You can't park that car there - a weekend of live music part 2

Last time out (for me)

Concert programme cover

On Sunday, it was time to have my Christmas present.

I first saw Bon Jovi on the "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" tour in Milton Keynes in September 1993 when I was 16. Almost 20 years later, we headed off to Villa Park, Birmingham for the latest leg of their "Because We Can" tour. whilst the children were left in the capable hands of my mother-in-law who had come down for the day especially.

20 years later!

We'd never been to Villa Park before, so we worked out where we wanted to park and arrived about half an hour before the doors were due to open. What we hadn't considered, however was which door we were going to need to go in, where that might be and what might be the best way to get there. We therefore ended up walking virtually all the way around the stadium to get to the queue we needed to be in. Fortunately, a combination of Villa Park and the event organisers were very quick at admitting people into the ground and we were soon able to treat ourselves to some very nice, but overpriced refreshments.

When we entered the arena itself, you couldn't help but notice there was a huge car parked at the North Stand end of the ground...

Aston Villa's way of not conceding goals next season - stick a car in the goalmouth!

Having taken our seats, we occupied our time by playing "Where are our friends?" Even at 4.45pm with the Holte End virtually empty, it was almost impossible to work out where they were. As it turned out they were right at the back on the left hand-side of the top tier (unless it was some other people randomly waving at us)!

Aston Villa's other way of confusing the opposition. Changing the pitch and removing the goalposts!

At around 5.45pm, the first support act came on. I'd heard rumours they were a local unsigned band who'd won a competition to support Bon Jovi, however I didn't know who they were at the time (Apparently they were Of Kings And Captains). They were quite good - although I must admit from the distance we were from the stage, they didn't necessarily have my full attention.

After a short break, the next support act took to the stage - The Enemy. Whilst there appeared to be several people around us who were aware of them, again, I wasn't one of them. Prior to the concert I had tried googling to see who would be playing before Bon Jovi, but without success.

I quite enjoyed them and thanks to people on setlist.fm I can revisit their playlist. I did, however, enjoy their performance of James' "Sit Down".

Edit this setlist | More The Enemy setlists

Not long after The Enemy left the stage, the video walls either side of the kicked in announcing the main event was just 25 minutes away... and all of a sudden they were on stage... Well three of them were - David Bryan on keyboards, Tico Torres on drums and of course, Jon. Richie, unfortunately was missing.

On the run up to the concert, I had listened to Bon Jovi's latest album "What About Now" through Spotify on a couple of occasions so when they opened with "That's What The Water Made Me", at least I knew the chorus. They soon tore into some more familiar numbers that got the whole stadium on its feet (with the exception of the miserable woman the other side of Sarah, who clearly didn't want to be there).

Birmingham! Raise Your Hands!

It was a varied set with tracks ranging from "Runaway" off their debut self-titled album through "Slippery When Wet", "Keep The Faith" and "Crush" up to their latest album. There were several tracks I wasn't familiar with as they have had a couple of albums out whilst I wasn't paying attention, however this didn't diminish my enjoyment!

Edit this setlist | More Bon Jovi setlists

As they tore into 'In These Arms' it was time for Jon to go walkabout and sang the song whilst using the semicircular walkway that was the divide between the gold and diamond circles, taking the opportunity to shake hands/high five some of the audience along the way.

Finishing the concert with 'Livin' on a Prayer' was always going to be a crowd-pleaser and at the end, the band duly took their bows. However, as they were leaving the stage, the volume of the audience increased. Jon turned, with a look on his face that suggested he was taken aback by the force of the noise that had just hit him and calling to the rest of the band, turned around.

Taking the stage for a final time, Jon asked the audience what we'd like them to play next and after judging the response from the crowd, turned to the rest of the band and say "Basically, they want us to play 'Always'" which they did before finishing off with 'Blood on Blood'. Leaving the stage for the final time after being on stage for almost three hours, we left the stadium on a high and with a sore throat from the amount of singing and shouting we'd done.

Gone are the days of the lighter in the air - now it's the LED on your smartphone.

We "had a nice day!"

Playlist set up in Spotify

Review from the Express and Star