Bon Jovi headed to Tampa, Florida for Valentine's Day on their This House Is Not For Sale Tour. I'm a bit disappointed there was no love song for the occasion -- like "Always" or "Bed of Roses"... or even "Real Love", which is easier on Jon's voice and has the benefit of promoting the current album. I don't expect Bon Jovi to be Bruce Springsteen, but the Tampa set list is exactly the same as what was played in Atlanta a few days ago...
Set list: Tampa, FL, USA - Amalie Arena - 14 February 2017
This House Is Not For Sale
Knockout
You Give Love A Bad Name
Born To Be My Baby
We Weren't Born To Follow
Lost Highway
Roller Coaster
Work For The Working Man
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
We Got It Goin' On
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's My Life
We Don't Run
God Bless This Mess
Scars on This Guitar
The Devil's in the Temple
Lay Your Hands On Me
Blood on Blood
Have a Nice Day
Bad Medicine
Keep the Faith Encore:
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
Wanted Dead or Alive
Livin' on a Prayer
Here's Jon talking about old radio stations before kissing a woman in the crowd:
And a video of "Scars on this Guitar", which I guess is technically a love song, albeit to a guitar. While I like the song, I think my favourite part of the video was watching Everett Bradley in the background 😜:
The next official stop on the This House Is Not For Sale Tour was Sunrise, Florida. But between the last show and this one, Bon Jovi did a Runaway Tours gig in Fort Lauderdale. During the Q&A in Fort Lauderdale, it was revealed that we can expect tour dates in Canada later this year, and other countries in 2018. (Extra time to save money, folks. 😉)
Here's what was played in Sunrise:
Set list: Sunrise, FL, USA - BB&T Center - 12 February 2017
This House is Not For Sale
Knockout
You Give Love a Bad Name
Born To Be My Baby
We Weren't Born To Follow
Lost Highway
Work for the Working Man
Roller Coaster
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
We Got it Goin' On
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's My Life
We Don't Run
God Bless This Mess
Scars on this Guitar
New Year's Day
Lay Your Hands On Me
Blood on Blood
Have a Nice Day
Bad Medicine
Keep the Faith Encore:
Someday I'll be Saturday Night
Wanted Dead or Alive
Livin' on a Prayer
After previously being touted as a possible show opener, "New Year's Day" made its tour debut. Also, Jon really really really likes "Working Man". (I actually don't mind it, despite the hate it gets from most fans, but as I've said in the past, I would much prefer to hear "Love's the Only Rule" from that album.)
Here's a video featuring part of "We Don't Run", all of "God Bless This Mess", and part of "Scars on this Guitar", as well as Jon talking about the album:
"You Give Love a Bad Name":
"It's My Life":
UPDATE 14/2/17: The tour debut of "New Year's Day" is also on YouTube now:
Bon Jovi headed to Atlanta, Georgia for their second show of the This House Is Not For Sale Tour. The set list was similar, though not exactly the same, as that of the opening night in Greenville. "Because We Can" got dropped (hopefully forever) but so did "Always" (unfortunately).
Set list: Atlanta, GA, USA - Philips Arena - 10 February 2017
This House Is Not For Sale
Knockout
You Give Love A Bad Name
Born To Be My Baby
We Weren't Born To Follow
Lost Highway
Roller Coaster
Work For The Working Man
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
We Got It Goin' On
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's My Life
We Don't Run
God Bless This Mess
Scars On This Guitar
The Devil's In The Temple
Lay Your Hands On Me
Blood On Blood
Have A Nice Day
Bad Medicine
Keep the Faith Encore:
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
Wanted Dead Or Alive
Livin' On A Prayer
Here's "Livin' on a Prayer" from this concert:
Like the Greenville show, there's been a lack of decent YouTube videos from Atlanta. I'm guessing that people who might be inclined to take videos have been live streaming instead. I prefer not to use up my battery and data that way, but that's just me.
***
UPDATE 14/2/17: "Blood on Blood" from this show is now on YouTube. It includes Jon kissing Phil X after the latter messed up:
UPDATE 24/2/17: Damned TV, which remasters audio from live Bon Jovi performances, has uploaded this video of "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night" from Atlanta:
When Bon Jovi's music video for "Living with the Ghost" was released in January, I was one of many fans who expressed disappointment in it. Not because I oppose its message, but because the song is about Richie Sambora's departure, and it feels disingenuous to suddenly pretend it's about Camden.
One fan decided to do something about it, creating an alternative video for "Living with the Ghost". It uses the footage of Jon lip syncing in the original video, with clips from other band videos.
Bon Jovi kicked off their This House Is Not For Sale Tour in Greenville, South Carolina. In case you missed the promo shows, the new look touring lineup is as follows:
John Shanks on guitar (a somewhat controversial move after a decade of mixed feelings from fans about his producing skills)
Everett Bradley on percussion
Tour photographer David Bergman shot this video as the band was heading to South Carolina. (It was also Dave Bryan's birthday).
Here's what was played at the concert:
Set list: Greenville, SC, USA - Bon Secours Wellness Arena - 8 February 2017
This House is Not for Sale
Knockout
You Give Love a Bad Name
Born To Be My Baby
We Weren't Born To Follow
Lost Highway
Roller Coaster
Working Man for the Working Man
Because We Can
We Got It Goin' On
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's My Life
God Bless This Mess
Scars on This Guitar
The Devil's In the Temple
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
Blood on Blood
Lay Your Hands on Me
Have a Nice Day
Bad Medicine
Keep the Faith Encore:
Always
Wanted Dead or Alive
Livin' on a Prayer
A few comments on the set list:
I love This House Is Not For Sale (the album) so I hope they keep playing lots of tracks from it. But it'd be better to spread them throughout the set instead of putting them in blocks (or as casual fans might call them, "bathroom/drinks breaks").
Speaking of new tracks, play "Living with the Ghost"!
I was hoping "We Weren't Born to Follow" would be dropped by now. And surely putting it next to "Born to be My Baby" only highlights the fact that they have the same chorus. "Love's the Only Rule" would be a better song to play from The Circle.
Why is "Because We Can" still being played? That singalong didn't work on the Because We Can Tour and it sure isn't going to work now.
Some people in attendance live streamed part or all of the show online, but I was at work and couldn't watch. There don't seem to be any videos on YouTube yet, but you can watch/listen to this Periscope stream (from "Roller Coaster" to part of "Have a Nice Day"). I'll update this post with a selection of videos if they pop up. Apparently Jon acknowledged his vocal troubles during the encore, saying he'd been working hard on it and his goal was to sing "Always" on the first night of the tour.
Were you at this show? Or are you going to any of the other dates that have been announced of this tour?
UPDATE 11/2/17: I've been surprised by the lack of quality videos from this show, but some soundboard recordings (audio only) have been uploaded on YouTube.
"Always" -- I think Jon sounds decent in parts... not anywhere near his best obviously, and not at Lost Highway Tour level... but better than he's sounded in the last three or four years. I hope he's got a vocal coach because I don't believe it's too late to get his voice back, but it'll take time and work.
"Lay Your Hands on Me" -- This made a return after not been performed at all on the Because We Can or Burning Bridges Tours, and I'm glad it did.
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" 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.
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. ;)
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.
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.
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.
