Not even a bad dose of Hay fever could stop the Bon Jovi Express as it rolled into the Ricoh Stadium for a blistering two and a half hour show on a hot and sticky night. Jon, Richie and Co once again proved that when it comes to putting on a stadium rock show they have few peers. 

Nickelback, a band I had not seen before, played a lively and powerful opening hour and seemed to have the majority of the crowd on side. Inevitably it was the songs from ‘Silver Side Up’ (‘Too Bad’, ‘Never Again’, ‘Woke Up This Morning’ and ‘How You Remind Me’) that got the biggest reaction and I suppose it can be argued that their career peaked with this release and it is the benchmark their future albums will be compared against. However, newer songs such as ‘Someday’ and ‘Photograph’ came across well and Kroeger was keen to build some rapport with the audience as t-shirts were fired into the crowd via the assistance of ‘cannons’ positioned at either end of the stage. On the strength of this set I will definitely be checking out ‘All The Right Reasons’ and will certainly consider going to see them if and when they come back for some headline shows. 

Kicking off at 8 o clock sharp the Bon Jovi experience these days is like a well oiled precision piece of mechanical engineering. Jon took his place at the centre of the walkway that extended into the second standing section of the crowd to start the show with ‘Last Man Standing’ from latest album ‘Have A Nice Day’, leading into John Fogerty’s ‘Rocking All Over The World’ and going on to play a career spanning set that surprisingly omitted anything from the previous studio album ‘Bounce’. 

Keeping his sunglasses on until the encores Jon informed us that he was under the weather with Hay fever and his between song banter seemed more subdued than usual, with regular trips to the back of the stage to sip black coffee and dose up on medication. However, this could not detract from what was an impeccable performance as they dipped into the back catalogue for the likes of ‘I’d Die For You’, ‘I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead’, ‘Runaway’ and ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’. A rare error from the band during the intro to ‘Born To Me My Baby’ got an impatient yell of “What the fuck’s going on” from Jon. There was a good representation of songs from the new album including the title track, ‘Story of my Life’ and new single ‘Who Says You Can’t Go Home’ alongside the stand out ‘Ring The Bells of Freedom’.

‘In These Arms’ saw another trip around the walkway and David Bryan got to sing a few lines to provide him with a rare appearance in the spotlight. As on the last tour Richie took over lead vocals on ‘I’ll Be There for You’ to provide Jon with a breather and then it was back to ‘Slippery When Wet’ for ‘Raise Your Hands’ and ‘Livin on a Prayer’. Sambora does seem to get less time in the spotlight than before with the into to ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ no longer extended and as Steve alluded in his review of the Glasgow show this is now very much the Jon Bon Jovi show. 

The set list has been changing throughout the tour and ‘Blood on Blood’ was aired during the first encore which closed with ‘Keep The Faith’. The band returned to play the title song from an album Jon usually forgets he ever wrote, ‘These Days’, which got a rare outing and was my personal highlight. A cover of ‘Treat Her Right’ closed the show and the band exited to a fantastic reception from a crowd that spanned generations, from those of old enough to recall the Odeon Theatre tours in the mid-80’s to the nine year old boy just in front of me who was at his first rock show. 

He might not have been feeling 100% but Jon Bon Jovi more than proved he still has the enthusiasm and ability to deliver the best stadium rock show in the world today.

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