Bon Jovi @ Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester
26th June 2003
It’s been almost a year since I last saw Bon Jovi, and two years since they last toured here. Bounce has been out since September so we’re all pretty familiar with it by now. I’ve also seen and heard some bootlegs of the Bounce tour so I have a rough idea of what to expect tonight.
We had gold standing tickets for tonight’s show so we didn’t get to the stadium until 3pm where we joined the GS queue. Whilst we waited for the doors to open Gold Wristbands were handed out and the queue got longer and longer.
Doors eventually opened about 5 minutes late so we rushed into the venue and straight into the GS area – my first thought was that it was huge, much larger than the fanpits at the gigs on the last tour as it took up over half of the football pitch/standing area. Still we were fairly early so we managed to stand in the third or fourth row in front of Sir Richard of Sambora.
A bit more waiting (involving a mix of boredom and anticipation) before support act Live took the stage. I now recognised the band as we stayed in the same hotel as them in Manchester the previous night.
They played a good set for 40 minutes or so, the lead singer reminded us every 10 minutes or so that they were called Live but they seemed to be generally well accepted by the crowd.
Once they left the stage the anticipation built even more as we awaited the main event.
The roadies worked quickly so luckily there wasn’t a long wait before the 2001/Rocky intro music started indicating that the Jersey boys were going to be on stage very soon.
As with almost all the other Bounce shows, this once kicked off with the latest album title track and immediately got people on their feet, singing and, erm well, bouncing! Bounce went straight into You Give Love A Bad Name. Even at this point it was obvious that tonight’s crowd were gonna be loud!
Bad Name was followed by a very good rendition of Runaway, Jon’s voice sounded very good and for a moment I though he was going to try and sing the high notes from the end of the original version (he didn’t but that’s maybe best).
“Manchester, England huh? We got a long night ahead of us and I’m just taking in the sights man. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful up here before.” Was Jon’s intro before he announced Bounce’s lead single, Everyday. Again it was obvious that the audience had done their homework as every person in the stadium sung along as loud as they could. Once this had finished our voices didn’t get a rest as we got the acappella intro to Livin’ On A Prayer.
It has to be said that Jon’s voice sounded great tonight (as I think it has for most of this tour) – much better than the 2001 shows which were not exactly bad to start with. One of my personally highlights was next, a truly great version of Undivided. Unlike the album version this started with David’s keyboard intro before Jon sang the haunting chorus (with 50,000 or so backing singers!) then the song launched as per the record. At the end of the song, Jon let the audience sing the “where we once were divided, now we stand united” part which sounded awesome.
A good version of Keep The Faith was next followed by cowboy anthem Wanted Dead Or Alive, Jon letting the crowd sing the entire first verse and (unusually) the first chorus which resulted in both Jon and Richie standing looking impressed. As good as this version was I always think it’s an encore song and suits being played in the darkness better than the light.
Jon interacted with us a bit more next saying about the playing on “hollowed ground” and it being the equivalent of Giants Stadium in New Jersey! His next quote was ”So Posh Spice says to me ‘Can you bend it like Beckham?’ I said ‘Baby I can tie it in a knot!’ (Huge cheer!) ‘That my friend is shtick!’”
He then announced The Distance is the next song. I’ve never been particularly fond of this song but the live version does have a great outro section with loads of guitar.
“2-3-4!” Not Born To Be My Baby (yet!) but the intro to crowd pleaser It’s My Life. As this song is the reason that the next generation of fans are present it is very well received. This is followed by previous single Misunderstood, which is not as well received as any of the other songs but still seems pretty good.
Misunderstood is followed by my personal highlight of the show, Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night. Now, this is not one of favourite Bon Jovi songs by a long shot but this is the single best version I have ever heard. The middle eight was extended with an amazing “I’m alive” section and run around 9 minutes in total. The crowd responded well to the song, the band realised this and turned it up to 12 (since I’m sure they were on 11 already). Sat Night runs straight into Just Older. Despite not being a single this is another crowd pleaser, possibly because a lot of the older generation of fans feel the same way (it’s also one of my 3 favourite BJ songs so I was glad to hear it).
Jon surrendered the mic to Richie to let him sing I’ll Be There For You next. While it was great to hear Richie song a song I’d have preferred it if he’d sung one of his own songs but I’m not complaining. The crowd reacted well and sang passionately along with Richie for the ending ‘Whoa whoa whoa” section.
This was followed by my favourite BJ song, In These Arms. Since David’s Mother was in the audience that night Jon put David on the spot and made him sing the second half of the first verse (much to his and our surprise!). Still he made a very good job of it, sounding a lot better than the version on his solo album.
Next we got “2-3-4!” again and this time it was Born To Be My Baby, which was a good solid version if nothing special. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead was next which included a verse or so of Rockin’ All Over The World, whilst not being unique it stills breaks the song up slightly and sounds cool.
Finally, Raise Your Hands closed the main set. Good song that it is I don’t think it’s a good way to end a set but anyway, we had the encores to look forward to.
After a few minutes the boys returned on stage and we got our genuine surprise of the night. Jon said about them playing Hyde Park in two days and that the crowd there were going to have a hell of a time being half as good as we were! He then said that “this is a little something we’ve never done before. It’s by one of the great British exports, a band called The Kinks, and it’s called Lola”. They played a good, pretty faithful cover of the song. As with Celluloid Heroes at Shepherds Bush, Jon can copy Ray Davies voice well.
Lola was followed by another crowd pleaser, Captain Crash And The Beauty Queen From Mars which gets the crowd singing and swaying in time with the music. At the end Jon asks if there’s a doctor in the house and we get Bad Medicine followed by Shout which sadly ends our great show.
As I said before (maybe more than once) the audience were truly great tonight, probably the best of any of the shows I’ve been to. The band were great and responded well to the crowd. Lola was a very nice surprise and the rest of the set was solid though unexceptional.
My only real complaint would be Shout ending the show, I’d much have prefer a Jovi track or even Twist And Shout which was a great close to the 2001 shows.
Still, it bodes well for Saturday’s Hyde Park show.
Setlist:
Bounce
You Give Love A Bad Name
Runaway
Everyday
Livin' On A Prayer
Undivided
Keep The Faith
Wanted Dead Or Alive
The Distance
It's My Life
Misunderstood
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
Just Older
I'll Be There For You (Richie Sambora on vocals)
In These Arms
Born To Be My Baby
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead ~ Rockin' All Over The World
Raise Your Hands
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Lola
Captain Crash And The Beauty Queen From Mars
Bad Medicine
Shout