2010: The Circle Tour kick off

February 2010 and Rock legends Bon Jovi kick off their World Tour in Seatle, WA, USA. Just a week after 2 fan club warm up shows in Haway - the firsts in almost 20 years in the islands - the New Jersey Rockers show signs of aging gracefully and a determination able to compete with any band with less 20 years.

As usual a brand new production was made specialy for the Tour and Jon, Richie, David and Tico kept Hugh Mcdonald and Bobby Bandiera as backing musicians. The set list is an evolution of the standard played during the "Lost Highway" Tour. Songs like "Bad Name" and "Born to be my Baby" in the beginning of the set, "Who says you can't go home" and "Bad Medicine" near the end of the main set. The still significant number of staple tracks from "Lost Highway" - such as the title track or the collaboration with Country's act "Big and Rich": "We gotta going on", as well as the end of the show including 2 of their biggest hits: "Wanted" and "Prayer", make the bridge with past.

On the other hand, they bring news to the road and allong the new tunes from "The Circle", they added the fan favorite "Blood on Blood" as the stample opener. Songs from their first 2 records were brought back, after only "Runaway" had survived beyond the "Slippery When Wet" period. Richie dropped his now 7 year old version of "I'll be There for you", and did not repeat his 2007/2008 rendition of "These Days". In stead he now jams like a maniac during a very bluesy and rithmic "Homebound train", a track from 1988 "New Jersey" album, which hard core fans thought never to hear live again.

They also brought back an acoustic set with the 4 original members going to the middle of the crowd to play another fan favorite "Someday I'll be Saturday Night" and one of the forgotten tracks of their 1995 album "These Days", "Something for the Pain". A combo that pleases their fan base and freshes up the set list. Other surprises include the double combo of ballads between Mr Sambora's song and the acoustic set and of course, the main set finalle: "Love's the only Rule". This last song proves not only to be one of the album's most powerful, as it is able to summarize the band's message.

If the first 3 shows were relatively short - 2h15m - it is no surprise, since it is their regular concert length during their first leg in North America. Many songs may be tested before the quarted hit the brand new Meadowlands Stadium next May, and take London by assalt, when performing the, so far, 12 date residency at their familiar O2 arena (a venue they debuted in 2007).

One thing is for sure: the band doesn't want to slow down and simply rest in the shadow of their successes. They will play new songs throughout the tour, much like in 2007/2008, and fans can now expect any song from their vault, since they have proved any song is eligable to be rehearsed and played live.