Review: Bon Jovi, Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, 3/29/17

Bon Jovi rocks Detroit with two Bob Seger tributes and farewell words to The Joe

DETROIT, MI - They've been rocking Detroit since the early 80s. Bon Jovi played Joe Louis Arena one last time with a tweaked setlist, some farewell words and not one, but two tributes to Metro Detroit's own, Bob Seger.

The rockers brought their "This House is Not For Sale" tour to The Joe on Wednesday, March 29, 2017 in what looks to be the last true rock concert in the storied arena's history.

"I want to thank you all very much for coming out here tonight," Jon Bon Jovi told the fans. "One last time at The Joe. Buildings come and go, but memories always stay." You can see Jon's full farewell and more fun moments from the concert in the video below.

Bon Jovi made some more unforgettable memories on this night with a 2 and a half hour high energy concert full of hits and a few songs from the new album.

The show kicked off with the band's first hit off the new album of the same name "This House is Not For Sale," followed by "Knockout." Then, the hits kept on coming with "You Give Love a Bad Name," "Lost Highway," "Whole Lot of Leavin'," and "We Weren't Born to Follow." Bon Jovi also played "Roller Coaster" from the new album.

First Seger tribute:

Then, something a little different, just for Detroit. The band mashed it's song "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" with Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll," playing the Seger hit nearly in its entirety.

The band continued to tweak the setlist from previous shows with another big song, their first hit single from 1984 "Runaway." Following that were hits "We Got It Goin' On," "Who Says You Can't Go Home," and "It's My Life."

Bon Jovi then told some stories behind some of the songs on their new album, playing four in a row. The rest of the concert featured all hits from years past with "Lay Your Hands on Me," "Born to be my Baby," "Have a Nice Day," "Bad Medicine," and ""Keep the Faith."

The encore changed right off the top from some previous shows with "Raise Your Hands," followed by two of the band's signature hits "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "Livin' on a Prayer."

Second Seger tribute:

In the introduction to "Wanted Dead or Alive," Jon not only dedicated it to Bob Seger, but credited the living legend as the inspiration for the band's huge hit. "It was 1985, I couldn't sleep. I heard "Turn the Page" and this song is what came to me."

Farewell words to The Joe:

At age 55, and with a full head of grey hair, Jon Bon Jovi is still rocking like it's 1985 with a lot of energy on stage and a powerful voice. He also continues to move the band forward with new music. Here is Jon's goodbye message to Joe Louis Arena, which is set to close in a few months to make way for Little Caesars Arena.

"We bid a farewell to this old arena. Another new one will take it's place. It doesn't mean that it will be better just because it's shiny and new because you all grew up here and you know what happened inside these walls. Champions were made in this building. Rock concerts and memories were made, relationships were as well. I just want you to know that I'm proud to have been just a little bit of it when we got to play here way back when. Thank you all very much for letting us be a part of it."

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You can read the rest of the review here.

And now, some pictures:

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Review: Bon Jovi XCel Center, Minneapolis, MN 3-27-17

Bon Jovi builds a new 'House' in sold-out Xcel Center marathon

Never one to shy away from easy applause and textbook showmanship, Jon Bon Jovi even managed to get the fans seated behind the stage at Xcel Energy Center in the palm of his hand during Monday night’s concert. Or at least he held their attention with a certain part of his anatomy.

“For the next 2½ hours, you’re gonna have to be staring at my rear end,” he said in feigned apology to the cheap seats.

Predictably, a cheer erupted that was nearly as loud as the one that greeted “You Give Love a Bad Name” three tunes into the 23-song set list.

Even with his charisma still in fine shape — and his stamina still strong enough to wear black leather all night without passing out or messing up his hair with sweat, Monday’s concert wasn’t just a typical cakewalk for handsome ol’ Jonny and his namesake band.

Xcel Energy Center had the dubious distinction of hosting one of the first Bon Jovi concerts without co-founding guitarist, Richie Sambora, who abruptly quit while on tour in 2013. This time out, the band made a case for staying true to its history while carving out a future. The frontman talked a lot about the band “being in disrepair” and needing “to get back to our roots,” repair work at the heart of the band’s new album, “This House Is Not for Sale.”

“We’re going to be talking a lot about the record tonight,” the singer warned early on.

While Sambora’s replacement, Phil X, never made the kind of impression his predecessor did despite having the cooler name, the lineup change did nothing to dampen the audience’s response. Likewise, the crowd proved unusually receptive to the half-dozen songs played off the new record, from the title track that kicked off the show to the very E Street-like “Roller Coaster” offered mid-concert.

And what a crowd it was, too. With the seats sold behind the stage, attendance surpassed 18,000 people, including primo seats that topped $500. Not bad for a Monday night gig by a band many people wrote off around the same time its frontman took a write-off for investing in an arena football team.

As always, though, Jon Bon Jovi, 55, worked the stage like a consummate pro and proved why his fans cheer for a lot more than his hair and derrière.

With his thick and unmoving coif, ruggedly raspy voice and canned but passionate-sounding banter between songs, he recalled another veteran act coming to Xcel Center this year, Neil Diamond. Like Diamond’s, Bon Jovi’s voice has faded, but it didn’t matter when it came time for “Wanted Dead or Alive” and “Livin’ on a Prayer” in the encore, since the fans sang along like their lives depended on it.

There was no “Runaway” this time, though. Apparently Jon Bon Jovi didn’t want to dig too far back into the roots and find all those empty hair-spray cans.

In the vein of Bon Jovi’s return to doing-it-for-the-love-of-it, the Step Rockets, a young Minneapolis band, won a contest to serve as the opening act. It was a sweet setup for the show.

“Thank you for being a part of our dream come true,” said frontman Brady Lillie, who sang with that same amount of earnestness as his bandmates (including a prerecorded bassist) delivered a bouncy, new wavy brand of pop/rock that might have fit in alongside Bon Jovi cassettes in a Datsun car radio circa 1986.

Set List:

“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”
“New Year’s Day”
“Lay Your Hands on Me”
“Born to Be My Baby”
“Have a Nice Day”
“Bad Medicine”
“Keep the Faith”

ENCORE:

“Raise Your Hands”
“Wanted Dead or Alive”
“Livin' on a Prayer”

source

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Richie on Comedy Central...

So, Richie made an appearance, sans Orianthi, on the Comedy Channel last week on The Comedy Jam:

As we prepare for Bon Jovi's return to Wells Fargo Center on March 31, we found this entertaining moment in which Comedy Central's Chris Hardwick tells a fun story about an interaction with Tom Cruise and then breaks into a jam of 'Dead or Alive' with Richie Sambora.  Hardwick's costume certainly brings up back to the 80's.

Fun stuff right there...

As an aside, I thought Richie looked and sounded really good.

I miss him...

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