When We Were Beautiful: Bon Jovi @ The o2 Arena

Visually and technologically, this concert was stunning. The hi-tech visual equipment married with the fantastic sound inside the o2 set this up to be one helluva show. And boy, was it. Throughout the two and a half hour set, Bon Jovi had everyone inside the huge venue wrapped round each of their little fingers; whether they were singing along to the choruses of the greatest hits or screaming every single word, knowing every single nuance and expression in Jon's melodies; whether they were up high in the dizzying heights of the rafters or comfortably cramped in the floor section, I can't imagine one person who came away less than having had an incredible evening. The energy and passion from the band and the perfect condition of Jon's great-sounding voice really made this a special night for me; it's hard not to get so caught up in the emotion when your favourite band is playing a fantastic set when it feels like it's just you and them in the room; alone amongst 20,000 people.

The band were on absolute top form, and highlights for me personally include:

- The a capella vocals leading into the final chorus of opening song Last Man Standing
- Superman Tonight; my favourite off of The Circle and just sounded great
- Jon ad-libbing at the end of We Got It Going On, rousing the crowd into a singalong
- Oh, Pretty Woman! A shock cover but sounded cool!
- Jon's really special speech before When We Were Beautiful; it didn't sound arrogant or cliche, just wise chosen words and quite moving
- The acoustic section, particularly Saturday Night which was sung slightly unlike the electric version before Jon led into the final chorus singing as on the record and really lifting the song
- Work For The Working Man; this song just sounded fantastic and really passionate, and the graphics on the big screens and all the way round the arena were really cool
- Jon chucking his maracas into the pit, before taking a mini pair from a fan and performing Keep The Faith with them instead before quipping "size doesn't matter!"
- Jon leaving the first verse and chorus of Wanted for the fans to sing

I suppose it's not really surprising that I don't have a bad word to say about the show, (apart from maybe Dave's absence, although Jeff Kazee did a great job) but it really was truly superb and the best I've seen the band. Something To Believe In, Runaway and Have A Nice Day were missed, but it doesn't matter when you're at the show and I'm certainly not disappointed. Although I've been closer to the stage before (don't want to open up the o2 ticket prices can of worms again) it didn't matter; I still can't get over how good I felt last night between 8 and 10.30pm and am left wondering when I might reach that high again.

Below are a couple of my pics from the day!