Bon Jovi: Denver, 3-14-18

IT'S MY MILE HIGH MADNESS REVIEW

So, yours truly jetted off to Denver this week to visit a dear friend (Willow) and to take in the very first show on this leg of the This House is Not For Sale Tour.  It was a whirlwind trip which I would do again in a heartbeat.

I landed at Denver International Tuesday evening, and found that once I de-planed, I had to take a train to actually get to the terminal to where Willow was waiting to take me to her place.  I had no idea just getting to her would involve planes, trains and automobiles.  An adventure in and of itself for someone who's home airport involves nothing more than walking off the plane away from the gate and thru the doors to your loved ones and the exit.  

Anyway, I won't bore you with the hours prior to the show, other than to say that Denver is beautiful and the Rocky Mountains, breathtaking.  I can't wait to go back. If you ever get there, I can recommend Estes Park as one place to definitely visit.  

Our pre-show dinner was something I need to mention though.  We parked Will's car at the Pepsi Arena and Uber-ed to Dbar Restaurant.  If any of you are Food Network watchers like I am, you will probably recognize the name Keegan Gerhard.  He is one of the owners.  The place started as a dessert cafe, but now they added a restaurant and full bar.  The food was amazing as was the dessert we shared.  And, while we were waiting for our Uber back to the arena, we met Keegan himself.  He came walking up and was checking out the outside seating area and made a comment about us waiting and I instantly recognized his voice.  I wasn't 100% sure when I saw him, but when he talked I knew.  So, what do I do?  I actually said "you are Keegan!"  He chuckled and said yes he was, he shook our hands and chatted for a minute.  Pretty cool moment.  Then our Uber showed up and it was into the cadillac and off to the show we went.

We did the standard stand in line and wait for the doors to open, then had our bags checked and go thru metal detectors schtick.  While waiting we noticed a woman up ahead of us had the coolest jeans on.  She had patches from all the tours on them, the HAND smirk being prominently displayed on her back pocket.  That has to be one of my favorites.  The other thing we noticed about this woman, she had a toddler in her arms.  He couldn't have been more than 2.  I get that you want to share your love with your kids, but in my opinion, 2 is a tad young for a rock concert. But that's just me.

So, after waiting in a insanely long line for swag, we got our t-shirts (Queenie did not get a tour shirt, she supported the Soul Foundation with her purchase) found our seats, made some new friends and waited. 

We were not impressed with the opening act.  So we chatted with our new friends and commented on the young man sitting in front of us.  He was with his dad and in conversation found that he was wearing his dad's original 1987 Slippery When Wet Tour T-Shirt.  Pretty cool.

Now, the last time I saw the band, Richie was still with them.  I also wasn't impressed with their performance on the Iheart Music Awards.  So, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  

I shouldn't have worried.  They were fantastic.  So much better than what I saw on TV a few weeks ago.  The interaction I missed seeing during their television performance was there, the connection I hadn't felt was there.  It was incredible.  Jon was on and sounded as good as ever.  We got, what I think is a crazy good set list:

   This House is Not For Sale

  Knock Out

  You Give Love a Bad Name

  Whole Lot of Leavin' Going On

  Lost Highway

  When We Were Us

  Born to Be My Baby

  Who Says You Can't Go Home

  It's My Life

  We Weren't Born to Follow

  I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

  We Got it Goin' On

  Keep the Faith

  Bed of Roses

  Amen

  Lay Your Hands on Me

  God Bless this Mess

  Have a Nice Day

  Bad Medicine

  Encore:

  I Love This Town

  Wanted Dead or Alive

  Livin' on a Prayer

Some may not think the list was anything all that great, but it was all just up, up, up...the energy level was just crazy in the arena.  And Jon never stopped.  At one point I leaned over to Wills and told her "He's such a dork!"  He was doing one of his crazy, high step, marching kind of dances across the stage.  She agreed and added "that's why we love him!"

It was just high energy all the way.  Keep the Faith was a highlight.  He had the maracas working, and then, he disappeared down the stairs.  Quick change time. And here's where I have to give props to Phil X.  He absolutely killed it on that song, especially the extended ending.  It was ridiculously good.  And David had an insane keyboard solo.  Just amazing.  

And then Jon reappeared out on a side stage in the crowd, one section over from where we were sitting.  He gave us Bed of Roses and Amen from there before making all the ladies swoon and there was no shortage of cellphone videos from there. He made his way back to the stage and turned the volume back up to 11 for the rest of the show.

After Bad Medicine they all disappeared and made the crowd go crazy.  One guy near us shouted himself hoarse begging "more, we want more!" The guys must have heard him because they came back and gave us three more.

When they started Wanted, the man sitting in front of us (with the kid wearing his Slippery t-shirt) voiced the thought I had in my head.  It will never be the same.  While true, it was good in its own right.  They finished with Prayer and the crowd showed their love by singing the song for them.  Jon thanked the crowd for their love, friendship and support thru the years.  They took their bows, and Jon stood there for a long moment, hand over his heart beaming at the crowd before disappearing.

It was a good night.  I am so glad I was able to be there.  I probably won't get to any other shows this tour, as of right now they're not scheduled to be anywhere near me until Toronto and those dates don't work for me.  So, as short and sweet a trip as it was, I'm glad I did it.

QNote:  as an aside, I am a Bon Jovi purist.  Do I miss Richie?  Damn right I do.  Do I know he's not coming back?  Again, sadly, I do.  Does it make me miss what he and Jon had together any less?  Absolutely not.  Does it take away from what the Band is doing now?  I don't think so.  It's just different now.  I know they will never be what the were and that's okay.  I enjoyed the show, the line up now works, but it's just not what I think when I think Bon Jovi, and that's on me.  So, take this review for what it is, my opinion on the show by the Band I have loved since 1984.

Some Pics (shared from 303 Magazine):