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?

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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 crashes Fairleigh Dickinson's commencement

Bon Jovi (with Lorenza Ponce on violin in David Bryan's usual place) performed an acoustic version of "Reunion" at Fairleigh Dickinson University's commencement ceremony on May 16. Fairleigh Dickinson won the Reunion Contest, which began in March. The ceremony took place at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium.

You can watch Good Morning America's coverage of the commencement, which includes Bon Jovi's performance of "Reunion" in full, at this link. ("Reunion" starts about 2:23 into the video.)

As a side note, Jon's two eldest kids, Stephanie and Jesse Bongiovi, are also graduating this week.

‪Before we crashed FDU's Graduation Day at MetLife! Congrats FDU Grads 🎓We had a blast. Be sure to check out tomorrow's Good Morning America for an inside look. #fdugrad

A post shared by Bon Jovi (@bonjovi) on May 16, 2017 at 7:55am PDT

Bon Jovi in New York 15/04/17 (night 2)

Bon Jovi wrapped up the first leg of their This House Is Not For Sale Tour with a second show at Madison Square Garden. Here's what they played:

New York, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden - 15 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. New Year's Day 
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. Raise Your Hands 
21. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night 
22. Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars 
23. Wanted Dead Or Alive 
24. Livin' On A Prayer 

While the only other Bon Jovi shows that have been announced so far are Rock in Rio and the Dick's Sporting Goods Open, David Bryan tweeted that this was the last show of this leg of the tour, indicating that more gigs should be announced before too long.

Videos from New York, Night #2

"Someday I'll Be Saturday Night" (with a little false start):

"Keep the Faith":

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

Were you at this show?

Bon Jovi in New York 13/04/17 (night 1)

Bon Jovi brought their This House Is Not For Sale "home" for the first of two shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. (These were, of course, the concerts that were rescheduled after Jon got sick.) Here's what was played on the first night at MSG:

New York, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden - 13 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. New Year's Day
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. Runaway
22. Blood On Blood
23. Wanted Dead Or Alive
24. Livin' On A Prayer

If you've been following the set lists at all, the main set should be quite familiar to you by now. There were a couple of changes in the encore. 

Videos from New York, Night #1

"Runaway":

"Scars on this Guitar":

If you'd like to share any videos from the first night at MSG, feel free to link to them in the comments.

Were you at this show?

Bon Jovi in Toronto 11/04/17 (night 2)

Bon Jovi performed the second of two consecutive shows in Toronto on their This House Is Not For Sale Tour, and here's what was played:

Toronto, ON, Canada - Air Canada Centre - 11 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. New Year's Day
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. Always
22. Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars
23. Wanted Dead or Alive [Phil X vox on 2nd verse]
24. Livin' on a Prayer

The main set was identical to that of the first night (I kind of thought they'd at least swap "New Year's Day" out for "The Devil's in the Temple", which used to be in that slot. Maybe I'm overly optimistic!). But we did get "Always" and "Captain Crash" for the third and second time this tour respectively -- they replaced "Raise Your Hands" in the encore. Phil sang the second verse of "Wanted" again, presumably because he's originally from Toronto, but he does sound good... Dare I say a lot stronger than Jon does these days. 😞 (However, I've said on various forums that the Lost Highway Tour proved Jon could get back to sounding awesome after a period of deterioration in his voice, so I'm hopeful that he could return to that level again.)

Videos from Toronto, Night #2

In my opinion, this is the best "Always" of the tour thus far:

"Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars":

"Wanted Dead or Alive":

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

Were you at this show?

Bon Jovi in Toronto 10/04/17 (night 1)

After a few days off due to bronchitis, Bon Jovi resumed their This House Is Not For Sale Tour with the first of two consecutive nights in Toronto, the only Canadian (and indeed non-US) shows of this leg. Here's what was played:

Set list: Toronto, ON, Canada - Air Canada Centre - 10 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 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. New Year's Day
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. Raise Your Hands
22. Wanted Dead or Alive [Phil X vox on 2nd verse]
23. Livin' on a Prayer

Videos from Toronto, Night #1

Here's "Raise Your Hands" and "Wanted Dead or Alive", with Phil singing the second verse of "Wanted":

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

Were you at this show?

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?