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Bon Jovi > My show reviews > MAY 19, 2001 - Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

My show reviews

MAY 19, 2001 - Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Bon Jovi live in Quebec City!

Venue: Colisée Pepsi
Ticket: Floor, Row X, Seat 36
Pictures: Not available
Videos: Not available

The fourth time I went to see Bon Jovi almost made history in my life! In fact, I went through intense moments and I would like to share them with you!

Martin and I left Longueuil Saturday morning aboard a very luxurious leased car (Corolla). We got to Quebec City around 3h pm. The show was only starting at 8h pm this time, unlike the other times when it was at 7h30 pm. We rented our room at the Université Laval's residence hall and we ate a small dinner; I wasn't very hungry, mostly when I was thinking about what we were going to do the same night! We arrived at the Colisée Pepsi (the old Colisée de Québec) around 6h pm, the doors were not open yet to go inside and go to our seats. A few fans were already waiting outside and we joined them... We went to the back of the Colisée, because there were a few parked buses and it intrigued me! When we got to the back, I saw at least 4 big motor trucks. I told myself that it was the band's stuff (stage, instruments, etc.) and Martin showed me a small group of girls who were waiting near the back doors. I believe I recognized Marilyn, a Bon Jovi fan met on the internet. I got closer and all the girls who were around had their camera in hand and they were waiting... I got the idea that the band was coming soon and they were waiting for them. Just in case that the band would really show up on our side, I asked Martin to go and bring me back the Crush album cover, their latest album, which had stayed in the car.

I recognized Bon Jovi staff members whom we regularly see in Bon Jovi videos!!! I was freaking out! As the time went by, I was telling myself more and more that I couldn't believe I was there, waiting with my camera!!! Martin and I met a couple who was there also; they were from Montreal and they were very nice! The girl has been a Bon Jovi fan for 15 years and it wasn't her first show either! She and her boyfriend were waiting patiently with the groupies on site. The only two men of the crowd were talking together while the girls were watching the security people. A girl came to talk to us, she was from Lac St-Jean, she had tickets in the second row and she told us: "I think that the singer is called Jon Bon Jovi, but I'm not sure!" HEY! If you are to be in the second row and you don't know who the singer is, give me your tickets damnit! The fans on the floor should pass a Bon Jovi knowledge test before they get their tickets!

A Colisée's security guard told us around 6h20 pm that the band was coming in about 10 minutes! My heart skipped a beat when I heard that!!! The longest 10 minutes of my life began!!! And as the time was getting closer to 6h30 pm, my heart was beating faster and faster and the security guards seemed more and more nervous!! 2 girls had been waiting on their feet since 2h30 pm in the afternoon, that takes some courage!!! (Some are crazier than me, oh yes!) At 6h29 pm, a guard came to tell us to stay on the little sidewalk and not go in the street as such, because the vehicle which the band was in was en route towards the Colisée! We all got our cameras ready, each and everyone of us taking out paper and pen in case the band would decide to come out of the vehicle! There were 30 people at most waiting with us. Not long after, the guy who always takes care of the band's ultimate security (I'm sorry, I don't know his name) waved to confirm that the vehicle could come! I looked behind (because the vehicle was coming from behind us) and I saw the black vehicle with tinted windows come towards the garage (door at the back). I saw Jon wearing his shades on the passenger seat at the front!!!!!! He passed by a couple of meters away from me!!!!!! I had the time to see that he had looked at us and smiled!!!! The whole band was there, we could see silhouettes inside!!!! The vehicle went in the garage and the guards hurried to close the door... The band didn't feel like coming to see the few dozens of people who were waiting for them!!! But, I had had the time to see Jon!!!!! We all stepped in the street before the guards closed the doors and I saw a few guards come to block the access from us! When I realized that it was Jon in the vehicle, I froze, I took a picture of the vehicle I don't quite know how! I froze just by seeing the vehicle, I can only imagine what it would have done to my heart if they had gotten out as well!!!! I don't know if I breathed during the time the vehicle passed in front of us, but I totally froze! It's like I was so close to realize my biggest dream (see Jon very close) that I had been afraid of realizing it at the same time!!! I threw myself in Martin's arms afterwards when the garage doors were closed! I was trembling so much, it was unbelievable!!! Anyway, this little adventure put me in the mood for the show!!!! And what a show!!!!!!

The Colisée doors opened at 7h15 pm only, I couldn't wait to see the view from the floor!!!! I think that 4 people at different levels asked us our tickets to make sure that we had the right to go on the floor! Security was really tight!! We were in row X, so two rows before the last row, because there were rows AA to JJ and then, the other letters of the alphabet from A to Z. I went as close as row A; then, there were other people who were verifying the tickets... We were awfully close compared to the other times I had seen Bon Jovi!!!! We could see the people on stage bigger than when I was looking through binoculars the other times!!!! I was impressed by the floor, because I could see all the people who were crazy for Bon Jovi from the floor and who were all standing on their feet to acclaim the best rock band the world has known!!! I was afraid of having my view blocked by a tall guy, but no, the people who could have blocked my view were smaller than me! It is VERY VERY special to look at Jon by having to lift the head up!!!!! In effect, I couldn't see very well if I kept my head straight, I had to tilt it backwards a little! And Jon's microphone was right in front of my field of view and I was in front of the keyboards player!!! We were on the right part of the floor (there were a left, central and right parts). The only times where I couldn't see Jon without having to stand on the tips of my toes were when he was going to the extreme left of the stage! We can feel ourselves so into the show on the floor, it is the best show I've seen so far! To get better than that, I would need to be closer, that's it! :))))

The first act was called SR-71 and it was the best first act that I've seen opening for Bon Jovi. The music wasn't hard on the ears, although half an hour was a little too much for me... :))) We must have waited at least half an hour before Bon Jovi was ready! Being on the floor is very exciting to see what is really going on! Such as I didn't know that some people are assigned to cameras and spend the whole show in very unstable scaffolds! They were above us and I was very impressed to see them get to their position up there! The two girls beside me also had a camera and they asked a security guard who was just beside us if they could use it! He told us that if he saw a flash going off, he would take the camera away! Not a problem, he seemed like someone more committed to stop the people in the first few rows of the bleachers from jumping on the floor!!! As far as I was concerned, I wasn't scared to death, I was just a little scared and I remembered what Marilyn had told me about the guys who take the cameras away at the last moment! I was cautious!

The lights went off suddenly, the girls started screaming, just like me! The "We've got band ready for stage" were very faint since we were screaming on the floor, or maybe it's because when we are on the floor, we hear the sound less and we hear the crowd more! The same introduction as in November was shown! Jon and the band in an elevator, staying there as long as possible on purpose to hear and feel the crowd who was waiting for them! The elevator door (fake elevator) was in front of me, so I saw the band early when the members came out of the elevator door! I screamed so much when I saw how close I was to Jon, it was unbelievable! Before going further, here is the complete set list and in the order which Bon Jovi played it (I had a piece of paper and a pen once again):

Encores:

A very long show again for a band who's been there for a long time!!!!!! At some point, Martin asked for my camera, he got up on his chair and he took 3 pictures of the band. He told me that he grabbed my arm and he tried to bring me back to Earth to ask me for my camera beforehand, but I didn't feel anything at all! Hihihihihi The security guard came to tell him that he had to step down from the chair, but he never confiscated the camera! Hihihi So, it was a cue to tell me that the guy would not take the camera from me after all!!!! I was careful each time I was taking a picture; I was looking which side he was looking before taking the picture!

Since they started the show with One Wild Night, I became hysterical right away; I love this song so much live!!!!! I was rocked by an unbelievable force that made me jump like a crazy person!!! After the fourth song, I hadn't stopped jumping and screaming yet, Martin grabbed my arm, because he thought I would collapse! hihihihi I don't think that the after-effect will stay in his mind, but let's say that it was the first time he was seeing me like this! :))) I was soaking wet; sweat was coming down everywhere on my body, it was unbelievable! I don't remember being so hot! When Jon was going on the right of the stage, on our side, I was jumping very high with my arms in the air to have more chances for him to see a crazy girl who was jumping like a maniac!!! :))))))

Before Livin' On A Prayer, Jon started singing a cappella and he made us sing like he does each time! The crowd responded well; by the way, the crowd from Quebec gets to Jon who was touched from the way he was tapping his heart to tell us that it warmed his heart to see what we were doing for him!

During I Got The Girl, a video showed a girl (Jon's daughter??), she was very beautiful with blue eyes. (If it's Jon's daughter, she has Jon's eyes finally, long blond hair and she looks more like her mother than her father however!) There was a little boy with her, was it Jesse James, Jon's son? I will try to find out! :P The video made us believe that the "girl" in the song is Dorothea, Jon's wife. Throughout the song, we only see Jon, Dorothea and Stephanie's legs. When Jon says: "But she'll always be a 5-year-old princess to me", we see Stephanie's face well! Before the song, Jon told Richie and David (who each have a daughter) that he didn't know what would happen to them, but that one day, they would all have their heart broken (when their daughters will have boyfriends). It was cute and funny! hihihihi

I was out of this world, looking very rarely at Martin... When the first notes of Bed Of Roses were heard, I couldn't hold my intense joy which exploded literally with the screams I let out!!!! I couldn't believe my ears to hear this song live!!!!! The crowd went totally crazy as well!!!!! I didn't stop saying: "I love you, thank you so much, you're the best!!!!!!" I was in Martin's arms throughout the song, although I couldn't believe it during the song!!!! A young woman (about 18 years old) with large breasts succeeded in going on stage and she danced near Jon in a very sexy way during almost half of Bed Of Roses until a bodyguard came to grab her by the arm firmly and got her back to her seat! During the solo, Jon picked a woman of a certain age on the left of the stage and he danced with her during the solo and finally, Jon kissed her on the mouth! By the way, she was interviewed by the Radio Énergie of Quebec City at the end of the show and she passed just beside us when we left the Colisée! She still couldn't believe that she had danced with Jon! Hihihihihi

Jon felt like taking gifts from fans up front who were throwing them at him! Usually, he throws back the things to the fans. He caught a rose before it hit the ground and a flower bouquet that a young girl handed to him (she had passed by near me several times earlier). Some girls were only wearing bras up front, like in the 1980's. He also took shirts from fans, touched them and gave them back to these fans! He touched the hand of everyone who was packed in on the sides of the stage; in short, he hadn't cared that much for things from fans since 1993!

I found it fun that the videos of the band were shown during the songs (It's My Life, Someday I'll Be Saturday Night, Blaze Of Glory, Say It Isn't So), it was cool to see the boys live with the video images!!! I don't know if the video for Wanted Dead Or Alive was shown, but when the song began, we saw two fans on the giant screen holding license plates "Bon Jovi" and "Sambora" just like in the video, but they seemed like they were there! If it is the case, they were from Ohio!

Like I had done in November, during Just Older, I screamed: "You're not old Jon, just older" and when I said that, Jon tapped on his heart in gratitude! It's a coincidence that he did that right after I screamed; there was not much sound around, but I must not daydream either! I jumped, danced, sang, clapped my hands so much that I don't know how I did it in fact!!! The girl beside me was screaming almost as much as me, it was fun!

I think that it was the first time I was hearing In These Arms live. It was excellent, I was able to point at Jon with my finger a lot with all the "you" there are in the song!

I had recognized Blaze Of Glory even before Jon started singing, but I don't know what he did, he started singing something else with Richie... On my sheet of songs, I had crossed off the name of the song since I didn't quite know what they were doing... When they began the song for real, I was proud to have recognized it before the band changed song for a moment! :P

There were the same usual gestures during Lay Your Hands On Me: David who makes us sing, the drummer who does a solo, Jon who is changing clothes behind the stage! And the people were singing so loudly and we were clapping in our hands so often during the song, it was crazy!!!! We sang: "Lay your hands on me, lay your hands on me" without any band members telling us before Jon came back to sing, it was great!

Jon told the crowd: "Hey, Quebec City, are you still with me?" hihihihi What a nice joke, like we weren't there for Bon Jovi anymore!!! :))) The band continued with I'll Sleep When I'm Dead which they interpreted without doing any mix with another song! I think that it was the first time!!! Jon told us that we were in the "international church of rock & roll" and that he was the priest of this organization! (He made the illusion of, he was not pretentious!) He made us say "AMEN" at some point as a sign of approval! There were even people who had little signs on which it was written: "Amen"!!! Hihihihi Some people are more used to Bon Jovi shows than me! hihihihi

When Bad Medicine began, I told Martin that it was the last song before the encores. He didn't seem to believe me, but I was right!!! It was still a little guess!!! The "Is there a doctor in the house?" never lies, Bad Medicine is played right after! Jon kept on saying that only the people who were strong enough physically could survive this kind of song, and he was inviting the weak ones to leave! Obviously, no one left, all being ready to follow Jon and the band to the end of the world!!! At the end of Bad Medicine, the band always plays Shout, to put Jon's voice in evidence at the beginning and also, to make the people on the floor go crazy! It is crazy how much this song was a hit!!!! Jon's "bye bye, see ya, I'm going" at the end of the song put an end to the part before the encores! I knew that the show was far from being over!

Jon went to the left side of the stage at some point and I looked in the crowd; there was a girl in the bleachers who kept on blowing kisses to Jon... It was funny to know that I was not the only one who was as crazy! hihihihi

The crowd gave a standing ovation to the band during at least 5 long minutes in the Colisée, right before the encores! We wanted Bon Jovi to come back quickly so bad, and the band kept us waiting!!!! I thought that the Colisée would collapse, because everybody was still singing, screaming, clapping their hands and banging the seats like at the Olympic Stadium!!!!!! It was a great atmosphere!! Hihihihi Mostly with the seat banging, I had never seen that!!!! I was screaming my usual "DON'T GO, COME BACK!!!!" to Martin's great despair who looked discouraged!!! hihihihihihi

When the band came back on stage, the crowd went totally crazy in the Colisée!!!! Mostly because the band started the encores with Always, which triggered the biggest chills in the Colisée!!!! I got close to Martin once again, I was starting to be a little tired, but well, it was bearable!!!! I kept on repeating: "I love you Jon, thank you, you're the best, I will always love you." And I was thanking I don't know who to be giving me such a good show, much better than the one in November!!!! And I wasn't totally realizing that I was on the floor, at about 100 feet from Jon!!!

When Jon and the band started Wanted Dead Or Alive, it was magical; Richie with his double neck guitar as always and his eternal cowboy hat! Jon asked us if we knew the song (it's the most popular Bon Jovi song!!!) He was about to start singing the first verse, and for some reason, he stopped (maybe he was realizing we had been singing very loudly all evening!) and he let us sing the whole first verse and the first chorus! I had never seen a crowd sing so loudly! It was almost as loud as the band singing in the microphones! It was so crazy, I still have chills about how loudly we sang!!!! Jon seemed VERY touched to hear us sing like that!

The band took a conventional bow with their arms in the air, but we were applauding so loudly that when Jon came to press on the elevator button that was the sign of the end of the show, he looked at the ecstatic crowd who was applauding and he looked at Richie with a big smile and he made a sign like he meant: "I can't go, I gotta stay" and everyone was chanting: "Stay! Stay! Stay!" Jon told us that he couldn't let us like that! At this moment, at the giant screen, we saw signs from girls that said: "Stay just a little bit longer" and "Wild is the wind", a Bon Jovi song which doesn't get to be played often. Jon looked at these signs and he started singing the song from the 1960's or before which has the following as the chorus: "Stay just a little bit longer"... It was really something!!! Before starting the classic Tequila, Jon said: "Whenever you need music, I'll be your jukebox!" hihihihihi

The show ended with Twist And Shout, with Jon shaking his ass intentionally to make the girls like me scream! Hihihihihi He had made a similar gesture at some point during the show and all the girls had screamed!! Hihihihi Big black balloons on which it was written: "BON JOVI - One wild night - 1985-2001", balloons to promote the live album that is coming out on May 22, fell down from the roof. The party really ignited in the Colisée, everyone on the floor wanted to throw the balloons in the air. (They contained a mix of light gas that allowed the balloons to fall down, but they were rising very high!) Some balloons ended up at the end of the red seats; they were going very high!!! I had the chance to throw a balloon in the air, it was just above me! At the end, everyone was catching the balloons and was keeping them; if I had known, I would have tried to have one!!

I don't quite remember when, but Jon, at some point, took off his jeans coat he was wearing since the beginning of the show, revealing his sleeveless shirt and his tattoos! Later, in the same song, he ripped his shirt open, leaving his muscular and hairless chest denuded, may I add! The girls went totally crazy!!! For those who, like me, saw that on some pictures of Jon, his image is reversed and so, my idol's tattoos are reversed as well, here are the real tattoos: the superman is on his left shoulder and the bull's head is on his right shoulder!

In the last moments the band was on stage, Jon pointed at a girl in the first rows on the floor to tell her to join them backstage! But what do I have to do to obtain such an enthusiastic treatment? :)))

Jon seemed really tired at the giant screen at the end of the show when the band took their final bow! :(( He firmly pressed on the button that was calling the elevator on stage! Poor idol!!! :( Thank you Bon Jovi for such a good show!!!

Martin and I stayed on the floor until the security guards came to tell us that we had to go. When we got outside the Colisée, Martin and I looked at the building and we observed that all the windows were steamy! Ish! We had been hot!!!! Hihihihi We stayed 1 hour in the car, I don't know what happened, but well, let's say that we had a hard time leaving the Colisée's parking lot!! Hihihihi Marilyn passed by beside me when the show was over and she said: "They are good, aren't they?" She seemed exhausted, but satisfied, just like me by the way!!!!! It had been a very beautiful day!!!! Just for information, the couple that we had met at the beginning of the evening didn't share quite the same tastes. The woman dragged her boyfriend at a Bon Jovi show a few years ago and she had paid half of her boyfriend's ticket, because he was not convinced that Bon Jovi was good! At the end of the show, her boyfriend repaid her his part of the ticket! Hihihihi And Martin, the first thing he told me was: "If we had more money, we would surely go to Montreal in July as well!!!!" He really enjoyed it, so it's the living proof that when someone goes to a Bon Jovi show sceptical, they come out satisfied and convinced!!!!

I followed Jon's eyes the whole evening, following him in his moves, like if there were only him and me in the room! When he leaned over and I couldn't see him, I looked at either Richie or David, but as soon as I saw Jon again, my eyes were on him! I think that the bubble which I had ended up in was even stronger than the other times, I had a hard time telling myself that I had been so close to Jon!!!! It's been two days, and I believe that the bubble is not completely bursted yet!!!!

My whole body aches, my arms, my legs, my ribs, everywhere, it even hurts when I write! I still have my voice, it was affected the same evening, but the following day, I didn't have any after-effects, apart from the throat sore specific to when I have been screaming too loudly! Hihihihi The hurricane called Bon Jovi hit and it left permanent scars in my heart and temporary scars on my aching body!

Copyright © May 2001 Marie-Hélène Cyr

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