[Rdkopper]

...if they sped up their live performances?

I was listening to some old school live performances of the band from back in the 80's and noticed that all their performances were played so much faster then today. IMO it adds to the performance and seems easier vocally. Even songs from '86 when Jon was struggling vocally and dodging notes, relying on the backing vocals, it all still seemed to work so much better than today....

[Alphavictim]

If by "help" you mean "would sound better" - yes. A ton of songs got played way too slow in recent years IMO.

However, it's not always easier vocally to speed up the songs, since you gotta breathe too. Sure, the long notes are not as long, but neither are the pauses.

[ticos_stick]

Tico couldn't keep up with that tempo anymore, he needs an oxygen supply as it is.

[Rdkopper]

Example.... Could the guys handle this? The Speed musically and Jon vocally?

YouTube

BTY, What happened to this band and this Jon Bon Jovi? Jon makes this performance seem effortless.

How about this one?

Bon Jovi - You give love a bad name (1986) -...

Is this a bad ass rock band or what? This is the shit that kept me around for 25 plus years after (lucky for you all).

[ezearis]

The tempo of, at least the first songs of Rock in Rio 2013 were played in a higher tempo than the usual if I'm not wrong.

[Rdkopper]

Originally Posted by ezearis

The tempo of, at least the first songs of Rock in Rio 2013 were played in a higher tempo than the usual if I'm not wrong.

Good call. It seems like Jon is either trying to keep up or slow it down during Water. And it actually sounded somewhat better musically.

I guess when you put a young drummer in there, he's ready to go. If you look at Phil, he just seems to go along with it. I wonder if there was a point where Jon signaled for him to slow it down because IML goes back to the slower tempo.

Side note... Wow did Jon sound like crap during this show.

[MrIks from Finland]

I think one of the reasons why they aren't playing Wild in the Streets is because it is too fast for Jon. He would not have enough time to breath...

My opinion is that theoretically the songs would sound better if they were played faster but Jon would struggle even more so overall it would sound worse.

[efpg0708]

Originally Posted by ezearis

The tempo of, at least the first songs of Rock in Rio 2013 were played in a higher tempo than the usual if I'm not wrong.

The biggest issue with this concert wasn't Jon's shitty voice, but the setlist. WHen you play songs like Whole Lot Of Leaving, Lost Highway, Memory, Crash, We Got it Going On, Born to Follow, Who Says and so on at festival, you're most likely to loose the crowd from the get go. I remember people going nuts for Bad Name, Faith and It's my Life as well as people seating down for the songs mentioned above. From Bad Medicine onwards, the show took off and it was enjoyable despite Jon's mediocre vocals.

[Walleris]

Originally Posted by efpg0708

The biggest issue with this concert wasn't Jon's shitty voice, but the setlist. WHen you play songs like Whole Lot Of Leaving, Lost Highway, Memory, Crash, We Got it Going On, Born to Follow, Who Says and so on at festival, you're most likely to loose the crowd from the get go. I remember people going nuts for Bad Name, Faith and It's my Life as well as people seating down for the songs mentioned above. From Bad Medicine onwards, the show took off and it was enjoyable despite Jon's mediocre vocals.

You have to realize that for the most part, song selection is dictated by Jon's voice. The way he was sounding that night, I was surprised he even tried Always, considering it's a widely covered pro-shot gig in one of year's biggest festivals.

[Iceman]

The main reason for slow tempos are the samples. Most of the songs are played to a click track, which means the tempo stays the same in each and every performance.

And that's because the stuff thats on "tapes", that is as samples or backing tracks, are in a certain tempo. For the song to sound good, the whole band has to play in that tempo. There are a lot of songs that are "tied down" this way, like It's My Life, Livin' On A Prayer and basically any song that has either backing vocal samples (like LOAP) or loops, or both (like IML). So they couldn't play faster even if they wanted to.

It's got nothing to do with Tico not being young or not being able to play that fast, it's how they want to sound. I would love to see them speed up the songs, but it's probably not going to happen.

Ice