2006: Have a Nice Day European Tour - 2nd Leg

After the 1st leg of Bon Jovi's 2006 European Tour, I only got 2 days at home before taking another plane to leave for leg 2.

On May, 23rd 2006 I took a plane and 2 trains before arriving in Kassel, literaly a city in the middle of nowhere in East Germany. The next day I went to the venue, located at the nearby village of Hessich Lichtenau where a music festival was being held. The place was literally lost in the fields of the German Countryside and as it had rained during the night, the ground was all moody and the grass was half way my knees. And so I had another waiting day spent talking to people and trying to make time to go on quickly. An unkown german band opened followed by Nicleback who with no surprise pleased with rockers good enough to make us all head bang, and ballads tender enough to make us all sing allong.

Bon Jovi hit the stage and heaven came down to earth in the 2 following hours. They started in a brilliant way with "Raise your hands", surprising us all. Jon still walked in the catwalf for the whole song but this time without his guitar he was able to express himself with more freedom. "I'd die for you" was reintroduced in the set lists, while "These Days" made the hard core fans from the first rows really happy. It was a surprise to listen to this song in the main set as it is usually played during the encores, but proved to fit this part of the show just as well as it had fit the encores. I felt Richie was really happy as he was always smilling and doing his rocker faces along the notes from his guitar. I was able to see all this since I had a tremendous spot in the second row, junst in the middle between Jon and Richie. After an amazing performance of "I'll be There for you" by Richie, Jon helped the crowd to extend the ending chorus, an amazing and touching moment, the kind of the true fans apreciate.

Last Man Standing was next and proved to be a classic and not only a good opener. "Wild in the Streets" was a very cool surprise and actually the first time they did it in Europe 2006. The song really rocked, specially in the guitar and keyboad sole where not only the musicians showed how they mastered their instruments, as we could all see how into the show the performers really were. After "Bad Medicine" they did the complete verion of "Shout" and drove the crowd completely crazy. After a small break they got back with a cosy rendition of "Garadgeland" and tehn went straight to "I'll sleep when I'm dead" with a good reaction from the crowd as everybody clapped their hands on the beat of the song. They closed the show with another brilliant interpretation of "Wanted dead or Alive". In the final part of the show was over it started to rain and it was fun seeing Jon with a hood and still impressed with his rocking moves.


Right after the show was done I once again got the set list, and ran with some italian friends, to their car as we'd drive all the way to Nijmegen that same night. It was hard to stay awake during all the trip, as I sometimes failed to , but at 4 a.m. we reached our destination. Despite the rain that followed us for the whole trip we managed to find the concert venue and couldn't help but to fall asleep.
I woke up early to meet my Portuguese friend who was coming to the show. At 6 p.m. we lined up and got in to a enourmous green park that was filled litle by litle. The weather was ok since it didn't rain during the day, like it had happened during the night before. There was a dutch opening act before a humorous Nickleback set the stage to another very anticipated Bon Jovi show.

I was in the second row in front of David Bryan, the man in charge of the keyboards. They got back to their regular opening song: "Last Man Standing". David and Bobby immediately saw the Portuguese scarf and smilled at us. After the eternal song number two "You give Love a Bad Name" and the crowd waver "Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars", the band went straight to "Born to be my Baby" and "Story of My Life", two very strong songs, fan favorites that make the energy flow very intensily. "Complicated" was a nice surprice specially since I had been shouting for the song since the beginning of the show, and right before it started I had made a last call for it. It is definitely one of the best songs from the album "Have a Nice Day" and live it sounds even more powerful. During "Radio saved my Life tonight" Jon thanked all the fans for sticking with them through all the years of their career. Shortely there after the band premiered another song in Europe: my personal favorite ballad on their last record "Welcome to whereever you are" and it sounded so right. Definetely a treat for the audience. Then it was time for Jon to go around the catwalk while playing the crowd pleaser "In these Arms", while "Have a Nice Day", "It's my Life" and "Who says you can't go home" followed as usual.

Another surprise was next: Jon and Richie joined in the centre of the stage to do the duet version for "I'll be There for you", the one included in the greatest hits with a twist "This Left Feels Right", that in spite of not being one of my favorite versions of the song, proved to have a great atmosphere since it is very intimite with Jon and Richie showcasing how a raw song sounds like. Another treat.

Then we witnessed what for me was the worse part of the show, another "This Left Feels Right" version, this time "Bed of Roses". Maybe it is because I like this song so much in its original format that this version sounds to me so bad. During an open air concert with thousands of people no way this kind of mood fits in and so predictably it killed the atmosphere of party that the show had been having. Fortunately they made everybody forget this moment when they put the second gear with "Bad Medicine" and an extraordinary cover of "GLORIA" with the crowd reacting very positively. "Raise your hands" and "Livin' on a Prayer" ended the main set with the crowd going nuts.
After a small break they got back to play an amazing rendition of "Someday I'll be Saturday Night". Jon was really into it showing it during the interlude when he did an inspired speech, shouting on the top of his lungs "I'm Alive", highlighting the message of the song. Definitely the highlight of the whole show in my opinion hence the amount of emotion put in the song. Brilliant. The crow favorite "Wanted Dead or Alive" ended the first encore with everybody singing along .

For the second encore as they got back to the stage and David wasn't ready yet Jon joked with his high school friend saying "Whenever you want Dave", as they both were laughing at each other. "Runaway" started and as usual Jon played the outro solo which does not sound as perfect as if it were Richie who played it, although it is amusing to see the lead singer putting his guitar lessons to use. "Feeling a bit older" as Jon put it was the moto for "Just Older" yet another fan favorite in which Jon and Richie singing the second verse with shoulder against shoulder, proving their brotherhood is real.During the song Jon completely forgot the words for one of the verses and started to laugh, catching up with the song in the "I got my hair" part. A treat on any show.

"I'll SLeep when I'm dead" had everybody's hands clapping, followed by a stunning performance of "Keep the Faith". The latter being one of the best live songs as Jon is always moving around with his maracas, while Richie bursts to amazing solos. The party couldn't get any bigger than that so as the song ended they all joined at the center of the stage to bow towards an audience that was at their feet and say thei fairwell to their Dutch fans.
We had one day off, that allowed me and my tour buddies to drive all way south to Stutgart, where we had another Portuguese friend waiting. On May, 27th the ritual too k place and we got numbers 64 to 68 - I was 66. Again, we got a very nice spot in the front row right in front of Richie. The rain that had been keeping us company for the whole day stopped and sun shined right after we got inside the venue. We had to wait another two hours to see the first opening band, while Nickleback followed with the same set list they got us used to. Only one surprise which was a short version of a Rammstein's song to please the german crowd.
So the anticipation took over again and the hearts got pumping while we heard another intro to what we had all been waiting for. They introduced "Bounce" in the set list and it rocked, while "Complicated" with its licks and good sing alongs stayed for the delight of the fans. Jon made his first speech between songs saying they had played that same venue 5 and 10 years before, mentioning the the train that was passing by and could easily be seen since it was an open air venue. "Wild in the Streets" was another good surprise making everybody to live the lyrics and party a lot to such an upbeaten song.

Richie smilled a lot toward us and he stood up when the time came for his rendition of "I'll be There for you". Probably one of his best interpretations of the song with him calling the audience to do some screaming ans shouting. His carisma spreads throughout the crowd, proving why he is one of the most talented not only guitarist but singer and song writer. He is really an all around guy.

Then Jon returned to the stage wearing a long scar in his head only to perform the best rendition of "Bad Medicine" of the whole tour. He added some extra verses, took his jacket off in slow motion and shook his but for the amusement of the ladies. Not even "Shout" did miss in an interpretation that made all the hard core fans go back to 1993 when this song was performed that way. "Raise your Hands" and "Livin'on a Prayer" once again closed the main set with Jon in a black coat with a hood on while the rain started to fall.

"I wanna be Loved" kicked off the encore while "Bells of Freedom" followed. "Wanted Dead or Alive" was sung alternatively by Jon and Richie and after it they went straight to "Someday I'll be Saturday Night", followed by yet another show highlight: "Keep the Faith", which was supposed to close the show. Everybody was overwhelmed to the energy the band had shared, and as all of us thought the show was coming to an end, Jon surprised us with the most unpredictable song in this tour. Jon made a sign to the band and we saw lead singer and guitar player with their acoustic guitars playing the ballad of the broken hearted, the prom song of the 80's, their hidden treasure "never say goodbye". It was definetely one of the best renditions of that song and all fans, me included, were not only in shock, but it wasn't hard to distinguish tears in some of the faces. It was as perfect as unexpected, since they were so emotional with the main lights out and the directional spotlights only spoted at the center stage where the two men joined together. As they ended the song they only had time to bow and smile to a crowd completely at their feet. Once again the band reinvented themselves and figured out a way of surprising everybody. While the show was over I couln't imagine a single heart beat that was not speeding due to the emotional ending. The emotions took over thousands of people that left the venue with a smile from ear to ear.

And with this spirit we went to our hotel, where we coulnd't help but to talk about the spetacular show we had just witnessed, speacially if we have into account that they would play in Munich, one of their favorite cities play, the next day. They couldn't make this show any better. Perfect.

Another day, another show we had to get up early to drive straight to Munich. We arrived and after leaving out hings by the hotel we rushed in a taxi and got to the stadium just as the last group of fans were getting in. We got the highest number in the backstage queue ever: 974 was the one I got. This was a special show since we had the chance to go onstage, and that was whole new experience for me.

Nicklebeck's set was pretty much was the same we had seen the previous shows with the lead singer in a good mood being very talkative. As we had to go side stage after the 4th song, we went to the back of the pit where Jon stood as usual to sing "Last Man Stading". I was freneticaly waving my scarf with the word "Portugal" written and as Jon stopped singing and turned around, he looked straight at us with his famous million dollar smille. We then were able to see for the first time all the stage lightning and special effects in the big screens, as we were far enough to be able to see the stage as a whole, an impossible task when we were in the first couple of rows. As the first group of fans left the stage we ran to the side stage and waited for our turn to go up. Yet another perspective, this time a side view.

As the set list is concerned, they moved "Sleep" first half of the main set, in stead of playing it in the encore, and Jon gave this amazing speech how music touches people from so many different places, he mentioned that despite not being a critics darling the band always kept in touch with their audience for the previous 22 years... He was definitely inspired and it was easily his best speech in the tour. They played "Wild in the Streets" again, which is always very fun and fits the live atmosphere, and "I wanna be loved" which was a nice surprise.

Finally the big moment arrived and we were told to go on stage. I stayed near Jeff and Richie and could barely stay on my feet when looking at 75 000 people sharing the momentum in a packed stadium. Richie, Tico and Jeff smilled at me. Jon and Richie shook hands with the people in our pit taking the stage experience to another level. The songs we listened to while we were on stage were "In these Arms", "Have a Nice Day" and "Who says you can't go home" which are the ones that require more interaction with the audience. I must say no words can describe the feeling to see a croweded stadium jumping and singing along anthems like these. We were part of comunion in which band and audience shared a common energy. Unbelivable.

We got off stage as they were playing "It's my Life" and after a few minutes the band played an acoustic version of "Blaze of Glory" which was a staple in the US shows with an excelent very tribal intro. The This Left Feels Right version of "Bed of Roses" also had its debut in Europe which proved to be to intimite to a stadium show. The highlight of the song was at the final chorus when Jon sang the original version. "I'll be There for you" was as usually performed by Richie much to the audience's amuzement. "Bad Medicine" with "Shout" followed by "Raise your hands" and "Livin'on a Prayer" closed the main set.

The band returned with "Dry County", "Wanted Dead or Alive", "Bells of Freedom", "Someday I'll be Saturday Night", this last one including an amazing "I'm alive" scream. Jon can really reach to the hearts of his audience with stunning performences like this. Along Nijmegen it was definetely the best rendition of the song. We still had time to "Keep the Faith", which for a few minutes had the "Philladelphia Soul" game airing in the big screens. When Jon realized it he threw his maracas away and stopped singing amuzed with the situation. He then grabbed a tamborim and continued giving us a memorable version of the song. A version in which not even lots of jungle screams were missing.

After the band bowed and was preparing to leave, they decided to play another song. "These Days" was the chosen song and no doubt it was its best performence, including an extended solo at the end and an introduction to each and every band member. Nothing was missing as the last farewell was waved. It was a very different show for me, one I will never forget.

The next day we finally had the chance to enjoy and sightsee the beatiful city of Munich, with its outstanding monuments before taking the train to Innsbruck. The hotel was accross the street of the train station, so we were able to rest as soon as we arrived.

May, 30th was a cold day that only got colder and colder as the day went by. The only positive aspect of such weather was that it was the perfect excuse to write a banner saying: "Portugal 95ºF Sunny! You don't wanna miss it next time!", wich turned out to be finnished very quickly, giving us extra time to do other banners with song requests (I Believe, Open All Night and Last Cigarette) on its back.

As we got in we got a really nice spot at Dave's side. The first opening act was boring, fortunately Nicleback followed with their usual cool set. This time Timmy, their favorite roadie, played some guitar on their version of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" which was played while some T-Shirts were being thrown at the crowd.

Bon Jovi kicked off with the usual anthemic "Last Man Standing", followed by the classic "Bad Name", and "Wild in the Streets", remindscent of the 1995 World tour where these 2 songs were played back to back. At this time I thought they 'd drop "Capt Crash", which would have been wise, but my hopes didn't get confirmed as they played next. "Born to be my Baby" melted into "Story of My Life", during the intermission of f this last one, Jon talked aout the really cold weather we were experiencing event though it was the end of May. He described the audience how the New Jersey summer time was like turning his speech to the show's highlight. Very amusing. He saw our banner and was amused as he returned us a smille.

"I Wanna be Loved" was the first rare song to be heard, proving to get more and more power as its rotation increases. "Runaway" and "Just Older" were good additions to the set as they got a positive reaction from the crowd. Then they got back to their regular, although intense and professional, set with "Sleep", "In these Arms", "Have a Nice Day", "Who says you can't ho home" and "It's my Life", "Bad Medicine" (with "Shout"), "Raise your hands" and "Livin' on a Prayer" to complete the main set. It was the first time Richie didn't perform a song and probably it wasdue to the cold, as the band rushed the show during these songs.

After the encore break the band returned with "Radio", "Wanted", "Sat Night" and "Faith", an excelent song selection that only lacked a warmer temperature. We figured they had rushed the show after the first half an hour, only to turn this to the shortest concert they played in Europe in 2006. The weather definitely had a major influence since it did actually snowed at some point turning this to an awckward experience. Of course it was kind of magical and special to attend to an outdoor event while it snowed and seeing Jon wearing a scarf in his mouth was no less than peculiar.

We then got in the car and drove all night through the snowy Alps to reach Bern, Switzerland. We barely slept, but the adrenaline was high as I was about to see the last show before spending a week at home.
We got another very nice spot, this time on the second row between Jon and Bobby. Nicleback were in a very good mood and their lead singer was very talkative, saying things like they had finally made the sun appear out of the cloudy shie. Despite some heavy rain that made an appearance during their show, the sun eventually came out and as they left we were burning to a very hot sun - that was how I was introduced to the Alpe's climate sudden changes.

As Bon Jovi took the stage, they performed their usual three starters, followed by our now well known "Wild in the Streets". Jon was in a very good mood and mentioned the fact they were playing in a brand new stadium, which they would help to start to torn appart with the audience's energie. AMong their regular numbers "Everyday" was played, making one of the few appearances on the tour. Richie did perhaps his best rendition of "I'll be There for you" I had ever seen, with such an emotion, great add libs and guitar solos towards the end. Superb. "Complicated" was another good surprise proving to fit the stadium atmosphere with its guitar hooks and sing alongs.
"Bad Medicine" was another highlight with Jon at one point going next to the drums and calling all the guitarrists confessed that was the best job anyone could ever get. They all walked slowly towards the edge of the stage as the beat got harder and harder and finnaly eneded the song with more energie than ever.

"Raise your hands" and "Livin'on a Prayer" kept the adrenaline levels high up as the band left the stage for the encore break. During the encore they played the exact same songs they had done the night before, with the audience singing the whole first verse of "Wanted". During "Sat. Night" the band was on fire with emotional add libs towards the brilliant bridge and terrific chorus. "Keep the Faith" had a lot more energie than the night before, taking the last show in continental Europe to its end. And for me it'd be the break I'd do in the tour: I had done 10 shows in a row and I'd skip the next three, only to join them for the last four in Europe.
On June, 1st, for the first time in a long time we were able to have a good night sleep which we fully enjoyed untill noon, when we had to check out of the hotel. We then got to the train that lead us to Geneve's airport, where we would wait for our flight back home. We still had some time to buy some Swiss chocolates before taking our last ride towards home.

Just as the end of the video for "Wanted Dead or Alive" we were completely burnedout: for days we got timesick, didn't know where we were or which day it was... "it's all the same, only the names will change, everyday it seems we're wasting away".... That was life on the road and we had survived through sun, heat, rain, cold and snow..... traveled by train, car and plane; gone from West to East, South to North, NorthEast to Southeast and back to West again.... and now we were finnaly heading home...."I don't know know where I'm going, we all know where I've been". But the tour wasn't over, and there were still 4 more shows for me ahead.