2006: Have a Nice Day European Tour - 1st Leg

After having seen the band for the first band in 2003, I set up to follow them in Europe during 2006. This was the first lengthy tour I managed to do, so I had much to learn from life on the road. Here are some of the adventures:

"The expectations are high... the big moment is coming". Those were my thoughts after a smooth arrival at Cologne's Airport in Germany, where I managed to keep myself busy for the 3 following hours, either looking for city maps or checking train's timetables.

It was May, 12th, 2006 and it took me a while to fall asleep that night because despite being tired I couldn't help to think that just a few hours away I'd be seeing the biggest Rock show in the World. The European leg of the tour was about to start and the excitement was as big as it could possibly be. I'd be able to see the band that kept me faithful for 11 years.

Rushing to Dusseldorf's stadium at early morniing I got nr 112 in the line for the show and me and my friends managed to keep ourselves busy until 3:30 p.m., when everybody stood on a line of 2 people wide. We were then checked by the secury and at a very slow pace, got into the arena. Just before stepping in, as were still in the line, we saw Jon, as he posed as a king or Emperor towards both fan club and general admission queues. I held my scarf up high so he could read the name of my home country: Portugal. A few moments after we got into the arena and found out, due to the mega zoom of the cameras some people had, that the it was not actually Jon outside, but a disguised guy who had pretended to be him. We were disapointed in a way, but on the other hand we were reliefed since he had such an arrogant atitude.

At 7 p.m. Nicleback took the stage. They would support Bon Jovi for the European gigs and definitely proved to be a wise choise, since they knew exactly how to please the audience. After their set we had to wait another 45 minutes for the lights to go out.

The stage was mazing, with a half moon catwalk surrounding the golden circle area, a huge screen on the back and lot's of lights. It was one of the most impressive stages the band ever used. The band got on stage while some warm up tunes were being played in the PA, and all of a sudden they kicked into "Last man Standing" with Jon running to the centre of the catwalk and singing from there the whole song. As the song ended he slowly returned to the stage where he took off his acoustic guitar and called our help to sing "You give Love a Bad Name". They imediatly had the audience at their feet. "Radio saved my life tonight" was next and during its interlude, after the guitar solo, Jon got the time to welcome everybody to the debut of their "Have a Nice Day" World tour in Europe. He even refered to Germany as New Germany, mentioning it was the band's second home. He also thanked to several countries that were represented, which included Portugal (he saw my scarf and smilled toward the Portuguese commitie).

They kept our motors running with "I'd die for you", an excelent song that I had never listened live before. During "Born to be my Baby" Jon asked everybody's participation with the "Na Na Na Na Na" at the end of the song. And not even the "One more time" part that was introduced in 2003 missed. Awesome.

"Story of my Life" proved to be one of "Have a Nice Day" finnest live songs, while "Captain Crash and the Beaty Queen from Mars" and "Novocaine" kept the beat. "Joey" was a nice surprise since it is barely played live, while "In These Arms" drove the crowd crazy. "It's my live", "Have a Nice Day" and "Who says you can't go home" proved all to be very popular with everyboy singing along.

Then it was Richie's turn, the guitar player gave us a wonderful rendition of "I'll be There for you", with the crowd singing even after the song was over. Jon noticed it and started to do the chords of the song in his acoustic guitar, echoing the audience, while Richie, visibly touched by the moment cleaned his tears. Sambora was not alright, his arm had been broken for several months now and he refused to abandon the tour. He had barely smiled and was hardly able to astonish us like we all had been used to. "Someday I'll be Saturday Night" was a live favorite, followed by an electrifying interpretation of "Keep the Faith" with jungle noises and a snippet of the Rolling Stones' "Simpathy for the Devil". These 2 songs of hope gave the show a whole new meaning and emotion. This is the message the band keeps carrying and one of the reasons why so many people have been faithful to them. Then it was time for having fun again and there are no better songs for that intent than "Bad Medicine" and "Raise your Hands". Finally "Livin' on a Prayer" combined the energy of the 2 previous songs with the emotion of the couple of ones before. It was a magical moment with everybody on their feet jumping and singing at the top of their lungs.

They returned for the encore with "Bells of Freedom" that despite not being one of my favorite tracks, works great live. Its harmonies and emotion combined with an excelent outro solo that was repeated again and again, making a fade out effect that enhanced immensily the song. "Runaway" and "I'll Sleep when I'm dead " closed the first encore with great blasts of energy.

With the second encore came the big surprise of the night: "Dry County". A song that had not been played since 1996 and that fans constantly requested through the years. There were some fans who had listened to the band practicing the song during the soundcheck, but no one could ever imagine they would do it in their first European show. It was simply amazing, a magical moment I will for sure never forget. Everybody was amazed and couldn't believe in the moment they were witnessing. "Wanted ead or Alive" folowed with the audience singing alone the first verse, then Richie took the lead in the second verse while Jon joined in and finnished the song. Once again "they rocked us all".

AFter saying goodbye for one more time Jon saw the crowd begging for more and pleased us with a final song: "Treat her Right", during which he once again circled the catwalk to properly say thank you and goodbie to the audience. Two hours and forty five minutes after it started the show was over and we couldn't help to think how fortunate we were to witness such a great show. I was also lucky since I was able to get the set list of the show, what else could I ask for?

The next day it was time to say goodbye to my Portuguese friends who host a stranger to their relatives home and allowed me to kick off the tour in such a cosy atmosphere. I'll never forget the hospitality. Thank you.
I then took the plane to Vienna, where I had a train to take to my final destination: Linz, where I spent the night.

One again I repeated the ritual and early in the morning I went to the venue. During the "dead hours" I managed to get some cardboards from the recycling trash in which I wrote "Prove Dusseldorf was not a one night stand. Play I 'Believe' now". At 6p.m. we got inside the venue and I was able to get front row at David's side, just in front of Booby's spot. The perfect spot to watch the band's first open air concert in a stadium that year.
After 1 hour waiting Nicleback started their set and the lead singer not only noticed my banner as made me a sign. Also the bass player and drumer smiled at me while I was head banging to their heaviest songs.
At 8:00 p.m. sharp the "Last Men Standing" showed up. Jon was wearing an Army coat and just like 2 nights before he started from the centre of the catwalk singing the opening song.

The main set was mostly the same I had seen in Dusseldorf, with the exception of "Sympathy for the Devil" that was dropped from the interlude of "Keep the Faith", while "Bad Medicine" was enhanced with the always fun "Shout". During "Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars" Jon said he was actually seeing Crash in the audience, which reminded us all of the 2000 Crush TOur in which he used to say the same thing. During the interlude of "Radio Saved my Life tonight" he thanked the hard core fans for sticking with them, pointing (and smilling) to all the front row - in which I was included. During the same song all the fan club member took off banners asking Tico, the drummer, to sing. This was a fan's idea, Carola , who made all the baners and asked for everybody's help. It was unbelivable seeing so many people with so many banners, all asking the same. Jon smilled but didn't made our wish come true. It was my impression that Richie was a little better than in the first show for he seemed more confortable.

Another highlight was to see Jon playing the solo for "I'd die for you", messing up a bit, while Bobby, as usual in this tour, took care of the solos for both "In these Arms" and "Have a Noce Day". Dave and Bobby were extremely communicative smiling and head banging for the whole show. During "Born to be my Baby" Jon danced with a girl who was in one of the stage pits and got big screams when he kissed her aftereards. During "Novocaine" the lead singer told us he had figured God was after all a she. "Someday I'll be Saturday Night" had add libs and it was played in a very intence way, while singing "Bad Medicine" Jon took off his jacket (for the ladies amuzement) and got us all jumping with "Shout". After "Raise your hands" they played "Livin' on a Prayer" with Jon wearing a tight jacket with a hud and pretending he was a boxer for almost the whole song.

And so the encore break came and when they returned Jon told us we were being filmed for a live national TV show in America in order to support his arena footbal team the "Phillandelphia Soul". We immediatly repeated after him "Let's go Soul" again and again, which had a nice effect. They played "Bells of Freedom" and "Runaway" and I started to think they would repeat the whole set list, which did upset me. Nevertheless the fact it was a good and diversified set list that spanned almost all their albums with good performences cheered me up. And right after that thought crossed my mind they jumped to an incredible version of "Just Older", which really freaked me out. And right after it an even bigger surprise, the song "These Days". I can say I screamed and tears got to my eyes as I heard the first notes from my favorite song. Their performence teared the place down as everybody sang and jumped. Simply amazing. After an incredible version of "Dry COunty" in Dusseldorf they gave the fans another treat. No words can describe the magic that was in the air. "I'll sleep when I'm dead" followed to complete the first encore with the band bowing towards the audience.

The second encore had only their national anthem "Wanted Dead or Alive" and again the audience got to sing one verse, Richie another, while Jon carried from the second chorus onwards. During the very final bow, I held up high my scarf to show Portugal was still present and was surprised to read "Obrigado" on Bobby's lips. I couldn't believe what was happening to me.

Once again I manage to get the set list which included hand writing notes of who played the solos, etc. Then I got back to the hotel, walking with a huge crowd that was heading to the city centre, and surrended to all the tireness I was feeling.

The next day was spent traveling to Koblenz by train I even got some time to sight see the city, which despite being as small as Linz, has more monuments. During my train ride I had seen some castles in the hills so this all looked like an area with great history. It is nice to enjoy both the Rock shows and the sight seeing while traveling. Eventhough this was a more relaxed day I went to sleep as soon as I got to the hotel and waited for another Bon Jovi concert day.

Another show day and this time I got number 69 in the queue . After several hours waiting, talking and doing banners for the show, we got in around 3:30 p.m.. I managed to get to the front row on Richie's side, almost at the edge of the stage.

Nickleback's lead singer said his first words in German and the band proved once again to be tight and confortable, perhaps one of the best opening acts Bon Jovi ever had.
This time I was able to notice as the bridges that connected stage to the catwalk moved to link the two sides and closing the Golden Circle area. As usual Jon walked from the side of the stage to the centre of the catwalk just to please the fans with another good performence of "Last Man Standing". As I was on Richie's side I was able to notice he was in a good mood despite the injury in his arm. He even made a sign to me when I did the ok sign with my finger. He and Jon read my banner but can't tell by their faces if they understood. The banner said "Now Jon knows god is a she. Please play If God was a Woman", a mention to Jon's speech during Novocaine and Richie's song from his second solo album.

It was the first show I took a lot of pictures since I had finnaly figured the best configurations for my camera.

And as to the show itself. The first four songs were the usual, with Jon making a speech in the interlude of "Radio Saved my Life Tonight", about how he asked God for inspiration in orther to give something that could bring happyness to humans. As he put it, God sent him Richie Sambora. It was a very cool moment that all the audience cheered. In stead of "Everyday" we got "Bounce", which was a nice surprise, since it sounded great. "Novocaine" and "Joey" were dropped and in their place "Misunderstood" got its debut in Europe this year. The sing along were nice during the song which sounded great. The rest of the main set was the same as the two shows before.
As to the first encore we got "Dry County" as in the first show, which kept being a magical moment, despite not as surprising. During the song Jon read the lyrics from a piece of paper that was on the ground. "Wanted Dead or Alive" followed and for the first time Jon sang the whole song for himself. After saying oodbye they returned with a surprise: "I Wanna be loved" that sounded great live. A song with meaningful lyrics that fits well the live show. "Runaway" was next and Jon played himself the outro solo, while "I'll Sleep when I'm dead" ended the show.

Again I was able to get the set list... During the encores I showed a banner that said: "Obrigado (ask Bobby what it means)" and noticed once again they read it. In fact Jeff, the support keyboard player, smilled to me and said he also knew what the Portuguese word meant. Another good private moment and my country was again noticed by the band.

I finally had some 2 days off, but couldn't take long and sightsee much, since my Portuguese friends would me me in Dublin on May, 20th.

For the Dublin gig I kept the tradition to do some banners, in which it could be read: "Bring it back to the fast lane! Play Working too hard", and "Hey Bobby! Where did you learn Portuguese?", as a reference to the Linz and Koblenz's episodes.

We got inside the staium at 3:30 p.m. calmly as usual and we stayed at the edge of the front row on Dave's side. The stadium filled up slowly and by the time Bon Jovi hit the stage it was already packed. It was ana amazing sight of 80 000 people united just to see Bon Jovi to perform. And once again no one left disapointed.

This time they played "Runaway" as the forth song in stead of "I'd die for you" and the introduction was actually very funny since Jon pretended he was being electrified and giving a speech about how we were all in a time machiene. He mentioned year by year until 1982 when he stopped and he said some words of how he had recorded the song that year and then the whole band jumped to an astonishing performance. During "Story of my Life" Jon stopped in the interlude of the song and mentioned all the countries that were represented in the audience... Portugal was the first and as he mentioned it he was smilling at us. Wow, another direct reference, just 2 shows after Dusseldorf. After "Just Older" that was played in the main set for the first time they played the most unexpected song of the night "Garadgeland". It was actually only the second time they had ever performed the song as Jon mentioned when introducing it. This is b side from their Crush album which they included in their box set of rerities. A song about a rock band that still has a lot of fun playing, exactly the feeling the band always demonstrated. "Novocaine" got back to the set list and Jon at the end of the song gave us another speech about God being a woman. During "Bad Medicine" they stopped the song while Jon, Richie, Hugh and Bobby all gathered in front of Tico's drums and started playing the amazing "GLORIA", which pleased everybody inside the stadium.

The encore started with another epic performance of "Dry County" for the delight of all the fans. "Wanted Dead or ALive" followed with Jon demanding the crowd to sing the first verse, Richie singing the secong, just they had done in the first 2 shows.

For the second encore Jon asked the people what did they wanted to hear and then suggested "Blood on Blood". He said to Richie "Do you remember that son, don't you? " and then he started singing the first verse fast forward. As Richie was switching guitars Jon made this weird expression towards him as if he was crazy and he had drunk too much. When the guitarrist started to play the inicial riff Jon smilled and said "That's it!!". Overall this was only one of the moments they showed how pleased they were. It was the first time they were playing the song during the European tour and it was for me the highlight of the Dublin show. After that they played "I'll sleep when I'm Dead" and ended the show with an amazing and very twisted version of "Treat her Right" as Jon went all around the catwalk once again, dancing and touching the fans. It was the perfect ending for a perfect show.
The firt leg of the tour was over, and it was time to return to Portugal, so me and my friends headed to the airport and, tired as we all were, dragged ourselves home