2013 What About Now Tour

By 2013 I had already crossed Atlantic and followed Bon Jovi both in Europe and North America, so it was no surprise that during that year I went to Montreal to see the band playing two nights. It was an interesting time since Richie had released a solo record and the band as well, so what I saw during those 2 nights was a Richie Sambora on fire and Jon not so much. Little did I know that a month after the guitarist would depart from the band, simply not showing up for a show. Nobody knew then if it would be something for a short or long period of time so hope was kept that Richie would tour with the band during the Spring shows in Europe.

That didn't hapened so I saw Bon Jovi play in the historic Olympic stadium in Munich, Manchester city's Ethiad Stadium, Birmingham, Lisbon and at Milan's San Siro Stadium that year. The band rocked in Munich, Manchester and Milan but not so much in Lisbon. Their new tunes fit the set list and "That's What the Water Made me" was well received by the audience as the show opener. The single "Beacause you can" or the album tracks "What about now" and "What's Left of me" were ok, but the acoustic balldad "Amen" felt a little unconfortable since it took the spot from a great rendition the band had done the tour before of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah".

Phil X gave a lot of energy to the crowd and the huge stage consisting of a replica of the front of a classic buick car took the event to the stratosphere production wise. The classics were of course not forgotten and every night the crouwd would sing "Bad Name", "Wanted", "Bad Medicine", "Keep the Faith", "It's My Life" and "Livin'on a Prayer" from the top of their lungs. During the Milan's show the Italian fans prepared a surprise for the band consisting of a stadium sized banner that took the lead singer to tears.



In October I went to Las Vegas to see the band play the MGM arena and although they rocked there was some sort of strangeness with the lack of Richie on the guitar. Phill X and Boby Bandiera covered all the guitar parts while David Bryan assumed most of the backing vocals, but the chemistry of the band was afected which led me to tears by the end of the show. By this time I already picked the shows I wanted to see Bon Jovi in places I was interested in visiting so although the Bon Jovi show was sort of a confirmation that the great times had passed, the trip had a lot of good moments.