Bon Jovi: Living For the Fight
Chicago, IL-Soldier Field
July 30th, 2010
By Anthony Kuzminski
{Photo Credit}Writer's Note: *Special thanks to the friend who took care of me for this show, not asking for a single penny for the ticket or parking. Without this act of kindness, this review would not be possible as I couldn’t have afforded to go.
Two-hours into Bon Jovi’s sold-out concert Friday night at Soldier Field in Chicago, Jon Bon Jovi segued into the Rolling Stones “Sympathy for the Devil” in the middle of main set closer “Keep the Faith”. The Stones song was birthed at the beginning of one of the greatest run of albums ever in the history of rock n’ roll. Taking on the persona of the devil, Mick Jagger delivers a rhythmic tale of providing the listener with a history lesson of ravaging world events. Bon Jovi’s anthem from nearly two decades back is one of bewilderment. The narrator is coming to terms with those events the prodigal son turns the other cheek in the hopes of seeking emancipation, refinement of societies atrocities and above all, letting faith lead the way, This unpretentious and brilliant detour found Bon Jovi shedding a new light on the song, tying it together with the history of rock’s forefathers and delivering an utterly haunting moment. It was a testament to not just the performance but to their talents to maneuver a crowd to life. For 150-minutes on Friday night, Bon Jovi fought a bloody fight on the concert stage where they did their best to keep the 55,000 in attendance occupied. I’d be lying to you if I said it was a resounding success. It wasn’t a flawless show, but it didn’t stop Bon Jovi from trying their damndest.
Opening the show with “Blood on Blood” the crowd vociferously welcomed the band and when Jon Bon Jovi made his way to the stage in an uncomplicated fashion, he lifted his right fist and the audience bellowed their welcome but for the next several songs, despite the band sounding firm and laconic, the audience drifted in and out. “You Give Love A Bad Name” and “Born To Be My Baby” were enjoyable while “Lost Highway” started slow but gained some force towards it conclusion. However, two new songs from The Circle, “We Weren’t Born To Follow” and “When We Were Beautiful” proved to be challenges for the crowd. The band delivered the songs stridently but only “Beautiful” (one of the best tracks the band has ever written) showed signs of life and this was due to Jon Bon Jovi’s ability to whip the crowd into an arm-waving sing-a-long towards the end. He did the same on the vapid “We Got It Going On”. I may despise the song, but even after its ending, Bon Jovi had the crowd singing the song back to him. Love it or hate it, it was an impressive display as to why this man and his band are the only band to do a fully fledged stadium tour in 2010 (U2’s was delayed and the Eagles wound up doing less than 10-shows).
The highlight of the show, unexpectedly, was the brief acoustic set on the circle. Richie Sambora joined Jon Bon Jovi and they mined “Diamond Ring” for a stunning performance many took notice of. This shouldn’t have been the right song for a stadium crowd, but it worked brilliantly. Sambora and Bon Jovi shared a microphone which found the crowd decorating the moment with just thousands of flashes from the audience to light them as their voices coalesced highlighting their potency as an indivisible duo. Bassist Hugh McDonald was on stage and steered Jon and Richie with his ever reliant bass in a moment of magnificence which spilled over into the next song, “I’ll Be There For You”. Once again, Sambora and Bon Jovi shared the microphone and it proved to be tender and ardent. The song has been shared and sung individually by both of these men, but their two voices melded as one and provided one of the evening’s highlights. The encore unveiled “Always” and gave Sambora a showcase for his best solo of the evening while allowing Jon Bon Jovi to flex his impressive pipes. Throughout the show, he sounded superb. The evening’s finale of “Livin’ On A Prayer” evoked the evening’s largest reaction and ended the show on an intense high point. Pure mayhem occurred and no one left their seat as they stretched their voices to the sky. Despite this exhilarating climax, one can’t help but be a tad disillusioned with the detached attitude of the crowd. Chicago crowds are among the best in the nation and Bon Jovi shows here take on a higher order. Their 2006 concert in Soldier Field was an exorcism of sorts for the crowd where from the opening note to the final bow, the band and crowd intertwined in a magnificent marriage of call and response.
The crowd and band never found that underlying connection until the encores, despite the band’s best efforts. Kid Rock injected a much needed jolt to the proceedings when he joined the band on-stage to deliver Bob Segar’s “Old Time Rock N’ Roll” in the middle of “Bad Medicine”. Rock’s 60-minute opening set was high on arm-waving, fist-pumping anthems. From covers by country artists, Ted Nugent, Sly and the Family Stone and a slew of his own hits, he entranced the crowd who were all in their seats when his set began. More than anything, he evokes a level of humility but wasn’t afraid to show off and show everyone why he has outlasted most of his late 90’s contemporaries. When he left the stage, he wasn’t just a son of Detroit, but an adopted son of Chicago. Returning to the stage during Bon Jovi’s set he jerked the crowd back onto the road. The massive hits (“It’s My Life”, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home”, “Wanted Dead or Alive” and “Livin’ On A Prayer”) stirred the crowd up quite well, but it was the other songs that never allowed the crowd to take flight. It should be noted, the band strove to make this happen, but the crowd fell flat. Despite some superb vocals By Bon Jovi on “Bed of Roses”, the crowd seemed disengaged and after brief applause at the opening chords of “Runaway” it veered into obscurity territory with most of the crowd aimless. Richie Sambora took over lead vocals for “Lay Your Hands On Me” and sadly it lacked the Sunday morning revival sentiment other tours have provided.
The biggest piece of criticism I have for the show was the set list. Despite being packed with many hits and being well performed, the audience reaction was sluggish at best throughout most of the show. During the wishy-washy “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead”, a strong sense of déjà vu took over. Eighteen of the twenty-three songs performed were done on the band’s 2008 visit in Chicago and three of the five that weren’t are housed on The Circle. This was the band’s fifteenth stop in Chicago over the last ten years and despite this, only “Diamond Ring” hadn’t been performed before (but was done on a radio broadcast on 101.9 in 2002). The pre-tour comments about dusting off songs from the first two records didn’t come to fruition and despite performances just last month of “Homebound Train”, “Let It Rock”, “Santa Fe”, “Damned”, “Dry County”, “Garageland”, “(It’s Hard) Letting You Go” none have been aired upon the band’s return to the US. Yet an exercise in futility like “Work For The Working Man” (which is the nadir of their career) has been performed nightly. A song like "I Believe" has a more sweeping reach and is more uplifting and serves the same purpose, so a rotating seequence of songs would help the flow and structure and may even heighten the awareness of certain songs from The Circle. The band has a vast and distinguished catalog and yet aside from the key hits, most of the 1984-1995 catalog has gone unaired. Artists owe it to themselves the crowd to deliver not just hits but to mine their catalog and dig out some treasures and you may be surprised at the reactions you get. A astonishing amount of fans have trekked to Chicago for these final North American shows and one hopes Jon Bon Jovi dramatically shakes things up for the second night for those attending. He told the Eric and Kathy show on 101.9 in April that he changes up 12-songs per night, so hopefully the repeat customers will see an entirely different show. Despite all of this and the arduous crowd, the band fought hard. I can quibble about superfluous and minute details, but the band whirled the crowd into a few dizzying spells. While it may not have had the same effect as the 2006 or 2008 shows, Bon Jovi got into the ring and went fifteen rounds. While it wasn’t a knock-out like previous Chicago performances, they went the full fifteen rounds. With some tweaking of the set list, a new crowd and a care free attitude on the final night of the North American tour, the second show could be the epic capper those traveling fans are hoping they see.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network. His daily writings can be read at The Screen Door. He can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com and can be followed on Twitter
Writer's Note #2:
I won't be at the second show, but the fans I spoke to, these are the songs they are most dying to hear for possible inclusion at the second show:
"Let It Rock"
"Santa Fe"
"Damned"
"Get Ready"
"Tokyo Road"
"It's Hard Letting You Go"
"Never Say Goodbye"
"Dry County"
"I Believe"
"Edge of a Broken Heart" (we can all dream, can't we?)
The first 8 on the above list have all been performed at least once on this tour.
