Elvis has left the building at Bon Jovi's St Louis show

We're nearing the end of Bon Jovi's 2022 Tour. In years gone by, I would've said "end of the first leg" but I really have no clue what the future holds at this point. Anyway, here's what was played in St. Louis.

St. Louis, Missouri, USA - April 21, 2022

Enterprise 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 #1:
20. Wanted Dead or Alive
21. Who Says You Can't Go Home
22. Bad Medicine
    
    encore #2:
23. I'll Be There For You

Selected videos from St. Louis

"I'll Be There For You". Jon seemed emotional here, taking it all in. He used similar "Drive All Night" ad libs to the ones on the Live from London performance of "Always" in 1995. And then he just... left the stage, leaving David Bryan looking a bit confuzzled:

Jon's brother Matt called it the "Elvis exit":

People. It was the Elvis exit. It was awesome

— Matthew Bongiovi (@TheMattBongiovi) April 22, 2022

"Beautiful Drug". I dig the track but I'm mostly posting this because it's one of the few new songs where Phil X can kind of cut loose a bit:

 "This House Is Not For Sale". I just like the song, okay:

 

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Feel free to share your thoughts below. 😊

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That Jon vs Richie thing again...

I wasn't even going to touch this one with a ten-foot virtual pole at first. But then people in my life, who aren't really Bon Jovi fans but know that I am, started bringing it up and asking for my thoughts on the matter. To the point where it started to feel odd that I wasn't saying anything when I have an entire blog dedicated to Bon Jovi.

So here goes.

Ahead of the release of 2020, Jon was interviewed via Zoom by Thomas Moser from Rock Antenne in Germany. Here's the interview:

At around the 9:50 mark, Jon was asked if he had any regrets in his career, to which he replied there were very few because even bad things had led to other good things. But he did say this about  Richie Sambora, which has been plucked out and republished elsewhere:

"There's not a day that goes by that I don't wish that Richie had his life together and was still in the band. And yet, you know, in a weird way it's because of his inability to get it together anymore that we went on and wrote This House Is Not For Sale, and it was a very strong record, and that I'm able to write songs like this. Maybe we would've gotten lazy. Maybe we would've been... I don't know where we would've gone. But through all that pain and heartbreak came this."

The reason I wasn't going to blog about it initially is that... I kind of put all this to bed a few years ago. I like Bon Jovi. I like Jon. I like Richie. I make no apologies about that.

I don't subscribe to the view that Bon Jovi is dead because Richie isn't there. Or that Richie was the One and Only True Talent of the band. That's pretty disrespectful to David Bryan and Tico Torres, who are still there as original members, and Hugh McDonald who's been around longer than Alec John Such was. 

But neither am I going to dismiss Richie's hugely important contributions to the band. Richie co-wrote some of my favourite songs of all time, songs that made Bon Jovi what they are. His guitar work and harmonies define a lot of what people recognise as Bon Jovi. So of course it's different now that he's gone.

Richie's pals came out to defend him and get stuck into Jon, including former Fox and NBC News anchor Megyn Kelly:

A feature segment at the @MegynKellyShow: #RealTalk. In today's episode, @MegynKelly addresses Jon Bon Jovi's recent comments about Richie Sambora, and reveals a personal story about Sambora.

Listen below, and subscribe/download the full episode here: https://t.co/F96HgI7HIW pic.twitter.com/MW6VwZ5jlZ

— The Megyn Kelly Show (@MegynKellyShow) October 6, 2020

Richie also responded via the Daily Mail, likening his relationship with Jon to that of a married couple's ups and downs, and reiterating that:

"I was in a dire situation with my family and I had to make a tough decision and I did and I'm sure people weren't happy about it"

Look, I personally don't buy the "I left to spend time with my daughter" story. Because a) you can do that without leaving your band in the lurch on the day of a concert, and b) for most of 2013, Richie was still talking about rejoining the band later in the tour. So I think spending more time with Ava ended up being a wonderful by-product of not being in Bon Jovi anymore rather than the reason. But I'm glad Ava seems to have turned out really well.

Is Jon seeking attention for his new albums by bringing Richie up? Perhaps. But I liked This House Is Not For Sale, especially "Living with the Ghost" (which is about Richie's departure, so obviously it couldn't have been written without it). And I think some of the songs on 2020 are the best material that's been released under the Bon Jovi name in maybe 20 years. Sure, it's a Jon-centric record, and probably not what they'd be releasing if Richie were still writing Bon Jovi songs. But it's a good album. Well, I think so, anyway. So I think Jon might actually be right about that particular silver lining.

And I'm eye-rolling pretty hard at all the keyboard warriors fawning over Richie's parenting while bringing up Jon's daughter's overdose at college. Like those same people wouldn't have been taking cheap shots at Richie's mug shot appearance after he was caught driving drunk with his then-10-year-old child in car.

But as I said before -- I like both Jon and Richie. Neither is by any means perfect, but their music is a part of me. I love the latest Bon Jovi album and I'm keen to listen to Richie's next solo album. I'd love some sort of a reunion someday, but I don't expect it to happen, and I'm okay with that.

P.S. I reckon the Rock Antenne interview with Jon was pretty good. That's probably been lost in all this drama. Another good one is the interview Jon did with GQ Magazine recently, where he talks about the making of 2020, the campaign against him in Buffalo, and patriotism.

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Bon Jovi in Stockholm 05/06/19

After starting their European tour in a couple of places they never visit, Bon Jovi headed to Stockholm. Here's what they played:

Stockholm, Sweden - Tele2 Arena - June 5, 2019 set list

1. This House is Not For Sale
2. Raise Your Hands
3. You Give Love a Bad Name
4. Born to Be My Baby
5. Whole Lot of Leavin'
6. Lost Highway
7. Runaway
8. We Weren't Born to Follow
9. Have a Nice Day
10. Keep the Faith
11. Amen
12. Bed of Roses
13. It's My Life
14. We Don't Run
15. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
16. Lay Your Hands on Me
17. God Bless This Mess
18. Blood on Blood
19. Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars
20. Bad Medicine
    
    Encore:
21. Wanted Dead or Alive
22. In These Arms
23. Livin' on a Prayer

Videos from Stockholm

"This House Is Not For Sale":

"Runaway":

"Someday I'll Be Saturday Night":

Were you at the show?

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

Bon Jovi in Osaka 27/11/18

Bon Jovi followed their Tokyo show with a gig in Osaka. Here's what was played:

Osaka, Japan - Kyocera Dome Osaka - November 27, 2018 set list

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

Videos from Osaka

"This House Is Not For Sale" and "Knockout". If you were following the blog when THINFS came out, you might recall that I... strongly dislike "Knockout". But I thought this outro was cool:

"In These Arms", with Jon throwing to David Bryan on the second verse and John Shanks still playing the guitar solo:

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

Were you at the show?

Other notes

Meanwhile, David joined Instagram about three weeks ago and has been uploading some behind-the-scenes posts, like this video, shot on the plane heading to Australia:

View this post on Instagram

Melbourne Australia. Here we come ....😎💪🎹🥁🎙🎸🎶🎶💥

A post shared by David Bryan (@davidbryanmusic) on Nov 27, 2018 at 6:26pm PST

Dave's sitting next to Matt Bongiovi, who's indicated that this leg will be his final Bon Jovi tour:

Looking forward to my last stint of touring. What better way then a run in Japan and Australia. #bonjovi

— Matthew Bongiovi (@TheMattBongiovi) 18 November 2018

Bon Jovi in Milwaukee 29/04/18

Bon Jovi's Milwaukee show was the final concert ever at the Bradley Center. Here's what they played:

Milwaukee, WI, USA - BMO Harris Bradley Center - April 29, 2018

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

"Roller Coaster" was played for the first time this year and "I'd Die For You" made its second appearance of the tour.

Videos from Milwaukee

"This House Is Not For Sale":

"It's My Life":

"Bed of Roses":

If you'd like to share any videos from Milwaukee (especially "I'd Die For You" 😉) feel free to link to them in the comments.

Bon Jovi releases Walls music video

Bon Jovi's music video for "Walls" -- the second new track on the re-release of This House Is Not For Sale -- has dropped exclusively on Tidal. When Jon was on Facebook Live last year, he alluded to one of the new songs being shaped by the current political climate, and the "Walls" video reflects that. John Shanks and Everett Bradley, who were both in the video for "When We Were Us", are in this one as well. They've also appeared on tour merchandise but as far as I'm aware they're not considered "official" band members. On the other hand, Hugh McDonald was left out of a lot of videos and promotional materials until he was made official in 2016. So that's... interesting.

Anyway, if you've paid for a Tidal subscription (or you're still within the free trial period) you can watch "Walls" below or at this link:

If you're not a subscriber, you'll just get a preview, but when the whole video makes its way to YouTube in a couple of weeks' time, I'll add the link to this post.

UPDATE 2/04/18: The official "Walls" video is now on YouTube:

Bon Jovi releases When We Were Us & Walls + When We Were Us music video + live on Colbert

The re-release of Bon Jovi's This House Is Not For Sale album, featuring new tracks "When We Were Us" and "Walls" is out now. You can download or stream the album on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and more via this link. I was pleased to find that I could purchase the new songs individually without having to buy the whole album again.

I did, however, renew my Tidal subscription just so I could watch the new "When We Were Us" music video, which dropped exclusively on Tidal today. If you're a subscriber, you can watch it below.

When We Were Us

The video features shots of the current lineup interspersed with footage from previous tours (mostly Lost Highway and The Circle/Greatest Hits tours from what I can tell). When it's up on YouTube (probably in two or three weeks, if the previous THINFS videos were any indication), I'll update this post with the link.

UPDATE 5/03/18: The video for "When We Were Us" is now on YouTube:

Bon Jovi's performance of "When We Were Us" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert also went to air. In my previous blog post, I referred to the iHeartRadio performance as the live debut of "When We Were Us". Technically the Colbert performance was the live debut, because it was recorded back in January, but the iHeartRadio gig was the first chance anyone who wasn't at the Colbert taping got to hear "When We Were Us" live. I reckon Jon sounded better on Colbert than he did at iHeartRadio, but you can be the judge of that.

Bon Jovi Perform 'When We Were Us'

Bon Jovi at iHeartRadio 21/02/18

Bon Jovi played a gig for iHeartRadio in New York which was streamed live on the web. It was a Thursday where I am and I was at work so I couldn't watch it as it was happening, but I did catch up later on. "When We Were Us", which will be on the re-release of This House Is Not For Sale, made its live debut.

Jon said he's had contact with Richie Sambora and Alec John Such and they're looking forward to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.

It was also announced Bon Jovi will receive the iHeartRadio Icon Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 11.

Here's the full concert:

The set list was as follows:

New York City, NY, USA - iHeartRadio Theater - February 21, 2018

1. This House Is Not For Sale
2. When We Were Us
3. You Give Love a Bad Name
4. It's My Life
5. Lay Your Hands on Me
6. Bad Medicine
7. Who Says You Can't Go Home
8. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
9. God Bless This Mess

Howard Stern to induct Bon Jovi into Rock Hall; debuts When We Were US

Jon Bon Jovi appeared on The Howard Stern Show on Sirius XM Radio on January 17. During the show, it was announced that Howard Stern will be the one to induct Bon Jovi into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April. "When We Were US", a new Bon Jovi single that will be released on February 23, was also played for the first time on the show. Here's the song in full, recorded from the broadcast:

"When We Were US":

 

What do you think?

I'm not subscribed to Sirius XM but there are some clips from the interview on Howard's website.

Here's Jon telling the story of asking Howard to induct the band into the Rock Hall:


And Jon on Donald Trump's alleged campaign to prevent him from buying the Buffalo Bills NFL team:


Listen to more snippets on Soundcloud and HowardStern.com.

Jon Bon Jovi on The Moment with Brian Koppelman

Jon Bon Jovi & Brian Koppelman
(Photo: @briankoppelman/Instagram)

Jon Bon Jovi was recently interviewed by Brian Koppelman for his podcast The Moment. The episode aired on January 9, 2018.

In the hour-long interview, Jon talked about:

• getting his start playing in bar bands as a teenager and working at Power Station Studios;
• how "Runaway" came to fruition;
• burning out and gradually learning to appreciate special moments in his career;
• how the original Bon Jovi band was formed;
• his songwriting process, including how he and Richie Sambora complemented each other as songwriters;
• the importance of the arts; 
• the gaping hole left by Richie on the Because We Can Tour and 2015 Asian Tour and how others, especially David Bryan, stepped up;
• Bon Jovi's influences versus the hard rock bands they opened for early in their career;
• collaborating with Desmond Child and later Billy Falcon;
• the validation of finally getting into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame;
• his upcoming business venture: making wine with his son Jesse.

Jon also said Bon Jovi intends to play 30 shows in March, and is planning to tour on a smaller scale from now on (long breaks, fewer stadiums). They still haven't announced tour dates though, so if it's going ahead in March, they're leaving it pretty late. (The interview was conducted in December, I believe.)

*UPDATE 11/1/18: North American dates have been announced for March, April and May 2018. The new version of This House Is Not For Sale, featuring additional tracks "Walls" and "When We Were Us" will be released on February 23.*

This was Jon's first podcast interview (not including radio interviews that were later made available as podcasts) and I thought it was pretty good. Jon seems more relaxed and candid than he has been in the past. And there's some swearing but nothing you haven't heard before. 😉

You can listen to The Moment podcast on iTunes.

Reddit AMA with Phil X

Earlier this week, Phil X participated in a Reddit AMA (ask me anything) to promote the Hired Gun documentary. Naturally, he answered a few questions about Bon Jovi.

When asked if he might have greater input in the next Bon Jovi album, Phil said he'd like to be involved in writing:

[–]bossiecat 2 points 2 days ago 

Phil, I love what you bring to Bon Jovi. Will you be more involved in their next album? Have you and Jon written anything together?

• permalink
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[–]TheRealPhilX[S] 3 points 2 days ago 

that would be great. we haven't yet. we spoke about it for the last record but it was already written. i'm hoping we explore writing for the next one.

Phil also explained that the reason he didn't play on all of This House Is Not For Sale was because the album had already been recorded when the band decided to bring him in:

[–]Matticus84 2 points 2 days ago 

Phil, was there any particular reason you played on a chunk of "This house..." instead of the whole thing? Would love to hear you on a full record with the guys.

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[–]TheRealPhilX[S] 2 points 2 days ago 

actually, it was all recorded when the band decided to have me involved so JBJ picked 4 songs where he felt the guitars could be stronger and i went in and did my thing. it was a thrilling experience to just do that and i'm very excited to do more.

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[–]TheRealPhilX[S] 1 point 2 days ago 

p.s. me too. thanks.

You can check out the whole AMA, featuring Phil X, Liberty DeVitto, and Rudy Sarzo, at this link.

Here's the trailer for Hired Gun:

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).

Bon Jovi in Philadelphia 31/03/17

Bon Jovi headed to Philly on their This House Is Not For Sale Tour, and here's what was played:

Set list: Philadelphia, PA, USA - Wells Fargo Center - 31 March 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 Goin' On
11. Who Says You Can't Go Home
12. It's My Life
13. We Don't Run
14. God Bless This Mess
15. Scars On This Guitar
16. New Year's Day
17. Lay Your Hands On Me
18. Born To Be My Baby
19. Have a Nice Day
20. Bad Medicine
21. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
22. Raise Your Hands
23. The Fighter [acoustic]
24. Wanted Dead or Alive
25. Livin' on a Prayer

An acoustic snippet of "The Fighter" was the big surprise of the night, making its tour debut. And "Runaway" was played for the second concert in a row, despite not being on the printed set list.

Videos from Philadelphia

Here's "The Fighter" and "Wanted Dead or Alive":

"New Year's Day":

"I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" and "Runaway" (including the "time machine" intro):

"This House Is Not For Sale", shot from about a 45-degree angle from the stage as the curtain goes up:

"Bad Medicine", in which Jon gets up close and personal with the crowd:

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

Were you at this show?

Bon Jovi in Dallas 23/2/17

"Labor of Love" made its tour debut at Bon Jovi's show in Dallas on Feb 23. Here's everything that was played:

Set list: Dallas, TX, USA - American Airlines Center - 23 February 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 Goin' 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. The Devil's In The Temple
16. Lay Your Hands On Me
17. Born To Be My Baby
18. Have a Nice Day
19. Bad Medicine
20. Keep The Faith
    
    Encore:
21. Labor of Love
22. Wanted Dead Or Alive
23. Livin' On A Prayer

American Airlines Center also presented the band with a custom belt buckle to commemorate eight sold-out shows at the venue.

Videos from Dallas

Maritza streamed the concert on Periscope.

Here are some individual songs from YouTube:

"Labor of Love":

"This House Is Not For Sale" with the pre-concert intro and rising curtain:

"Bad Medicine":

"Keep the Faith":

If you have any links to videos, feel free to share them in the comments. 🙂

Were you at this show?

Living with the Ghost & Reunion music videos + more #THINFS

In my previous post, I speculated about what was going to happen with the remaining music videos for Bon Jovi's This House Is Not For Sale album. Today I got my answer.

The last two videos: "Living with the Ghost" and "Reunion" were both released on TIDAL today. Watch them below.

UPDATE 27/1/17: All these videos have now been released on the BonJoviVEVO YouTube channel. Links below.*

Living with the Ghost:

*You can now also watch "Living with the Ghost" on YouTube:

"Living with the Ghost" is the song that's probably more about Richie Sambora than anything else on the album, but interestingly (though perhaps unsurprisingly) they went in a completely different direction for the video, choosing instead to highlight the social issues in Camden, New Jersey with a haunting black and white video.

Reunion:

*You can now watch "Reunion" on YouTube too:

The "Reunion" video was also shot in Camden, but shines a light on the positive steps being taken there.

"Spiritual Warfare" is both videos put together. (*It's also on YouTube now.)

I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed with "Living with the Ghost". I didn't expect them to make it patently obvious that it's about Richie, and I'm fine with Jon showing his socially conscious side. It just feels too forced in "Living with the Ghost" -- fans know what the song is about, and the video doesn't seem to fit at all. Of course, it's not the first time they've done something like this... "Superman Tonight" was discussed in early interviews as being a boy-girl song, but the video was very different.

There's also a short documentary on Camden streaming on TIDAL, which just happens to be called This House Is Not For Sale.

The tour of the same name kicks off very soon. In a recent Facebook Live Q&A, Jon said that every show on the upcoming tour would be recorded and released. I'm assuming it'll be audio only, much like what Bruce Springsteen and others have been doing. I hope Jon's got a vocal coach on retainer because I'd be deaf if I didn't hear that he's been struggling for a few years... but the Lost Highway Tour proved he could get back to sounding great with a little guidance.

P.S. I know a great vocal coach if he needs one. ;)

God Bless This Mess music video #THINFS

Bon Jovi's music video for "God Bless This Mess" is now streaming on TIDAL. The video features the band playing in an alley, interspersed with newspaper headlines about their sometimes tumultuous history. I could've done without the random snippets of lyrics flashing on the screen, but I think the overall "unpolished" look of the video was deliberate.

Watch "God Bless This Mess" on TIDAL:

We now have 9 of the 10 videos that were promised from the BonJovi-TIDAL partnership:

1. Knockout
2. Labor of Love
3. Come On Up to Our House
4. Scars on This Guitar
5. The Devil's in the Temple
6. Roller Coaster
7. Born Again Tomorrow
8. New Year's Day
9. God Bless This Mess

The video for title track "This House Is Not For Sale" had already been released earlier. That leaves "Living With the Ghost" and "Reunion" as the two songs that don't have a video yet. One of those will come out on TIDAL, and then YouTube a week or two later. But it would be strange to leave only one song on the album without a video, so perhaps the last one will be out in time for the start of the tour.

UPDATE 8/1/17: SJ Magazine just ran a story about Jon and the JBJ Soul Foundation's philanthropic work in Camden, New Jersey. There's also a bit about the upcoming videos:

As the work on housing and homelessness pushes on, Bon Jovi continues to bring attention to the city. Two music videos for his new album, “This House is Not for Sale,” were shot in Camden. (The videos will be available to stream to Tidal members this month.)

“With the release of our new album, we decided to solicit several directors to do videos for every song on the album,” says Bon Jovi. “Casey Stein, our director, was assigned two songs: ‘Living with the Ghost,’ and ‘Reunion,’ which I wrote for my recent convocation speech at Rutgers. I explained to Casey and his producer that I was given an honorary doctorate by Rutgers, and I wanted to do something special with my speech – so I wrote the class a song.”

“When they told me the high school had the name Camden written on the bleachers, they pitched me that we could relate the song not only to the graduating class of Rutgers, but also to the journey of Camden and bringing back their people to the Reunion…that conversation won me over and led to our collaboration.”

Bon Jovi filmed his performance for the Reunion video at Camden High School last fall on a day students had off.

Read the full article on the SJ Magazine website.

UPDATE 13/1/17: "God Bless This Mess" is now on YouTube. Watch it below or on the BonJoviVEVO channel.

New Year's Day music video #THINFS

Bon Jovi's music video for "New Year's Day" has been released on TIDAL. It features a group of men who share a bottle before setting off on a boat. Jon also appears to nod to Phil X at the end of the line "Let's toast to new beginnings, okay".

Watch "New Year's Day" on TIDAL:

As a side note, I'll be away from tomorrow until New Year's Day and I'm not sure what my internet situation will be, so apologies in advance if I'm a little slow to update for the next week.

UPDATE 31/12/16: "New Year's Day" is now up on YouTube. Watch it below or on the BonJoviVEVO channel:

Born Again Tomorrow music video, #THINFS Live from London Palladium out now

Bon Jovi's music video for "Born Again Tomorrow" has been released on TIDAL. Between shots of the band playing in front of a collage of photographs, we see someone's life cycle through their eyes.

Watch "Born Again Tomorrow" on TIDAL:

Bon Jovi's new live album, This House Is Not For Sale (Live from the London Palladium) also came out today. I just listened to it for the first time and really liked it. I love how Jon's voice doesn't seem to have been overdubbed into oblivion. They've also cut out the stories about the songs, but left a lot of the mistakes -- like the false start to "All Hail the King", and the flubbed lyrics -- which is an unexpected move, but one that makes the album feel more "live". (They did remove the false start to "Come On Up To Our House" though.)

Do you like the new album? Would you have preferred a DVD with all the stories included?

UPDATE 20/12/16: Looks like the Live in London bundle, which comes out in January, has Jon's stories/commentary included.

UPDATE 23/12/16: "Born Again Tomorrow" is now on the BonJoviVEVO channel. Watch it below or on YouTube.

Roller Coaster music video #THINFS

Bon Jovi's music video for "Roller Coaster" is now streaming on TIDAL. It features the band playing against the backdrop of a carnival, interspersed with shots of various couples. John Shanks, who appeared in "Come On Up To Our House", is in this video as well (but unlike everyone else, he didn't get his own shot at the beginning of the video).

Watch "Roller Coaster" on TIDAL:

UPDATE 16/12/16: "Roller Coaster" is now on BonJoviVEVO. Watch it below or on YouTube.

The Devil's in the Temple music video #THINFS

Bon Jovi's music video for "The Devil's in the Temple" has now been released on TIDAL. During the TIDAL X: Bon Jovi shows, Jon said that the song is about an unnamed person at the record company. The video depicts a young female singer being harassed by record label executives to change her image, while Jon looks on in disapproval. I would've liked to see the whole band there -- maybe the rest of Bon Jovi accompanying the girl, while Jon sat back and watched -- but I get the message of the video. And there are videos from the album, including some that are still to be released, that the rest of the band is on.

Watch "The Devil's in the Temple" on TIDAL:

UPDATE 9/12/16: The music video has now been uploaded to the BonJoviVEVO channel.

Watch "The Devil's in the Temple" on YouTube: