One year ago today...

...I landed at Newark International Airport for the first time. Okay, so it was like 11:55pm and almost May 26th, but still! My journey started on the 25th.

The next morning, I woke up in New Jersey and almost cried with delight. The first of three Bon Jovi shows at the brand new New Meadowlands Stadium was tonight, and I had a FREE ticket to go, thanks to my friends Lori and Jen. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and I was in love with Jersey already.

I was in good company, knowing I'd see most of my beloved Jovi friends over the coming week (some I'd never met in person yet, and some I hadn't seen in years). I was hours away from fulfilling one of my dearest ambitions: to see Bon Jovi at Giants Stadium! (I know it's not technically "Giants" anymore, but the spirit is still there.)

We laughed and hugged and ate and drank, my friend Trish gave me a grand tour of Jersey - including old Jovi stomping grounds, we got rained out and trapped inside the stadium on the second night, had one massive (and totally awesome) tailgate party on the afternoon of the final show, and generally enjoyed traditions of New Jersey Jovi shows (thunderstorms, open-sky stadiums, tailgates with good friends) that I had only read about for years.

These shows were truly my favorite of the whole tour - my #s 4, 5, and 6 out of 8 total I was lucky enough to see this round. Night 1 (ticket in the stands) was a gift from Lori and Jen, Night 2 (far section, 4th row) I bought myself, and Night 3 (PIT BABY, ROW 8!) was a 21st birthday gift from my parents, and the whole trip (airfare) was a gift from my boyfriend. I had never been more excited for anything in my life. And to this day, I thank those who made it possible for me to experience it. I couldn't have done it without any of the above mentioned people!

Anyway, in honor of those wonderful nights, I'm bringing back some of my memories. A selection of my favorite pictures, plus my reviews of each night, and some videos I found (or took). And be sure to check out The Jovi Circle Tour blog for further multimedia goodies.

For those who were there, enjoy your trip down memory lane -- and for those who weren't, live vicariously through us! :)

My Night #1 Review

My Night #2 Review

My Night #3 Review

Hath has Wanted Dead or Alive from each night available for download on her MediaFire account. Thanks Hath!


Video of Never Say Goodbye from Night #2, when Jon forgot the lyrics. LOL. It's taken off the screen, since the band was on the circle waaayy behind me.




Video of Captain Crash from Night #3. I didn't take this - I was grinning from ear to ear, waving my arms in the pit! For those who don't know, I BEGGED for this song to be played in Jersey, since I had never heard it live and it's one of my faves!




Video of Diamond Ring I took from the pit, Night #3:




And some of my favorite pictures from Nights 2 & 3:































"The End"

New Meadowlands Stadium MOVIE! (Nov. 8, 2010)

WHY am I so shocked? Did I NOT notice the gigantic camera in my face half the time at the May NMS shows? My first stadium shows, my first NJ shows, my FAVORITE OF ALL TIME (so far)?!

I'm beyond excited. I cannot WAIT to relive this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, special experience on the big screen...and I HOPE there's a DVD someday!!

WEEEE!!

BON JOVI: THE CIRCLE TOUR: Movie Trailer. Watch more top selected videos about: BON JOVI: THE CIRCLE TOUR, Bon Jovi

New Meadowlands 5/29 videos

Because I'm STILL back at that night reminiscing, here are some videos from the final night at New Meadowlands -- and I just realized it's been one week since the first night. HOLY toledo. Where does the time go?!

First, here's my video of Diamond Ring from the pit. I debated sharing it because people around me talked through the WHOLE THING (trust me, I was very close to beating them all up) and it nearly ruins it for me. But if you have the strength to ignore the outside noise and focus on the music, enjoy.




And the lovely Catte729 got a whole slew of songs on video for us, so here are some of my faves of hers from that night:

My namesake :)







And from Deb308, who always has great videos:

New Meadowlands Stadium -- 5/26/10 Night One!

Flavor Rating: vanilla

I'm late in posting this because I was so wrapped up in the other two nights that I never got a chance to reflect on the first! But I want to have some sort of memory of it because it was the official OPENING night of New Meadowlands, a historic night indeed, and *I* was THERE.

That's perhaps the coolest thing I can say about the night -- well that, and I was there for free! I wasn't planning on going at all (this whole adventure started with one night, then I added a second, and then when I arrived IN New Jersey on Tuesday night, my friend Lori surprised me with a free ticket in the 100 level. And I was officially going to all three. *insert glowing smile here*

It was the furthest I've ever been from the stage at a Bon Jovi show, but for free and from the kindness of a friend, how could I complain?! I was thrilled to even BE there, truly and honestly. And a part of me kind of liked being set aside from the floor crowd and the up-close frenzy, because I could take in the stadium and crowds from a better viewpoint. AND, because it was too far to take very good pictures, I was able to put my camera away and get lost in the music completely.

I really did enjoy the show. It was an entirely predictable setlist (a reason I had originally used for not buying a ticket for this night), but it was my first taste of the energy in a stadium -- and all I can say is, wow. People are right - there is nothing like the atmosphere within a stadium, with tens of thousands of screaming fans, and especially in New Jersey, Bon Jovi's hometown. The band was clearly happy to be there, and Jon was full of fire as he welcomed us to the new stadium and proudly reminded us which great state we were in! ;)

I am proud to say I was there for a moment that will no doubt go down in Bon Jovi history, when during the performance of 'Runaway', the SOUND WENT OUT! It literally just shut off without preamble, which anyone who has been to a concert will know sounds TOTALLY odd after the eardrum-shattering volume a split second earlier. It was startling to happen so unpredictably, but not really surprising considering it was the first night the stadium ever opened. Everyone had been expecting some sort of glitch anyway! But the funny part was that the band seemed to have NO IDEA the sound had gone out, and I still find myself giggling at the sight of them all ripping on their instruments, Jon bellowing into the mic, moving around and tearing it up...silently. I actually started laughing at the show and couldn't stop - Jon was being so serious and into it, and we couldn't hear a damn thing. It was hysterical! The cool thing was that the crowd picked up the song after about ten seconds, and we sang it for the band (who still had no idea). I saw people in the pit trying to relay the message to the band too, but nope...they ended the song with a relish and Jon looked out at us with a beaming smile, expecting the normal praise and applause.

Apparently the tech crew were too scared to come out and inform the band while they tried to fix it (I don't blame them, LOL!) and rumor has it the band didn't even find out about the mishap until a few songs later. I just find that SO funny! And it was a unique experience that will be told in stories for years to come, I'm sure.

Basically the night was my first taste, a preview, of what to expect in my good seats the next two nights, and I enjoyed having it low-key and low-intensity. It was HOTTER than hell that night, though, so I was even happier I wasn't crammed on the floor and could enjoy a slight breeze with a little elevation. And my view was pretty fantastic, except that I still manage to attract the crazy tall people -- there were THREE 8-foot tall men in front of me, I swear. Luckily, they sat down for the second half of the show, and before then I could hop around and peek between their heads, except when they leaned over to talk to each other -- which was often. Ah well.

It was our first experience with the fireworks during Keep the Faith, which I thought was just downright AWESOME. It spurs excitement and adrenaline, at least for me, and I was smiling all sorts of big the whole time. The first explosions come in sync with the crowd's "FAITH!" part during the song, and then when the final instrumental revs up, red beams shoot the perimeter of the stadium to end in a crashing explosion for the finale. I LOVED it!






We were treated with a few sprinkles in our vanilla set with Dry County in the encore, but I thought Jon strained too much (he did much better Saturday night, and on Thursday he joked about how he and Richie keep writing songs "up here" and need to start writing them "down here", after the performance of Always --another high song, for those non-Jovi fans ;))

Overall, a great experience. I got to get acquainted with the stadium and the experience before I was thrown onto the floor and finally the pit for my later shows, and for free...I don't think I can EVER say that again! LOL

So a HUGE thank you to Lori for giving me that wonderful chance, I appreciate it so much! I can always say I was there for the christening of the "new Giants," and was a part of Bon Jovi history.

New Meadowlands Night 3 Pictures

I am ready to kill Photobucket for all the problems it's been giving me the last few days with uploading, organizing, linking, etc. And watermarking and uploading was a nightmare separately, so I'm just done lol. I was originally going to just link to the PB album so you could see my pics, but I'm just saying eff it, and I'll post all 100 pics here in a separate post. A showcase-style display, if you will, so you can see the full size and I won't be anal about the loss of quality like on Facebook and the PB slideshows.

So enjoy! These are from the final round at New Meadowlands, when my camera and I were one entity and I could have kissed it for working so well. LOL.