If you follow the site, you know I’m a huge Billy Idol fan and anytime I can find a rare piece that I don’t have in the collection, I jump on it. This time around, I found a bootleg. And I do love my bootlegs. This is my fourth Idol bootleg and this one is from way back in 1990. It was recorded at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California on October 27, 1990. That means this would’ve been in support of his latest album at the time, ‘Charmed Life’ and we get a few from that album in the set list. Be warned, this is not a full show. This is a best of that was broadcast on radio at the time. But still, 10 songs of Billy is better than nothing am I right? Yeah…I am.
The version I have is a European release and was released recently back in 2023. I found it down in Tamp Florida at a store called D&J Records. I like to hit up local record stores when I am on vacation so this one was found back in June earlier this year. And I was thrilled to grab hold. Sadly, you will notice in the band credits, that there is no Steve Stevens on guitar as he and Billy were still on the outs at this time and for many years still to come. Does it impact the show? We will find out shortly.
To Celebrate the end of the Bon Jovi Series, it was time to do a show on The Collection where we walked through the Bon Jovi vinyl. For Part 1 was last week and we walked through their peak years of The 80’s & The 90’s. For Part 2, we are going to go through the vinyl in the collection that covers all of The 2000’s from 2000 to 2024. We will capture all the studio albums, compilations, and even some 10″ Picture Discs. Come join as we talk all things Bon Jovi from the 2000’s Crush’ to 2024’s ‘Forever’. I don’t know if this is everything you can get in the 2000’s, but it is everything in my collection and that is the show!
So go check it out as it will be live tonight right now, September 9, 2024 at 8pm. Thanks for stopping by and please click “Like” and hit “Subscribe” as it helps out the site when you do.
I love to find bootlegs from my favorite bands. I was out and about doing some digging and came across this beauty. It is called ‘Rock And Roll Queen’ and it is a Scorpions bootleg taken from a live show all the back on the Fly to the Rainbow Tour. The show was recorded at Grugahalle, Essen, Germany on April 26, 1975. The line-up is great as it was Klaus Meine, Uli Jon Roth, Rudolf Schenker, Rudy Lenners and Francis Buchholz. There were various different colored vinyl released like red, white and peach and those are all listed on Discogs. My copy is traditional black and is not listed on Discogs…hmmm…that is strange. Maybe the black is more rare…who knows.
It opens with a straight up jam. It is a lot of guitar showboating and it is awesome. A nice drum and bass groove with Uli and Rudolf going to town. It is simply called “Jam” which is very appropriate. Not a traditional opening, but I’ll take it. They then go in to “This is My Song” off ‘Fly to the Rainbow. A mid-tempo rocker and it sounds great. It is a bootleg so it is a little rough, but I can hear everything. It only sounds like it does because it is from 1975. There are some cool moments with some dual guitar work with Uli and Rudolf wailing a solo. And if that isn’t enough, listen to Francis on bass…what a cool groove he is laying down. Lyrically, not the most stellar track, but musically, it does kick some ass. When the songs ends there is some polite clapping no huge cheers or roars.
Since they are in German, when Klaus addresses the crowd he does it in German which is cool and makes sense. They then go in to “They Need a Million”. It opens as a ballad with just a guitar that you can barely hear and Klaus singing away. A little ways in, a killer riff kicks in and the song explodes with some heavy drums. Someone else is on vocals and I believe it is Rudolf, Klaus comes back in and sings some harmonies, but this is a Rudolf track. The studio track has a Spanish vibe, this is pure rock & roll.
On November 21, 2006, Kiss and their label released the first collection of all the Alive! albums in the band’s catalog. It was called Kiss Alive! 1975-2000. I really great idea to get them all in one set. And what makes this special is that it is the first release of what was supposed to be Kiss Alive IV, Alive! The Millennium Concert from 2000. Their label got swallowed up and it was shelved. As you now know, ‘Symphony’ was released as Alive IV.
The Box Set had four CDs, one for each show, ‘Alive!’, ‘Alive II’, ‘Alive III’ and Alive! The Milllennium Concert’. There are also a couple of bonus tracks included in the set. The set came in a multi-layered cardboard fold out box and there was a cool feature. Each CD was housed in a the normal plastic shell, but behind each disc, was a live shot from each of the respective shows. The set also included a 72-page booklet.
DISC 1:
‘ALIVE!’ (1975)
‘Alive!’ was recorded over four stops on the Dressed to Kill Tour. You had May 16 at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan, naturally; June 21 at Cleveland Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio; July 20 at RKO Orpheum Theater in Davenport, Iowa; and July 23 at Wildwoods Convention Center in Wildwood, New Jersey. With four shows recorded, they could piece together a perfect live album…well…maybe not!
I am sure you have a few questions… Like, who are the Cybernauts? The Cybernauts are a Mick Ronson/David Bowie tribute band and they play all the hits they had together. David might have wrote the songs, but Mick was the guitarist and what a player he was and what life he gave those songs. And, why is this part of the Def Leppard series? Well, that is because two members of this cover band are none other then singer Joe Elliott and guitarists Phil Collen from Def Leppard. The rest of the Cybernauts are Trevor Bolder (bass) and Woody Woodmansey (drums) both from David Bowie’s band Spiders from Mars. Also, to round it out on keyboard is Dick Decent.
Trevor and Joe meet way back in 1983 and had been friends ever since. When Trevor was asked to put together a band for a Mick Ronson memorial service, he found out Joe and Phil were asked to play as well so they teamed up for the event and performed. A few years later they were asked to do it again, but this time they decided to actually do a small tour with the band and finish it at the Mick Ronson memorial show. Joe had the idea of recording the Dublin show and they did. That was August 7, 1997 in Dublin, Ireland at the Olympia Theatre. And three years later in 2000, the CD was released and only released in Japan.
My copy though was released in 2001 and was a 2 CD set with the original show, plus a 2nd CD of studio recordings. The E.P. was called The Further Adventures of the Cybernauts…which we will discuss later. For now, we will focus on disc 1, the live show they recorded which consisted of 18 tracks that will take you back to those critical years of David Bowie and Mick Ronson and you are reminded of what an amazing catalog the two had together.
Back in 2013, Bon Jovi jumped on board the Record Store Day Bandwagon. On April 20, 2013, we get the first of 2 Live E.P. Picture Discs from the band. The first one is called simply ‘Live’ and is a 10″, 33 1/3 RPM, Picture Disc. It contains four live tracks, all previously released in some form or fashion.
The opening track, “Livin’ On A Prayer” was recorded at Madison Square Garden on either July 14/15 of 2008 and was released on the video ‘Live at Madison Square Garden’ in 2009. The song starts off with Jon singing “Livin’ on a Prayer a cappella and the crowd finishes it the chorus. The full band joins in and they show why they are a great live band.
The second track is a personal favorite, “Blood on Blood” and this one was recorded at the Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey around May 2010. The song was released on the live album (and video) ‘Inside Out’. It feels untouched as you can here the little wobbles and cracks in Jon’s voice like a good live show should have. The song might not have the same grit live as it does on the studio version, but they do put their all in to it.
On December 5, 1995, Def Leppard released yet another video compilation and I believe this is their 4th to date. This one is called ‘Video Archive’ and highlights some live performances as well as some promo videos from ‘Retro Active’ and the greatest hits compilation ‘Vault’. The video was originally released on VHS, Laserdisc and VCD. In 2001, they released it on DVD along with the video compilation called Visualize which is the copy I actually own.
The first part of the DVD we have actually talked about before only a few weeks back. If you remember the bootleg DVD I have called ‘Live Sheffield 1992‘, you will remember that the DVD is actually from June 6, 1993 not 1992 and it is in fact, the show that is on this video as well. Okay, this video is only a piece of that show which is a only a piece of the full set list. And you will remember that I loved that bootleg DVD as the picture and sound were outstanding. This proves that it was as they took that and added 8 of those tracks here and it looks and sounds as good. Maybe it looks a tad bit better.
The show kicks off with a that same old question….”Do You Want to Get Rocked?” as they kick in to “Let’s Get Rocked” off the ‘Adrenalize’ album. A cheesy but fun song live. Then they go back to the ‘Pyromania’ era and pull out “Foolin’” which is one of their best songs, period. Nothing real flashy, but done to perfection. They move up an album and bring us “Rocket” (not “Rock It”). This one has a cool solo part with Vivian and Phil goofing off a little, but making it interesting with what sounds they pull out of their guitars. A hard song to make sound like the records so why try. A great solo between the two. Towards the end the go all Zeppelin with “A Whole Lot of Love” before back to “Rocket”.
The album ‘Have a Nice Day’ album from Bon Jovi came out on September 20, 2005 and to keep the promotion on that album, the band & label decided to release a companion piece 6 months later. On February 7, 2006, they released ‘Live From the Have A Nice Day Tour’ E.P. that was exclusively sold at Walmart. It was only available in the U.S.
Don’t worry though as the songs weren’t exclusive as they also appeared on the Tour Edition of ‘Have a Nice Day’ that was released in Japan. Plus, you could get 3 of the songs as B-Sides for the single “Who Says You Can’t Go Home”. There are six tracks and they are are all live. They were recorded during the Have a Nice Day Tour in Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA on December 10, 2005.
The album contains 4 live versions of songs from ‘Have a Nice Day’ and two classic Bon Jovi tracks as well. It kicks off with one of my favorite songs from the new album called “Last Man Standing”. It has a killer opening riff from Richie and the song is a pure, high energy rocker. Live they seem to play it a little faster at times, but that doesn’t take away from the track. Just an observation. Live though the song doesn’t sound as cool and dark as the studio track, but still cool to have a live version of it.
Next up is the classic Bon Jovi track “You Give Love a Bad Name” and I have heard this one so many times I can’t imagine they would do anything special to it that would make me want to hear this one again live and I was right. Luckily vocals are still great, the band sounds great and the crowd was really in to it and they even get their own chorus to sing. The band could play this one in their sleep.
“Complicated” comes screaming to life next…well after a fade out from the last song and a fade in to this one which tells me these were played next to each other in the show. Another track that is better as a studio track than a live one. It doesn’t have the heart or the intensity that the studio track gave us. Live, the band felt like they were going through the motions. I don’t really mean that bad, they just didn’t do anything that takes it to another level live.
After another fade in/fade out, we get the title track, “Have A Nice Day”. An anthemic rock track in the same vein as “It’s My Life” which tells you it is catchy and a fun track to hear live…and it lives up to expectations. The band plays this one with a lot of energy and seems to enjoy playing it as it is a real crowd pleaser. Plus, we get a “Richie” solo and name check.
“Who Says You Can’t Go Home” is next and this is not a duet with Jennifer Nettles, this is the Jon Bon only version. How does this one come off live? Well, pretty lifeless in my opinion. A paint by numbers run through with no passion or heart in the vocals. Blah! Feels like a bathroom song if you no what I mean.
The final track is “Raise Your Hands” and thank goodness, I needed something uplifting after that snoozefest. A heavier-hitting track with a lot more energy and a lot more guitar. A tougher sounding track that would make my raise my hands to get the blood flowing again. A classic track that takes me back to the good time Bon Jovi era. And more Richie Sambora name checks and solo. Give me more of that.
And that is it. I will admit, it isn’t the most exciting live set, but it is a nice piece to hold you over until the next album comes out and it is good to help continue to promote the new album. But the song choices weren’t the best, the performances were a little dull and lifeless at times. It felt like they were going through the motions on some of these. The CD opened well and closed well, just faltered at times in the middle. My Overall Score is a 3.0 out of 5.0 Stars mostly for a nice collector piece. Otherwise, skippable for non-collectors.
While I was in New York City a little while back for the Final Kiss Show at Madison Square Garden, my brother and I did hit some shops and I found, not one, but two Japanese Singles from Bon Jovi. These were released back in the 80’s in Japan only and they are in such beautiful shape. I had to have them so I bought them. First up was “Burning for Love” and now we get in to the 2nd Single I found with “Borderline”.
I am not sure the reason behind this Japanese Only release. We are during the ‘Slippery When Wet’ era of the band and they release a 12″ Single for “Borderline” which wasn’t even on the album, only a studio outtake. It doesn’t make quite much sense. The opening track is “Livin’ On A Prayer” from the Slippery album, but why label it as “Borderline”??? Very confusing to me, but I don’t care, it is still a cool piece for the collection. The Japanese audience was always treated with special releases from Bon Jovi and better covers.
Included in the release was a lyric sheet for the songs in both English and Japanese…
2000 was a big year for the band with a hit new album, a live DVD and to follow it up, the band gave us their first ever live album. But don’t get your hopes up as it isn’t one show from the tour. No, I guess the Crush DVD was enough for that. Instead it is really a greatest hits compilation with live songs taken from shows from 1985-2001. So, not a true live album in my book. But I’m being petty. We do get 14 live tracks and one remixed studio track of “One Wild Night 2001”.
The songs are taken from 8 different shows and some are actually repeats as the London shows were on the Live From London DVD and The Crush Tour DVD so we’ve heard a few of the songs before. And the band has one small change during the songs. We get Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan and Tico Torres on all the songs. But we also get Alec John Such on bass for only 2 of the songs from Tokyo back in 1985 and then Hugh McDonald on bass for the rest. And we get one special guest with Bob Geldof on one song.
The album came out on May 22, 2001 and went to #20 in the U.S., but was never certified Gold. However, the album did better around the world as Bon Jovi continues to actually be more successful in Europe then their home country where the album sold over 1,000,000 copies in Europe making it Platinum status. It went to #2 in the UK as well as several other countries including Spain, Austria and the Netherlands and to #1 in Switzerland and Belgian. Europe continued to love on Bon Jovi.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 