BON JOVI REVIEW

I spent the weekend in Winnipeg for the Bon Jovi/Kid Rock concert and of the four times I have seen Bon Jovi perform, this was the best.

They are all in the late 40's now, but I think they have, at least, 10 years left in them.  They rocked like it was the early 1990s and the thing that maybe impressed me the most was that you could easily tell the band was really enjoying the crowd.

The last couple of times I have seen them play, Jon has allowed Richie to take lead vocals on one song.  In Saskatoon a couple of years ago it was 'These Days' and last night, Richie took lead on 'Lay Your Hands On Me'.  It was very well done, and I remarked to my wife that when Richie Sambora decides he's going to retire, Jon would be wise to quit too!

Overall, the band played for close to 2 1/2 hours as it was near midnight local time when people started filing out.  They played three encores ('Wanted Dead Or Alive', 'This Town', and 'Living On A Prayer).

You know you've seen a good show when you've enjoyed 2 1/2 solid hours of music and then can rattle off another 6-7 quality songs they could've played, but didn't.  Immediately coming to mind that didn't make the set list:  'Something For The Pain', 'In & Out Of Love', 'Tokyo Road', 'In These Arms', 'This Ain't A Love Song', 'Undivided', 'Everyday', and 'Living In Sin'.  I think at some point, I have heard the band do all of those  songs at various concerts I've attended, so it's not like they have never played them live.  Now that I think of it, the albums These Days and Bounce failed to have a single song make the set list last night!

My personal favs from last night:  'Have A Nice Day', 'We Weren't Born To Follow', 'Living On A Prayer', 'Blood on Blood', and 'Runaway'.  What I found interesting this morning when I was thinking about it a bit more is that three of those five songs aren't even on my list of favorites by Bon Jovi.  A new song called 'Work For The Working Man' was very well done and an instant ITunes download.

Kid Rock also performed and I was less than impressed.  Admittedly, I wasn't a fan going in, so he would have had to work real hard to win me over.  When he told the crowd he was going to "F...... your wife tonight" and then when he delivered a real crass message to his audio crew that, when translated, went like this: "Turn up your ears, don't turn up my mic."  That was pretty much it for me.  I'm not easily offended, and I wasn't offended by his remarks, I just find him too juvenile even for a juvenile guy like me.  I don't care for the (his words) 'hillbilly shit' either.  Anyway, he was great for anyone that needed to stand in the long beer line.  Having said that, I talked to a few that quite enjoyed watching this guy, who appears to be slightly burnt from a few years of heavy drug use (I'm just guessing).

Some girl from Winnipeg opened the show.  Sierra Leone?  Sierra Noble?  I don't know.  Anyway, her very last song that was done on the fiddle was her best.

If you are going to the Regina show, I hope you see what we did last night.  It was rare.  I have been to concerts that have been excellent, but this is the first one I can think of that made me think, "Hmmm, I think Bon Jovi had as much fun as the crowd."