Los Angeles - LH - Review

MY LOS ANGELES REVIEW
Lost Highway Tour
April 9, 2008

WHAT A FLUCKING NIGHT. That’s really all there is to say…I can’t think of the best adjective for it. Amazing? Fantastic? Incredible? How about amazingly fantastically incredible? That sounds good.

It started off with my decision that I was going to upgrade my ticket no matter what (unless I was closer than row 10, which I nearly bet money I wouldn’t be.) I have never upgraded a ticket before, but I heard of people in Anaheim doing it and I know several people at the Staples Center did so and walked away with front row. So after meeting up with Sandra, Michelle, and Debbie, we headed over and get our tickets. Mind you, I bought ticket only, and was absolutely positive, after rows 14 and 12 in Anaheim, that I’d be around there or further back. So imagine my surprise when I see 9TH ROW, Richie’s side (I think the FC wants to keep me away from the Hugh-side platform, lol.) I was happy with that and decided I’d still try for an upgrade, since it was my last show and I was determined that Jon see my birthday sign (“For my 19th birthday, may I have this dance?”), but if all else failed, I’d still have 9th row…a great seat.

Long story short, I ended up not getting an upgrade, but was perfectly fine…especially when we walked down to the floor and I discovered, to my happy surprise, that not only are the rows at Staples MUCH closer together than Anaheim, but that due to the stage set-up, 9th row Richie’s side was like 7th row center. EEK! Rosie (RichiesRosie) was three rows up from me, and we both screamed when we found our seats. I was so close that I started shaking…exactly like I did during HAND when I saw my 6th row center seat. My only complaint was that I was in the middle of the row, and being claustrophobic, that’s not fun. But I knew I had to suck it up.

Sandra was two rows up from me (just behind Rosie), and there was an empty seat next to her, so I joined her there until the person came to claim his/her seat. We got all the way halfway through Daughtry (by the way, major attention/smiles from the guitarist :love:) and I was absolutely in love with the seat/view…so I was very disappointed when the seat’s rightful owner came. LOL. I returned to 9th row and enjoyed the rest of Daughtry and then when Jovi started, I found it wasn’t so bad…except that everyone was bumping and crashing into each other in the middle of those rows. Argh. But the band was on FIRE! From the moment Jon rose from below the stage, bearing black guitar and swinging into HEY HEY!, I was jumping and dancing and totally having a blast. They sounded amazing, and Jon promised another long, sweaty night with “songs from every album over the years – some old, some new, some in-between.” I Love This Town was 3rd on the setlist!

I have to admit, compared to what was to come, the first few songs were tame. Once it came time for wristband group #3 to go on stage, however, things changed for the better for me. It seemed that everyone in group #3 was in our area, so Richie’s side was left quite cleared out when they all left. The ladies in my row told me to move down so we could spread out and get some room, and I had a sudden inspiration: both Sandra AND the woman next to her had gone up on stage, so I took a quick look around for security, then snuck up to Sandra’s seat faster than you can blink. Julie (who was next to Sandra) was very accommodating and let me stay there, and I am SO grateful she did. I had packed my sign, that trusty thing that had already been shunned by the last two shows, and I gathered my courage and held that thing up proud from my new aisle seat – about 15 feet and directly diagonal to that white mic.

In the middle of Lord-knows-what-song-because-my-mind-became-a-blank, Jon looked over at me, saw the sign, read it, and flashed me the biggest smile that just made my heart melt. I know his smiles normally make me melt, but LORD, when that smile is directed at you…when it is FOR YOU…it’s an entirely different thing altogether. My heart jumped and I smiled back, waving it in the air…and EEEEE the feeling was so wonderful! Jon saw MY sign and smiled at ME! :love: I’m getting all giddy just remembering it.

At that point, I truly didn’t even care if he danced with me or not – I think I always knew deep down he wouldn’t – and I was perfectly fine with that. He saw it, he acknowledged it, and he smiled at me from onstage…that was enough! So I kindly let the people behind me see again and tucked the sign away.

A few songs later, Sandra and her neighbor returned…and I surprised myself by squeezing into the row instead of going back to my seat. I am not one to do that – I’m all about being the good girl and staying where I should, but I just had this feeling in my gut and my heart that tonight was a big night, and darn it, as my last show, I wanted it to go out with a bang! So imagine how incredibly, insanely happy I was when that woman packed up her stuff…and left. :shock: Yes, she left! Sandra thought she just went to the bathroom, but I think she figured she got her onstage time and she was done. And sure enough, she never came back. MUCH to my delight! So I stayed in 7th row, which was like 4th, and had the BEST. NIGHT. EVER. I have never in my life been so close, and I can’t tell you how much I thoroughly LOVED that seat and that view. Thank you Julie and Sandra sooo very much for letting me stay there. You both rock!

Now, you’d think that smile of Jon’s would have met my personal attention quota for the night, right? I thought so too. But apparently Jon disagreed. :razz: I got TWO more amazing moments throughout the rest of the nearly 3 hours Bon Jovi kicked our a$$es. During Jon’s platform performance, the people in front of us sat down. And I mean…everybody. We basically were the front row of people standing with Richie then, which was super cool. Oh and by the way, Jon danced with a woman from the lower levels on the platform side. I was like - “Aww dang it! Well I’m happy for her though! But still…dang it!” LOL

Anyway, when Jon returned to the stage and they “kicked it up into high gear”, the people in front of us remained sitting. :shock: I was like…WTF mate? Are you serious? But now I thank them, because Jon Moment #2 came about. I had my camera high up in the air to capture the cool lighting effects and get a close-up of Jon, but the darn man wouldn’t stand still. :lol: He came wiggling and dancing over to our side, so I figured I’d snap one more picture and then enjoy him being so close in person. So I’m focusing the camera and trying to snap a shot when he’s relatively still, and suddenly I see him making a face in my screen. :shock: I look up in real life and he’s freaking POSING for me, for my camera, which was the front-most thing to him since everyone in front of me was sitting, and I nearly DIED. He leaned toward me, widened his eyes and made one of those teasing kissy-faces, and I was so distracted by it that I couldn’t take the darn picture…not with that gorgeous man puckering up at me!! He kissy-faced for a few seconds, then had to return to his stage-bopping, so I missed a great photo-op. But still. Jon puckered at me.

Jon Moment #3 is not as direct; I think Julie, Sandra, and I all shared it, LOL. But he made his way over again and leaned forward and flashed us this HUGE megawatt smile which just left me breathless. JAYSUS that man has a smile.

Okay, sorry, back to the music. The songs were GREAT, the band was in high spirits, Richie was on FIRE on that guitar, and he nailed IBTFY once again. Lord can that man bring you to tears. It was phenomenal…and I am so mad because I accidentally deleted my video of it. ARGH.

Chris joined them onstage for Blaze again, and this time he did it flawlessly. He and Jon sounded great together, and I got a few good shots of them hugging afterward!

All in all, the main concert was just fabulous. But it was the killer encore that did me in. After the customary, “Thank you, Los Angeles! We’ll see you again soon! Bye bye!” and everyone going, “AHEM, no you don’t…get back here!”, Jon came back out in a new, gorgeous blue top (which he didn’t bother to button all the way) and sung his heart out on Hallelujah again. Sandra hadn’t heard it yet, so I loved watching her reactions, but I was watching Jon more. It was the second time in less than a week that I’d seen/heard him do it, and I was deeply moved yet again. He does that song so much justice – and it does him justice in return. The passion is just unfolded, pure and raw, and I felt goose bumps when he held out the last Hallelujah for so long it seemed he would just melt into the song itself. Absolutely breathtaking.

And then of course he had to pump it up, and everyone rose for the Jovi Anthem. And we were so damn loud and into it that Jon said, "Are you sure I'm not in NEW JERSEY tonight?" with this big ol' smile (and the crowd roared). After getting used to a 2-song encore, I was prepared for it to end…and was ecstatic when, after the lights had dimmed and the staff had even taken away the guitars, Jon’s voice echoed out of the stage darkness… “Naw, naw, naw – WAIT a minute.” The lights surged back on and Jon narrowed his eyes playfully. “I ain’t done with them yet! I still got some twisting to do.” And then the guitars were replaced, and they broke into the cover of Glad All Over, before Jon shook his money-maker across the stage in a heart-attack inducing version of Treat Her Right.

As if that weren’t enough surprises – Jon makes his way over to the far end of Richie’s side of the stage, and promptly hops off – while still singing and swaying, mind you! – and makes his way along the aisle through the crowd alllllll the way to the end and out the back, ushered by security. And then the show was over and Richie, Dave, Lorenza, Tico, Hugh, and Bobby exited the stage the normal way. It was a bit odd not having a final bow, but Lordy that was some finale!!

While my night was rendered a bit…disastrous…afterward, with a huge scare about my purse (which I had left back at my real seat) being lost/stolen (I won’t go into the nitty gritty details, but I’m getting it back and I want to thank Sandra, Debbie, and Rosie again for being there for me), I have to say, in all honesty, that last night was truly the BEST show I have ever been to. Just the combination of the band’s spirits, my fabulous seat, being with good friends and getting such wonderful moments with Jon made it so incredibly amazing – and about 10x better than Anaheim (which I thoroughly enjoyed!) I know I’ll remember this night forever.

So…thank you BACKSTAGE for the great seats and arrangements for three shows. Thanks for not sticking me in row 20!

And of course, thank you BON JOVI for absolutely ROCKING us. You really outdid yourselves at all of the shows here and we are so grateful! It’s been some ride, but I think the Highway was finally found…in California.