February 22, 2010: Bombastic Bon Jovi

San Jose, CA
HP Pavilion

Guess concert season has officially begun... 2nd show in 7 days!

For someone who wasn't a huge Bon Jovi fan "back in the day", I sure have made up for lost time -- this has got to be the 5th or 6th time I've seen them in the last 10 years or so. They put on such a great show and really get the whole "arena rock" thing. Big. Bombastic.

So last night I headed out to San Jose to meet Leslie (woo hoo! my concert buddy is back in town!!! YAY!) and Emerson for a quick dinner before heading over to the arena for the show. We got to our seats in section 116 (pondering why we always wind up on the left side of the stage) which were right to the side of the stage. Pretty good. The opening act, Dashboard Confessional, hit the stage right at 7:30 -- just as we had finished getting settled in our seats. I know of Dashboard Confessional, but couldn't say I know any of their songs. That said, they were pretty entertaining and had a good opening 40 minute set. I may go pick up some of their stuff.

As we waited in anticipation of the show, the three women sitting in front of us turned around and warned "we might get a little nuts and will probably stand up all night." Works for me. While we waited I studied the stage -- a circle stage with a circle catwalk that brought to mind the U2 stage. Biggest difference between Bon Jovi stage and U2 stage... the seats inside the circle for U2 are General Admission and some of the least expensive tickets, Bon Jovi -- not so much. (We think they cost in the neighborhood of $500!)

But in the tradition of great bombast the band took the stage following an impressive video sequence on the big screens. They kicked off with "Blood on Blood" from New Jersey which was a nice change, then launched straight into "We Weren't Born to Follow" from the new CD. And here I had my second Bon Jovi as U2 moment (yeah, I know -- a little weird, stick with me.) The video screens for this song flashed images of various leaders and icons -- from Gandhi and JFK to Jimi Hendrix and Elvis. The whole "pioneer" leader set, and more socio-political types than rock pioneers. I know Jon Bon Jovi was particularly involved in President Obama's campaign, and there's a quasi-political theme to the song, but it's a little hard to put political consciousness and Bon Jovi together. Lingering bias from the '80s I guess.

The set list was a good mix of old and new (or perhaps old, recent, and new) and not having that life-long connection to the tunes I really enjoy some of the newer stuff that life-long fans aren't as enthusiastic about. I look at it this way -- these guys are in their late 40s/early 50s now, not their 20s, they're not going to have the same world view (hell, do YOU?) Throw in the difference between being rising/dominating stars in the '80s to an older/established band in 2010 and it's just a different vibe over all. I like the grown-up songs I guess. (Yes, I realize this is in contrast to the comments in the previous paragraph.)

So, the set included about half of the new album and it was intermixed well with older tunes. I've said it before, but Bon Jovi is one of the very few "classic" bands I've seen that really SELLS their new material. They go out and perform it with as much energy as the older stuff and EXPECT the crowd to sing along. There's just a cocky confidence about it.

The look of this show was pretty amazing as well. The video screens are REALLY sophisticated -- splitting, flipping, rotating. (Guess that's why there are $500 tickets! Those things can't be cheap!) And gave impressive images. The only weird bit I found was a screen that for most of the show sat behind and BELOW the stage -- I could see it from my seats above and to the side of the stage, but I have no idea how anyone on the floor or looking straight on at the stage could see it. Maybe it's supposed to be raised and couldn't for some reason, but seeing as there were seats behind the stage and that screen would have blocked those seats completely if it were raised, I don't think it was meant to go above the stage. A particularly excellent highlight was the lighting on "When We Were Beautiful" -- it looked like Jon was standing in a sunset. Simply gorgeous.

Other performance highlights included Richie taking the lead on "Homebound Train" and making it really bluesy -- just fabulous. That was followed by Jon coming out on the catwalk for the first time and just backed by David Bryan on keys performing a GREAT cover of the Leonard Cohen classic "Hallelujah". Absolutely beautiful. Shortly afterwards, Jon is joined by the rest of the band out on the catwalk for acoustic versions of "Something for the Pain" and "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night."

And, as always, there was the encore of "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "Livin' on a Prayer" -- they never fail.

Oh, and of course there were Jon's black leather pants. :-D

Set List:

Blood on Blood
We Weren't Born to Follow
You Give Love a Bad Name
Born to Be My Baby
Lost Highway
When We Were Beautiful
Superman Tonight
Keep the Faith
We Got It Goin' On
It's My Life
Homebound Train (Richie on vocals)
Hallelujah
Bed of Roses
Something for the Pain
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
Work for the Working Man
Bad Medicine/Bad Case of Lovin' You
Who Says You Can't Go Home
Love's the Only Rule

Encore:
Thorn in My Side
Wanted Dead or Alive
Livin' on a Prayer

February 16, 2010: One Night, Two Piano Men

San Jose, CA
HP Pavilion

Sing us a song you're the Piano Man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feeling all right.

Is everyone singing along? As loud as you can? Good... Now to the report....

Way back in 2009 -- around March or so -- I bought a couple of tickets for the Elton John/Billy Joel concert in November. Veteran concert goer that I am, buying tickets seven months early is no big deal, but it DOES create excessive anticipation. So, naturally, you can imagine my disappointment when the show was postponed due to illness! Well damn!

So, here we are, nearly a year after buying the tickets and it's FINALLY time for the show. It occurred to me over the weekend that I hadn't heard any Billy Joel in a while, so I went to my iTunes and realized I hadn't loaded most of my Billy Joel CDs! OOPS. That mistake rectified, I bopped around the house listening to old friends.

Now, I've seen both Elton and Billy solo, but I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen either of them. My best guess was the LAST time they came through together about 10 years ago. That is far too long, but my memory of that show was not diminished by last night's show. Last night, as then, I wished the show could have lasted another 3 hours as they only skimmed the surface of a life time of hits.

And a life time of hits indeed it was. As we left the show, I said to Emerson and Cheryl "that just covered the first twenty years of my life!" And it was true! Nearly every song brought back a memory of some point in my life -- and not those vague general feeling types of memories, but a memory of a specific place, time, and/or event.

We got to the venue a little later than intended, but the line outside was long enough to assure us the show wouldn't start exactly on time. We made our way through the "Jesus freaks out in the street handing tickets out for God" (literally -- the usual crowd of people telling us we would burn in hell for going to a rock concert were handing out tickets to hell! We agreed we'd only take them if we could get front row seats!) and got inside and to our respective seats with relative ease.

In our seats, Emerson turns to me and says "where are the pianos?" Within a minute the pianos rise out from under the stage and the show kicks off with Billy and Elton entering for the opening set. The crowd goes nuts with the opening notes of "Your Song" on which our two piano men trade vocals. This is followed by "Just the Way You Are" which I don't think I've ever heard Billy perform before. Granted it's been a while since I've seen him, so I could be forgetting.

The opening set ends with the first flashback to my childhood. "My Life" -- the song that sent me on my way to perdition. Waaaay back in 1978 when that song came out and I was still very impressionable, my 5th grade CCD teacher, whom I adored, informed us that "My Life" was in violation of the Fifth Commandment (honor thy mother and father) and as such we shouldn't listen to it. This was my first encounter with such censorship and as this was coming from an adult I admired I was very much confused. You see, I REALLY LIKED the song. Would I go to hell for listening to it? Thus came my first act of rebellion -- I'd listen to it, but just not tell anyone! Now, 30-some years later, I still can't quite figure out how the Fifth Commandment got broken on that one. Sorry Mrs. St. John.

So, after we've started down the paved road to hell, Billy and his band left the stage and Elton took over for his set. Opening with "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" was just to die for (uh, no pun intended!) The crowd was more sedate during Elton's set -- sitting more than standing, though frequently standing at the end of songs to applaud. Some songs, like "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," got people up and moving.

The lighting and effects were amazing while Elton played and compensated for his lack of interaction with the audience. Not that he wasn't putting on an amazing performance, but he seldom addressed the crowd and when he did is was in the form of brief references to the upcoming songs (e.g. "these next few songs are from Madman Across the Water.") Of course, less talking meant more singing. "Tiny Dancer" got a huge roar (and reminded me I need to replace my copy of Almost Famous), and "Daniel" put me in mind of my younger brother who was named Daniel after my father's older brother who was killed in a car accident at 21. That song completely takes me back to my childhood as it's the only Elton John album my parents owned because my father can so closely relate to that song -- I heard it a lot. As the set was drawing to a close, it dawned on me he hadn't played anything that had been released after 1980! Wow! That's when it hit me that I LITERALLY grew up listening to these two men. Of course, then Elton pulled out "I'm Still Standing" and brought us into the '80s.

Elton's set closed out with "Crocodile Rock" and the crowd was on their feet. The stage went dark briefly while Elton's piano went down, Billy's came up, and the bands swapped out. And now it was Billy Joel's turn to perform his counterpoint. Opening with "Prelude/Angry Young Man" was perfect! The crowd was more on it's feet for Billy than Elton -- which is probably to be expected as it's the difference between New York attitude and English refinement (for lack of a better term.)

Billy's set was less visually stimulating, but his personality shone through more and there was more interaction with the audience -- including a valiant attempt at the classic "Do You Know the Way to San Jose." Not an original maneuver by any means, but fun any way. Too bad most of the people in San Jose are from someplace else and kinda missed the joke.

Billy's set encompassed a wider timeline -- everything from the '70s to his last studio album in 1993 (yikes!) and included the album track "Zanzibar" from 52nd Street. But, once again, I got transported back to specific times and places. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" -- BAM. Summer 1980. I'm sitting outside on the lawn with a new friend from the neighborhood I've been living in for less than a year and we're singing along to the radio. "Only the Good Die Young" -- it's 1985, my 17th birthday party, and someone has given me Billy Joel's Greatest Hits I & II. My girlfriends and I immediately put it on the stereo and crank it up as loud as my mom would let us and sing along as only girls in their senior year of an all-girls Catholic high school can. One of the unifying moments in what was otherwise a very odd birthday for me since half of my friends weren't talking to the other half so I spent most of the party shuffling between people in different parts of the house. But we had Billy Joel and my disastrously memorable home made cake! (Trust me, all in all, it's a fond memory.)

"We Didn't Start the Fire" slapped me in the face when I realized it was over 20 years old. Has time really gone by that fast?

After Billy closed out his set, it was time for Elton and his band to return for the encore. Back and forth between the two again on classics "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues", "Uptown Girl", "The Bitch is Back", "You May Be Right", and "Bennie and the Jets."

Then the bands leave, and it's just two pianos.

"Candle in the Wind."

"Piano Man."

Can't get much better than that (though I will say the sold out audience was WOEFUL on the chorus -- it's always one of the best parts of "Piano Man" and the crowd wasn't quite as strong as I've heard in every other occurrence!)

Walked out with a smile on my face and again wishing the show could have gone on for another 3 hours so more of my favorites could have been heard. All in all a magical evening.

Set Lists:

Elton/Billy
-- Your Song
-- Just the Way You Are
-- Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
-- Ode to Joy (Beethoven's 9th)
-- My Life

Elton
-- Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
-- Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
-- Levon
-- Madman Across the Water
-- Tiny Dancer
-- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
-- Daniel
-- Rocket Man
-- Philadelphia Freedom
-- I'm Still Standing
-- Crocodile Rock

Billy
-- Prelude/Angry Young Man
-- Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
-- Do You Know the Way to San Jose (sorta)
-- Allentown
-- Zanzibar
-- Don't Ask Me Why
-- She's Always a Woman
-- Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
-- River of Dreams
-- We Didn't Start the Fire
-- It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
-- Only the Good Die Young

Encore (Billy/Elton)
-- I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues
-- Uptown Girl
-- The Bitch Is Back
-- You May Be Right
-- Bennie & the Jets

(bands sink into the stage)

-- Candle in the Wind
-- Piano Man