Blueshadow's Bon Jovi Blog » The Circle Tour

Lisbon Pix

admin — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:35:13 +0000

Monsters and Critics has a large gallery of pictures from Bon Jovi’s Lisbon show.

For the most part, they’re not very remarkable–especially because Jon’s wearing that ridiculous red jacket again. I know that there’s a few people who like it, and it’s definitely highly visible to people far from the stage–but personally, I think it looks pretty silly, and it’s certainly not flattering. (Personally, I prefer black muscle shirts. With the blond hair and Jon’s usual tan, those look really good.)

My personal faves from the gallery? There’s a profile shot of Jon doing the duck lips that’s utterly adorable. And Richie got a bunch of really good action shots. There’s also one shot of Jon looking over his shoulder with an interesting look on his face. It really makes me wonder what he was actually looking at when that photo was taken. There’s also at least one shot of Jon giving a huge grin that’s really cute as well.

These are definitely worth checking out!

On ‘Hallelujah’

admin — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 03:38:52 +0000

Lee-Ann has a rather spectacular video of Jon performing ‘Hallelujah’, from the Sydney shows. Even I admit it’s a spectacularly beautiful video–and I’m not the biggest fan of the song. (And she’s definitely right about the rain making the atmosphere distinctly magical.)

I’ve always been kind of ambivalent about the inclusion of the song in Bon Jovi’s live shows.

The song is beautiful–don’t get me wrong on that. And Jon does do a spectacular job of performing it. All I have to hear is that piano intro, and it instantly brings back memories of all the times that I’ve seen Jon and the boys perform it live. It’s actually one of my strongest memories from the Lost Highway tour–right up there with seeing Richie perform ‘These Days’. This video in particular is just plain gorgeous–couple the videos with how strong Jon’s voice has gotten, and it’s pretty amazing.

However, like I said before, when I’m at a show, I’d trade ‘Hallelujah’ in a heartbeat for ‘Dry County’.

Then again, I actually like ‘Hallelujah’ a whole lot better than a bunch of Bon Jovi’s own songs. When it comes to live performances, I actually like it better than ‘Runaway’, and the only reason it doesn’t outrank ‘Keep the Faith’ is that KTF is a rocker. And it definitely outranks Who Says, which has pretty much become one of the few Bon Jovi songs that I actively dislike.

Of course, if I got a show like the one that they got on that third night in Sydney, I wouldn’t have a thing to complain about, seeing as how they got several of my favorite songs of all time. Add this spectacular rendition of ‘Hallelujah’, and it’s pretty much a perfect setlist. I’ve got to thank Lee-Ann for rounding up the videos from the Sydney shows and posting them over at Blame It On The Love–those are here, here, here, and here.

(Incidentally, ‘Hallelujah’ is a word that makes me eternally grateful to whatever developer integrated a spellchecker into the text editor of WordPress. I think I spelled it about four different ways in the course of writing this.)

Wachovia Center Review

Review: ‘Lost Highway’ Live

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:25:17 +0000

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.

The official video is a pretty good live performance from the band. What actually caught my attention here was the way that Richie and Jon sing harmony. Their voices are uniquely well suited to performing together. For some reason that perfect harmony is what stood out to me about this performance. Both of the guys were in fine voice on this performance–but it was the blending of the two that stood out here. One moment I’d be noticing Jon’s lead vocals, and the next moment Richie’s voice would catch my attention.

And I have to say that I do love that sleeveless black leather shirt that Jon’s been wearing lately. (I’m still disappointed that he didn’t wear that one for the concert that I saw at the Wachovia Center back in March.) Anyway, this video has got Jon, dressed in black leather, with his sweaty arm muscles on display. Nice.

‘Dry County’ Live – Part 2

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:30:08 +0000

Now 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…)

This song does seem to bring out the best in the whole band, but especially Jon. The amount of emotion that Jon puts into the performance of this song when they do it live is simply amazing. I realize the song is too obscure and too long for them to trot it out a lot, but there’s really a reason that it’s so well loved among the bigtime fans–it’s good. I’d honestly argue that it’s one of the best songs that they’ve ever written. And it translates very well to a live performance.

Anyway, this one’s got some very sweet eye candy. Jon’s got the arms out and on display. I love the biceps–actually all of the muscles that Jon’s got on display here–and having the steer skull tattoo on display synchronizes nicely with the desert imagery of the lyrics.

This video also focuses in Richie’s guitar work during the solo. This isn’t a terrible thing–especially not for me, since I’m almost as much of a Richie girl as a Jon girl. It really lets you see what Richie puts into his solos–and the nice thing about ‘Dry County’ is that he’s actually got some room to really show off. And Richie looks pretty good in the sleeveless shirts too.

‘Dry County’ live

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:43:15 +0000

This 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!

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 02:23:30 +0000

E! 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

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:17:37 +0000

Of 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

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:48:03 +0000

I 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.

Greatest Hits Rundown

Santa Fe live at the O2!

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:21:12 +0000

This 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

admin — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:57:27 +0000

Who 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.