A Night to Remember
My ears are ringing, my throat is raw and my voice is hoarse, and I couldn’t be happier! Boy, did 18,000 people get their money’s worth Tuesday night at the Xcel Center. Enjoy the videos; they were taken Tuesday night by someone in the nosebleed section, but I thought the sound and image quality was good, considering the chaos in the arena that night! Bon Jovi put on one heck of a show. For 2 hours and 30 minutes everyone was on their feet for one the best shows I’ve seen in the last 15 years.
Daughtry opened the show, and I approached it with an open mind. Lead singer Chris Daughtry was on American Idol, a show I’ve never watched (believe it or not) and I will give him credit -- the guy can sing... but so can Julio Iglesias and Englebert Humperdinck. This Daughtry character seemed to think he was a star. At one point during his 45 minute set (which was about 40 minutes too long for me), he said, “If you are sitting down, I need you to stand up and sing this song with me.” And it was at this point that I began to think, “This guy is pretty full of himself.” I tell you what, Mr. Glorified Karaoke Singer, when you have written hit records for 25 years, I’ll stand up. When you write a song that I’ve actually heard before, I’ll sing along. Until then, remember that opening for a band like Bon Jovi is a privilege, not a right. Needless to say, I didn’t walk away from the show a big Daughtry fan.
Okay, enough about that idiot, now onto the reason why I’m writing -- Bon Jovi was hitting on all cylinders Tuesday night. When I watch a band of this caliber, I’m always amazed how they can put so much energy into every single show. They’ve been on tour since October and have made stops in Japan and Australia since January, but you would have thought Tuesday night was opening night with the energy and enthusiasm the band had. They were very, very tight, the harmonies were dead on and everybody was playing at the top of their game.
They hit the stage, kicking off with “Lost Highway,” a great opener, and then hit us with a 1-2-3 punch with “Born To Be My Baby”, “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Raise Your Hands.” Now that’s how you open a show! Then Jon took us on a ride through his “time machine” back to 1982 and ripped out their first hit, “Runaway,” which they played with enough energy to make you think this was the first time they performed the song (pretty amazing when you consider they’ve been playing it for the last 25 years).
As soon as the song finished, Jon explained that back in 1982, KQRS out of Minneapolis was one of only eight radio stations in the nation playing “Runaway” in the very beginning, “And that’s why Minnesota has always had a special place in my heart,” he said, which was met with a roar of approval. This naturally led right into “I Love This Town” off Lost Highway, and toward the end of the song, on the many big video screens, they showed snippets of the Twin Cities, ending with the emblems of all four major sports teams (Timberwolves, Wild, Twins and Vikings) which was met with yet another roar of approval (talk about knowing how to kiss your audience’s butt!).
Our seats were terrific, immediately to stage right and on a couple of occasions, when Jon or Richie Sambora would come over to the right side of the stage, we were within 35 feet of them. It was very cool, but I noticed something -- when the band got that close to us, so many people were fiddling with their cell phones, trying to take pictures or video, that they lost the moment. By observing the people around me, I do believe that Americans have a very unhealthy obsession with cell phones -- but that’s for another blog. I shouldn’t really talk; during the show, Beth called our home number and we’ve got a minute’s worth of “You Give Love a Bad Name” on our voicemail!
Bon Jovi played a variety of rare songs which I hadn’t heard live before, including “I’ll Be There For You”, with Richie Sambora singing lead (he‘s an outstanding vocalist), “In These Arms” which was great, and “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead,” during which the band very tastefully added a cover of the Stones’ “Jumping Jack Flash.” I think this song may have been the highlight for me. What a great feel and great attitude. They brought the house down with “Bad Medicine” complete with four 50 foot gyrating women (see the video -- just in case you mistakenly thought Bon Jovi were saints, they are still rockers at heart), and for good measure, added the Isley Brothers “Shout” at the end of the song.
At the end of the night, Jon walked up to the microphone and sang five words, “We’ve got to hold on..." And let the choir of 18,000 take it away. It was an amazing thing to see and hear (see the video) every single person in the arena singing in unison to one of the most popular songs in the rock and roll songbook (voted the #1 song of the 1980‘s by VH1). In the video, when the audience finishes singing you can hear Jon say “And that’s why I keep coming back!” By the time the band ended with “Living on a Prayer,” I think the audience was completely exhausted, but we weren’t ready to quit. For the encore, Bon Jovi pulled out another gem, “Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night,” and finished the night with “Wanted Dead or Alive.”
Whew. We spent $100 per ticket and it was worth every single cent. The videos give a great example how awesome the stage set up was; each video lasts about 90 seconds. We enjoyed every second of our night… our seats were to the extreme left of the picture… in fact you can probably see us, but it is impossible to pick us out of the crowd. I’m the fat guy rocking out.
Daughtry opened the show, and I approached it with an open mind. Lead singer Chris Daughtry was on American Idol, a show I’ve never watched (believe it or not) and I will give him credit -- the guy can sing... but so can Julio Iglesias and Englebert Humperdinck. This Daughtry character seemed to think he was a star. At one point during his 45 minute set (which was about 40 minutes too long for me), he said, “If you are sitting down, I need you to stand up and sing this song with me.” And it was at this point that I began to think, “This guy is pretty full of himself.” I tell you what, Mr. Glorified Karaoke Singer, when you have written hit records for 25 years, I’ll stand up. When you write a song that I’ve actually heard before, I’ll sing along. Until then, remember that opening for a band like Bon Jovi is a privilege, not a right. Needless to say, I didn’t walk away from the show a big Daughtry fan.
Okay, enough about that idiot, now onto the reason why I’m writing -- Bon Jovi was hitting on all cylinders Tuesday night. When I watch a band of this caliber, I’m always amazed how they can put so much energy into every single show. They’ve been on tour since October and have made stops in Japan and Australia since January, but you would have thought Tuesday night was opening night with the energy and enthusiasm the band had. They were very, very tight, the harmonies were dead on and everybody was playing at the top of their game.
They hit the stage, kicking off with “Lost Highway,” a great opener, and then hit us with a 1-2-3 punch with “Born To Be My Baby”, “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Raise Your Hands.” Now that’s how you open a show! Then Jon took us on a ride through his “time machine” back to 1982 and ripped out their first hit, “Runaway,” which they played with enough energy to make you think this was the first time they performed the song (pretty amazing when you consider they’ve been playing it for the last 25 years).
As soon as the song finished, Jon explained that back in 1982, KQRS out of Minneapolis was one of only eight radio stations in the nation playing “Runaway” in the very beginning, “And that’s why Minnesota has always had a special place in my heart,” he said, which was met with a roar of approval. This naturally led right into “I Love This Town” off Lost Highway, and toward the end of the song, on the many big video screens, they showed snippets of the Twin Cities, ending with the emblems of all four major sports teams (Timberwolves, Wild, Twins and Vikings) which was met with yet another roar of approval (talk about knowing how to kiss your audience’s butt!).
Our seats were terrific, immediately to stage right and on a couple of occasions, when Jon or Richie Sambora would come over to the right side of the stage, we were within 35 feet of them. It was very cool, but I noticed something -- when the band got that close to us, so many people were fiddling with their cell phones, trying to take pictures or video, that they lost the moment. By observing the people around me, I do believe that Americans have a very unhealthy obsession with cell phones -- but that’s for another blog. I shouldn’t really talk; during the show, Beth called our home number and we’ve got a minute’s worth of “You Give Love a Bad Name” on our voicemail!
Bon Jovi played a variety of rare songs which I hadn’t heard live before, including “I’ll Be There For You”, with Richie Sambora singing lead (he‘s an outstanding vocalist), “In These Arms” which was great, and “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead,” during which the band very tastefully added a cover of the Stones’ “Jumping Jack Flash.” I think this song may have been the highlight for me. What a great feel and great attitude. They brought the house down with “Bad Medicine” complete with four 50 foot gyrating women (see the video -- just in case you mistakenly thought Bon Jovi were saints, they are still rockers at heart), and for good measure, added the Isley Brothers “Shout” at the end of the song.
At the end of the night, Jon walked up to the microphone and sang five words, “We’ve got to hold on..." And let the choir of 18,000 take it away. It was an amazing thing to see and hear (see the video) every single person in the arena singing in unison to one of the most popular songs in the rock and roll songbook (voted the #1 song of the 1980‘s by VH1). In the video, when the audience finishes singing you can hear Jon say “And that’s why I keep coming back!” By the time the band ended with “Living on a Prayer,” I think the audience was completely exhausted, but we weren’t ready to quit. For the encore, Bon Jovi pulled out another gem, “Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night,” and finished the night with “Wanted Dead or Alive.”
Whew. We spent $100 per ticket and it was worth every single cent. The videos give a great example how awesome the stage set up was; each video lasts about 90 seconds. We enjoyed every second of our night… our seats were to the extreme left of the picture… in fact you can probably see us, but it is impossible to pick us out of the crowd. I’m the fat guy rocking out.
