Just Jovi - Diane's Bon Jovi Website - My Review/Trip Diary & Pictures - Toronto

HAVE A NICE DAY TOUR - JANUARY 30, 2006
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

My Review/Trip Diary and Pictures

last updated February 26, 2006

Tour Announcement
Prior to the release of Have A Nice Day, I had seen Bon Jovi in concert 4 times - 1993, 1995 and twice in 2000, so with the 5 year anniversary of my most recent concert approaching, I was more than ready to see a concert.

Unfortunately, when the tourdates were announced, Halifax was again not on the schedule, so this meant another road trip. My sister, and fellow fan, decided to come with me again, but we both agreed we would only go if we could get good tickets. Bon Jovi is a great live band and no matter where you are in the venue, you will get a great show, however, when you have to add airfare and hotel costs to the price of the ticket, it's hard to justify the expense if you're sitting in the rafters. Since airfares are cheapest to Toronto, Montreal and Boston, we set our sights on getting tickets to one of those cities.

The Quest for Tickets
Tickets went on sale on a Saturday morning in October and we were both on the Ticketmaster site long before the 11 AM on-sale time hoping to score some great seats to the show in Toronto. By 11:05 AM, the show was sold out and a second one added. Even with a 2nd show on sale, we had no luck bringing up tickets better than the 300 sections.

Disappointed, we then tried the Admission site for Montreal tickets. Our luck there was worse as we were unable to even bring up the page to search for tickets. We did discover that a 2nd show had been added in Montreal too.

Not yet willing to give up, we next tried for Boston tickets, where not surprisingly a 2nd show had also been added. More surprisingly, however, there were some good lower level tickets available, but alas, not the great "close to the stage" seats we've always wanted, so we chose to remain ticketless.

Later that afternoon, I began to have what I guess is the opposite of buyers remorse, as the realization set in that I might not be seeing Bon Jovi again this tour. But by then it was too late to remedy the situation, as those good tickets in Boston were gone, and we weren't interested in buying overpriced tickets from Ebay or a broker.

Early the next week we learned that 502,000 Bon Jovi concert tickets had been sold over the weekend for shows in North America and Europe, including 17 sellouts, so at least we understood why the demand had seemed to be so much greater than the supply. We also learned that a 3rd show had been added to Toronto. Unfortunately, that show sold out just as quickly as the first 2, and we were again left ticketless.

When an unprecedented 4th concert was added to Toronto, we got our hopes up yet again, only to have them dashed when the first tickets we pulled up on Ticketmaster, at exactly 11 AM, were in the 300 sections. For some unknown reason we continued to search and suddenly, after about 20 minutes, better tickets began to show up. Once we pulled up a pair of pretty good lower level tickets and we hummed and hawwed trying to decide if we should take them. Finally we agreed that yes we should, however, by this time our 5 minutes was up and Ticketmaster had thrown them back into the mix.

Then even better tickets popped up for row 16 on the side of the stage. We quickly decided that we would take them, however, after so many times of hitting the "search again" button, we accidentally hit it again and the tickets disappeared before our eyes. So we kept searching and searching, and lo and behold, the same 16th row tickets popped up again. This time there was no hesitation as we proceeded to enter the pertinent information needed to order them. Finally, the order submitted, and the printout in our hands, we realized that once again we were going to see Bon Jovi in concert.

Morning/Afternoon Of The Concert
We flew up to Toronto the day before the concert to ensure there was no way we would miss it due to some winter weather delay. As we were already in the city, we headed over to Air Canada Centre that morning to check it out.

When we arrived there were tour trucks backing up in the parking lot. We noticed that they had the red smirky face mud flaps by the tires and considered trying to take a picture of them, but decided we would rather see Bon Jovi in concert than be flattened by one of their tour trucks! When we reached the other side of the building, we spotted the crew's tour buses. They were also adorned with the red smirky faces! This time, without the fear of being run over, we were able to take a picture.

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After leaving the venue, we walked down to Eaton Centre to check out the stores and get some lunch. It was a really nice day, for the end of January, in fact the temperature reached 9 degrees Celsius which broke a record high for that day. Around 5 PM we went back to Air Canada Centre hoping we might overhear some music from the soundcheck, like we did during the Crush tour, but no such luck this time. Back outside the venue, however, we heard lots of music as there 3 different radio station vans set up, with each one blaring a different Bon Jovi song!

Radio Interview With Richie
With the concert due to start at 7:30 PM and Bon Jovi expected to hit the stage at 8:30 PM, we decided to forego the opening band (I still don't know who opened), and arrive sometime after 8 PM. So we were in our hotel room getting ready for the concert and turning to different radio stations hoping to catch a Bon Jovi song, when around 6:30 PM the announcer on MIX 99.9 FM said they would be interviewing Richie live from the ACC before 7 o'clock. Naturally, we waited to hear the interview, however, the questions asked were pretty general, such as:

Question: What do you think of Toronto?
Richie: replied that they liked it here and that Toronto was a bit like Europe and a bit like the US.

Question: What was on the horizon? Another album?
Richie: replied that they would keep writing and touring as long as they kept having fun and the fans kept coming

The best part of the interview was actually before a question was even asked, when the female interviewer announced to the radio audience that she was about to speak with Richie from deep inside the bowels of the Air Canada Centre. Richie's first comment was to laugh about being in the bowels!

During the interview it was mentioned that they had just finished up the soundcheck, so I guess we had been too early when we went over at 5 PM.

When the interview ended, the radio station played Have A Nice Day, and we became even more anxious for the time to pass so the concert could begin.

Arrival at Air Canada Centre

As planned we left the hotel and walked over to the Air Canada Centre just after 8 PM. Security asked to look inside our purses, however, they said nothing about my camera, and I breathed a sigh of relief. This was my first Bon Jovi concert since getting my digital camera and I was really anxious to try it out.

Our seats were row 16 in section 117 on Hugh's side. When we first bought the tickets we were disappointed that they weren't on Richie's side, however, by the time the acoustic set was over, we were more than pleased with the seats. (read further down to see why)

It appeared to be another sellout as there were few empty seats to be seen. Finally at 8:28 PM the music started. It was quite funny to watch as everyone on the floor, who knew what was going to happen, turned around and faced the end of the venue with their backs to the stage. Then we saw a light and Jon appeared on a platform at the FOH (Front of House). He was wearing a tan leather jacket and black shirt and black pants. As soon as Jon started to sing, everyone on the floor and the sections around us was up on their feet, where we remained for the next 2+ hours.

And finally... THE CONCERT HAD BEGUN

Last Man Standing This is such a perfect song to begin a Bon Jovi concert. With these guys you get the real thing. No lip-synching or choreographed dance moves from this Jersey band! For most of the song Jon faced sections 103 and 102 so his back was to us. Even if he had been facing us, he would have been too far away to see clearly. Anxious to try out my camera, my first shot was this picture of Jon from the video screen, quickly followed by the shot of the band on the stage, sans their singer. After the song ended, Jon slowly made his way along the side of the venue back to the stage slapping hands with fans along the way.	click for larger image click for larger image
You Give Love A Bad Name Just like a dependable old friend, Bad Name was up next in its regular spot in the setlist. I know some online fans grumble that it is time to retire this old faithful, but I disagree and so it appears did most of the concert goers that night, as the place erupted when this song began. It was the video of this song that introduced me to Bon Jovi and made me a fan, back in 1986, therefore, I love hearing it live and hope it remains in the setlist forever.	click for larger image
Captain Crash And The Beauty Queen From Mars When I heard the music start for this song, I looked at my sister and rolled my eyes. Out of all the songs on recent setlists, this is the one I wasn't excited about hearing. In fact, I had hoped that it would not make the cut, as there are so many other Bon Jovi songs I love more, and I had already endured it twice during the Crush tour. But at least it was over and done with early on.	click for larger image
Wild In The Streets The last time I'd heard this song live was 1995, so it was a pleasant surprise.
Story Of My Life I was thrilled to hear this song. It is one of my favourites off Have A Nice Day. I love the lyrics, particularly the line "and I hope you're by my side when I'm writing the last page" and it gave me chills hearing it live.
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead Another old faithful and it was nice to hear something from the Keep The Faith album. It was around this song when I first noticed that everything didn't seem quite right with Jon. He hadn't really spoken at all between songs and he was constantly going back to the drumset to get a drink and spray his throat. And he kept wiping his face and hair with the towels. At least once it seemed as though he missed the cue to be back singing. Another time, he held the towel to his face so long, I truly wondered if he was ok. I guess I missed it, but my sister later told me that Jon said he "had a frog in his throat" the first time he spoke, so that certainly confirmed my suspicions that he wasn't well.	click for larger image
Born To Be My Baby This is one of my favourite songs from the New Jersey album. I've heard it in concert at least twice before, but I was still thrilled that it made the setlist again. It's just a classic Bon Jovi song that I'll never get tired of.	click for larger image
Just Older I love this song. Perhaps it's because I can relate, as I, like the band, am "just older". And it contains one of my all-time favourite Bon Jovi lyrics "you can't win until you're not afraid to lose". I also love the comraderie between Jon and Richie during this song, however, now that the reason Richie has been "breathing that California air" has filed for divorce, it may not have the same light-hearted feel to it.
I Want To Be Loved This isn't one of my favourite songs off of Have A Nice Day. I find the lyrics a little sad and depressing. It was still nice to hear it performed, as it was a new song, but if this was the place in the setlist for another HAND song, I would have preferred "Novocaine" or "Complicated".
Have A Nice Day I've loved this song since I first got the cd and I loved hearing it live. Jon introduced it saying "Thanks for making this one such a big ol' hit up here. Have a nice day". During the guitar intro, Jon took the opportunity to grab another drink at the drumset.	click for larger image
Who Says You Can't Go Home Another HAND song that I love. It has received a lot of airplay on our local top 40 radio station C-100 FM in Halifax, both the country duet version back in December and currently the regular version. I love hearing it on the radio, and loved it even more in concert. In fact, it is slowly becoming one of my all-time favourite Bon Jovi songs.
It's My Life This is one of my top 5 Bon Jovi songs. When it was released, I was going through a stressful time in my life, and the "it's now or never, I'm not gonna live forever, I just want to live while I'm alive" message had a lot to do with inspiring me to change the situation that was making me miserable. As I had noticed it had been absent from some recent concerts, I was very, very pleased when Jon said "like Frankie said, I did it my way" then launched into this song. The crowd loved it too.	click for larger image
I'll Be There For You (Acoustic) This was the first acoustic song of the night. It was just Jon and Richie singing together, into Jon's microphone, at the center of the stage. Because they were standing still, facing the crowd, I watched most of it on the video screen. I feel like I keep repeating myself, but this too is one of my favourite Bon Jovi songs, but I wasn't crazy about this new duet version. I would have preferred just Jon singing it the original way. I would also have liked to hear Richie sing it, like he did during the Bounce tour, as I've always wanted to hear him sing.	click for larger image
Blaze Of Glory (Acoustic) This was the 2nd acoustic song of the night. There was a long intro for this song, with just the band on stage playing and Jon nowhere to be seen. Having read many reviews before my concert, I knew what was about to happen, but lots of people had no idea that Jon was about to appear on a platform between sections 118 and 119 and sing 2 songs. When he did appear, he had changed into the blue jean jacket. Because our seats were in section 117, we were only 1 section away from where Jon was singing. As the people in section 118 scrunched together to get closer to Jon, this left room for us to move into their section and get closer. Therefore, we got as close as about 1/2 section away from Jon. Unfortunately, I have to admit, I barely heard Blaze, as I was spending too much time trying to take pictures, plus comprehend the fact that Jon was that close to us.	click for larger image
Bed Of Roses (Acoustic) This was the 3rd acoustic song of the night, and the second from the platform in the stands. We were still pretty close during this song, and once again, the song was partway over before I realized what it was. Before the song ended, knowing Jon had to walk through the crowd on the floor to get back to the stage, we headed down the aisle towards the boards. The security was really understanding about those of us who wanted to get a close look at Jon as he passed by, and fortunately no one got too pushy. When Jon finally passed by us we were in the 2nd row. We weren't able to get any pictures, though, as there were too many heads in the way, however, that was definitely the closest we've ever been, or will likely ever be to Jon.	click for larger image
Keep The Faith Although it is another of my favourite Bon Jovi songs, unfortunately I have almost no recollection of Keep The Faith being played. With Jon back on the stage after the acoustic set in the stands, we first lingered at the bottom of the aisle trying unsuccessfully to snap a couple of closer pictures before security sent us back up to our seats. Then after we climbed up the stairs we had trouble finding our row in the dark. Finally, once we were settled back at our seats, we had to recover from the thrill of seeing Jon so close. Somewhere along the way, I did manage to take this picture of Jon, which although blurred, still looks pretty cool with the rainbow effect from the light.	click for larger image
Raise Your Hands By the time this song started, we were able to give it our full attention, so I'm glad it was a song I loved. It was so neat seeing everyone in the crowd raise "their" hands to the chorus. A definite highlight of the night! My only dilemma was do I raise both hands in the air and have a camera dangling from one arm, or just raise one hand and keep a secure hold on the camera! I ended up alternating between the two choices.
Livin' On A Prayer And here it was, the first song that featured the infamous, yet fictional, characters Tommy and Gina. It gets played at every show, just as it should. It's another Bon Jovi classic. It was also the last song before the first encore.
1st Encore: Welcome To Wherever You Are The crowd cheered and clapped and screamed waiting for the band to return. I took this brief opportunity to sit on the edge of my seat in an attempt to ease the pain that 2 hours of standing had produced in my lower back. When they returned to the stage, Jon's blue jean jacket was gone and he was wearing a sleeveless white shirt which exposed both the Superman and cow head tattoos on his upper arms. As I generally prefer the rockier Bon Jovi songs, this is not one of my favourites off the Have A Nice Day cd, but I did enjoy the live version.	click for larger image
1st Encore: In These Arms As soon as I heard the opening notes of this song, I turned and pounded on my sister's shoulder. I don't think she realized as quickly as I did that the song she'd been waiting to hear live in concert for 13 years was starting. Finally her face lit up in a smile when the realization hit her. I have to admit, I've always liked the song, but I never really loved it till hearing the live version and I'm really glad it was on the setlist.	click for larger image
1st Encore: Bad Medicine/Shout Finally after almost the entire concert, and after going on the catwalk on Richie's side at least 3 times, Jon ventured over to our side of the stage. When he walked onto the catwalk, the crowd in our area went wild. Afterall, we had been waiting all night for his visit. I only took a couple pictures, deciding that I wanted to see Jon with my eyes and not through the screen on my camera, and we were rewarded with one of his million dollar smiles. I know it's impossible, as we were too far away to make eye contact, but when Jon smiled, I swear it felt as though he was looking right at me. As for the Bad Medicine/Shout combo, it's not a favourite of mine, but again it is a crowd pleaser. Unfortunately, I always associate it with the end of the concert, and yet again, during this combo, Jon introduced the band, said "Thank you Toronto. Good night", did the group bow, and left the stage. Now knowing that Bon Jovi always does at least 2 encores, sometimes 3, we knew this wasn't the final goodbye, but nevertheless the end was near. This picture of the group bow was taken at 10:33 PM.	click for larger image click for larger image
2nd Encore: Wanted Dead Or Alive The crowd cheered, whooped, hollered and clapped until the band came back on stage. This time Jon was wearing the blue and black Philadelphia Soul jersey. As the Soul had won their AFL season opener the day before, Jon was probably proud to be wearing the jersey. Or perhaps, being the savvy business man that he is, he was doing a little subliminal advertising, as there were jerseys, autographed by Jon, for sale at the souvenir stands. Nevertheless, he looked much better in that jersey than my blurry pictures depict. Although we didn't know it at the time, this was to be the final song of the night. And as always, it was a crowd pleaser. I had read that Richie had been singing the 2nd verse at some concerts and, as I mentioned above, I've always wanted to hear/see Richie sing, so I would have been thrilled if they'd had done it that way at this show too, however, it didn't happen.	click for larger image click for larger image
And then, all too soon, the song was over and Jon once again said "good night, see you next time". I hoped it was just another teaser, and that they would be back for a 3rd encore, maybe even Never Say Goodbye, yet there was something about the way Jon said it that made me turn to my sister and say, "I don't think they're coming back" and sure enough a second later the lights came on signalling the end. I looked at my watch. It was exactly 10:45 PM.

Audibles
On the way back to the hotel we came across a girl carrying a setlist. I asked if I could look at it for a second and noticed there were 7 audibles listed: Radio Saved My Life, Bells Of Freedom, Blood on Blood, Runaway, These Days, Complicated and Everyday.

Audibles are extra songs listed on the setlist that the band is prepared to play should Jon suddenly yell out the song (like a football play). At most of the recent concerts at least 1 audible was played. Probably due to Jon's sore throat, we didn't get any. Too bad, because all of the songs listed would have been a welcome addition to the setlist. In particular I would have loved to have heard Radio Saved My Life Tonight, These Days or Everyday. Also on the list, in the regular set, was Bounce, which was also not played.

The Trip Home
The next morning, after talking about the concert until after 1 AM, we had to get up early in order to catch the shuttle bus to the airport. The bus driver was really talkative and enjoyed telling the tourists about the city of Toronto. Just before he started for the airport he asked "So how was the Bon Jovi concert?" I yelled out "great!", surprised that he had mentioned it. Though, in retrospect, selling out 4 concerts in Toronto had to be due in part to many Canadian fans, like me and my sister, who decided if the band won't come to us, we'll go to them. I, in fact, know of 5 other people who flew from Nova Scotia to Toronto for 1 of the shows.

Our flight home was pretty uneventful, except for some turbulence caused by the nor' easter that was bearing down on Nova Scotia. Fortunately, our flight arrived before the flurries that eventually ended up dumping 30 centimetres of snow on the province. Ever since we got the tickets to the concert, I kept telling everyone "it can't snow till we get back", therefore, when it literally snowed mere hours after we got home, everyone blamed our first blizzard of the season on me. Well, I can only wish I had that kind of power over the weather!

My Final Thoughts (and a few more random pictures)
This was my 5th Bon Jovi concert and although I enjoyed myself thoroughly, I can't help feeling a bit disappointed that what will probably be my only concert this tour had to be one of the handful when Jon wasn't feeling well. The concert was still excellent, and if you had never been to a Bon Jovi show before, you would probably have left the venue proclaiming that Bon Jovi was an amazing live band, but having seen them in concert before, and read reviews of earlier shows this tour, I missed the little extras like Jon's adlibbing between songs (I wanted to hear the "women rule the world speech", or the "time machine", or anything else he wanted to talk about) and the seemingly endless crowd sing-alongs.

Nevertheless, I am thankful that Jon was able to sing as long as he did, and that the show wasn't cancelled. Having already spent the money on airfare and hotel, plus taken vacation days, I think I would have died on the spot, if we'd shown up at the venue and saw a sign stating that the show was cancelled due to illness, because even if it was re-scheduled, we probably would not have been able to make the trip again.

As for the songs performed, with the exception of Captain Crash, I wouldn't change a thing, except maybe add a song or two! And it was great getting to hear so many songs I had never heard live before.

Of course, the highlight for us, was the acoustic set with Jon only 1 section away from us. When I read that he would be performing in that section, I was afraid we might not be able to see him at all, so I never dreamed we would get as close as we did.

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And I was finally able to get some pretty good Bon Jovi concert pictures, as my digital camera worked as well as could be expected under the circumstances. Our 16th row side of stage seats were really close to the stage, but from a "point and shoot" camera's point of view, even with a zoom, they were still pretty far away, but I am pleased with the pictures.

So despite my lingering wish that the concert had been just a teeny bit longer and that Jon had talked just a little bit more, it was still a really great night and I am so thankful I was able to see my favourite band for a 5th time, and if I had the chance to do it all again, I would.

This is a fan website and is not affiliated in any way with Bon Jovi or their management.
All the pictures on this page were taken by me or my sister. Please do put them on other websites without first asking me.