Bon Jovi kicked their tour off last night in Honolulu, HI @ the Blaisdell Center Arena. In their 22-song set they pulled out three songs from their first two records.
"Roulette" and "Shot Through The Heart" were played for the first time since the band’s Japan tour in 1986 and "Tokyo Road" was performed for the first time since March of 2001 where it was done as a one-off in Japan. Ten of the band’s eleven records were represented with 5 songs performed from their latest album, The Circle. The full setlist is as follows:
Opening Night setlist for 'The Circle' tour:
1. Blood on Blood
2. We Weren't Born To Follow
3. Bad Name
4. Born To Be My Baby
5. Roulette
6. Shot Through The Heart
7. When We Were Beautiful
8. Whole Lot of Leavin'
9. Superman Tonight
10. We Got It Going On
11. It's My Life
12. Bad Medicine
13. (You Want To) Make a Memory
14. Diamond Ring
15. Bed of Roses
16. Work For The Working Man
17. Have a Nice Day
18. Who Says You Can't Go Home
19. Love's The Only Rule
Encore:
20. Tokyo Road
21. Wanted, Dead or Alive
22. Livin' On A Prayer
For the record, I don't think my "Open Letter To Jon Bon Jovi" had anything to do with the changes, they did say they were going to go deep on this tour. If anything I may take a small bit of credit for the non-inclusion of "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" (just kidding).
Let's hope they continue to dig deep show to show and throughout the entire tour.
One suggestion, why not perform "Shot Through The Heart" and lead directly into "You Give Love A Bad Name"? It would be a way to showcase an old song and give the old classic some new context. Here's to hoping there is more to come.
"Roulette"
"Diamond Ring"
SUCH good news. Shot Through the Heart, Roulette, and Tokyo Road are all excellent choices!
ReplyDeleteLove's the Only Rule and Brokenpromiseland are the only songs I want to hear from the new album also, so this video is promising as well!
All in all, nice setlist - except for You Want to Make a Memory. (To me that song is the ultimate bore.) Thanks for posting!
love it Tony! love that the band pulled out these songs....doing something out of the ordinary like this will make me want to purchase more tix to different shows- that's the only way i'd justify the paying the ticket prices they are charging this go around- here's hoping they keep playing more from their catalog and keep surprising us every show....
ReplyDeleteLove's the Only Rule is the song I was most hoping to hear from the new CD so I hope it stays in the setlist. I think mixing up the old songs like this is much better than playing all of SWW during a show would be. I hope they'll play more from KTF and NJ. I love Blood on Blood as the opener too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to do the letter and the follow-up. You were spot on about their past set lists and maybe, just maybe, somebody in the Jovi camp is paying a little bit of attention.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that the second night, big part of the audience was sitting down and looking quite bored, to the point of Jon singing "stand up" instead of "alright" during Who Says you can't go home, may be the change won't last long. BJ will play to sell not to please the fans.
ReplyDeleteSo for some fans playing the oldies will justify the ticket prices... how sad.
I agree with the last comment, getting them to play those old songs, seem to be attached to an outrageous price, so no thanks. This fan will be happy with watching on Youtube and put my money to better use.
ReplyDeleteLove the suggestion of Shot Through The Heart with You Give Love A Bad Name.
ReplyDeleteBottom line, ticket prices are going to be what the market will bear, whether it’s Bon Jovi or anyone else, but I’m sure they want to keep the majority of the audience happy. I was in Hawaii both nights, in the second row, and you could definitely see the band’s frustration regarding the crowd's reaction on the second night.
Maybe in some markets playing three songs off the first album while neglecting their bigger hits isn’t gonna fly, but that won’t be the case everywhere. As a newer fan, I’d love to see them mix the eras up a bit, and I’d go anywhere in the world to hear them perform the TD album. The comments posted to the vids I have on YT were extremely favorable for both the new and the old songs, so hopefully they won’t throw the baby out with the bathwater after just a few shows.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteAmazing song..I like it..Thanks for posting this song..