The latest video to be added over at BonJovi.com is a live performance of ‘Lost Highway’. This song actually holds up relatively well during live performances. Sure, it’s not my favorite song from Lost Highway, but it is one of the Bon Jovi songs that actually works better live than on the original recording.
Posts Tagged ‘The Circle Tour’
Review: ‘Lost Highway’ Live
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010‘Dry County’ Live – Part 2
Monday, August 16th, 2010Now there’s an official live video of ‘Dry County’ from one of the O2 shows up on BonJovi.com. (I guess I should’ve waited to do that post from last week…)
‘Dry County’ live
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010This has long been one of the songs that I want desperately to see performed live, right up there with ‘Living in Sin’. If I had decided to chance the rain and had gotten tickets for one of the Meadowlands shows, I might have gotten to hear it performed, but that’s beside the point now.
Anyway, when I heard that the folks in Chicago got treated to ‘Dry County’, I had to check out the videos. Especially when I heard that Jon added an extra verse at the end. Ultimately I never did make out the words to that extra section that Jon added; none of the videos that I found had good enough audio for me to make any of it out. However, Jon was looking pretty good that night–love that sleeveless blue shirt, especially with the blond hair–so watching it repeatedly was hardly a burden.
But one of the reasons that I’ve always wanted to see this live is because of the solos in it; not only does Richie get to come out and play, but Dave gets to join him as well. A lot of Bon Jovi songs feature Dave’s keyboards in a supporting role–but on ‘Dry County’, the keyboard is front and center, and Dave’s work on this song is gorgeous.
Commentary: Jon’s Interview with E!
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010E! Online has a video interview with Jon about the end of the current leg of the tour.
Most of the questions are the same ones that get trotted out in every interview when the band is on tour.
However, the way that Jon talks about the upcoming Greatest Hits album is interesting. He references Cross Road as a ‘volume 1′. To me, that sounds like the upcoming album will pick up where Cross Road left off. If that’s true, then my prior speculation about what would be on it was completely off base. It opens up a lot more space for the post-1994 hits and makes it easier to fit in the new songs that were promised.
And now, for the shallow stuff: Jon’s looking pretty good. Now, as you know, I’m a big fan of the blond hair, so videos like this one are a complete treat. The blue shirt looks especially good on him.
‘This Is Our House’ Review
Monday, August 2nd, 2010Of course, I have heard this song before, played over the sound system back when I saw the boys at the Wachovia Center back in March. I couldn’t really make out much of the words or even the melody, what with everybody else around me still talking and moving around.
However, an actual performance is a whole different animal. (There are videos of the debut of ‘This Is Our House’ at Blame It On The Love, if you want to see it for yourself.)
Lyrically speaking, this isn’t the band’s finest work. However, it doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t, and it is an excellent stadium-rock anthem. And that is something that Bon Jovi has always been very good at delivering. Musically, though, this song is pretty good.
It certainly seems to be a great song for live shows–it’s getting a pretty good reception from the audience for a new song. But it’s got good energy and that helps.
I have to say that this raises my hopes for what else we might get in the way of new tracks for the Greatest Hits album later this year.
Get Well Soon Jon
Monday, July 12th, 2010I saw the videos from the Meadowlands show on Friday (it was even on the E! news just a bit ago) and I could see that he was in pain–but you couldn’t hear it in his voice. Now that’s dedication. It just confirms what I always saw in Jon and his band–these are guys who are really dedicated to their music. I could always hear it, and on Friday Jon completely proved it by carrying on when I could tell that he had to be in so much pain.
Anyway, as a fan, all I can really say is: I hope that you recover quickly, Jon.
Santa Fe live at the O2!
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010This just goes to show that I need to pay attention to my own blogroll around here. Lee-Ann picked up on this over a week ago (she’s got the video of ‘Santa Fe’ and a few others over at Blame It On The Love, so I won’t repost ‘em here).
‘Santa Fe’ is only one of my favorite songs of all time… and it took me this long to catch up on my reading and figure out that they actually did this live at the O2. Makes me wish I lived in London, because the lucky folks in the audience at the O2 shows have gotten plenty of treats. (See also the blue sleeveless shirt that Jon was wearing in that video.)
Anyway, ‘Santa Fe’ has been one of my favorite songs ever since I first brought home my copy of Blaze of Glory. It has actually come up a couple of times when I was writing Random Song posts for this blog, but I always skipped it because I wasn’t sure that I could do justice to the song, or my feelings about it. Something about the powerful delivery in this song just spoke to me. It’s certainly one of Jon’s best outings as both a songwriter and a performer.
(I substantiate that claim by the fact that several people have simply refused to believe that the song they were hearing could possibly have been a Jon Bon Jovi song. The least insulting of these was my mother, who merely thought that it was Richie.)
That legendary status made me a little nervous when I saw the video show up on Lee-Ann’s blog, doubly so when I saw that it was one of the acoustic performances. I guess I was a little bit afraid that it might have gotten TLFR’d, or that Jon’s voice wouldn’t hold up, and I’d be disappointed.
Ultimately, though, it was anything but disappointing. Sure, the acoustic performance doesn’t quite have the same fire as the original, but it still works. Part of it is that Jon performs the song straight–it’s not a re-imagining (the TLFR treatment that I had feared) but just the real thing. Right down to the “Lord have mercy” before the solo. Jon doesn’t soar in quite the same way as the original, but his voice was great in this performance.
Also, Dave’s accordion is actually quite welcome here. I actually find its sound to be superior to the strings in the original recording.
And on a final note, I have to say thank you to Lee-Ann for gathering up all of these great videos, not just from the O2, but from all of the tour.
Paint it Black at the O2
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010Who would’ve thought that Bon Jovi would do a cover of ‘Paint it Black’ during one of their shows at the O2 right after I did a Random Song pick for it?
Anyway, a couple of days ago I was checking out the latest videos over at Blame it on the Love from the shows at the O2 in London, and one of them just happened to be a clip of Bon Jovi doing one of my all time favorite songs–’Paint it Black’.
Now I did get to see the band do ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ during the Lost Highway tour–they did it mixed in with ‘Keep the Faith’ during that tour. And for some reason, Bon Jovi seems to do a pretty good job when they’re covering the Stones. Now, don’t get me wrong–’Sympathy for the Devil’ is a great song, and it certainly beats a lot of others that I’ve heard. But it doesn’t quite hold the same place in my heart as ‘Paint it Black’. There’s just something about that pounding riff that ‘Paint it Black’ is built on.
Now, as for the Bon Jovi version, the video that I saw sounds a little funky. I suspect that it’s the addition of Dave’s keyboards that give it that odd edge. In the Bon Jovi performance though, it’s Jon’s vocals that really make the song.
This is one song where the more gravelly aspects of Jon’s voice really play into the bluesy, dark vibe of the song. Plus, Jon really puts his all into it. He really makes you feel it, and that makes for a good performance. Plus, for some reason, the Bon Jovi performance really changes the focus of the song over to center on the lyrics. In the Stones versions of it (I have both the studio version and a live version) the emphasis seemed to be more on the riff than on the vocals.
All together though, it sounds like the fans at the O2 that night really got a treat.
A few regrets…
Monday, May 31st, 2010I didn’t actually go to any of the shows at the New Meadowlands Stadium this week. That was mostly because I usually try to avoid outdoor shows. I hate being rained on and with my luck, that’s usually what happens.
As it turns out, I should have braved the elements and taken the damp; what I’ve heard about those shows has been fantastic.
If you’ve been following this blog, you know that I’ve been itching to hear ‘Dry County’ live for a long time. You’ll also know that I haven’t gotten to hear it at the smaller arena shows that I’ve been to during both this tour and the Lost Highway tour. If I’d gone to the Meadowlands shows and braved the rain, I’d have gotten it–with Jon in glorious full voice, by all accounts.
Add to that the fact that they did ‘Diamond Ring’. For a confirmed lover of These Days, missing ‘Diamond Ring’ kind of hurts.
Also, one of my friends who usually comes along to Jovi shows with me has been deeply disappointed. He’s been to three shows with me so far and has yet to get to hear the band play ‘Bed of Roses’ (his favorite song). If I’d gone and talked him into going along, he’d have finally gotten his one wish. (Well, actually, he really wanted to hear ‘It’s My Life’ too, but that’s guaranteed and he’s gotten that three times now, so on that count, he’s happy.)
Let’s just say that I have some regrets at this point.
When We Were Beautiful Video Review
Monday, May 10th, 2010The video for ‘When We Were Beautiful’ is available on the Universal Music Portugal site (in case you didn’t already know).
First off, it’s not in black and white, which is a relief. Bon Jovi has a tendency to over-use black and white as an effect in their videos. This is just a straight-up concert video (which shouldn’t be a surprise, seeing as how it was recorded at the show in Dallas about a month ago).
The visuals are mostly what I’d expect to see on the big screen at a show, actually–just shots of the guys, blending in and out. There’s an occasional shot of the audience mixed in, which is a good move; it really reinforces the live feel of the video.
I would actually have liked to see Richie get a little more face time during the solo. (Usually during live shows they show Richie or a closeup of his hands during the solo. Great for the Richie girls, but it does tend to deprive the girls in the back from seeing some of the dance moves that Jon does during the solos.) In this case, with Jon dominating the screen during the verses, it would have been nice to see Richie during the solo.
That being said, Jon was hot. That sweaty slice of chest on display was just plain gorgeous.
All told, I thought that this was a decent video. A bit of a back-to-basics approach. Performance videos have usually worked out well for Bon Jovi in the past. This one shouldn’t be any different from the others.