... You've got to give it to Jon Bon Jovi, he is the front man's front man... Jon was forever inciting the crowd to put their hands in the air, and even cracking out some Daryl Somers style moves to keep the band in check. Just like Daryl, only way cooler.

Dan, even the daggiest rock star in the universe is cooler than Daryl Somers. No offense, Daryl. Read the rest of Dan's review here (includes a pro shot video of "We Weren't Born to Follow" and "You Give Love a Bad Name").

Meanwhile, this article appeared in The West Australian as Bon Jovi hit Perth:

Globetrotting rock’n’roller Jon Bon Jovi is acclimatising to Perth ahead of the start of his seven-date Australia tour which kicks off with a gig at Patersons Stadium tonight.

Bon Jovi and other band members enjoyed a meal at The Raffles Hotel in Applecross last night with the lead singer appearing relaxed and friendly as he was driven away.

Read the rest of the article here.

I'll have some videos up in my next post. :)

Perth set list (and my late night review)

After contemplating my own little Bon Jovi tour around Australia, I had decided to hedge my bets on this one show in Perth... luckily for me, it was great. (Sydney and Melbourne will probably get better shows but let's not talk about that now, lol). Could the set have had more gems and rarities in it? Of course, but this is probably as good as I could have realistically hoped for in Perth and most importantly, it was a good performance. The band seemed to be in a great mood and they came on at 7:45pm so they didn't have to rush through the set like they did back in 2008 to beat the 10:30 curfew. It was a much better show than two years ago, not that 2008 was bad or anything. This was also the first show in which two of the new Greatest Hits songs were played.

Perth, Australia - Patersons Stadium - December 8, 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
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]
What Do You Got?
I'll Be There For You
Something for the Pain [acoustic]
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [acoustic]
Work for the Working Man
Raise Your Hands
Have a Nice Day
Who Says You Can't Go Home
Keep the Faith

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

Check Hath's Circle Tour blog for videos in due course. I haven't seen how my vids turned out yet.

My highlights were the acoustic set -- especially "Something for the Pain" -- and "Always" in the encore (I think I screamed and nearly cried when the drum intro started, haha). I had heard the boys soundchecking "No Apologies" and "Something for the Pain" when I arrived just before 5pm, and swore at a security guard when I heard the latter because it meant I had a decent shot of seeing something from These Days live in Perth (A couple of years ago, I had given up on that ever happening). Well, I didn't actually swear AT the security guard; I was asking him how to get to my gate because the usual paths I'd have taken for a football match had been blocked off. When Bon Jovi started playing "Pain", I just reacted. Luckily, the guard didn't take any offense. :P

Obviously certain songs got a better reaction than others, but there weren't any real lowlights as far as I'm concerned. Although all the "Who Says" haters would have got a kick out of the reaction that song receives here. It didn't chart, so when Jon starts his "it's alrights", no one obliges. Actually, I was in such a good mood by this point that I decided to do some "s'alrights" with him at the beginning of the song... but stopped when some guys in front of me turned around and gave me weird looks. :P

Oh, and I was the "Livin' on a Prayer" contest winner for Perth which meant my completely over-the-top miming of "Prayer" was splashed on the big screen for all to see. (Maybe that's why that woman on the train home was staring at me?) Anyway, I won a couple of free tickets, a VIP bag and a tour program, but ended up using my original ticket because it was a better seat. However, I got to play Santa; my mates got to see Bon Jovi for free, and I didn't have to pay $30 for a program so everyone's happy. :)

Anyway I've got to get up fairly early tomorrow, so I better try to come down from this high and get some sleep.

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:

Feeding my wallet to Jon Bon Jovi

I've got something on my mind... I'm just a little bit depressed...

Well, not really depressed. Happy even. Just a little bit uneasy.

You see, I bought my Bon Jovi ticket for Perth yesterday during the stadium members' pre-sale (one of the things my beloved West Coast Eagles have been good for this season, because winning football games hasn't been one of them LOL).

My original plan when the Australian tour was first announced was to also attend a show in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane but ticket prices soon put an end to that! Tickets for Perth (not including packages or the pit) ranged from AU $101.90 to $306.50 this time around, up from AU $99 to $199 back in 2008. I spent about $140 for Gold seating in 2008, so ended up forking out over double that for Diamond Seating this time around.

I was happy to have secured my ticket for what would be my second Bon Jovi show and to not be up in the nosebleeds, but considering my attacks on ticket prices both on this blog and elsewhere, what was I doing feeding the machine? Australians are already conditioned to think being ripped off is "normal"; we have grossly inflated prices for lots of things. I was helping to make it worse. Talk about hypocrisy of the highest order.

Another part of me was more defensive. Up until 2008, Bon Jovi hadn't done an actual tour in Australia since 1995 and hadn't been to Perth since 1992 (They cancelled their 1995 show due to Tico's elbow injury). It's not like I live in or near a city that Bon Jovi visits every tour and will certainly continue to visit every tour until they retire. Even when I knew they were returning to Australia, I wasn't sure they would come back to Perth until the date was announced. Maybe this will be the last time. I love music but no other other artist has ever had quite this profound a grip on me, and so I splashed out a little. After all, I'm living at home so I don't have a mortgage or rent to pay, I don't have to worry about basic household bills (e.g. water, electricity) or where the next meal is coming from, and I don't really have to look after anyone but myself.

But who's the bigger fool? The fool who doesn't know they're being ripped off, or the fool who does and lets it happen anyway?

Hopefully this fool gets Something to Believe In on December 8.

St Paddy's Day with The Fray

So how did you spend St Patrick's Day? I know a lot of people were decked out in green, sitting in a pub, downing pints of Guinness. Being a pretty weak drinker, I'd gone for a banana smoothie and was completely sober at The Fray's inaugural Perth gig at Metro City nightclub. :P

There are probably a lot of people reading this who think The Fray are a pretty soft band, and I guess you're right, but allow me to go off-topic for this post. ;)

Bon Jovi is streets ahead of any other artist in terms of their influence on me, but The Fray would have to be up there on a list of my favourite bands. I've never even watched Grey's Anatomy, the show credited with putting The Fray on the map, although their music has also featured on Scrubs which is one of my favourites. But I actually discovered The Fray the old fashioned way, by listening to a normal commercial radio station (That was only about three years ago but these days I'd be more likely to find a new band via the internet). Something about "Over My Head (Cable Car)" got my attention so I went onto MySpace, heard "How to Save a Life" and there was no turning back after that. I think their latest self-titled album is superior though.

I guess The Fray appeals to my piano background. Isaac Slade doesn't have the strongest voice but the emotion he conveys with it is the hallmark of The Fray. It's not overly original stuff, but it is heartfelt. And it's not Bon Jovi either -- Isaac spends most of his time on stage at the piano -- but you don't need to dance and jump around to be a good front man, and doing that wouldn't work with The Fray anyway. I also like that they're still playing very intimate venues in Australia at least, which, due to the demand, is something Bon Jovi will probably never do again.

There are some superficial similarities; The Fray haven't had an official bassist since Caleb Slade (although they haven't had the SAME unofficial one that entire time!), and guitarist Joe King takes lead vocals on "Ungodly Hour" a la Richie Sambora. Apart from that though, it's like comparing apples and oranges, and I think that's a good thing.

How to Save a Life - The Fray, live in Perth - March 17, 2009


So... what non-Jovi bands/artists do you listen to?

Old guys still rock

Last Friday I went to Members Equity Stadium in East Perth to see Def Leppard with special guests Cheap Trick and support act The Galvatrons (a young Melbourne band playing their first stadium gig but if you like your 80s sounds, check them out).

While not surprising, it's worth noting that I was probably one of the youngest people there of their own accord. Robin Zander from Cheap Trick joked about how they didn't have any top 40 songs but were featured in every music video game the world, plus the opening credits to That 70s Show. Def Leppard's Joe Elliott reminded everyone that they were in fact touring a new album. But the sad fact is, despite surviving the 80s better than most of their contemporaries, they are more or less "nostalgia bands". It's a shame because Cheap Trick and Def Leppard both proved they can still put on a spectacular rock show.

How is it Bon Jovi have triumphed where the likes of Def Leppard have merely "survived"? Some Jovi fans call Lepp hasbeens. Some Lepp fans accuse Jovi of being soft and selling out. But at the end of the day, all that happened is that Def Leppard never had an "It's My Life". That song introduced Bon Jovi to a whole new generation that Def Leppard can only dream about. FWIW I don't think "It's My Life" is even that great a song (it's not terrible but it's no masterpiece). But you can't deny the impact it's had on their careers. Jon has said they would walk away if it ever became the "nostalgia tour". If Crush had bombed (bearing in mind that "It's My Life" was the ONLY single from it to reach #1 in any market), would Bon Jovi even be making records?

Something to ponder while you're waiting for LH Magic Memory #20 in the coming days. ;)

Perth concert review

In my first two posts it seems like I've been criticising the band. It won't be the last time that happens but I only do it because I rate them and like to see them produce their best. I would follow Bon Jovi to hell and back but that doesn't mean I have to be blind and ignore the flames. ;) And a Bon Jovi song would never ask me to lose my capacity for independent thought over my love of a band. It's MY life and I'm gonna believe and hit the gas and stick to my guns everyday and you can sleep while I dream... and I think you get the point. :P

Besides, the Lost Highway tour will always have a special place in my heart because I finally got to see my first concert, in the flesh. Here's my review originally posted on The Squat Pen vs Dullsville. I've added some little "editor's notes" in this repost.

Concert Review: Bon Jovi
Subiaco Oval
January 25, 2008
By Lee-Ann Khoh

In early November last year, The Today Show’s entertainment reporter Richard Wilkins announced that Bon Jovi were coming to Melbourne, Sydney, and little old Perth for the Lost Highway Tour. It had been 12 years since the New Jersey band last toured Australia, and 15 years since they had been to Perth, but if ticket sales were anything to go by, they are still as popular as they were in their days of supersize hairspray.

So on a balmy Friday evening (which looked and felt more like mid-afternoon) I sauntered into WA’s Home of Football to witness its transformation into Jonny’s Church of Rock ‘n’ Roll. After perusing the merchandise stand, having my water bottle confiscated by officious security staff, and reacquainting myself with just how desperately Perth needs an upgraded sporting facility, I settled into my seat in section D7 on the ground level and waited for things to kick off. As daggy a reputation as Bon Jovi may have, the cross section of fans pouring in were as diverse as one could get. The audience, male and female, spanned some three generations. Some were especially dressed for the occasion, with band shirts and slogans covering every Jovi era since the mid-80s, and even a few oversized wigs and bandannas reminding us how it all began.

Support act The Violet Flames, who won the coveted gig through a 96fm competition, began their set at 7:30pm. People were still streaming into Subiaco Oval and clogging up the aisles but the open spaces and large crowd did not faze them at all. Their catchy rock melodies sounded crisp and strong (even more impressive given Subi’s poor acoustics). Lead vocalist Jackson Proud confidently chatted to the crowd and got them (or at least those who had found their seats) clapping and singing after him. There was enough promise in that half-hour set to suggest that we may someday talk about the Flames in the same breath as Eskimo Joe or the John Butler Trio.

At about 8:10pm, as twilight descended upon the hallowed turf of Subiaco, Bon Jovi took to the stage, almost 20 minutes ahead of schedule in order to beat the venue’s 10:30 curfew. Greeted with a standing ovation from fans, young and old, the band launched into a smooth rendition of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues”. Half the crowd had probably never heard the song before, but no one on ground level seemed to care. Some in the stands needed to be pushed to their feet, but lead singer Jon Bon Jovi quickly took care of that.

“Sorry it took us so damn long to come back to Perth,” Jon told the hungry audience in his Jersey drawl. “Wouldn’t mind makin' it up to ya.” With that, his band launched into “You Give Love a Bad Name”, the first of a series of crowd-pleasing hits that included “Blaze of Glory” (performed as a medley with Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”), “In These Arms”, “It’s My Life”, “Have a Nice Day”, and of course “Livin’ on a Prayer” and "Wanted Dead or Alive", but “Bed of Roses” and “Always” were conspicuously absent, as noted by several people after the show. (NOTE: I know Jon didn't have the vocal confidence to perform them at that stage of the tour. But I wrote this review with a casual fan/non-fan in mind and since everyone I spoke to or overheard missed those particular songs, I had to mention their absence when writing the original review.)

An infectious cover of “Shout!” was weaved into “Bad Medicine” – something Bon Jovi has been doing for years – but watching footage does not compare to the electricity of being amongst a crowd that has waited 15 years to see it. Jon handed the lead vocals to his right-hand man, guitarist Richie Sambora, for a well-received bluesy rendition of “I’ll Be There For You”. It was evident that these were the songs most people had come to hear.

Of the new material, a spirited performance of latest title track “Lost Highway” was the only song that two-thirds of the audience recognised (Not surprising, given it’s the only song from the latest album to have received any airplay here). “We Got It Going On” made the transition from lame studio track to live party rocker, with Jon replacing Big Kenny’s “sermon” on the record with his own: “Brothers and sisters, I come before you today for one reason and one reason only. I gotta know: Can Australia scream?” – Perth promptly answered in the affirmative. “Whole Lot of Leaving” provided another opportunity for showmanship, in the succinct line: “Do we got it anymore?” – a cue for Jon to pause dramatically, lap up the cheers, and offer a cheeky shrug that had girls and their mothers squealing in the aisles, before signalling for the band to continue. On the other hand, the vocals in “Summertime” were often lost in vast expanses of Subiaco. (ANOTHER NOTE: Maybe it was just me, but Jon just sounded really low in the mix during the song.)

Poor venue aside, the band’s performance was as hot as the weather. Sambora is an underrated guitarist, probably due to Bon Jovi’s lack of “music cred” among hard rock critics and fans, but his passion was there for all to see, and the crowd volume went up a notch during his solos. Meanwhile, Jon Bon Jovi isn’t so wild in the streets these days, but the maturing rock star is still prone to some silky stage moves and flashing those unnervingly pearly whites, and can still put on a great show. His vocals did begin to strain during the key change of “Livin’ on a Prayer”, but the 30 000 people singing along with him barely noticed. A silent tribute to the late Heath Ledger came in the form of Jon’s “Joker” shirt during the encore, a reference to Ledger's role in the upcoming Batman film. Regular encore track "I Love This Town" felt particularly poignant given Ledger's love for Perth. (NOTE: I think I pulled that comment out of my arse. I was actually quite disappointed when they started playing "I Love This Town" because I knew it would be the last song. I'm also not a huge fan of playing that song in the encore; it works best earlier in the set.) From a fan perspective, the set could have benefited from a few rarities; something from the darker These Days album, and perhaps the 100 000 000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong box set, but how well that would have gone down with the hits-hungry crowd is another question altogether.

PERTH, AUSTRALIA - SUBIACO OVAL (25/1/08)

SUMMERTIME BLUES (Eddie Cochran cover)
LOST HIGHWAY
YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME
RAISE YOUR HANDS
RUNAWAY
STORY OF MY LIFE
SUMMERTIME
BLOOD ON BLOOD
IN THESE ARMS
BLAZE OF GLORY w/ Knockin' On Heaven's Door
WHOLE LOT OF LEAVIN'
BORN TO BE MY BABY
WE GOT IT GOIN' ON
IT'S MY LIFE
BAD MEDICINE w/ Shout
I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU (Richie)
HAVE A NICE DAY
KEEP THE FAITH
SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD
WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME
LIVIN' ON A PRAYER

ENCORE:
THE LAST NIGHT
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
I LOVE THIS TOWN