Bon Jovi - St Mary's Stadium Southampton June 11th 2008

I think this is the 17th time I've taken Mrs R to see Bon Jovi. She's been a fan since "Runaway" came out and she went out and bought the first album. Although I couldn't convince her to go and see them supporting Kiss at Hammersmith around 1983 as it would have meant she'd have to watch Paul Stanley (this is the same woman that refused to watch Alice Cooper and spent the whole gig sat down facing the back of the arena - happy days!) She has supported the band through their "difficult" second album and then their sky-rocket to fame and fortune.....but I digress...

I've always given the impression that I've grudgingly gone along but I've actually enjoyed every Bon Jovi gig. .they never fail to deliver and this time was no exception.

Considering that they are frequent vistors there were far more oldies than I expected this time round which was a good thing as far as I was concerned. As well as the extra guitarist, we also had the violinist/backing vocalist from the Lost Highway sessions on stage too.

Opening up with "Lost Highway", then into "Born to be my Baby", "...Bad Name" and into "Raise Your Hands" without a pause was a pretty breathtaking start to be fair. In fact the pace seemed pretty relentless all the way through with no real ballads until "Always" in the Encore. Yes we had "I'll Be There For You"(sung by a Richie) and "Blaze of Glory"... but luckilly no "Bed of Roses" (sorry can't stand it). Along with my personal favourites of "In These Arms" and "Faith" we also had "Captain Crash...", "Sleep When I'm Dead", "Runaway" and all the other usual suspects (including Shout) and Duffy's Mercy. Ending on "Wanted.." was a bit unexpected but as good as ever.

Mrs R was a little disappointed that we didn't get JBJ dancing as much as he used to, but I explained that despite being richer, better looking and thinner than me, he is, and always will be, older than I am so she just has to live with it.

Excellent gig as always - now I have pretend not to like them all over again when we go to Twickenham at the end of the month.

STOP PRESS: My daughter just read this review and is gutted that I didn't mention that it was her first ever Bon Jovi gig.. so I asked her for her review of the gig and she said "Brilliant". Now you know why I write the reviews and she doesn't.

Full set list from BonJovi.com was :
LOST HIGHWAY-BORN TO BE MY BABY-BAD NAME-RAISE YOUR HANDS-RUNAWAY-SLEEP w/ Mercy & Start Me Up-WHOLE LOT OF LEAVIN'-IN THESE ARMS-CAPT. CRASH-WE GOT IT GOIN' ON-IT'S MY LIFE-FAITH-I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU (RICHIE VOX)-BLAZE-WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME-HAVE A NICE DAY-BAD MEDICINE w/ Shout-PRAYER

ENCORE:ALWAYS-ANY OTHER DAY-WANTED


NR

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