In 2003, Bon Jovi was going to do a little acoustic side project, but that turned in to ‘This Left Feels Right’ which was released on November 4,2003. To commemorate that album, they did two shows in Atlantic City, New Jersey on November 14 and 15, 2003. The DVD, ‘This Left Feels Right Live’ was the result of those two shows. The DVD was released on February 9, 2004. Now, if you read my review of the CD, you will see I wasn’t very fond of that, but this is a little of a different animal. This is live. Live shows, I don’t mind when a band changes a song up as it is fun to see their different interpretations of their own songs. That for me is the perfect time for re-imagined songs. Not a full studio album of them.

The small crowd in attendance was ready for anything Bon Jovi and the women were ready for anything from Jon Bon Jovi as they were screaming a lot. The show was also broadcast on the web as they were filming so some people saw the show before the DVD release. I was not one of them. You knew this was going to be different from the first song as it was “Love for Sale” from ‘New Jersey’ and I loved hearing that one live. What a great way to start things off. Then they go in to the classic, “You Give Love a Bad Name” and I will admit I did not like this one much as Jon kept saying “Bad” over and over in a stupid way that annoyed me.

With “Wanted Dead or Alive”, Jon changed his mic for a radio voice type vocal and the band rocked out a little on it and I actually enjoyed this one enough. With “Livin’ on a Prayer”, they went all acoustic and it was perfectly fine in this new version. Not much different then a regular acoustic version of the song. Richie’s backing vocals are what helps make this song great and he did not disappoint at all here. Speaking of acoustic, they turn “It’s My Life” in to an acoustic masterpiece. They turned the rock anthem on its ear and slowed it down and gave it a whole new feel that really made the song shine in a different light even though it took a dark turn. 

They kept the acoustic going with the song “Misunderstood” from ‘Bounce’. It is basically the same song, just acoustic. No, reimagining with this one. “Lay Your Hands Me” brings back to the ‘This Left Feels Right’ songs and with this stripped down version and live, I liked a little more than the studio version. See, this is where the live setting makes these changes welcome and acceptable.

Then we get three songs that weren’t on ‘This Left Feels Right’. Still doing acoustic, the song “Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night” was slowed down and done this way, it loses some of its punch and doesn’t quite work for me. Not a favorite of mine to begin with, and this doesn’t help its case. Then we get to a non-album track called “Last Man Standing” which Jon goes on to tell that the song is about his dislike of the music business. And he is quite bitter. It opens with David Bryan on piano, some slide guitar and this bluesy version is pretty cool. Then we get a cover of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show’s song “Sylvia’s Mother” which I was completely unfamiliar with prior to this. I can’t say I liked this version as it was too slow and no real life to it musically. A little dull.

Now we are back to the songs from the album and we get “Everyday” to kick off this next set of songs. This was one I actually liked from the album and to be honest, I like it here too. This song feels good acoustically and Jon sounded great as well. There was a new swagger to it. Richie pulls out the electric guitar and does some slide work for “Bad Medicine” and Jon tries to get all gritty and preacher like with this one and I don’t like it at all. This one doesn’t translate well to a new style. “Bed of Roses” is up next and David tickles the ivories as Jon spits out the lyrics with as much emotion as he can garner in a crooner style. The song sticks close to what you know and for that it is still fantastic.

“Born to Be My Baby” is stripped down as well and slowed down and this works for this song. The normal version is a little more upbeat, but it had the heart of a ballad and it shows here. “Keep the Faith” keeps things slowed down with a mixture of acoustic and electric guitars and Tico on the bongos. It is not the most exciting rendition of the song, but still a good song. They then did “Joey” from the album ‘Crush’ and I don’t like that song too much to begin with. Here it is a piano version and Jon croons a little more, but still don’t care for this song. I think I’m tired of these story-type songs Jon does a lot of now.

Then we get a non-album song with “Thief of Hearts” which the studio version would wind up on the 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Can’t Be Wrong box set which we will review very soon. Jon left it off the last album and there is a reason for that as it is only an okay song. And it is still only an okay song live. Nothing to excite me. With “I’ll Be There For You” they keep it slowed down and suck the life out of the song completely with the new style for the song. No good Richie backing vocals, no heart in Jon’s vocals, just blah. I don’t think I mentioned anything about Richie in this review, but it needs to be pointed out that he sat there with a silly looking hat and a drunken grin but played and sounded great throughout.

The final two songs start off with “Always” a song about a stalker for a movie called “Romeo is Bleeding”. One of the band’s biggest selling singles and it is so good, you can do this song any way it would still sound sensational. The band really nailed this one for sure. The final song is one of my favorite Bon Jovi songs from the ‘New Jersey’ album called “Blood on Blood”. No introduction needed, Jon just strummed his acoustic guitar and went in to the lyrics. Another song so strong, that any change to it doesn’t matter. An acoustic version only highlights it’s wonderfulness. 

And that is the end of the show. Sometimes there some really bright and shining moments and sometimes I wanted to fall asleep. But compared to the studio album with most of these songs, this is still a way better to enjoy the songs as playing live gives a freedom to re-imagining the songs. It is almost expected that hearing a song live will always be different than the studio version. My Overall Score is a 3.0 out of 5.0 Stars. It isn’t my favorite of the live shows I have, but it does have some interesting elements to it. Some songs you haven’t heard before live and some interesting takes on some old favorites. But it also had some missteps and boring parts as well. Still better then the studio album of ‘This Left Feels Right’.

As far as bonus material on the DVD, you get a 30-minute behind the scenes documentary on these two Atlantic City Shows which I always enjoy. You get to see all the work that goes in to one of these productions and it is a lot. There was also a section called “Off the Record” that consists of a lot of the banter between songs that were cut for the show. Stuff I think would’ve added to the charm of the show. And that is all. Thanks for hanging around as we walked through this DVD.

Now get ready for a 6 part review of a huge Bon Jovi box set.

NEXT UP: BON JOVI – ‘100,000,000 BON JOVI FANS CAN’T BE WRONG’ (PART 1 of 6) – BOX SET REVIEW

THE BON JOVI COLLECTION SERIES:

1. Bon Jovi – The Albums Box Set (2017)
2. Jon Bongiovi – The Power Station Sessions (1980-1983) (2001)
3. Bon Jovi – Bon Jovi (1984)
4. Bon Jovi – Shot Through the Heart: Live in Cleveland, OH March 17, 1984 FM Broadcast (Bootleg)
5. Bon Jovi – “Burning For Love” – 12″ Single – Japanese Edition (1984)
6. Bon Jovi – 7800° Fahrenheit (1985)
7. Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet (1986)
8. Bon Jovi – “Borderline” – 12″ Single – Japanese Edition (1986)
9. Bon Jovi – New Jersey (1988)
10. Bon Jovi – New Jersey: Super Deluxe Edition – Disc 2/DVD (1988)
11. Bon Jovi – “I’ll Be There For You” – Cassette Single (1988)
12. Jon Bon Jovi – Blaze of Glory (1990)
13. Jon Bon Jovi – “Blaze of Glory” – Cassette Single (1990)
14. Richie Sambora – Stranger in this Town (1991)
15. Bon Jovi – Keep the Faith (1992)
16. Bon Jovi – “Keep the Faith” – CD Maxi Single (1992)
17. Bon Jovi – “I Believe” – 7″ Single (1992)
18. Bon Jovi – Cross Road (1994)
19. Bon Jovi – “Please Come Home for Christmas” – CD Single (1994)
20. Bon Jovi – These Days (1995)
21. Bon Jovi – Live From London – DVD (1995)
22. Jon Bon Jovi – Destination Anywhere (1997)
23. Richie Sambora – Undiscovered Soul (1998)
24. Bon Jovi – Crush (2000)
25. Bon Jovi – Live From Osaka E.P. (2000)
26. Bon Jovi – “Thank You For Loving Me” – CD Single (2000)
27. Bon Jovi – The Crush Tour – DVD (2000)
28. Bon Jovi – The Love Songs E.P. (Promo) (2001)
29. Bon Jovi – Tokyo Road: Best of Bon Jovi (2001)
30. Bon Jovi – One Wild Night Live: 1985-2001 (2001)
31. Bon Jovi – Bounce (2002)
32. Bon Jovi – Unauthorized: Rock ‘n Roll Legends – Bootleg DVD (2002)
33. Bon Jovi – Target E.P. (2003)
34. Bon Jovi – This Left Feels Right (2003)
35. Bon Jovi – Wild in the Streets: Unauthorized – Bootleg DVD (2003)
36. Bon Jovi – This Left Feels Right – DVD (2004)
37. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Part 1) – (2004)
38. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 1, Part 2) – (2004)
39. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 2, Part 3) – (2004)
40. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 3, Part 4) – (2004)
41. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 4, Part 5) – (2004)
42. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 5, Part 6) – (2004)
43. Bon Jovi – Have a Nice Day (2005)
44. Bon Jovi – Live from the Have a Nice Day Tour (Walmart Exclusive) (2006)
45. Bon Jovi – Lost Highway (2007)
46. Bon Jovi – Lost Highway: The Concert (2007)
47. Bon Jovi – The Circle (2009)
48. Bon Jovi – When We Were Beautiful Documentary DVD (2009)
49. Bon Jovi – Live at Madison Square Garden – DVD (2009)
50. Bon Jovi – Greatest Hits: The Ultimate Collection (2009)
51. Bon Jovi – Greatest Hits: The Ultimate Video Collection – DVD (2010)
52. Bon Jovi – Inside Out – DVD (2012)
53. Richie Sambora – Aftermath of the Lowdown (2012)
54. Bon Jovi – What About Now (2013)
55. Bon Jovi – Live E.P. (RSD – 2013)
56. Bon Jovi – Live 2 E.P. (RSD – 2014)
57. Bon Jovi – Burning Bridges (2015)
58. Bon Jovi – This House is Not For Sale (2016)
59. Bon Jovi – This House is Not For Sale – Live From the London Palladium (2016)
60. Bon Jovi – The Albums Box Set – The Extra LP (2017)
61. RSO – Radio Free America (2018)
62. Bon Jovi – 2020 (2020)
63. Bon Jovi – 40th Anniversary Box Set (TBA – I Hope it is out by the time we get here)

We’ve reviewed a bunch of pieces already over the years and won’t review again. They are as follows:

1. Bon Jovi – The Brotherhood Tour Book (1988-1990)
2. Bon Jovi – Bon Jovi Tour 2011 – Tourbook
3. Bon Jovi – The Rock History – Bootleg CD
4. Bon Jovi – “You Give Love A Bad Name” – 12″ Single
5. Bon Jovi – “You Give Love a Bad Name” – 7″ Single
6. Bon Jovi – Red Hot & 2 Parts Live E.P. – 12″ Single
7. Bon Jovi – “Wanted Dead or Alive” – 7″ Single
8. Bon Jovi – “Bad Medicine” – 7″ Single
9. Bon Jovi – “Born to Be My Baby” – 7″ Single
10. Bon Jovi – “I’ll Be There For You” – 7″ Single
11. Bon Jovi – “Lay Your Hands on Me” – 7″ Single
12. Bon Jovi – “Living in Sin” – 7″ Single