Texas turmoil for Bon Jovi in Houston & Dallas

I put off posting anything about these shows because... well, I didn't really want to watch any of the videos. I mean, Jon has sounded pretty painful for several years now unfortunately -- but it was Houston that triggered a string of "Last Man Standing" quotes (specifically "That boy don't lip sync").

But let's back it up a bit. Here were the set lists.

Houston, Texas, USA - April 26, 2022

Toyota Center

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. Do What You Can
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. Wanted Dead or Alive

 

No "Bad Medicine" or "Who Says You Can't Go Home", making it the shortest show of the tour with only a couple more left (presumably). Jon reportedly got a pre-gig IV drip and had the bandage on his arm during the show.

 

Scroll down for videos/dissection.

Dallas, Texas, USA - April 28, 2022

American Airlines Center

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. Do What You Can
15. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
16. Lost Highway
17. Roller Coaster
18. Who Says You Can't Go Home
19. Livin' on a Prayer
    
    encore:
20. Wanted Dead or Alive
21. Bad Medicine

 

"Have a Nice Day" was dumped after whatever happened at the previous show.

Videos from Houston 

"Have a Nice Day". This was the song immediately before "Prayer" -- Jon pulls out of the end of the first line, turns around and makes an explosion gesture at his throat, which foreshadowed what came afterwards:

"Livin' on a Prayer". Jon's always been pretty awkward at miming when it's called upon for TV appearances -- but he does try to make a decent fist of not singing down to the front rows so it may not have been too obvious on the night, I dunno:

To be fair, I don't think "Prayer" has ever been 100% live -- they've played to a click track and sung over some playback since the 80s. But it really saddens me to see Jon struggling as much as he is.

Jon did come out after that "Prayer" debacle and sing "Wanted Dead or Alive" (i.e. not on playback), but the crowd took the whole first verse and Phil X's harmonies are turned up loud enough to drown out the lead vocal:

Videos from Dallas

"Livin' on a Prayer". He is singing it this time:

"Keep the Faith". Just a great song and a great showcase for the band. Despite not being the classic Bon Jovi lineup, this is still a good group of musicians and I think that has been forgotten amidst all the voice dramas:

One more show left for the 2022 Tour, unless they announce new dates...

---

Feel free to share your thoughts below. 😊

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

Bon Jovi in Pittsburgh 05/04/17

Hot on the heels of the "playback" scandal in Uncasville, Bon Jovi played a short (approximately 90-minute) show due to Jon being ill. Jon pulled a fan from the crowd up to sing "Born to Be My Baby" and David Bryan sang "Livin' on a Prayer" from the second verse onwards. Here's what was performed:

Set list: Pittsburg, PA, USA - PPG Paints Arena - 5 April 2017

1. This House Is Not For Sale
2. Knockout
3. You Give Love a Bad Name
4. Lost Highway
5. Whole Lot of Leavin'
6. Roller Coaster
7. We Weren't Born to Follow
8. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
9. Runaway
10. We Got It Going On
11. Who Says You Can't Go Home
12. It's My Life
13. Lay Your Hands On Me
14. Born to Be My Baby [ft. Brad]
15. Bad Medicine
16. Livin' on a Prayer [David Bryan vox on 2nd verse]

"God Bless This Mess", "New Year's Day", "Keep the Faith", "Raise Your Hands", and of course "Wanted Dead or Alive" were the songs cut from the planned set list. Jon apologised midway through the show for "singing like shit". He has reportedly been sick since Saturday night, which is concerning with the Madison Square Garden shows coming up.

Now, I'm kind of torn here. Part of me is thinking, "This is your damn instrument, Jon, stop wrecking it. Reschedule the show, take the hit on social media. There's no point being a 'fighter' when you're a professional singer who can't sing." Plus, as a fan, if you'd saved up to go to this one show, it wouldn't be unreasonable to feel a bit ripped off. But then there are fans who have travelled for the show and can't get refunds on accommodation and airfares. And aside from the fact that Jon doesn't typically cancel when he's sick, he probably felt like he had more to prove after what happened in Uncasville. It got picked up quite a bit online, and now casual fans, former fans, and non-fans alike seem to think Jon routinely mimes entire shows, which is patently false. Even now, there are people claiming Jon is "conveniently" sick because he "got caught lip syncing". So whether he did the show poorly or cancelled it, it was a no-win situation for him.

UPDATE 07/04/17: Jon has bronchitis. On doctor's orders, the two Madison Square Garden shows have been postponed until April 13 and 15 respectively. Bon Jovi's website still has the previously-rescheduled Denver show going ahead on April 14.

UPDATE 08/04/17: Denver has now been cancelled. I'm assuming it wasn't logistically possible to go from NYC to Denver and back again. And doing so many shows in close succession whilst recovering from bronchitis may not have been the best idea. But cancelling a show that had already been postponed, in favour of the two MSG shows, effectively tells Denver fans that they are worth less than New York fans. I'd feel pretty hurt in that situation.

Videos from Pittsburgh

"Born to Be My Baby" featuring a fan from the crowd:


UPDATE 7/04/17: More videos have been uploaded. Thanks to the commenter below for links.

Here's "Livin' on a Prayer" with Dave on the second verse:

"It's My Life":

"Bad Medicine":

This is another angle of "Born to Be My Baby" with Brad:

If you'd like to share any videos from Pittsburgh, feel free to link to them in the comments.

Were you at this show?

Bon Jovi in Uncasville 01/04/17

Bon Jovi rehearsed for their This House Is Not For Sale Tour at Uncasville's Mohegan Sun Arena, and they returned there on April Fool's Day for a proper show. Here's what was played:

Set list: Uncasville, CT, USA - Mohegan Sun Arena - 1 April 2017

1. This House Is Not For Sale
2. Knockout
3. You Give Love a Bad name
4. Lost Highway
5. Whole Lot of Leavin'
6. Roller Coaster
7. We Weren't Born to Follow
8. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
9. We Got It Going On
10. Who Says You Can't Go Home
11. It's My Life
12. We Don't Run
13. God Bless This Mess
14. Scars on this Guitar
15. Lay Your Hands on Me
16. Born to Be My Baby
17. Have a Nice Day
18. Bad Medicine
19. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
20. Wanted Dead or Alive
21. Livin' on a Prayer

Apparently the venue has a strict curfew, but nevertheless, it was a very short set with no surprises. (Previous shows there have also been short, but in the past, they've often thrown a bone to the diehards anyway. Not so much this time.)

There were actually two songs that were on the printed set list and crossed out. One was the song after "Scars on this Guitar", which I presume (based on other shows) was either "The Devil's in the Temple" or "New Year's Day". The other was the first song in the encore, which I'm guessing was "Raise Your Hands".

Videos from Uncasville

"You Give Love a Bad Name" (it's a bit shaky but the sound is fine):

If you'd like to share any videos from Uncasville, feel free to link to them in the comments.

Were you at this show?

UPDATE 04/04/17: After I posted this, some videos of "This House Is Not For Sale" from this show were posted online, causing an uproar over possible lip syncing. You can view the discussion thread on JoviTalk. Basically there was a studio version of the song playing during the live performance, that went out of sync with the band:

Given he's always going on about integrity, the idea that Jon could be lip syncing a song that should sit comfortably in his current range would break my heart (particularly when he doesn't even sing the higher parts of the chorus; the rest of the band does). It would hurt more than the thought of his once good voice being gone forever. But... if he were lip syncing, they would only need a vocal track, not the full band. And they'd use a recording that sounded live, not a studio version.

Jon's brother, Matt Bongiovi, provided this explanation on Twitter:

pic.twitter.com/vj3dr5PuNm

— Matthew Bongiovi (@TheMattBongiovi) 4 April 2017

In case the image doesn't load, it reads:

"Sound Crew recorded soundcheck so the lighting crew can reset lighting marks. They were able to reset timecode to the recording and reprogram lights. The recorded program was not closed so when the lighting ques started the soundcheck started to play over the band performing. Therefor a cluster fuck of sound. They quickly realized program was closed and the show went on. Nothing to do with background tracks or vocals or anything other then a tech that fucked up" (sic).