Music: Bon Jovi And Ione At The CHI Health Center

We had a busy long weekend bookended with concerts and I'm still trying to catch up here on Homer's Travels.

Last Friday I went to see Bon Jovi at the CHI Health Center in downtown Omaha.  The tickets said the show started at 8:00pm which is usually when the warm up band comes out.  Being the guy I am I showed up an hour and a half early knowing that the lines would be long.  I was right, all four lines were long (The security line, the line to the stairs/escalator, the line through the ticket check, and the line to the merch table).  I was lucky that I was early since the warm up act came on at 7:30pm.

Bon Jovi's tribute to Ukraine.

I found my seat and realized it was not as great as I thought it was.  It was smack dab behind the sound tables.  This would have been too much of an issue except for the raised platform with a camera and operator on it blocking my view of half the stage.  Fortunately a lot of people in my row never showed up and I was able to shift over so my view was relatively unobstructed.

Ione: a local act from Sioux City, IA

For this short, 30 day, 15 show tour, Bon Jovi had interviewed local bands to join them as warm up bands.  In Omaha, the first stop of the tour, the warm up act was a singer named Ione (sorry for the facebook link - she only has Facebook and Instagram accounts).

She was really good.  She had a great voice and interesting songs.  I rarely enjoy warm up acts but she was entertaining.  It's unfortunate that they gave the wrong show time so she performed to a half filled hall.

Bon Jovi came out and the band sounded awesome.  Bon Jovi, on the other hand, sounded flat and missed some notes.  The fact that this was the first stop on the tour and his first tour in two and a half years may explain the rustiness of his voice (Thank you Covid 🌵).  As the evening progressed his voice got better but never really reached the sound I expected.

At one point he recorded a song for a Ukrainian benefit and, with the yellow and blue graphics (see top photo of this post), did a great job and his voice finally arrived full force.

Bon Jovi - Rough vocals, good light show.

The show hit all the right songs which should have been an 'A' but the rough vocals brought the performance down to maybe a 'C+'.

A few pictures can be found in my 2022-04-01 Bon Jovi w/ Ione, CHI Center, Omaha, NE Google Photos Album.