San Jose, CA
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So my 2017 Concert Season kicked off last night with yet another trek down to San Jose to see Bon Jovi out in support of their new album This House Is Not For Sale. When the tickets first went on sale, it was a bit uncertain if I was going to go as I didn't have anyone to go with. While I've long since gotten over going to shows by myself, some shows are just more fun with friends. Fortunately Emerson and Nicole decided to go a few weeks after the tickets first went on sale and were able to snag us some pretty decent seats right before Christmas.
Apparently Bon Jovi is hiring local acts to open for them around the country, and last night's show kicked off with a 20 minute set by Thadeus Gonzalez and his band from Oakland. They weren't exactly my thing -- a rather hard rock band that just bombarded my ears. Thank goodness Nicole had a spare pair of earplugs I was able to borrow or I don't know if I could have sat through their whole set. I'll just leave it at that it's pretty cool for Bon Jovi to bring on small local acts to their massive arena show and that it's nice to see that there are still some younger long hair rock bands out in the world!
Bon Jovi took the stage around 8:15 and opened up behind a curtain/screen thing that had the album cover projected on it which appeared after a fun video of "arriving" in San Jose. It was a pretty cool look. They kicked off the show with "This House Is Not For Sale" and followed up with another new track before hitting "You Give Love a Bad Name." On my way into the show, I chatted with the people behind me in line (having gotten separated from Emerson, Nicole, and a few other friends), one of whom was a little boy about 9 or 10 years old. He was really excited since this was his first concert and he told me "My mom's been playing their music for me. I hope they play 'You Give Love a Bad Name', that's my favorite!" I told them they probably would, so I was happy for him that he got to hear it early in the set. I love it when kids get really excited about music!
The set list was filled with a lot of new tracks and several from Lost Highway which had me pleasantly surprised. I'm enjoying the new album, so didn't mind the set list being top heavy with new tunes. The crowd was generally into them too as people were on their feet for most of the show, but the set list probably could have been mixed up a little differently so there were more classic songs surrounding the newer ones. I think I've mentioned this before, but Jon Bon Jovi definitely studied at the School of Springsteen with the way he exhorts the audience to participate in the show and keeping the energy level up high enough to keep people on their feet for most of the night, even when playing mostly new material. It's a skill not every performer has. And, as always, I do get a kick out of his whole "I AM A ROCK STAR!" shtick. He's well aware of his magnetism and works it for all he's got while also being aware that the audience knows that's what he's doing. I will say though it's still weird seeing him with grey hair. I've seen the DirecTV ads enough so it's not like it was some kind of shock and surprise, but damn it does make me feel old seeing Jon Bon Jovi with totally grey hair! (I do give him all kinds of kudos for it though -- there are a LOT of rock stars out there who really need to give up the bad dye jobs and just let it go!)
Keeping with the grey hair theme -- Jon seems to be feeling his age a bit these days, or maybe it was just due to his birthday coming up the following day. He gave a long introduction to "God Bless This Mess" that generally covered the ups and downs of 30 plus years in the limelight. While he didn't overtly mention Richie Sambora, he alluded to their long partnership and the good and bad times that came along with it. "God Bless This Mess" was followed by "Scars on This Guitar" and kept the world-weary feel. "Scars on This Guitar" is one of my favorite tracks from This House Is Not For Sale (just behind "Reunion" which I LOVE, but was not played at the show) and the slow ballad allowed fans to light up their phones for a field of stars. Jon commented on how cool the lights looked and said something to the effect of "back in my day it was lighters" (uh, Jon, your audience is in your peer-group, it was back in everyone's day!) at which point a few Bics were flicked and caused him to say "put those out, I'll get arrested!" Not in California you won't!
The set wound down with a bunch of the hits before the four song encore that included, of course, "Dead or Alive" and "Livin' on a Prayer." Having seen Bon Jovi on the last tour after Richie quit, it wasn't AS odd to not have him singing on "Dead or Alive" and the audience pretty much drowned out Phil X who handled Richie's usual vocal, but it was still a little weird. Actually, that's one thing I forgot to mention about the crowd -- wow whenever there was a sing along bit the crowd really took it. Good and loud.
Next road report -- coming to ya from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies in New York City! Woooo! (Okay, no, I'm not excited at all. Nope, not one bit!)
Set list (courtesy of setlist.fm)
This House Is Not for Sale
Knockout
You Give Love a Bad Name
Lost Highway
Whole Lot of Leavin'
Roller Coaster
We Weren't Born to Follow
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
We Got It Goin' On
Who Says You Can't Go Home
It's My Life
We Don't Run
God Bless This Mess
Scars on This Guitar
The Devil's in the Temple
Lay Your Hands on Me
Born to Be My Baby
Have a Nice Day
Bad Medicine
Keep the Faith
Encore:
Living with the Ghost
Because We Can
Wanted Dead or Alive
Livin' on a Prayer
