The Circle World Tour
Bon Jovi
Rod Laver Arena
Friday, December 10, 2010
Written by Jacqui James
THREE WORDS… OH MY GOD! This is the only thing that I can think of to open with! Last night Bon Jovi took the stage for close to three hours, playing to an extremely packed Rod Laver Arena for their “pre-show party” as Jon Bon Jovi called it. (I thought I had seen Rod Laver packed-out but last night bought a new definition of packed-out! The concert was a gift for those who missed out on tickets to tonight’s sold-out Etithad show.
As the lights dimmed and the video screens lit up, Rod Laver totally arrupted! As a huge surprise Jon appeared on a smaller stage towards the back of the Arena while the rest of the band played on the main stage. What was even more surprising was when the first song The Last Man Staging finished Jon casually walked around the ground floor’s outskirts, high-fiving people along the way until he reached the main stage.
Jon and the guys were often visibly impressed with everyone’s singing even at several times drowning out the band. Jon still makes women of all ages swoon with his blue eyes and charming ways! Last night during Bad Medicine he pointed to women in the crowd saying “Trouble… Trouble… Trouble!” then moments later he ripped open his black leather vest, showing the ultimate six-pack! You bet, every woman squealed! Also his acting talents are still very apparent; I found myself in a spell during In These Arms. Jon even played lead guitar during the night!
Richie Sambora, the guitar extraordinaire slipped into the frontman position for Lay Your Hands On Me and he was great as!
Jovi played their greatest hits including You Give Love A Bad Name, Born To Be My Baby, It’s My Life Keep The Faith (our favourite for the maracas), Have A Nice Day, Dry County (one of their best live tracks), Wanted Dead Or Alive and Livin’ On A Prayer. They also did a bunch of new tracks from their latest Greatest Hits album including the Australian 
exclusive single No Apologies.
Last night’s concert was definitely a stripped down version of their stadium mega show, but Jon definitely put 200% effort into it. The man’s a machine who know kept pushing himself beyond his fatigue – all for a “pre-show party”.
Bring on Tuesday where we see the guys at Suncorp Stadium!
Here’s the set list from last night:
Last Man Standing
You Give Love A Bad Name
Born To Be My Baby
We Weren’t Born To Follow
In These Arms
Superman Tonight
When We Were Beautiful
It’s My Life
No Apologies
We Got It Got Going On
Keep The Faith
Bad Medicine/Pretty Woman /Shout
Lay Your Hands On Me (Richie Sambora)
What You Got If You Ain’t Got Love
Diamond Ring (Jon and Richie)
I Be There For You
Something For The Pain (acoustic)
Work For The Working Man
Thorn In My Side
Have A Nice Day
Who Says You Can’t Go Home
Love Is The Rule
Encore:
Dry County
Wanted Dead Or Alive
Livin ‘ On A Prayer
English