Violinist performance..
Read MoreMotorcyclin'
Motorcyclin’ in the city.
Read MoreRicketts Glen State Park
Chasing waterfalls.
Read MoreSmokey Mountain National Park
Another National Park adventure.
Read MoreThunderbird Flyover
A tribute to frontline workers.
Read MoreQuarantine Self Portraits
Self portraits 2020.
Read MoreWe're Allowed Outside!
First day of our “new normal.”
Read More
Bon Jovi THINFS Tour: Dublin Day Two: AKA The Best Day of My Life (So Far)
I want to preface this by saying that I attend a lot of concerts. I work at 5 venues and see at least 100 shows a year there in addition to the 50 or so I attend, and 5-25 shows I photograph. I’ve done this for the past 6 years. So when I say that this Bon Jovi show is the best concert I’ve ever attended, I certainly mean it with all the heart and soul in my body. Sometimes I can’t even gather words to explain why, my eyes just light up and I just feel it: everything was perfect.
The small little details are engraved into my soul. The little smirk JBJ made when he came out and recognized my friend and I. Phil X’s blue guitar with lightning bolt shredding away in the midst of a downpour. David Bryan wagging his fingers around during “all around the world, it’s a matter of fact” in Who Says. Tico’s booming drum fill during I’ll Be There For You. Sweet Huey and his trench coat being the cool cat and forgetting to run up the catwalk with JBJ and the boys. And of course, Shank’s trot down the cat walk.
__
The second night of a show at the same venue is always a little easier because as a fan, you already have a sense of the venue layout, where to go, and know if the security is organized. Because queuing was still no longer allowed, fans continued with the list and roll calls. The only thing that was tricky about this show is that there was no fan club early entry, so there was only one line for everyone.
Our Crazy Confetti Crew
After making our way back to our hostel after the last show, it took us some time to calm down and relax after the show. Yes, the post concert high. Silly me stayed up to 3:30am watching and rewatching my videos from the show from pure excitement. Covered in confetti we tried the best we could to clean up before crashing. Poor Sophie stabbed herself in the eye with a comb trying to get the confetti off her face, brutal. You could follow our path of where we went because of the excessive amount of confetti that fell off of us — I LOVE IT.
After the long night we took our time to head over to the venue and got there a bit before 8. We already knew this would be a long and rainy day and for once in our lives, we were prepared with rain coats (and me, grocery bagged feet.) Because our hostel was a bit far from the venue we spent most of our day hanging around in the local shops and bakery, and just walking around town.
Come entry time, there was a sense of relief knowing that the staff would be able to get us all in the venue in order in a calm and orderly manner. Sophie and I loved our spot so much the night before, we went for the same space: the corner stage between JBJ and Phil X. It’s always a joy to look left and right and know everyone on a first name basis after traveling and hanging together for so long.
It wasn’t long before the rain came. Here’s us right before the show started…and then moments later.
This would be the last show for me of the European tour so I made sure that I took everything in. There’s something magical about the Irish crowds. Maybe because JBJ always says that he wishes he was Irish—or maybe because the fans know the new albums by heart. The introduction screen of the Bon Jovi car racing around and landing in the Dublin scenery. It really is pretty neat.
This show it rained and rained…and rained. And you know, it didn’t even matter. Immediately when the show started JBJ ran up his stairs and ran to the cat walk and with arms in the air, leaned back and let the rain cover his face and land in his mouth. It’s a great fuckin’ day for rock and roll.
The neat thing about the rain is that it also helped keep people off their phones. It made for such a different atmosphere because the crowd was all eyes on the band and less all on their phone.
I always wonder what the band is thinking when they look down at the front row and see all the fans from the previous night, the regular fans, the new faces, the united and bold fans who waited so long to see their favorite band. Whenever JBJ or Phil X looked down they were greeted with smiley fans (we all looked like wet dogs in rain coats) and the look of sincere joy and appreciation from the band warmed my heart. Sophie and I kept up with our super extra waving to David Bryan and it was neat to get a sense of recognition from him.
The setlist started out pretty standard, but there was still that sense of pure excitement surrounding the show. Rollercoaster made its way back into the set and fans jumped and sang along. Everyone around me knew all the words so I hope that it finds its way back into the setlist as a staple.
JBJ mentioned that he would be changing up the setlist tonight, throwing in some new and old songs! Boy did he deliver.
Only a few minutes in JBJ dances on over toward Phil X and bumps in and notices something flew off his guitar. I looked and could hardly see what it was or even where it went but JBJ ran off chasing after it. As Phil X is killing it at his solo JBJ is aimlessly trying to put the little knob back on. The two’s cheesy grin made it all so hysterical.
I don’t particularly know much about guitar solos, so I judge them based on how they make me feel. The trio of solos during Keep The Faith this night made me feel on top of the friggin’ world. Excitement, love, passion and joy — it was pretty rad. It also was the perfect weather as the sky opened up for about 30 minutes of the most glorious golden hour sunset.
To our surprise, the twinkly white light background came on and Make A Memory was the first song within the acoustic set. I probably haven’t heard this song live in at least 3 years so that was a fun surprise. JBJ absolutely killed the big vocal note in that song and I excitedly gave him two thumbs up. I hope he appreciate my cheesy sense of humor, but I really wanted him to know he was doing a great job.
The elegant piano that we all know so well started for Bed of Roses. Go David Bryan, go!
In These Arms is such a huge hit in Europe, it’s really a fan favorite out here. I love the little jumps that JBJ and the crowd do.
Honestly, the perfect trifecta of songs in a row is In These Arms, It’s My Life, and We Don’t Run. If I could put Have A Nice Day after that my soul would be complete. It’s really nice having these three in a row because it’s like the natural progression of emotions, especially with IML and WDR. It’s going from living your best life and not taking crap from anyone to not backing down and moving forward with that momentum.
Wanted Dead or Alive is always that reality moment for me that I’m at a Bon Jovi show. Though it’s no surprise it’s in the setlist, something was special with it being played as the rain poured down. That will forever be engrained in me.
Round two of Captain Crash with our wedding confetti mix. Tonight we had people who were a lot less excited about us raining down our confetti—understandably so because of the rain…however, that doesn’t stop us. It’s funny because it’s usually whoever is to your right that gets rained down the hardest. In most cases, that’s either me covering Sophie or Sophie covering me. We really tried to throw it up this time but the wind would always catch it and triple the reach, ha.
Sleep When I’m Dead epitomizes what the entire touring process is like as a fan. That song is so much fun, especially with the “wooh’s.” It’s still weird not seeing JBJ playing guitar for this, but on the flip side, we now get him prancing all over the stage and doing the clappity claps.
The encore for this show absolutely blew my mind away. If there was like 15 minutes in my life that I could relive, I’d chose this and go back every day.
JBJ started the first chords to Someday I’ll Be A Saturday Night with a beautiful NYC skyline background and it was the most incredible performance of this song ever. JBJ added in an extra verse of lyrics that I have never ever heard before and it brought tears to my eyes. Watching it back still gives me goosebumps. The band (I filmed this awful vertical version of it on my phone and couldn’t even focus on the screen.)
If that wasn’t emotional enough, the band then started I’ll Be There For You, another tear jerker.
Livin On A Prayer started and the crowd, belted out the song that has been sang oh so many times at the dive bars in Dublin. I felt the sadness start to hit because I knew it’d be the last show for awhile for me. It’s that weird feeling where you’re so happy because you just had the best day ever, but also so sad because it’s the end of the best day ever.
The song ended and all the Bon Jovi boys were hugging each other on stage and doing their usual thing. But then the band just had that glimmer in their eyes where you knew, it wasn’t over yet!!!
JBJ called the huddle and all the boys circled together and planned A SECOND ENCORE twoah.
“They’re going to put me in jail for passing the curfew. Somebody’s gotta come and bail me out” - JBJ
My heart burst into a million pieces when David Bryan started These Days and JBJ laid out the most beautiful vocals to end the perfect night.
You got that right Bon Jovi, “There ain't nobody left but us these days…”
Bon Jovi THINFS Tour: Dublin Day One: What Time Did the Queue Start??
There’s magic in the air in Dublin. The kind where your heart just feels so happy—your hands tingle with joy, and for some reason you just can’t help but smile. It’s Bon Jovi and they’re ready to rock.
Read More
Bon Jovi THINFS tour blog: Nijmegen Trains, Planes and Bon Jovi
New merch—best. hoodie. ever.
From one small town to another for the next round of Bon Jovi. It took two planes, one train and a walk to make it to the next town. Unfortunately we arrived quite late so we didn’t get to explore Nijmegen much This town looked super fun, but we only had one night to sightsee.
We walked downtown, took a peek at the river and had “snacks” at an authentic Holland bar. In the spirit of trying new things, we placed an order of Dutch bitterballen. It may be a fan favorite, but for me, I’ll stick to Italian meatballs.
The venue, Goffertpark was conveniently set up in a large park, thankfully near toilets, local food trucks and a gas station. The queue here started especially early compared to other shows. Fans arrived between 6-7 and my friends and I stumbled into line around 10. We woke, had a nice breakfast, checked the weather and headed out for the venue.
We arrived and got number 52, but were pleased to still make it up front. Due to weird timing and the fan club line suddenly moving, we missed our lunch break and rushed into the venue. The VIP barricade was set up on Shanks’ side this time so we made it 2nd row in front of Phil X.
In between roll calls we stopped to get the new THINFS hoodie. It’s super cozy and has a cute new logo on it. Thank goodness for this last minute decision because it surely saved us come show time.
Taking cover from the rain.
Welcome to the Netherlands where it’s nice all day and rains the moment the show starts. Boy did it pour. “0% chance of rain,” I thought to myself as I scoffed. A kind fan leant us a trash bag and the remnants of a ripped poncho as we took cover as the opening act took the stage. I feel like every single person in the venue except me, Sophie and Luca were prepared for rain!
About halfway through the openers I started to get super dizzy and get foggy vision. We forgot about lunch. I stumbled out of the crowd with a handful of money and pushed my way to a vendor line. They don’t take cash or card, go figure. The staff shouted that I needed tokens and said it was toward the back of the venue. I looked behind me and saw a sea of what felt like a bajillion people and decided to take my chances and just get back to my spot.
This is when I met my miracle friend who was the most prepared and eloquent woman I’ve met. She not only had a bag of snacks, but has glucose tablets for her and all her new friends. Blessing. We chatted about NJ and the band and exchanged info. Shout out to @LSHarteveld you’re awesome and saved me this show.
The show started at 8:13 with big smiles from JBJ! Phil X debuted his sunglasses and black bucket hat. The crowd ate it up!
My favorite thing to do from this spot is to wave ferociously to David Bryan. Give that boy some love. It’s also fun to make silly faces at him. Too many people in that section have tunnel vision for that crazy frontman, so be sure to give the other boys a holler.
At the end of We Weren’t Born to Follow Phil X tried to change guitars and got all tangled up in his scarf. JBJ’s reaction to Phil’s struggle was hysterical. Definitely reminded me why the Incredibles don’t wear capes.
About an hour into the show, JBJ joked about the impending storm that was behind the crowd, seemingly coming our way. The band had the best introductions this night out of all of the shows.
“ [Tico] is proof that thunder and lightning answer to him. You didn’t see it but we did. These big, black clouds were comin’ toward the stage for like the first 45 minutes. He just looked at them and pointed his stick, and they went that way. The heart and the soul of this band—Tico Torres.” - JBJ
Shout out to Tico for scaring the storm away.
Sweet glorious sunshine.
There must have been an inside joke with David Bryan for this. After introducing half of the band, JBJ joked, “No that’s all. That’s all you get.” The crowd roared!
“On the keys if you please. You know him! Do I even have to say his name?! *DAVID* I don’t even have to say his name. I bet his name, his face is on the currency here in the Netherlands. What’s his name?! *DAVID*. We must have shouted his name 5 times! David Bryan on the keyboards.
Captain Crash strikes again!
The first beats of I’ll Be There For You starts and you can hear the crowd excitedly cheer along. Under gorgeous skies JBJ passionately stomped down the catwalk adding in extra lyrics. The massive crowd, sang back the words so loudly that even watching the video gives me goosebumps.
This night, we came prepared for Captain Crash. We passed our baggie of confetti around and gleefully tossed into into the air. The aftermath of Captain Crash and I hear the guy next to me, “It’s like a unicorn threw up on me.”
Another silly moment was shortly after JBJ put his black hat on and danced, making the hat fly off!
Talk about a rad ending, ALWAYS. Watch this video- then stop, process and watch it again. JBJ is singing his heart out and laying it all out on the line for us. He belted out the song with all of his effort and it was wonderful. Between the absolutely passionate vocals, beautifully executed guitar solo on the catwalk and the excitement in the air... it was the perfect way to end the night.
Of course for Sophie and I, the night wasn’t over. I finally found the token station and we got three orders of fries with this mayonnaise on it. After what felt like the longest walk ever…in the wrong direction, a police officer directed us to the train station we were trying to find. Except we ended up on a bus (honestly had no idea where it was going) and somehow ended back up in the center of town. The universe looks out for me, ha.
Don’t miss the band live, they’re on fire and headed to a town near you.