Steps of a Jovi Fan Around the World!

A Night for Jon Bon Jovi and Friends!

2011-10-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

New York City, USA October 12th 2011

Greetings from New York City! On my very first, much awaited, Jon Bon Jovi and Friends Show!
And I am more than happy to report, it rocked!

I ain't talking about ticketing because I'd like this to be an upbeat post, but let me just state,
"Dear backstage with Jon Bon Jovi: Next time don't just release last minute fan club tickets to an event,
just because you couldn't sell out the place. Thank you."

Soooo, the venue was very intimate, it has been a long time I have seen a show in a place like this, which you would think makes a
Row P ticket seem a bit more conforting? What? Well, no. Not really. The only thing I have to say is...

Thank God for the loose security of Best Buy Theater and the majority of the non-die-hard-fans around me, when we could actually move over to the first row tier. Now that's more like it!

Being that I am a junkie for all Jovi cover songs, when Jon opened the show with "Help" my heart stopped a little bit...
just beautiful, most beautiful... the show went on with a great laid back atmosphere, despite the fact it was a charity event, where I actually thought everyone would just sit still. The crowd was having fun and so was Jon! "So you wanna be a Rock and Roll Star"
was also a cover I really wanted to watch live, and it was a great ice breaker followed by "Bad Name" that put everyone up on their feet
and off to better seats lol

"Under Pressure" was a great surprise and I am still feeling it...it's not every night you get Jon Bon Jovi covering Bowie and Freddie. Very very emotional!!!

Click on : Under Pressure

The show went on with some Jovi songs here and there, but since the whole band was not present it feels weird having "Wanted Dead or Alive" and no Sambora. So I'd rather stick to the covers...

"Simpathy for the Devil" on its fullest was, at least for me, one of the highlights! "Glad all over" with no major injuries this time phew! "Old Time Rock'n'Roll" and a song, that any die fan would die for... "6345789" was a classic!

Click on: Simpathy for the Devil

Click on : 6345789

Now... before the closing with "Twist and Shout" can I just say how I loved listening to "Living on a Prayer" acoustic? Someeeoneeeeee tell me... this night was for real? As a Jon Bon Jovi fan, it was so amazing to hear songs I never thought I would in a completely different atmosphere. Because ya know we all take what we can get! Worth every second :)

And Cassia, my friend, you are my one and only witness, to let me know that everything that happened after the lights went on was true, it's either too surreal or too good to be true, in any way... I'll take it! The Frank Sinatra singing and dancing on Times Square afterwards...well, that was just needed! (some things are better left unsaid) Come on, sing with me... "I want to be a part of it... New York...New Yooooork" !

And I'll leave you with just a boy and his guitar (sigh) : Teenage Wasteland

Setlist: Help / Rock'n'Roll Star / Bad Name / House Party / Lost Highway / Pretty Woman / Chain of Fools / Born To Follow / Under Pressure / Glad All Over / Wanted Dead or Alive / Simpathy for the Devil / Start Me Up / Baba O'Reilly / Sleep When I am Dead / Who Says / The Letter / Old Time Rock'n'Roll / Prayer Acoustic / 6345789 / Twist and Shout

Cheers to Jen Big Apple for the best pizza in New York!

It Feels Like Home Vancouver Round #2

2011-03-30T00:06:00.000-07:00

Vancouver, BC CANADA March 26th 2011

I want to take this time to thank you all very much for your friendship, support and your kindness…

So, this is it… the best show of my life. Where it all came together for an amazing, unforgettable night. As if last show, and what went on after that (ha!) was not unbelievable enough!

I get to my seat, God bless the last minute tickets! To find a beautiful view in front of me… because I had to, I just had to be first row in my city babe! After our signs to “Something to Believe In” and “These Days” I thought I’d just hold both the whole show… and see what would happen!

The show started from the back with “Last Man Standing” and Jon opened with a speech to welcome the Round #2 announcing there were lots of different songs to the set list, and pointing to my These Days sign I was holding. Oh yeah! At least I knew they’d play one of the songs! Ha… Welcome to Round Number Two Vancouver!

Well the show went on to have a great set; “Raise Your Hands” ,“Captain Crash”, “Livin’in Sin” and “Squeeze Box”… The speech of Bad Medicine was one of the craziest I’ve ever seen, if you need someone to get you in trouble babe, I am right here! Just Saying… but I believe he can manage this on his own.

Raise Your Hands

Living in Sin

Just Awesome! Trouble Speech + Hot Legs

Well as perfect as everything was going, it was the encore that took my breath away and was the perfect finale of fourteen amazing shows in the couple last years, as I held my “Something to Believe In” sign the song started and I couldn’t help but say “Thank You” about a million times…one of my absolute favorite Bon Jovi songs being played in front of my eyes, crying is an understatement, I sang it with all my heart and soul every single word to it…the eyebrow wiggle and look I got by the end of the song was just the last shot, the following song was “Wanted Dead or Alive” and I am happy I could look at Jon, thank him and get a nod, yet again… thank you Jon!

It Freaking Happened!!! Something to Believe In!

Well and then, my favorite song, that I kept missing this tour, “These Days” which for me has the most killer beginning of any Bon Jovi song, that keyboard notes take me high and my heart just goes with it, to top it off someone threw on stage a Canucks Hockey Shirt and the arena came down when Jon put the shirt on…it was beautiful and so emotional to hear this song on my very last show, the song that got me to know Bon Jovi, my very first album, my very first love…the most special lyrics. Sigh… well, no…it’s not over yet, Jon came walking to our direction and stared at me… and I lost my mind on “Jimmy jumped” when he takes a jump right in front of me and stares just to find my hand reaching out to him and he, the amazing self he is… reaches down and touches it back. No need to say this is and will always be my very best song! The Oooohh Oooohhh at the back was something I had never experienced and I wish I could say I don’t have tears running down my face as I write these words. Click On: These Days

Well the show ended with Livin’on a Prayer and with a video of the Bon Jovi crew partying in Vegas, Jon thought it was funny and was laughing through it, a surprise for the “Big Guy” on the last show of this leg of the tour

This was my last show this tour and probably for a while, but I couldn’t help but smile when the lights went on. For every show, every touch, every song, for every little piece of memory…I am just thankful. My heart is filled with love for the best band in the world, and I am so, very happy to have had the chance of meeting Jon, Richie, Tico and Dave, for the pictures, the words I said to them (even if stumble ones), the friends I made along the way and the countless nights of fun! Thank you BON JOVI, for your lyrics, your amazing shows and for touching so many lives. Jon, I still hope someday, if I ever meet you again I will get my words together to tell you you’ve written the soundtracks of my life. This tour could not have come to an end any other way. Until we meet again… my love goes out to you!

See you on the Road! You know I’ll always come back for more love.

Setlist: Last Man Standing / You Give Love A Bad Name / Born To Be My Baby / We Weren't Born To Follow / Lost Highway / Whole Lot Of Leavin' / It's My Life / Runaway / Raise Your Hands / We Got it Going On / Bad Medicine / Hot Legs [Rod Stewart cover] / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / (You Want To) Make A Memory / Living In Sin / Chapel Of Love [Dixie Cups cover] / Squeeze Box [The Who cover/acoustic] / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [acoustic] / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Captain Crash And The Beauty Queen from Mars / Work For The Working Man / Have A Nice Day / Keep The Faith

Encore: Something To Believe In / Wanted Dead Or Alive / These Days / Livin' On A Prayer

Ps. Shout out to Leticia that flew North for, I believe I have the right to say, one of the best weekends of her life! Thanks for being there for me with the cheap wine! Teale that I finally met, you’re a sweetheart and I hope to see you again soon and to Cassia, my partner in crime… “You and me, we are invincible together”.

Thank You God. <3

It Feels Like Home Vancouver Round #1

2011-03-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

Vancouver, BC CANADA March 25th 2011

“A lot of history in this beautiful town… a lot of history”

I think I’ve never been this emotional for a show in my life, maybe my very first one, if so. I’ve been all over the place to see Bon Jovi, and this was the first time they came to me, to my streets, my world…and there really isn’t anything like HOME!

Vancouver is the city of Slippery When Wet and Keep The Faith… it’s the city of Livin’on a Prayer, it had to be special. It just…had to be.

Click On: Jon Talking about Vancouver!

I guess listening to the sound check was a hint of what there was to come… I can’t explain how amazing it was to listen to the band playing Love’s the Only Rule, Richie doing solos with his new guitar and Mystery Train… yeah…I said Mystery Train. Dream come true!

After the backstage tour, we went back to our seats and I had brought about a hundred “Something to Believe In” signs, to my surprise, someone else had brought the other song I was going to ask “These Days” so we just placed all the signs in every chair inside the pit…*big thanks to everyone that helped the request to be granted!

Well, I, of course also had my Canada Flag that came with me to every Canadian show this tour, from east to west I carried this flag with me to show the band… and little did I know…

Now…one thing at the time! Jon made the most gorgeous speech about Vancouver and I had tears in my eyes and warmth in my heart every time, “I will always have a soft spot for this city” and how much this city meant to the band… for me? Just priceless!

Love's The Only Rule had the most gorgeous opening... and it was touching to see the Japanese fans holding their "Pray for Japan"signs up when Jon says "My Japanese friends...my love goes out to you", I did, however missed Jon coming down to the circle... I guess I'll have to smooch you some other time Jonny!

Between a holly good seat, speeches, songs, tears, a kicking set list, it was a really amazing night… Mistery Train acoustic in front of my eyes brought me to tears as well as Bed of Roses touching Jon’s hand… and a Richie’s high five before Love for Sale… I need to say that, one of the things I love the most about Bon Jovi, is how they have so much one on one contact with their fans, anywhere, in every show, everyone can have their own small moment with the band that means the world to them…

Click On: Mystery Train

Like, when the band took my flag that my I asked my friend to throw on stage for me, and open it in front of a stage full of people, and you just stand there, numb, crying…and with a state of happiness that takes over you, a special moment that no one can ever take it away from me, the band of my life playing in the city I love the most holding my flag… I still haven’t cried it all out yet. Click On: The Band Holdin My Flag!

That was the best “Always” of my life afterwards, one that I meant every word… “I will, indeed, always love you”

As I walked out of the arena, the pit was filled with wishes of songs and with my flag around me, I could only wish… that my last show this tour, would bring me Something to Believe in… sigh…

ps. Shout out to my friend Marina for her very first Bon Jovi show! You should come back for more babe... ya know Jon likes the view of you! Ha!

Setlist: Blood On Blood / You Give Love A Bad Name / Born To Be My Baby / We Weren't Born To Follow / Lost Highway / When We Were Beautiful / It's My Life / Runaway / The More Things Change / We Got it Going On / Bad Medicine / Oh, Pretty Woman / Lay Your Hands On Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / Bed Of Roses / I'll Be There For You / Mystery Train [acoustic] / Love For Sale / Who Says You Can't Go Home / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Start Me Up [Rolling Stones cover] / Blaze Of Glory / Love's The Only Rule / Keep The Faith

Encore: Have A Nice Day / Wanted Dead Or Alive / Livin' On A Prayer / Always

And last, but not least... some shots from the backstage tour!

Holly Montreal Round # 2 "Si Merveilleux"

2011-02-27T22:31:00.000-08:00

Montreal, Quebec CANADA February 19th 2011

"I like it I like it I like it!"

So welcome the one of the best nights of your life! The best band and one of the best shows…ever! To begin with a ninja move ha! when you end up at the first row outside the circle and the best seat of the four shows that week! Amaaaaaaaazing close and basically no one in front of you… that’s what I am saying!

I have a theory, if I may, when the show opens with “Happy Now” you can expect a pretty awesome show! Jon’s speech on “Radio” was to leave any diehard fan with teary eyes, I know I did… it was so passionate and real. As a friend of mine says… “It’s for things like that we can stop loving this band” Indeed.

Well the energy was intense, the crowd was again going insane and you could feel every note… when the band was in the circle with “Living In Sin and Chapel of Love”, I can’t believe how wonderful it is to be so close you can touch them… I swear they are worth every penny I’ve ever spent on them (which was countless may I add) and can I get an Amen for Blood on Blood Acoustic in front of my eyes?

Now, “Love’s the Only Rule” is not only one of the best songs every written but Jon going down to the audience makes my heart (literally) skip a beat. I’ve witnessed it a couple times this tour, but we somehow keep missing each other… being when I am in the circle he’s not! But just to see the contact with the fans and coming out on the other side so close to us again…sigh…who’s got a heart? I believe mine is still in Montreal!

The band leaves the stage leaving a breathless yet screaming audience begging for more…and they come with “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” with three, I said three… cover songs in the middle! One after the other before our eyes…holly holly Quebec, Canada!

Well, as wonderful as the show was, it got me wanting more… and all I can say is that maybe Jon and I will meet inside the circle in the city I’ve been expecting to see them my whole fan life… and I’ll be the one asking, begging and pleading for more These Days songs…

Click On: Best Radio Saved My Life Ever!

Click On: Chapel Of Love

Click On: Bon Jovi Going Rollin' Stones!

Setlist: Happy Now / You Give Love a Bad Name / Born to Be My Baby / We Weren't Born to Follow / The Radio Saved My Life Tonight / Lost Highway / The More Things Change / It's My Life / We Got It Goin' On / Bad Medicine / Hot Legs / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / Living in Sin / Chapel of Love [The Dixie Cups cover] / I'll Be There For You / Blood on Blood [acoustic] / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [acoustic] / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Work for the Working Man / Runaway / Have a Nice Day / Love's the Only Rule

Encore: I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Start Me Up [Rolling Stones cover] / Jumpin' Jack Flash [Rolling Stones cover] / Dancing in the Street [Martha and the Vandellas cover] / Wanted Dead or Alive / Livin' on a Prayer

Encore #2: Keep the Faith

Let me just send some love to my awesome rocking friends, Cassia, Sacha and Bryan. THANK YOU for an amazing week, for flying with me and touching the sky! This road trip, the encounters, the tattoo, the laughter, good times and the awesome shows would never be the same without you guys! We really are the Fantastic Four and I'm glad we all have the same love! We are truly blessed and I am, especially, for having friends like YOU! See you on the Road!

Oh and I can forget to mention meeting Anne my fellow Canuck from the Capital City and Jen Nagel (finally)!

Bon Jovi in Vancouver…I might need to start a how-not-to-die-of-happiness program!!!!!!
Woooooo freakin hoooo!!!

Holly Montreal Round # 1

2011-02-25T19:05:00.000-08:00

Montreal, Quebec CANADA February 18th 2011
“I only wish the crowds in New Jersey were as good as Montreal!"

So, when you’re a fan hunting down good shows… you get to experience crowds in many different places! I have my particular favorites, and I also believe it has to do with how much you like the city you’re in. I mean, shows in London will always be one of my tops because I absolutely love it there and if you take a look at set lists… so does Bon Jovi! And don’t even get me started on how much I’ll flip out in Vancouver!

That being said, I’ve never, ever seen an audience like Montreal! Which by the way was the very first place I’ve seen a Bon Jovi show in my life, maybe that’s why I got hooked? That among others, they dance, they scream their hearts out and the band can totally feel it! And so you get… longer shows, amazing set lists and endless fun! So if you’re a fan… you might want to schedule a little visit to the Great White North!

Back to what matters, the show had no opening act (yay) considering that this tour the opening bands kinda sucked! It was so great that by a chance of faith we were all sitting together, the four of us! The show started with “Last Man Standing” from the back of the arena and it was pretty amazing yet again, they were on a roll up to “Bad Medicine”! Then Richie got the stage for “Lay Your Hands”…

Click On : Squeeze Box

Click On: Dry County Solo

But the best part, in my opinion, after “What Do You Got” they came back with “Squeeze Box”, it was so beautiful and it got everyone back on their toes…as my friend said it was pure adrenaline, followed by Something for the Pain Acoustic and Saturday Night… with the whole band standing in the circle!

“No Apologies” was so special, with the four of us standing together, hand in hand across this land our voices shouting out!... I believe we were the ones jumping and singing this song the most on that arena!

The band left and came back for a long encore… “Dry County” is always a treat and so will always be “Livin’on a Prayer”

Setlist: Last Man Standing / You Give Love a Bad Name / Born to Be My Baby / We Weren't Born to Follow / Lost Highway / Whole Lot of Leavin' / When We Were Beautiful / It's My Life / Runaway / We Got It Goin' On / Bad Medicine / Oh, Pretty Woman [Roy Orbison cover] / Lay Your Hands on Me / You Want To) Make a Memory / What Do You Got? / Squeeze Box [The Who cover/acoustic] / Something for the Pain [acoustic] / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [acoustic] / Who Says You Can't Go Home / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / No Apologies / Have a Nice Day / Keep the Faith

Encore: Dry County / Wanted Dead or Alive / I Love This Town / The More Things Change / Livin' on a Prayer

Who Says You Can't... Get a Tattoo?

2011-02-24T10:40:00.000-08:00

Toronto (where awesome things happen), Canada! February 16th 2011

So one day you wake up, hangover from awesome shows… and you start talking to your friend over breakfast and decide to get a tattoo! Just like that ha ha even though “someone” told you not to… For all it’s worth I am pretty sure my grandkids will think I’m a funky Rock’n’Roll grandma with lots of stories to tell!

So here it is! Ta Da! After forty minutes of pain… pretty eh?!

ps. Thanks Sachinha for giving me the final push! I love that we have the same tattoo, at the same time on the best week ever!

Toronto ACC Second Night!

2011-02-22T21:07:00.000-08:00

Toronto, Ontario CANADA February 15th 2011

Click On: Good Evening Toronto!

On Fire! Was what this band was this show… starting with Last Man Standing with Jon on the back of the arena brought back good memories and put the crowd over the edge! The sight of Jon walking among everyone high fiving and smiling was the bet thrill to start the night!

It was a good show, but nothing to beat up night number one, “I’d die for you” was one of the highlights and I love seeing Jon doing more guitar solos…although Richie solo of “Dry County” just blew everyone away, yet again!

I absolutely loved having “What Do You Got” played for the very first time before my eyes… my favorite one from the new songs! There were a lot of Lost Highway songs, thank you very much for “Whole lot of Leaving” and the band, especially Jon seemed very happy, those past shows he’s been thanking the crowd a lot for the 27 years of friendship and how he appreciates everyone’s love for the band, even more so than ever… I hope that’s not a goodbye for the so-called two years break that I doubt and hope will not happen!

Click On: What Do You Got?

Click On: Diamond Ring

Click On: Hot Legs! Hot Hot Indeed!

Jon was talking and talking in between songs, just the way I looooove him! And when he was introducing Richie for “Lay Your Hands on Me” (which may I just suggest, for anyone out there reading this to pretty please broad the song choices for Richie because to hear Lay Your Hands 11 times is not-so-much a charm!) anyway…so Jon started to sing the song and I almost hit my head on the floor of excitement thinking I’d actually hear him sing this song… but then he left, well tease…

I believe this was the day that the crowd went insane on “It’s my Life” and by the end of the song Jon said: “Maybe I should play this song again? Now that’d be history making! Nah…not doing that” ha!

So thanks Toronto! It's always good to come back to you!

Here was our hope that the Montreal shows would be as awesome as the picture below! Hear Hear!

Setlist: Last Man Standing / You Give Love a Bad Name / Born to Be My Baby / We Weren't Born to Follow / Lost Highway / Whole Lot of Leavin' / When We Were Beautiful / It's My Life / I'd Die For You / We Got It Goin' On / Bad Medicine / Hot Legs / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / What Do You Got? / Diamond Ring / I'll Be There For You / Who Says You Can't Go Home / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Have a Nice Day / Keep the Faith

Encore: Dry County / Wanted Dead or Alive / I Love This Town / The More Things Change / Livin' on a Prayer

ps. Thanks to http://www.blameitonthelove.com/ for always proving the setlists!

Toronto ACC First Night! A Night for Valentine's!

2011-02-21T21:57:00.000-08:00

Toronto, Ontario CANADA February 14th 2011

Happy Valentine's Day Toronto!!!

"Well Good Evening Toronto! Thank You for spending Valentine's Night with us!" - Anytime babe...anytime!

Hello Hello! After a sleepless night (if you don’t know why, you might want to scroll down the page a bit to the last post), here we were going to the show with our Soul Package Seat, it’s kinda hard for me to go to a Bon Jovi show not knowing where my seats are... pretty much a wave of anxiety hits me until I find my spot. If you’re a fan you understand… ha!

We got to the arena to find pretty good center stage seats, with a big maple puck hanging up above our heads, pretty much my two favorite things going on at the same time! Ha! I was expecting the show to be pretty amazing, as it always is in Toronto… but also because it was Valentine’s Day and it’d bring a hint of romantic in the air… indeed.

It was awesome to hear the two new songs from the Greatest Hits, “No Apologies” and “The More Things Change” that always comes with a critic of the new Biebers and Gagas around *applause* and Jon holding the guitar saying “This is magic” and how they are getting better with time, just like wine! True Story.

Well now, I am so completely happy to be there for the most stunning version of “Superman Tonite” acoustic with Jon and Richie on the background, I can’t stop listening to it over and over and over… and “My Funny Valentine” was so beautiful and something I never thought I’d listen to live, and for everyone in the arena surprise and delight… “Thank You for Loving Me” after years and years played again! (even sweeter to know it was on our setlist we've given Jon the night before the show! Not saying anything...but just saying ;) And I simply LOVED to watch Jon singing the entire "Pretty Woman" all by himself, he was so playful with the audience all night, but I guess you can’t always have the best seats in the house eh?

Click On : Superman Tonight Acoustic

Click On: My Funny Valentine

Click On: Thank You for Loving Me

Click On: Pretty Woman Entire Song!

During the show there was the Kiss Camera going around and they would spot a couple and they had to kiss, it was pretty cute… my friends Bryan and Sacha are always on the big screen ;) and this time it couldn’t be different! They are the last couple to kiss followed by Jon’s comment “Bon Jovi is like Viagra for women!” It's priceless to see Jon asking for some smooches and even more to make out in front of him! Lordy Lordy!...

Click On: Bon Jovi Kiss Camera

It was the first of our set-of-six Canadian shows, and as usual, Toronto always strikes with awesome Bon Jovi shows! The energy was amazing and you could tell the band was very happy, it was a very special Valentine's Day! Hard to top this one of!

Setlist: Blood on Blood / You Give Love a Bad Name / Born to Be My Baby / We Weren't Born to Follow / In These Arms / Lost Highway / The More Things Change / It's My Life / Runaway / We Got It Goin' On / Oh, Pretty Woman / Bad Medicine / Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor) / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / My Funny Valentine Bed of Roses / Superman Tonight [acoustic] / I'll Be There For You / Who Says You Can't Go Home / No Apologies / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Keep the Faith

Encore: Thank You For Loving Me / Wanted Dead or Alive / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night /
Just Older / Livin' on a Prayer

Toronto Streets - The Come Back!

2011-02-14T12:14:00.000-08:00

Toronto, Ontario CANADA February 13th 2011

Oh to be on the road again with good friends... back to Toronto, where I saw the band last, and waiting for a Valentine’s concert tonight that is certainly going to be special! But, while the show isn’t here...what about some Jon’s moments? What? Yeeeeeeeessss Please!!!!

Sometimes things happen or let me rephrase that, most of the times things happen, when you least expect them to...like last night, sigh... when you literally, by a chance of faith, you see Jon Bon Jovi walking on the cold streets of Toronto with a smile on his face!

So, on another blur moment of mine...I was standing next to Jon, grabbing his arm (because that’s just what I do ha ha) debating whether I should or not have a tattoo on my arm, whaaaat? I know, my very same reaction!

I walked to his direction, a bit more subtle this time...*cough* and said “Hi Jon, can I ask you something?” as someone cut me off for a picture, he looked at me and said “It’s okay honey you’ll have your chance to talk” – Yeah....I know, he’s just THAT amazing!

When whoever was beside him was gone, I was left wondering what I wanted to say in the first place, so I asked him to write on my arm, because I wanted to get a tattoo with his handwriting... and with the most gorgeous smile he said “Noooo! No tattoo!...You’ll regret it when you’re a grandma, No No No!” A.d.o.r.a.b.l.e. much? Yes... but I still wanted my tattoo...so I asked again, pulling my sleeve up and he reached out to put my sleeve down and saying “No tattoooos!” So there I was with nothing on my arm, while everyone else was getting autographs on their books and getting their names spelled ;) giving him presents...

But, after an awesome smile for a group picture... where he could just have walked away...

Jon turned to me and said, “I’ll sign a paper for you” and I had nothing to give to him to sign and was already noticing he was anxy to get out of there, so he turned to my friend and got a book he was giving him as a present ...“Gimme that!” he opened the book, looked at me and said “what’s your name?” *had to think what my name was for a bit there* and he signed on the set list of songs we wanted to give him and tear down the autograph saying “I’ll keep the set list” and I... the completely-in-love-out-of-my-mind-self, was still holding his arm for dear life, looked up to him and said “You’re awesome” ha! So that’s two things I always wanted to tell him :) along came a little smirk smile with a corner of his eyes look and a head wiggle... Holly Blank!

Well, awesome is something that he is... I wouldn’t love him just because... he was nice, adorable, flirty and did things he didn’t have to do for all of us. And for everything that he is... I’ll just keep coming back for more!

Now let's hope our set list wishes are granted by the Master eh?

Ps. In the Picture: Sacha (overwhelmed with happiness), Me, JON, Cassie and Bryan! The fanstastic four and the reason for it all in the middle! ha!

Countdown to the MOST expected one!

2011-01-21T09:35:00.000-08:00

Vancouver, March 25th and 26th 2011

Well, after travelling around to so many places to see Bon Jovi, as they say, there's NO place like HOME!

So let the countdown begin! Bring on Vancouver! We can't wait to have Bon Jovi in our beautiful city!

Toronto Round Number Two! DAMN what a SHOW!

2010-08-02T22:34:00.000-07:00

Toronto, Ontario CANADA July 21th 2010

"This band should be called Rice Crips, you know why? Because there ain't nothing but snap, crackle and pop!"

It’s taking me too long to write about the second show in Toronto because it was the best one I had for a while! First of all, because I had so many friends with me… Ellie (so nice to finally meet you, after Youtubing for almost five years!) Mel, Cassia, Le(finally got to be together for a show, even if just a couple songs), Sachinha and Bryan, everyone in the circle, gotta love having a great time with your friends around!

But again, when your day starts with your picture being autographed… nothing can go wrong…

Second because, it was one of those surreal nights where everything just go your way, front row center, with THE MAN right in front of me…it’s everything I could ask for and more! When you have “Happy Now” opening the show, you already know it’s going to be a heck of a night! From Jon waving at us, pointing at me at “You’ve got a ticket to kick it…” enough to make me drop my brand new camera! From a smile to our Brazilian flag and a very special Canada Flag that I am saving for when they play in MY CITY! : )

The atmosphere of the show was amazing, everyone was way more into it than the first night, and when I heard the first notes of Damned I could just DIE right there… amazing...AMAZING! “If lovin’ you is wrong…I definitely don’t want to be right” My very first time with this song live, this tour is kicking ASS! Gotta say…

To all of the sudden, a cover song, performed by Bon Jovi for the very first time…EVER! History in the making…in front of our eyes again…”Turn the Page” and Jon put so much feeling into it, nothing short than amazing! Then I’ll be there for you part acoustic, part electric…only Jon, his guitar and the crowd going “Ooohhh Ohhhh Ooohhh” and if that’s not enough, here comes “Saturday Night” electric! And Jon going “I am confusing everybody” Just too much love….

A very powerful “Hallelujah” that has easily become one of my favorite cover songs, the emotion is so obvious… you can feel every note, and something started to happen to me in the beginning of Livin’on a Prayer, that I heard live so many times, but still has this inexplicable power of touching me SO MUCH!

Maybe because the lyrics have everything to do with my life right now, or because it was my last show for a while…but I sang so much like I meant it that I started to cry… and then the most amazing moment of this tour happened, right after the song was over, the band was saying their goodbyes and I was holding the Canada Flag and Jon looked at me and I said “I LOVE YOU” and he, with the most amazing smiled said “Well, thank you” followed with a blink.

Click On: Damned!

Click On: Turn the Page

Click On: Jon Thanking Me!

Is there life after that? I am still trying to pick up the pieces…

Setlist: Happy Now / We Weren't Born to Follow / You Give Love a Bad Name / Born to Be My Baby / Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars / In These Arms / Lost HighwayWhen We Were Beautiful / It's My Life / We Got It Goin' On / Damned / Bad Medicine / Oh, Pretty Woman [Roy Orbison cover] / Shout! [Isley Brothers cover] / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / Turn the Page [Bob Seger cover] / (You Want to) Make a Memory / I'll Be There For You / Runaway / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Keep the Faith

Encore: Hallelujah [Leonard Cohen cover] / Wanted Dead or Alive / I Love This Town / Livin' on a Prayer

So that’s a wrap! First leg of the tour was a SUCCESS! Vancouver is waiting for Bon Jovi and we’ll see where the road will take me next!

Stay Tuned and Thanks for Following!

Hello Toronto Round Number One!

2010-07-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

Toronto, Ontario CANADA July 20th 2010

I arrived in Toronto to a very hot summer day, after meeting a friend I didn’t see for year, that I met at a Bon Jovi concert back in 2005, Karyna! She didn’t have a ticket to the show and I couldn’t just leave a fan behind…so off to last minute ticket buying we went and was she ever happy with her present? :)

The show was at Rogers Center, a huge baseball stadium, we were saying we’d rather have like last tours, five shows in the arena, but Jon wanted to play all the venues there in Toronto and what can we do other than show up? Haha he even made a little comment about it during the show.

So, back in the circle! Third row center just the way I love it! The show was pretty amazing, kicking Winnipeg set list ass all the way to Manitoba ha! It was a long show, with four songs in the circle… and oh boy did we ever get a good spot right under Richie’s and beside Jon when they walked over! “Bed of Roses” was amazing with someone giving Jon a rose and “Something for the Pain” was back! In between songs someone asked Jon for an autograph on their earphones and he turned to Matt and said “Gimme” and signed the thing in the middle of the show! Pretty awesome! There were some cute little girls that couldn’t be more than 8 years old singing all the songs and Jon and Richie were in love with them… Jon even said “Hi little sisters!” Melts*

I had the same sign up and it was great to have a wave from Jon like “Hey you!” oh my… Kid Rock joined Bon Jovi for a “Old Time Rock’n’Roll” performance which was pretty cool … and Always electric right up front like that was just the end for a perfect, perfect night!

Click On: Born to Follow

Click On: Gimme! Something from the Pain

Click On: Always!

Setlist: Blood on Blood / We Weren't Born to Follow / You Give Love a Bad Name / Born to Be My Baby / Lost Highway / Runaway / It's My Life / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / We Got It Goin' On / Bad Medicine / Old Time Rock & Roll [Bob Seger cover/feat. Kid Rock] / Love's the Only Rule / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / Bed of Roses / I'll Be There For You / Something for the Pain [acoustic] / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [acoustic] / In These Arms / Work for the Working Man / Have a Nice Day / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Keep the Faith

Encore: Always / Wanted Dead or Alive / Livin' on a Prayer

Big HUG to Mel, Cassia, Leticia, Sachinha and Bryan!

See you on the Road!

Bon Jovi The Circle Tour Backstage!

2010-07-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Circle Tour Summer 2010

This was, by far, one of the coolest experiences of my fan life! So much that I was speechless half of it and sick to my stomach the rest. To be backstage where everything happens, see and touch Richie Sambora’s guitars. Touch and pose with Jon’s mic stand and his favorite guitar with the AP95 in it… be able to look at both of their dressing rooms, sound table, Jon’s stairway to the stage, get to see where they arrive to sound check, the hallway they walk to go on stage… Freakin’Surreal!

Thank You Cassia !

Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada!

2010-07-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Winnipeg, CANADA July 17th 2010

It all started in a dull afternoon just randomly searching for tickets, when those first row tickets stumble at me! And not the other way around ;) Winnipeg, Manitoba. Never really thought about it, but first row is first row and who can let go of that? I remember texting Jen “You gotta come with me, it’s first row” and long story short she decided to come! I was so excited for my first awesome seat this tour and also to meet Jen, I don’t know which of the above set my lack of sleep. Pretty sure both. OH THE FIRST ROW!!!

Jen and I met on YouTube right after Lost Highway Tour, and been talking ever since almost every day without never actually meeting, hence my excitement! When my flight landed, a thunderstorm started almost right after, Jen was already there and so we met! And went straight to our hotel only to find out it was full of Bon Jovi fans as well ha!

We went out to get some after-show-wine and it was so funny how Jen would tell even the cab driver about our first row tickets! Loves! After finishing our banners and packing the cameras off we went to the stadium, we wanted to find our seats and look around, so we did.

Kid Rock entered the stage and OMG is he ever the worst? I don’t know whose idea it was to have him opening to Bon Jovi but seriously… to be front row to the awful lyrics, booze drinking, cigar smoking crap was not a good experience. We were hiding under the Canada flag pretty much the whole thing and laughing our behind off at all the weirdo fans around us… seriously!

So the show finally started and it was so cool to be there… Jon was all flirty checking everyone out, reading banners, and coming our way all the time! At some point I was holding my “Jon Kiss Me” banner and Jen was pointing at it… he came up and opened his eyes wide and made a super cute face to it! The best part was at the very beginning of the show when he was looking at me and I mouthed “I love you” to him… and he smiled back. There, right there, was the first time I actually said it and he was in front of me to see it… ahhh…

When he went walking to the inner circle we both ran and I got to touch his hand, so soft… it was beautiful to be so close! David was great at the keys and because we were kinda in front of him we got lots of smiles, and nods… which was also very cool! You could see that Jon's leg was still buggin' him, he would jump on one leg, and sometimes you could see him limp, but he was still there, smiling, playing, being awesome as only he knows how...At the end of the show we got to walk away with our chairs, and all the way back to the hotel , people asked how we got it, and Jen was sure to tell them how ;)

Jon Rockin' Runaway

Keep the Faith

Back to our hotel room and wine we were uploading pictures, videos and laughing… I crashed at about 3ish in the morning and Jen fell asleep watching her pictures on a slideshow with the notebook on her lap … good times!

Setlist: Blood on Blood / We Weren't Born to Follow / You Give Love a Bad Name / Whole Lot of Leavin' / Born to Be My Baby / Lost Highway / It's My Life / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / We Got It Goin' On / Bad Medicine / Oh, Pretty Woman [Roy Orbison cover] / Shout! [Isley Brothers cover] / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / Bed of Roses / I'll Be There For You / When We Were Beautiful / Runaway / Work for the Working Man / Have a Nice Day / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Keep the Faith

Encore: Wanted Dead or Alive / I Love This Town / Livin' on a Prayer

It was great to have you there with me Chicago! What’s our next stop?

And It's Autographed!

2010-07-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

Before I dive head first into the Canadian Adventures, I just need to share my picture that is now autographed by Jon eh?

Between waiting, plotting moves, speaking in codes, having your stomach twirling, and your sharpie not working, TA-DA! Here is it! Thank you Jonny…this is going to my hall of fame!

Toronto, June 21st 2010

London O2 Arena Round # Five!

2010-07-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

London, England June 13th 2010

"Night Number Five and You're still Alive!!!"

So this was a freaking rock set list to close the five sets of London shows! It was weird not having David on the keys but Jeff Kazee is no short than super cool as well. It was so awesome to have Last Man Standing opening! It brought back HAND Tour memories, plus as we all know, they are the last band standing alright!

As hard as it was to face the last night of shows, I was completely happy with all the new songs and achievements of a fan life this tour has brought me. Out of all I have been so far this one has been the one with the most closeness I have ever had with this band, and I wish every real fan can once have all of these and more in their lifetime. It is amazing to be close, touch, sing and cry with whoever you look up to in your life!

There were some little jokes between the band and the audience, someone had a pair of little maracas and Jon traded his for the little ones and half of Keep the Faith was performed with little cute red maracas haha loved that! Also, something I didn't quite get but it had to do with someone being introduced to Richie after the show Wooooo! I wish...

Those were the best seats we got since the first show, we did have some annoying people walking around spilling beer and I, wasn't so lucky with a spanish creep by my side with no sense of space or cleanse may I add... ouch! But of course we were trying to enjoy as much as possible and to run down and touch Jon’s hand in Bed of Roses with him looking right at me was my highest moments during the show… if I haven't said so a thousand times... London show ROCKS!

I need to add that this Pretty Woman was the hottest one I've ever seen!

Come to me babe...Be mine tonite!

Here's when Jon gets the little red maracas from the audience!

Keep the Faith

Great night, great band! Thanks for the memories…

Setlist: Last Man Standing / We Weren't Born to Follow / You Give Love a Bad Name / Whole Lot of Leavin' / Born to Be My Baby / Lost Highway / Superman Tonight / When We Were Beautiful/ Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars / We Got It Goin' On / Bad Medicine / Oh, Pretty Woman [Roy Orbison cover] / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / (You Want to) Make a Memory / Bed of Roses / Something for the Pain [acoustic] / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [acoustic] / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / It's My Life / Work for the Working Man / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Keep the Faith

Encore: In These Arms / Wanted Dead or Alive / Livin' on a Prayer

Canada Tour Here We Come!

London O2 Arena Round # Four!

2010-07-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

London, England June 11th 2010

“Was anyone here the last three nights? – Insane Scream – Is anyone here for the first time? – Bit of Scream – Is anyone in their first Bon Jovi concert? – Scream – Oh so you’re Bon Jovi Virgins! “

Well Jon, I am definitely, NOT! Another great set list night, although, my legs could no longer rhythm with my will to jump, it takes a work out to keep up with a tour, I’d tell ya!

Now, we didn’t get any Kid Rock opening on the first few nights we went, I am so not a fan of Kid Rock and I don’t understand why he would open for Bon Jovi? Good old days with Goo Good Dolls, Nickelback and Daughtry as opening! Anyway what I was going to say was that good thing we all had our setting seat on the arena because no one could sit through the torture of the openers, seriously?

I remember thinking to myself, well today I am only really freaking out in a couple songs, until “Happy Now” opened the show! Oh MY… as my friend Cassia would say over and over… that was actually such a good show with cool people around us, cheers to the Barcelona girls by our side that traded seats so we could sit together!

I have a thing for “Radio” it reminds me of good times in my life, and I absolutely love when they play it live! And “Pretty Woman” ? Really Jon? Who are you trying to kill with the “Pretty woman yeah yeah yeah…” Soooo beautiful *sigh* Open All Night was a new one to me, never heard t live before, and it was funny we all knew the lyrics and couldn’t remember the title of the song lol until of course the chorus!

Now, if you are a hardcore fan, you will pass out when Jon announces he will play a song like “Let it Rock” especially if you, same as me, haven’t had the luck of being to every tour! That was history in the making in front of my eyes, that almost a decade later they were playing this song, I enjoyed every minute of the tacky piano beginning!

And that was one short from the last…

Click On: Open All Night

Click On: Let it Rock!

Setlist: Happy Now / We Weren't Born to Follow / You Give Love a Bad Name / Born to Be My Baby/ Radio Saved My Life Tonight / Lost Highway / When We Were Beautiful / Raise Your Hands / We Got It Going On / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Bad Medicine / Oh, Pretty Woman [Roy Orbison cover] / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / Open All Night / Diamond Ring / I'll Be There For You / Something for the Pain [acoustic] / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [acoustic] / Let It Rock / It's My Life / Work for the Working Man / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Keep the Faith

Encore: Have a Nice Day / Wanted Dead or Alive / Livin' on a Prayer

Oh, something cute... this was the recording we did on the 3rd or 4th night to David Bryan's Tony Awards! Jon was so cute explaining to the audience what to do and when to make some noise! It was pretty great to be part of it!

Click On: Tony Awards Recording!

London O2 Arena Round # Three!

2010-07-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

London, England June 10th 2010

Say Whaaaaaat? THE BEST set list of the O2 shows in my opinion was this very night! Now I don’t know if it was because I had just taken a picture with Jon in the streets of London and was still feeling the buzz but this show was totally awesome!

Never Say Goodbye, are you kidding me? Never, ever, I thought I’d had the chance to listen to this song live! I love that the band is keeping up to the promise of changing set lists as they know we all go to their shows over and over and so they did playing Hey God (high high), Living in Sin, I’d die for you…

I think that was probably the show I jumped and screamed the most! I am pretty sure I managed to piss off lots of “come-to-the-arena-to-hang” kind of people, well sorry if I make my money worth eh?! It was UNBELIAVABLE we did literally lost half movement of our legs after this show!

Love’s the Only Rule again was one of the high moments of the show, with an incredible performance by Jon that makes the song grow on you, when you realize you’re so into it you can’t believe! He did walk in the circle again, touching hands, singing along… *sigh*

This was also the day I met my good friend Jo at the arena, we arrived early to walk around and see the When We were Beautiful Bon Jovi expo and I bumped into her, we met back in the HAND tour at Milton Keynes! So happy to see you girl! It had been a long time…

More? Hit Me! And YES it is my voice on the the videos singing along lol

Click On: Never Say Goodbye!

Click On: Bad Case - Hot Hot JON!

Click On: Livin in Sin!

Setlist: Blood on Blood / We Weren't Born to Follow / You Give Love a Bad Name / Whole Lot of Leavin' / Born to Be My Baby / Lost Highway / When We Were Beautiful / Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars / We Got It Goin' On / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Bad Medicine / Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor) [Robert Palmer cover] / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / Living in Sin / Chapel of Love [Dixie Cups cover] / I'll Be There For You / Never Say Goodbye [acoustic] / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [acoustic] / Hey God / I'd Die For You / Work for the Working Man / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Keep the Faith

Encore #1: It's My Life / Love's the Only Rule

Encore #2: Wanted Dead or Alive / Livin' on a Prayer

London O2 Arena Round # Two!

2010-06-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

London, England June 8th 2010

"Night Number 2 at the O2!!" little British humor from Jon!
After a great ice-breaking show here we go to the second and in my opinion most amazing O2 night! Jon was ON FIRE and the whole band was awesome!...

But allow me to re-cap this day if I may, we woke up to walk around the city and everything was going smoothly until we decided to go to the front of the hotel to watch the band go out and get in the van to go to their sound check (and maybe snag a picture? ) so there we were along with other fans and some EBay people (the ones that are never nervous and always get the autographs).

As I stated before I wanted a picture with Jon so there I was standing for a long 30 minutes waiting and waiting and my stomach swirling of anticipation! I was so not born to stand in front of hotels, anyway… so the band comes out and Jon stands on the other side, when I look Richie is literally walking to my direction (I don’t know about you but that doesn’t happen to me everyday) so I hug him and say “Hey Richie, can I have a picture? “ As nice as Richie always is, he goes “Sure, a quick one tough” and hugs me back…

Of course I was happy to not only have a hug but a picture taken with the best guitar player out there but it was just in time to miss Jon getting in the van, as a Jon girl, you know what it means? Meltdown in the streets of London…poor Mel and Cassia were trying to console me and afraid of saying anything at the same time to my “Why? Why didn’t I wait for Jon? I mean he was coming to my direction!” repeat mode!

Well after that it was downhill, sequences of little facts that make us laugh now but that was hilarious slash tragical when happened. We finally got to the arena with a very center good seat and managed to squeeze together ;) ( Can I just say here, I mean if people want to go to a Bon Jovi show and just “hang out” that’s totally fine by me but don’t stare at the jumping, singing happy people aka us by their side!)

So back to what matters, the show… was amazing, the energy was high and Jon was so happy and going, even much more than usual! That was the night I started to get my legs sore from jumping so much and my voice started to go bye bye… but oh MAN was it ever worth!..

The opening with Last Man Standing brought me back to the HAND Tour, with two encores and one the most amazing Bed of Roses I’ve ever seen with Jon touching hands and laying down on the floor, plus Always electric and Dry County! And may I just say I looooove Keep the Faith with Sympathy! Definitely the best night for me!

Click On: Amazing Bed of Roses

Click On: Dry County

Setlist: Last Man Standing / We Weren't Born to Follow / You Give Love a Bad Name /Just Older / Born to Be My Baby / Lost Highway / Superman Tonight / Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars / We Got It Going On / Bad Medicine / Hot Legs [Rod Stewart cover] / It's My Life / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / (You Want To) Make a Memory / Bed of Roses / Diamond Ring / Something for the Pain [acoustic] / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [acoustic] / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Runaway / Work for the Working Man / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Keep the Faith / Sympathy for the Devil [Rolling Stones cover]

Encore #1: Dry County/ Wanted Dead or Alive

Encore #2: Always / Livin' on a Prayer

London O2 Arena Round # One!

2010-06-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

London, England June 7th 2010

Welcome to The Circle Tour! Some were able to be at all the 12 O2 Arena nights with great atmosphere and knock-out set lists, me?! Well… I had my share of them! I don’t know how many times I have said this here but London Bon Jovi Shows ROCK! So I do, yes, I rather fly far and get better setlists than go to my neighbors downstairs and get the same old thing. So off to England we go!

Having your flight arriving at the day of the show, is probably not a good idea, but neither is to have a ticket with an airline that goes on strike around the time you are flying and a very awake volcano! But despite of it all, we made it! Even if it means you have to roll out the plane, not check your bags and dodge the immigration to be on time. Or even take your luggage to the arena ;) that was a new one!

It is so exciting, after you had a long dry spell, to see the band live again! The opening with Blood on Blood was something I had never experienced before and although this entire backstage- seat-mess-up situation was a bummer, my seats were pretty good.

Love’s the Only Rule was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen and I wish I had royal money and could afford in the circle seats (let me leave a note here, as a diehard fan that for the first time ever had lots of not-so-fans in front of me. Come on with these prices already!) with Jon walking around the circle singing, high fiving and kissing everyone…THUD! My day will come eventually… Believe me!

Richie pulled of an awesome Lay Your Hands on Me, also a first timer for me and I could just fall to the floor on Something for the Pain! For whoever is seating floor, the highlight got to be the three or four acoustic songs where they get way closer to you, I know I loved it! And it doesn’t matter how many time I have I’ll be There for You it always knocks me!...

Click On: Ooooh Oooh I'll Be There for You!

It was a good opening night! I really needed all that energy, jumping and singing along… no need to say that Livin on a Prayer might be just the perfect ending song that leaves you begging for more! Hit Me!

Setlist: Blood on Blood / We Weren't Born to Follow / You Give Love a Bad Name / Whole Lot of Leavin' / Born to Be My Baby / Lost Highway / When We Were Beautiful / Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars / We Got It Goin' On / Bad Medicine / Roadhouse Blues [The Doors cover] /It's My Life / Love's the Only Rule / Lay Your Hands on Me [Richie Sambora on lead vocals] / Hallelujah [Leonard Cohen cover] / I'll Be There For You / Something for the Pain [acoustic] / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [acoustic] / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Work for the Working Man / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Keep the Faith

Encore: In These Arms / Wanted Dead or Alive / Livin' on a Prayer

The Three Musketeers!

Say Cheese!

2010-06-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

London, June 9th 2010!

Now before I write about my London O2 shows, I need to make a statement: I, now, have a picture with Jon Bon Jovi, the one, the only, the amazing singer, songwriter, best lead singer in the world and the owner of the gorgeous smile you can see in the picture ;) ! Aaaaahhhh!!!! Still doing a happy dance for one of the highest moments in MY LIFE!

So here’s how it all went, I had spent the day in Oxford and by the time I went back to London I was so beat up that I went straight to my hotel to crash in bed… BUT a little German bird knocked on my door with only one sentence “I Know where they are!” so off we went, holding our cameras and breaths at that London tube, it never felt so LONG to get from one point to the other in my life.

In one of those surreal moments in life when the friend that came back to you, the bus you miss, the train that leaves two seconds after you step in it, the shower you didn’t turn on by one second, the tube train that took just long enough, the right exit you take…to be exactly where you’re supposed to be to walk (literally) into the whole band of Bon Jovi crossing the road to your direction.

I, completely by impulse, crossed the road without even checking the light just to grab Jon’s arm and kinda push him to the left a little ( he couldn’t get away from me even if he wanted to lol ) and ask “Joooon, can I take a pictuuuure? “ now, I don’t know if it was either my desperate, almost crying tone of voice or whatever but he did repeat after me “Can yooouu take a pictuuure?” How priceless is it to be mocked by Jon? I loooooove it!...

After the “Sure, alright” from him I believe Mel had already taken the shot and I was still squeezing his arm so strong ( I didn’t even realize ) and I cannot recall where my other hand was haha! I thanked him and he smiled at me with “You’re welcome” and walked on leaving me speechless and yet with SO MUCH I wanted to say! Mel got her picture as well, he stopped and leaned to her (sigh) with a “Come on! Oh I am waiting for the lights, alright” short before looking at me and saying “Hurry up”! If he only knew how bad I was already shaking ,to tell me to hurry up, seriously Jon?

It was all very fast and a blur, but it happened! He walked on to leave us flipping out on the corner (Narnia as I call it) holding the camera, screaming, holding each other, crying... (repeat)!

Well, if anything was every worth in this trip, was this priceless picture, for me, the best picture in the world! Still out of breath and so forever thankful!

Ps.AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

The Last One! Twick Night 2, London, England!

2010-06-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

London, England June 28th 2008

And off we went to our last show of the tour. It’s bitter sweet to get to this day, after almost 45 days backpacking across Europe, meeting people from all over the world, sightseeing and having the time of our lives with the Bon Jovi shows.

It was, no doubt about it, one of the best summers of my life! And here we were on the last one, always the hardest, after that we would all go our separate ways, back home. So you can tell by my tone, that everyone was a bit emotional, thankful, happy but emotional.

The show was AMAZING, one of the best setlists ever! I was second row, right close to my German friends Sandy and Stefi and despite a very annoying woman trying to steal my spot – we got her back to her place once we started to jump on her lol – it was all awesome!

A show that starts with Rockin’all over the World can only take you higher… I Believe was the best freaking song live I could ever ask for, when the first notes started I thought I’d faint! It’s not as touching for me as These Days but it’s my tattoo, it’s my word, it’s from one of Bon Jovi best albums and the tour I had never been! Twist and Shout was so awesome to close the show… perfect ending to a perfect tour! I can still remember standing so close to the band and thinking when I’d have the same opportunity again, if anyone can ever be in one show I double recommend London, the best setlists and one of Jon’s bet moods guaranteed!

For everyone that was on the road with me, everyone I met along the way, there’s no need to name you but you’ll be forever part of my memories!

A even greater THANK YOU to JON (for your lyrics, songs and smile), Richie, David and Tico! The legend, the last band standing!

Click On: I Believe!!!

Setlist: Rockin' All Over This World / Lost Highway / Born to be My Baby / You Give Love a Bad Name / Summertime / Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Mercy / Jumpin Jack Flash / Blood Money / Blaze of Glory / Any Other Day / In These Arms / We Got it Going On / It's My Life / Keep the Faith / I'll Be There for You (Richie Vox) / Have a Nice Day / I Believe / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Bad Medicine / Shout / Livin' on a Prayer

Encore: Always / Wanted Dead or Alive / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night / I Love This Town / Twist and Shout

Twick Night 1, London, England!

2010-06-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

London, England June 27th 2008

London Town! One more time, one of the best shows ever! The band played two sold out nights at the Twickenham Stadium in London, this time for a change, it was actually in the city and a walking distance from the tube so no major problems going in and out or arriving early to get the fan club number on your hand! Those were the days…! lol

It’s funny how while you’re waiting hours to get in you meet people from all over the world that have one thing in common with you Bon Jovi! And you end up talking, laughing and making new friends, I like that!

So the line up started to move and we went to another line up to get our tickets until finally the gates opened and there’s the rush of seeing that empty floor with that massive stage and you can just go and get your spot so close to the band! I miss golden circle times!

Our seat was pretty AWESOME, we were very lucky this past tour, most of the shows we didn’t have anyone blocking our view, jumping on us or trying to easy their way in, except one, but that’s a story still to come!

Never thought in my life I'd get the CLASSIC Bon Jovi Show setlist start... Livin'on a Prayer followed by Bad Name, that alone already gets you to the ground! The best song live in the world as the opening song is a Killer! Extremely happy I was there for it...

The show, the atmosphere and everything else was just awesome, I love London! And for those who don’t know my “These Days” freak out, when the first note of Diamond Ring started to play with Richie and Jon singing together on the mic, that was love right there! Followed by Always and In These Arms...*THUD*

There’s somenthing in the air that makes you jump, scream, sing and cry twice as hard when it’s almost your last show of the tour, you’re not really sure when you’ll see your friends and the band live again so you just want to scream an extra notch to be on the safe side…

It was a great, very hot, British summer day and worth every second of it!

Click Here:
Diamond Ring

Setlist: Livin' on a Prayer / Bad Name / Lost Highway / Born to be my Baby / Captain Crash / I'll Sleep when I'm Dead / Twist and Shout / Blaze of Glory / Whole lot of Leavin'/ Diamond Ring / Always / In These Arms / We've got it goin'on / It's my Life / I'll be There for You / Dry County / Have a Nice Day / Keep the Faith / Who Says you can't go Home / Bad Medicine / Shout

Encore: Hallelujah / Wanted Dead or Alive

Kiss Me I'm Irish, Dublin, Ireland!

2010-06-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

Dublin, Ireland June 7th 2008

Kiss Me I’m Irish… whoever was on the show on that June Saturday Night gets the joke ;)

The show was a good one, it’s good to see the band playing really huge spaces and it was such a beautiful day! They were really excited and Jon was mentioning how he loved Ireland and that Irish girls were crazy and he should know because he married one of them! Saturday Night was one of the highlights of the night for me and of course, Bed of Roses was the most beautiful one I've ever seen, Always was AMAZING and what can I say about These Days to end the night? (big sigh)

Poor Jon had hayfever, was blowing his nose all the time, sneezing, drinking tea and still on his feet for the twenty-five songs they played. One of the reasons that he's THE best frontman out there and can put on a show anywhere in the world with the same passion and get crowds on their feet in a little bar or a freakin' desert (in our case racetrack)! Gotta LOOOOVE this man!

I would like to be able to say that the Dublin show was everything I expected it to be. But I cannot, intense, haha! For starters the show wasn’t in Dublin, but some racehorse place outside of the city called Punchestown. Of course, when you hear an interview with Jon saying one of his favorite places to play is indeed Dublin you run and get yourself tickets for a massive sold out concert …

But I believe it had a lot to do with the circumstances, no one likes a drunken audience puking all over your shoes on a beer stinking air, or a crazy person crashing the stage and – no mean to offend, but I know no other way to describe it – dry humping Jon and to top it off flipping everyone on her way out. Classy.

It was good to be there with my girls tough, camping out since 7am to get a good spot, and that we did! First row and Brazilian Flag well centered! Too bad I missed Eli, my good Irish friend, but her and I were only couple rows away from each other and didn’t know.

The set list was pretty long and the show ended at almost 10pm, the buses were very well organized on the way back to the city besides the bumpy ride... Maybe we need more of Irish luck next time!

Setlist: Lost Highway / Born To Be My Baby / Bad Name / Raise Your Hands / Captain Crash / Just Older / Sleep when I'm Dead / Mercy / Start me Up / Whole Lot Of Leavin' / Blaze of Glory / In These Arms / Bed of Roses / We've Got It Goin' On / It's My Life / Keep the Faith / I'll Be There For You - Richie Sambora Vocals / Have a Nice Day / Saturday Night / Who Says you can't Go Home / Livin'on a Prayer

Encore: Hallelujah / Wanted Dead or Alive / Bad Medicine with Shout / Rocking All Over The World / These Days

Click On:
I will love you babe, Always!

This show deserves some camping shots!
Shout Out for all of you with me at the Show! See most of you REAL soon!

Cassinha, Mel and I!

Stuttgart, Last Stop in Germany!

2010-05-30T22:46:00.000-07:00

Stuttgart, Germany May 29th 2008

Oh Stuttgart! We took a road trip from Munich, but of course, easy was a word NOT used for to get to the stadium… Some of us were arriving from Hamburg, where we saw the previous show, some were already in Munich and we had a meeting point. Sure enough, when five people are meeting at a certain place at a certain time something has to happen, like, gettin’ lost at the airport, not being able to find each other at the gate, cell phones not connecting, trains departures and you get the picture!

By the time we were all together in the car, we found out there was a construction on the road (I wish I was kidding) so we were not only late but we’d be so much more because of the traffic (story of my life). The thing was, we needed to pick up our tickets at the backstage table that would close any minute and we’d end up with no tickets and outside of the stadium! So, trying to keep our hopes up and with our super driver Mel ;) and Oli (the only one in the car not crazy about Bon Jovi) to calm us down!

Long story short, we got there ten minutes before the table closed, and in between parking, finding the right entrance and getting lost a couple times, we got there to find the tickets and all the backstage members already in! So off we went, to a not so good start of a show that’d turn out to be one of the best setlists ever played! Phew!

Now…I don’t know how to describe what it feels to have “Drift Away” played live to you by your most favorite band followed by Livin’on a Prayer, Livin’in Sin and Wild is he Wind. If you are a fan and have a heart beating on your chest… that was the place to be! I believe I went to Heaven and back on the "Gimme the beat boys and free my soul! I wanna get lost in your Rock and Roll and Drift Away!" If you are a fan, you have this on your Ipod from a bootleg show in the 80's! I know I do! This has been, no doubt about it, one of the best shows I’ve ever been, among the hush and the crowded golden circle, it kept on my feet the whole show and it was the perfect ending to the great country of Germany!

Click On: Drift Away Bay Bay!
BTW you can totally hear us on the video! I am sure Cassia will recognize it! lol "Ai meu Deeeeeeus"

Now this is what I call AN AWESOME setlist!

Setlist: Lost Highway / Born to be my baby / Bad Name / Raise your Hands / Runaway / Rocking all over the World/ Sleep when I'm Dead / Mercy / Start me up / Last Night / Whole lot of leavin' / In These Arms / Make a Memory / Captain Crash / We've got it goin'on / It's my Life / Keep the Faith / I'll be there for you (RS Vocals) / Bounce / Have a Nice Day / Who said you can't go home / Bad medicine / Shout / Drift away / Living on a Prayer

Encore: Living in Sin / Wild is the Wind / Wanted Dead or Alive / Any Other Day

Olli and I on our Road Trip!
"Told ya you were going to like the show!"

Hamburg, Germany!

2010-05-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

Hamburg, Germany May 28th 2008

I guess looking at it, I can say I have followed Bon Jovi across Germany. It is the country I have traveled around the most and got to see different cities and awesome shows! Go Germany Go! We had couple days off back in Munich (our base camp) before we took off to Hamburg. In a very little shaken Lufthansa airplane, that part I remember very well.

Getting in and out of Hamburg was very easy and all organized, we went to the stadium by train and had to walk SO MUCH in this trail to get to the fan club line-up! And as we already expected, line ups and lots of sitting before the band started, I remember now that there was this Italian singer opening in Europe hahaha and by the third show we already knew her songs, so funny to have this flash of memory now!

Hamburg was a very good show, we got second row and got to see couple songs on the first row when some girls went up the stage! Far to be the greatest show in Germany, hard to beat Munich I tell ya! It was wonderful to have Joey live for the first time, Hey God, Livin’ in Sin, In These Arms and Saturday Night were the highlights for sure, totally worth the wait, the sun, the flight, I remember every time we were waiting for hours in line (I mean we didn’t have to but we wanted good seats) I would say the same thing “You know, this is the last tour I am doing this, I want arena shows with my seat waiting for me at the time of the show”, funny how it would all fade when the first note of Bon Jovi soar in the air…

Not to mention Hallelujah live for the first time, I was not crazy about this song at all until I heard it sung by Jon live, the high notes, his moves, the way he moves in you with this song is something that gotta be witnessed to be understood ;)

Here it is, see for yourself!
Hallelujah!

Good one boys! Now off to the second best show in Germany… Stuttgart!

Setlist: Lost Highway / Born to be my Baby / Bad Name / Summertime / Sleep when I'm Deade (Mercy and Glory Days) / I'd die for You / In These Arms / Joey / Whole lot of Leavin' / I Got the Girl / Captain Crash / We've Got it Goin' On / It's my Life / Keep the Faith / I'll be There for You / Hey God / Who Says you can't go Home / Have a Nice Day / Bad Medicine (Shout) / Livin'on a Prayer
Encore: Livin'in Sin / Saturday Night / Hallelujah / Wanted Dead or Alive

Leipzig (Where?), Germany!

2010-05-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

Leipzig, Germany May 25th 2008

You know those places in the world that not only you never knew it existed, but you’d most probably never set foot in your life? Well, welcome to Leipzig, Germany! Right after Munich, we took off for our second Germany round! We got to the airport around eleven in the morning and ran to get the train straight to the stadium, I remember I complained about the waiting under the sun, and the brutal line ups and this and that, but I am sure gonna miss it for this tour!

When we got to the stadium we were a bit late already, there were many people in line and we still had to get our tickets, oh well, first line up here we go! As we stood waiting for our time I spotted Matt, who was giving away wristbands to some of the fan club people in line, he was doing that every show, just picking random people and taking them to the stage for couple songs, it was all very quiet tough, you couldn’t really tell, but I saw him doing that in Munich so I decided to try something…

I had my backstage member card with me and went to ask him for an autograph as he was giving away wristbands, I didn’t ask for wristbands, but as he was signing my card, he look at me and said “Here we go” and that’s how my friends, I got to go on stage that night! Thanks Matt!

We went in and got pretty good place, I think we were about third row center, the stadium was full and there was no space anywhere, everyone stood up even before the show started and apparently in Leipzig, you can smoke in crowded places where there’s no air to breathe! URGH…the leading up to the show was truly horrible!... By the time the show started we were all exhausted from breathing smoke and standing under the heat!

The setlist was far to be one of the best ones, Munich one kicked this one ass by a distance… but for me it was worth to experience Livin’on a Prayer on stage and the These Days live one more time in my life…! I’ll never forget that look and smile which you can see clicking down here!

Click On:

Livin'on a Prayer on Stage!

Setlist: Lost Highway / Born To Be My Baby / Wild In the Streets / Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars / You Give Love A Bad Name / Summertime / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / (You Want To) Make A Memory / Whole Lot of Leavin' / These Days / We Got It Goin' On / It's My Life / Keep the Faith / I'll Be There For You (Richie on vocals) / Last Man Standing / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Have A Nice Day / Bad Medicine / Livin' On A Prayer

Encore: I'd Die For You / Wanted Dead Or Alive

Just because he got me on Stage \o/

Oh Muenchen, Germany!

2010-04-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

Munich, Germany May 24th 2008

When I decided to go backpackin' across Europe, it happily coincide with Lost Highway summer tour, so me and a couple friends decided to match our sightseeing with some rock and roll! And little did I know I was in for the best summer of my life!

First stop of the trip was Munich, Germany to visit my good friend Mel (my show mate and partner in crime ;) I fell in love with the city and everything else in there… but what I really need to say is that this was, so far, THE BEST show of my life!

Olympic Stadium is a show itself, it is the most beautiful stadium I have ever seen and although I’ll keep this part of the story for few, we did get center stage first row and it is the best feeling and seat in the world, I cannot describe what this show was other than amazing.

To quote the best lead singer ever words "It doesn't get any better than that" There was no one between us and the band! Nothing across, the closest I have ever been to this band live and it was pretty magical, I am absolutely sure Mel and I share the same opinion ;) it was worth every skype meeting to plan and organize every single day of it, just to get to this very moment and stand proud on the most worth first row in the planet! Danke! Danke!

The show started just in time, it was awesome to have ”Lost Highway” as an opening song, it was so powerful and great… the Sleep When I’m dead had couple little breaks to Richie playing random songs for Jon to be the hottest as he could be with Mercy and Start me up…taking the crowd high! My personal favorite from the album “Whole lot of leavin’” was so beautiful… an let’s just put it that way, I never thought I’d have the change of seeing “Hey God” live but there it was right in front of me…literally!

And then it started to rain, to make everything even more awesome! I still can hear Jon sayin… ”It wouldn’t be Munich if it didn’t have the rain…those are the angels crying because they couldn’t get to a sold out Bon Jovi concert” Awwww!...The very best “Livin’on a Prayer”I could ever ask for and to top it off “Twist and Shout”! If there’s ever one show that I wish I could relive it would most definitely be Munich…and I would do it all over again!

Setlist: Lost Highway / Born To Be My Baby / You Give Love A Bad Name / Raise Your Hands / Just Older / Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (with Mercy & Start Me Up) / Always / Whole Lot of Leavin' / In These Arms / Runaway / We Got It Goin' On / Hey God / It's My Life / Keep the Faith / I'll Be There For You (Richie on vocals) / Blaze of Glory / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night / Who Says You Can't Go Home / Have A Nice Day / Bad Medicine / Livin' On A Prayer

Encore:I Love This Town / Twist & Shout / Wanted Dead Or Alive / Blood On Blood

Click On:
Livin'on a Prayer bay bay!

Danke Mel! It was an awesome show and I know we would never get half way we got if it wasn’t for your magical ways ;)

Who Needs Wembley? 2nd Nite

2010-04-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

Milton Keynes, England June 11th 2006

After being moved from Wembley to Milton Keynes with really short notice, some of us (including me) got stranded in the middle of nowhere, so after the show was over, even looking for a hotel nearby was not a choice, it was all full… after a lot of walking we found a fan camp side! lol for me that was a first, some very prepared people even had tents, pillows, blankets, pretty impressive. We, well, had our jackets and our flags to wrap around and try to sleep a bit on the grass waiting for the next morning… it was a really rough night but we made it through and woke up the next day to get a really good spot in the fan club line for the show at night. Sometimes I wonder if this band EVER realize that they do have the most faithful fans ever, that follow them around and go through a lot…

I was very tired that day, it was very hot and none of us had slept and eaten a lot, definitely a lesson learned for me, either book a bed or bring a tent! DO NOT ever go to a show without a backup plan. Noted. So, since I had some free time and decided to make a sign to bring to the show, it was my very last show on the tour, and I really wanted to listen to “These Days” one of my favorite songs ever that they were playing every other show only never on the ones I was at! Figures the luck eh?

Now, I am sorry to report that while Nickelback was opening the show, I was sitting down saving the tiny rest of my energy for Bon Jovi, and when they hit the stage, it was like all the sleepless night, and hours waiting under the sun just faded… Jon is, by far, the best lead singer I’ve ever seen, he engages you in the almost three hours show and it’s the best freakin’ show on the planet! And that’s not just my opinion…

And yeah…they did play “These Days”! One of the last songs, and I CANNOT describe the feeling I got when the first notes of the keyboard started to play! It was the perfect ending to my very first Bon Jovi Tour, and just the beginnin’ of much more…

We’ll see you back for Lost Highway!

Setlist: Keep On Rockin' In the Free World (Neil Young cover) / You Give Love A Bad Name / Wild In the Streets / Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars / Born To Be My Baby / Story of My Life / Bounce / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (Dancing In the Streets) / Runaway / Just Older / In These Arms / Have A Nice Day / Who Says You Can't Go Home / It's My Life / Bells of Freedom / Always (acoustic) / I'll Be There For You (electric, Richie on vocals) / Everyday / Bad Medicine (Shout) / Raise Your Hands / Livin' On A Prayer

Encore: Blood On Blood / Wanted Dead Or Alive / These Days / Last Man Standing / Keep the Faith

Click On:

My very first These Days!

I would like to give a Shout to the lifetime friends I made this tour and also to everyone I met along the way, that were there with me and for me on some of the best days of our lives, Cassia Morais, Cassia Cajao, Sandy and all the German girls, Stefi, Susan, Joanne, Luca and much more... I am sure we'll meet again!

Who Needs Wembley? First Nite

2010-04-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

Milton Keynes, England June 10th 2006

Gotta love London shows... all I have to say. It was supposed to be Wembley Stadium, as everyone knows, a classic for Bon Jovi. And so it was when I got my tickets, but then, the stadium wasn’t ready in time for the show, so they shipped us, to Milton Keynes, literally in the middle of nowhere in England’s countryside.

Wembley would have been nice, but I can’t complain about Milton Keynes, they had buses to take us in and out of the bowl, and everything was very organized. What I like about European shows is that the earlier you get there the closest to the stage you are, and back when being a backstage member was still worthwhile, we were the first ones to get there, no matter how early the non member arrived, we would always be the first ones to enter the venue.

The hush you feel when the gates open and you can “run in a organize way” (not so much for me) lol is priceless, it has also its down sides of course, you do have a lot of waiting, you get tired with the sun on your head all day and sometimes, well it’s not that organized… but we work with what we have and Milton Keynes worked for me! I got second row center stage both nights and it was pretty unbelievable! I had some girls kinda with me, they were doing their own travelling so we didn’t really sit together, but I did meet people from all over the world around me, Joanne is one of them, she’s from London and we had a blast together at the show! Hope to see you again this summer :) and of course, my friend Sandy (the one I met in Toronto) was there with a couple friends as well) Good Times!

The show was absolutely amazing, to be that close to the stage for the very first time was awesome, and the open air summer shows bring you more energy than usual, Nickelback was opening in Europe and that itself already rocked, until Bon Jovi gets on stage and you kinda forget about anything else… “Rockin’all over the World” couldn’t really fit me better back then, and it’s so much fun live!... “In These Arms” was so great, with Jon running across the Gold Circle and doing his classic little jump at the very end and David singing part of the song, “The boys are back in town” got me off my feet, they had so much fun playing it, and it’s just a classic to any Bon Jovi fan… It was also the first time with Richie singing “I’ll be there for You” electric by himself, I do love Richie and the version of him singing alone is very powerful, but I do wish Jon could stick to it…

Throughout the show Jon made a couple little jokes about Wembley Stadium, you could tell he was not very happy about it...who needs Wembley anyway? The only thing that matters is the band that played the shows...who cares where? I most certain do not!

Click On:

I feel Gooooood!

Setlist: Last Man Standing / Rockin' All Over The World (John Fogerty cover) / You Give Love A Bad Name / Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars / I'd Die For You / Born To Be My Baby / Story of My Life / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Runaway / The Radio Saved My Life Tonight / In These Arms / Have A Nice Day / Who Says You Can't Go Home / It's My Life / The Boys Are Back In Town (Thin Lizzy cover) / Bells of Freedom / I'll Be There For You (electric, Richie on vocals) / Complicated / Bad Medicine / Raise Your Hands / Livin' On A Prayer

Encore: Living In Sin / Blood On Blood / Wanted Dead Or Alive / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night / Keep the Faith

On the Bon Jovi Bus to Milton Keynes!

Hard to get South...

2010-04-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

Southampton, England June 9th 2006

I try not to give this one a lot of thought, because it was the most stressful pre-show I ever had. I was working in London for the summer. Oh Looondon <3 My boyfriend, back then, wanted to make me a big surprise and decided to take me to the Southampton show that summer. I was very grateful, of course, he bought us both a ticket, I don’t know how much I support taking a boyfriend to a Bon Jovi show with you, but eh…

So, I was living in South London back then and he went to pick me up, we got in the car at around 3pm so we’d have plenty of time to get to the shore, well so we thought… as we were leaving the house, we got lost, well he got lost, about three times till get to the right road…but that’s fine, we still had enough time. If it wasn’t for, of course, the traffic coming out of London for the hush hour, it took us about two hours to get half way to Southampton, where in regular hours would only take thirty minutes, could you picture my happy face sitting in the car?

“I told you we should have taken the train” was basically the only sentence I said while stuck in traffic, and when things are not supposed to work, they just don’t… as soon as we got off the jam, this weird smoke starts to come out of the car… and there we are, stopped by the road, about 15 minutes away from the city, trying to get the car to cool off so we could keep driving… now I knew that the opening band was already playing, I also knew I couldn’t just have a meltdown right there or he would just leave me by the road (maybe it wouldn’t be that bad of idea, I could have taken a ride lol)

By the time the car started again, we were so late already, and I was about to cry…not kidding. When we got across the bridge to enter the city, right by the stadium, I could hear Bon Jovi playing on the background…so we parked the car just anywhere and ran, ran so fast that I couldn’t feel my legs anymore, the show had already started and we were on the opposite gate of our tickets.

OH MY G… just remembering this makes me want to scream and punch someone, but the guy at the door, seeing my desperate state of mind let me in, to the floor…very close to the stage, well after all that stress we did have a good show, I can’t remember what song I got to hear first and all the rest is kind of a blur, plus I forgot my camera in the car lol

I guess we all have to have a hard-to-get once. Southampton was not that good to me, but good thing I had two nights of Milton Keynes ahead of me! HA!...The comeback…

Setlist: Last Man Standing / Rockin' All Over the World (John Fogerty cover) / You Give Love A Bad Name / Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars / I'd Die For You / Born To Be My Baby / Story of My Life / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Runaway / The Radio Saved My Life Tonight / In These Arms / Have A Nice Day / Who Says You Can't Go Home / It's My Life / I'll Be There For You (electric, Richie on vocals) / Complicated / Bad Medicine / Raise Your Hands / Livin' On A Prayer

Encore: Bells of Freedom / Wanted Dead Or Alive / Everyday / Keep the Faith

Here's to Toronto Round #3!

2010-04-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

Toronto, Canada January 24th 2006

This show was special for me because it was my very last day in Canada for a while and I had no idea when in my life I’d be able to see Bon Jovi live again, it’s like this really good moment in your life that you want to frame it and be in forever… I was sitting with a friend of mine, his name is Mike, and not only he had great seats and shared them with me but he also got us on stage! Back then we could still walk around the arena asking the crew or any Universal staff for wristbands that were leftovers from radio station contests, you didn’t have to buy any crazy expensive package to get on stage, it was free, a gift from the band… where did this time go?

We were group 3 to go on stage I believe, and they told us to go to the right side of the stage when the band was playing their eighth song, but of course, if you want to be first on the pit, you gotta go to the side stage at about the sixth song, or you get really far away in line to get up…so off we went. When we were about half way there I realized I went up on the right side already and it wasn’t so great, you have like three people blocking your Jon view… really… Hugh, Bob and Dave distracting you, so I had a black marker with me and TA-DA! All of the sudden I had an L on my wristband, oh boy the luck! lol

For the Sambora Fans it’s a dream view right there, I was about three feet away from him, if so, and Richie’s so awesome and came to our pit to shake our hands and I asked him for his guitar pick and got it…gotta love him! After the three songs we headed back to ours seats to “Bells of Freedom” and the highest part of the show for me…”Heroes” by Bowie, it was the most perfect way to close three great shows!

Livin’on a Prayer is my ultimate favorite song live, and everytime, I mean it, E-V-E-R-Y-T-I-M-E this song plays on every concert I scream, smile, jump, cry and I go to the highest of heights I’ve ever been in any concert. The feeling of everyone singing the same lyrics together when the band stops playing, is something I am a completely junk for, and will go, around the world after…ditto.

Oh...and the Acoustic of Saturday Night...

Setlist: Last Man Standing / You Give Love A Bad Name / Complicated / Wild In the Streets / The Story of My Life / Everyday / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Born To Be My Baby / Just Older /Bells of Freedom / Have A Nice Day / Who Says You Can't Go Home / It's My Life / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night (acoustic) / Blaze of Glory (acoustic) / Bed of Roses (acoustic) / Bad Medicine / Raise Your Hands / Livin' On A Prayer

Encores: Welcome To Wherever You Are / Last Cigarette / Wanted Dead Or Alive / Heroes (David Bowie cover) / Bounce / Runaway / Treat Her Right

Guess Who?

Here's to Toronto Second Round!

2010-04-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

Toronto, Canada January 23rd 2006

The day in between shows is always great, you get to walk around thinking and talking about all the excitement the night before knowing that you’ll have it all again the next day! So I was, walking around Yonge Street and listening to Wild is the Wind live from the other night and having a great day with Karen, a Canadian born and Brazilian by heart friend of mine from Toronto!

We met online, through a friend, and we are completely the same and the opposite at the same time! We have lots of things in common, including Jovi love, she’s one of those people that stick with you in life… We had met the previous night for the first show and she did literally save my ass ;)

Toronto second night was amazing! I had floor seats right in the middle, I gotta say here that Arena shows are so intimate and cozy, I miss one of those… so off we go to another start, back on the HAND Tour, for the arena shows, they had this little stage back on the floor of the arena where Jon would open with a flash of light and “Last Man Standing” I remember the reaction of everyone not knowing where to look and where he was at…pretty awesome, so knowing that I chose to hang out close to this little stage before the beginning of the show, of course the friendly security wouldn’t allow anyone out of their seats, unless… you hid in the washroom until the notes start and come out running to grab the fence than no one will bother you… it took me a few tries but I got it ;) So I watched the whole song with Jon so close I could feel him…

Then he came down the little stage running and high touching the hand of everyone, sure enough mine as well! So I ran back to my seat to catch the rest of the show, the set list was amazing and the surprise that night was “Living in Sin” that caught everyone off guard! Including me… and there was "Radio Saved my Life"and there's something about this song, and that very moment of my life that combined together was just my soundtrack, like it was written for me, it took me to this special place... I am so going to listen to it right NOW!

I believe you can’t describe a Bon Jovi show and the feeling of being in one cannot be put to words. Am I right?

Oh the BEST Moment ever!
Faith, Hope, Love & Loyalty!!

Setlist: Last Man Standing / You Give Love A Bad Name / Complicated / Wild In the Streets / The Story of My Life / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Runaway / Born To Be My Baby / The Radio Saved My Life Tonight / Livin' In Sin / I Won't Back Down (Tom Petty cover) / Have A Nice Day / Who Says You Can't Go Home / It's My Life / I'll Be There For You (acoustic) / Blaze of Glory (acoustic) / Always (acoustic) / Bad Medicine / Raise Your Hands / Livin' On A Prayer

Encores: Welcome To Wherever You Are / Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night / Just Older / Wanted Dead Or Alive

And then there was the Last Night...

Here's to Toronto Round #1

2010-04-14T16:23:00.000-07:00

Toronto, Canada January 21st 2006

Now before I ramble on about Toronto, I just want to say there were the best shows of Have a Nice Day tour for me! It was time to go home, after almost two years living in Canada, so on my way back I had to stop for some air, energy and Bon Jovi and Toronto was it!

The boys played four shows in Toronto but I only had time for three, I got there at night before the show day to meet some friends that were living there at the time and who I was also staying with, it was the end of January and there was still snow on the streets and a chilly wind with the most gorgeous blue skies! I love Toronto!...

For the first night I had the crappiest seat up God knows where and I was depressed, after sightseeing with my friends for a bit I went to the Air Canada Centre Arena to see if I could score a better seat or if I would cry all show (dramatic not eh?) and good thing I went because that’s where I met my two dear friends, Susan from Toronto and Sandy from Germany (who I met many times in the shows around the globe) they were also trying to get better seats, they had just bought front seats when they met me on my way in!... To cut the story short, they both had third row floor and they gracefully gave one to me, without even knowing me, they were my angels that night I swear… and here’s a big thank you again for the most amazing seat I had at those shows…!

No need to say the show was amazing, they opened with Jon reading a note he made on a set list explaining that the airplane incident they had in an airport in Ontario was minor and that “the rumors of their deaths had been greatly exaggerated” the exact words he used, except Sambora spilling his drink” the show went on with amazing songs and a heart stopping moment for the first notes of “Wild is the Wind” and my very first "Blood on Blood"that brought me tears!!! … I can still remember the feeling… well not too worry because I would be back soon for the second Toronto round!

As a BIG THANK YOU to Sandy! Click Here!

Setlist: Last Man Standing / You Give Love A Bad Name / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Runaway / Just Older / Complicated / Born To Be My Baby / The Story of My Life / Wild Is the Wind / Novocaine / I Won't Back Down (Tom Petty cover) / Have A Nice Day / Who Says You Can't Go Home / It's My Life / I'll Be There For You (acoustic) / Blaze of Glory (acoustic) / Bed of Roses (acoustic) / Bad Medicine / Raise Your Hands / Livin' On A Prayer

Encores: Welcome To Wherever You Are / Blood On Blood / Keep the Faith / Treat Her Right / Wanted Dead Or Alive

Retour à Montréal!

2010-04-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

Montreal, Canada December 15th 2005

“Welcome to Round Number 2!! I guess you were all here last night so I’ll have to change the set list uh?”

After a night of browsing through the pictures and videos of Round number one, we woke up to head back to Hard Rock Café for more wristbands! Sitting at the same table for luck! I had to give an interview to Montreal’s radio station about how I had come all the way from Brasil, just for the show and how excited I was and how last night had been so amazing to go on stage and on…, whoever knows me a bit knows that I am SO not a person that gives interviews, especially in front of a crowded restaurant of screaming fans, but why won’t we do for a pair of stage passes eh?!

Off we go to the show, we actually had balcony seats (remember back when backstage members could only buy tickets by lining up in front of the arena?) that we had to buy from Ticketmaster, and as usual, the second show in Montreal was announced right after we had bought tickets for the first one already, together with airplane tickets that had to be altered, and not so happy employers… hahaha all for a good cause! Anyway, hence the not so good seats and the only balcony seats of my life for Bon Jovi.

Balcony has its good things tough; it was fun seeing the audience from up the first bowl and the reaction of everyone jumping together when the songs started, it's something you don’t really get to see when you are on the floor, so it was a good one timer for a change! Good also because our seats were right by Jon’s little stage beside the audience and we got to see him really up close for three of the songs and I can still remember Manu not being able to move because they were playing her very favorite song “Always” and I went running and dodging security to get closer to Jon’s little stage, and I did, and for the very first time touched his hand and had a panic attack lol! I really hope only real fans are reading those words or I’d be qualified as a very crazy slash maniac person…

Because it was December and ten days before Christmas, we got some very cute Jon Santa and songs; Not to mention the best part of the show where Jon ripped his pants and went backstage while still singing to change them only to come back saying he was now wearing Richie’s ones… good times the little chats in front of the drums…

Setlist: Last Man Standing / You Give Love A Bad Name / Complicated / Born To Be My Baby / Story of My Life / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Runaway / Just Older / Last Cigarette / I Won't Back Down (Tom Petty cover) / Have A Nice Day / Who Says You Can't Go Home / It's My Life / I'll Be There For Your (acoustic) / Blaze of Glory (acoustic) / Always (acoustic) / Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars / Bad Medicine / Raise Your Hands / Livin' On A Prayer

Encores: Welcome To Wherever You Are / Everyday / Treat Her Right / Run Run, Rudolph / Wanted Dead Or Alive

I still cannot believe this happened 0o!

And then there was Toronto…

Aller à Montréal !

2010-04-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

Montreal, Canada December 14th 2005

See, let me explain something before I start my story: when you are a big fan of a band for a long time, without ever being to their show live, it all becomes this dream, or a goal if I must say, and all you want is to see this band live, even because you already know how they are live giving that you have been watching every video and show you can put your hands on. That meaning you know when Jon will say “Are you alive out there”? , your heart jumps out of your chest with the drums in the beginning of Always and you might as well fall on the floor for the keyboard notes on These Days, all you want is to sing the “Now just me and you Whooo Whooo Whoo” in I’ll be there for you and sing your hearts out in Livin’on a Prayer with Jon holding out the mic to the audience.

But why am I saying all these things since every fan already know? Because I need you to understand how special my very first show was to me. A real long show, with all the Bon Jovi clichés that we all love! Bon Jovi hasn’t gone to Brasil for a real tour since 1995 with These Days and back then I was way too young to go to a stadium show down South so after my showcase, five-songs experience I decided I would go after them. And oh boy! If I ever knew what I was starting… I would do it all again lol!

Manu is a friend of mine from Brasil that I met through a Bon Jovi e-mail list, we were trading Bon Jovi CDs and became best friends now going on ten years, one of the things I need to thank this bad for is good friends, especially some really special ones! Anyway we were both living in Vancouver, Canada at the time when Have a Nice Day tour dates was announced with no dates in our city, so off we go buying tickets to fly to Montreal in the middle of a snowstorm December winter!

And it was cold, the coldest I’ve ever been! We’ve spent the whole afternoon inside the Hard Rock Café at Crescent Street where they were having a radio contest to give out stage wristbands (oh the good old days) we were there pretty much from mid day until about 20 minutes before the show and we got them! When they called our name and said we had gotten stage wristband for my first show, I wasn’t sure I could even walk to Bell Centre anymore lol! But we did it! We got our stuff and ran down the streets to the arena to find our not so perfect floor seats, but to us it was pretty much like first row! By far one of the best nights of my life, every note of the next song made my heart skip a beat and if that’s not love I don’t know what to call it…

Click On:

The Best Saturday Night I've ever seen!

Setlist: Last Man Standing / You Give Love A Bad Name / Complicated / Born To Be My Baby / Story of My Life / I'll Sleep When I'm Dead / Runaway / Bounce / Novocaine / Won't Back Down (Tom Petty cover) / Have A Nice Day / Who Says You Can't Go Home / It's My Life / I'll Be There For You / Blaze of Glory / Bed of Roses / Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen From Mars / Bad Medicine / Raise Your Hands / Livin' On A Prayer

Encore 1: Welcome To Wherever You Are / Everyday / Treat Her Right

Encore 2: Have A Little Faith In Me / Just Older / Someday I'll Be Saturday Night

Encore 3: Wanted Dead Or Alive
(A Great BAD ASS Setlist!!!)

And here it is! Just because I love to embarrass my friends!

Stay Tuned for Round #2!

Oh the First Time!

2010-04-08T00:04:00.000-07:00

Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. October 23rd 2002

I can't really put into words what those wristbands for a TV showcase in Rio meant to me. My very first time watching Bon Jovi, that feeling of “wow they are real” hit me right when Tico got on stage, followed by all of them, the last one was Jon. It was a whole month of calling, trying, thinking, not sleeping until we finally got them. Life changes and most of the people that were with me on that trip are no longer around but I do appreciate the help of few of them, no need to bring up names, to help me get there. It was definitely a dream come true for most of us, and something we’ll share in our lives regardless.

It went a bit like this, after getting a call from the TV show telling us we got the tickets and screaming our heads out, four of us hopped into a big ass van in our hometown and off we went to Sao Paulo to pick up the rest of the gang. I believe there were seven of us on the way to Rio. We get to our hotel eight to ten hours later, it’s raining and messy, and we are not sure what to do first, everyone is kinda nervous and trying to think straight with the phones ringing with news about the band every five minutes.

As every first time, for me the show was a blur, I can’t tell the beginning from the end but I know I was there. I never thought I had so much more to look forward to with Bon Jovi, for me that was it, right there, couple songs, a little talk and a wave. All it took to make me so happy! I can’t believe it’s been eight years since. So this was my very first experience with Bon Jovi, me and couple of friends in a van for a road trip. To everyone that was in the showcase van, wherever you are in this world right now, cheers!

Those pictures do not belong to me. Copyright to Globo.com

Click on:

My Favorite Moment!

because your first You've got it! you never forget.

Set List: Everyday/My Life/Bad Name/Misunderstood/Bounce

Blame it on the Love!

2010-04-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know me, I am Julie.
That's all you need to know about me, for now!
I have been a Bon Jovi fan ever since I can remember so I decided to share my adventures as a fan with all the fans out there! For some it might be a lot and for many not so much, but for me it has been a heck of a ride! Stay Tuned!