“The romance of Paris, Italian cooking, Scandinavian fjords, ev’ry nightclub in Berlin… ; The music of Vienna, and the beer, oh the beer of Prague!”
Jon Bon Jovi

Without video material of concerts that were played today, and already three hours in researching this post, and writing too much, all paragraphs that I have no idea how to share with you without having you fall asleep (all about a very mixed bag of emotions about this daily blog  which has already taken over my life);
With all of that, I have picked this post to be the place to share the video above, in support Bon Jovi’s 1995 Cross Road/ These Days tour.

From this day, June 15, we only have one pre-1997 concert recording, a 1996 audio from Hannover 1996. I will share it later.
But first I want to provide some context, of why the 1995 tour, together with its 1996 encore, will very often be the focus of this series.
For two reasons.
1. It was an extensive tour.
In a way it already started in 1994 with the Cross Road album and 1994’s experimental December concerts, and lasted all the way to Japan and European victory laps in 1996.
2. It was relatively well documented, many concerts of this tour are available on YouTube.

The video above, about the 1995 leg of the European tour, contains a difficult to locate scene of Jon walking a beach, where he dreams about Europe;
Fragments from an interview with Jon and Richie, where Jon seems to be directly addressing the things he said in the beach video;
And it has several scenes from a stadium show in Bremen. 

The video is worth a watch, in particular if you re from Europe.

But what I want to write about, what I want you to focus on for this post,
– now that I suddenly and quite magically hear ALL the pieces of this now four hour blogging puzzle clicking together in my head! – 
the thing I want you to focus on is the montage of Jon dreaming about Europe, cut in with scenes of screaming fans, packed shows, Jon being carried over the crowd and other scenes of a rock star life!
I want you to focus on that first minute, of the video.
And remember it for later, when I will bring the story home.

So. June 15th! What do we got? 
What pre-1997 Bon Jovi concerts were played on June 15?

opening for The Scorpions:
15 June 1984 Glens Falls, New York, Glen Falls Civic Center

off the grid concerts in a three week break in the Fahrenheit Tour:
15 June 1985 Rochester, New York, Harro East Ballroom

Slippery When Wet Tour:
15 June 1987 Denver, Colorado, McNichols Sports Arena (second night)

Cross Road/ These Days Tour:
15 June 1995 Lisbon, Portugal, Estádio José Alvalade  
and one year later:
15 June 1996 Hannover, Germany, Niedersachsenstadion
-> available as audio on YouTube, with context in description box:
Bon Jovi | Live at Niedersachsenstadion | Hannover 1996

Like I said, the only recorded 15 June concert is the 1996 Hannover one, but what.a.show!
Bon Jovi could have retired on the 16th of June 1996 and we would still be talking about them and their final show in Hannover!

If you read the description box of
Bon Jovi | Live at Niedersachsenstadion | Hannover 1996  you can see the Hannover setlist has 3 encores (!) and the note:
“The band’s performance is great though, as usual for that period though Jon’s voice gets a little shaky in the first chorus of Always! :)”
If you are anything like me, you then immediately click the timestamp at Always to listen, to check it out.
And then you start playing around with thoughts about the meaning of life through the lens of rock n roll, and 90s Bon Jovi concerts (but maybe you are not that much like me 😉 ) .
The same shaking of the voice happens at other points in Always, and I appreciate it for its rawness, its realness, and the emotion they bring to it.

I suggest we put that Hannover 1996 recording somewhere we visit it often, and listen to it for the rest of our lives. 

So far for now, about the concert side of it.
Because originally I started this post not with the Europe tour video, nor with listening to Always, and instead tried to evaluate my almost one week of writing this blog instead.

The mixed bag of “Oh my God! The blog has taken over my life!” and “This is not sustainable”; To the panicky: “I STILL have not made videos about yoga for my YouTube channels!”, and the final redemption of:
“This was The Way and this blog has already brought me more than I could possibly imagine.”
Unlike Bon Jovi I can’t retire on the 16th of June, feeling my work is done! But I sure as hell feel on track and on purpose.

In the MTV European tour video, Jon Bon Jovi described their European fans as intense.
After that previous paragraph, I realize he was not lying 😉

This new daily concert series, has proven to be an incredible gift as well as a curse.

Gift: Because I ve finally found a way to shape, teach and DO yoga in a way that inspires me AND OTHER BON JOVI FANS! In particular once I do get around to creating videos for my channels, teaching this Daily Bon Jovi Yoga system.
But I ve already created a new page/ tab on this blog:
https://dailybonjoviyoga.com/practice-materials-and-schedules/
So, less than a week! And after years of trial and a lot of error, I can finally inspire myself and other Bon Jovi fans to really rock their yoga.

And I also get up every day knowing I ll be diving into all 80s and 90s of Bon Jovi concerts of the day, and write about it! 
But if you ask me: “Suzanne, are you not worried about the number of hours this is costing?”
I would answer: “I am. No idea how to keep this up.”

My summer is dedicated to setting up my work as a content creator;
            Rock Star
Yoga/ Business/ Writer
But with this daily blogging about concerts costing all of my time; And not having gotten back on the wagon making YouTube videos for …. months?
I have mixed feelings about this.

A few months ago, I decided to never teach yoga real life anymore, and a few weeks ago I complemented that with withdrawing from making yoga videos.
Because to be bluntly honest here;
It was always the yoga videos that got the ass stares, and that made me aware that if I wanted to inspire people to create their own yoga, and really rock their own practice, being visible on screen doing yoga, had probable KEPT THAT from happening.

So even though I felt guilty for not having picked up filming, I understood that now I had thrown out teaching yoga, when my calling had always been inspiring yoga (which is an entirely different thing!), I would need time to adjust.
I needed to get a vision if inspiring yoga was not done by teaching it;
Then how was it done?

I understood this would require time and that it made sense filming had not started. But I have also read all the wisdom about “just starting” and “done is better than perfect”. 
Which explains why I still felt guilty, and was unsure if me not touching my YouTube channels for months, would ever lead to more clarity, and to coming back stronger.

Until this series, this daily, time-consuming, life-over-taking series on this blog,  starting with a Bon Jovi concert and then writing about yoga;
Until this series brought just that clarity that changes everything.

It saved me.

On Monday 13 June, exactly three years after the Bon Jovi concert I attended, which I considered the day I got the SPARK, for “Rock Star Yoga”, here on this blog I came up with the blueprint, the outline, for doing Bon Jovi yoga.

[text continues under schedule. Skipping allowed!]

#dailybonjoviyoga 

A touring schedule! To rock your practice:

Monday: Find What Feels Good
Your juicy Pink Flamingo/ Let it Rock combo is out there for you. You just have to go out and find it!
guided: Yoga with Adriene
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Find what feels good on your own with Slippery When Wet album
or a Slippery When Wet Tour concert (July 1986 – October 1987)

Tuesday, showtime! New Jersey Syndicate Tour
The monster tour, that nearly broke the band and each of its members.
And turned them into legends.
guided: Ashtanga yoga playlist
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Rock Star Yoga (vinyasa flow yoga, a strong practice) with New Jersey
or a New Jersey Syndicate Tour concert (October 1988 – February 1990, + Dec 1990, January 1991)

Wednesday: Santa Fe Day
Go out in the wilderness and start with a clean slate.
guided: the yoga playlist
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Some sort of flexibility/ relaxing practice with Blaze of Glory (45 minutes)

Thursday, showtime! Keep the Faith/ I ll Sleep When I m Dead Tour
According to many fans the tour with the most epic-beyond-belief concerts, including what is known as “The Holy Month of April”! (1993)
guided: Shiva Rea playlist,
or her 1999 album Yoga Sanctuary
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Rock Star Yoga (vinyasa flow yoga, a strong practice) with Keep the Faith 
or a full concert (October 1992 – December 1993)

Friday: An Evening With Bon Jovi
Time to unwind with friends.
guided:  Tara Stiles videos from her playlist
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Hatha yoga with a few songs from Cross Road
or dive Keep the Faith: An Evening With Bon Jovi 

Saturday: Showtime! Cross Road/ These Days Tour
Time to bring it home and ROCK THE HOUSE!!!
guided:  Meghan Curry Playlist
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Rock Star Yoga (vinyasa flow yoga, a strong practice) with These Days (1h)
or concert Cross Road/ These Days Tour (April 1995 – July 1996)

Sunday: Vintage Yoga,
Time to go back to how it all started.
guided: Playlist Vintage Yoga Videos + tv 
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
hatha yoga poses with Bon Jovi- Bon Jovi (1984) or Fahrenheit (1985)
or with their first concerts 1983, 1984, 1985

source:
https://dailybonjoviyoga.com/practice-materials-and-schedules/

So in the few days I have been doing this blog series – WHINING and worrying about how to keep doing this and that it’s not sustainable! –
I did crack a three year old riddle, of “What is Rock Star Yoga? What is the yoga that is mine to teach?”
That, that schedule with its weekdays and yoga practices modeled after a touring schedule;
THAT is mine to teach.

I finally have a structure to teach everything I wanted to teach but didn’t know how.

And I may even reverse my decision to not physically, visibly, teach instructional yoga videos!
That month old decision, may be reversed because by now I know the HOW and a WHY, of what it is I m doing.

I am able to see where I can create unique material, unique yoga videos, that are part of Daily Bon Jovi Yoga/ Rock Star Yoga.
And not just a lesser version of the videos I recorded 2015-2016, and that are uploaded/ unlocked on my YouTube.
You can find these older yoga videos here, among the playlists. https://www.youtube.com/c/SuzanneBeenackers/playlists
These older videos, which are still being updated and unlocked, were one of the reasons I felt I had little to offer or add, teaching yoga on video.
I m years older, and I m out of shape compared to those years when I was still a teacher, and teaching fulltime.
It felt awkward to be in front of the camera…

But next to offering me something to teach, a structure in support of anyone who wants to try Bon Jovi yoga;
This “yoga touring schedule” I discovered, the Bon Jovi Yoga weekly blueprint, has also inspired MY YOGA!
It’s very well possible that I will soon be rocking my yoga, and that the awkwardness I ve been feeling about teaching it, and about being on video doing yoga, will disappear.

So yes, this blog series is time intensive, its dictating my day, and has taken over my life.
But it has also given me the clarity teaching a new style of yoga, I have been looking for, for years.
Is the price too high?
No.

You re going to give your life for something anyway. If I give mine to teaching #dailybonjoviyoga by writing, and by YouTube?
I ll take it!
I have taken it already.

And the moment I realized that, I wondered if it had all been for nothing. The waiting, the missing years, the times I felt I was without profession, without anything to give.
All the times I felt I was SO close, and that I had been for years, and I was so incredibly frustrated, because the doers, the more pragmatic people who Nike-style “Just did it” and “Just took action”, seemed to have it made.
And I wondered if I had been closer to my dream, if I had DONE something?

But now I can see, that? Was never my dream.
My dream, to teach Rock Star Yoga and to be a rock star yogi who does #dailybonjoviyoga, never came from doing.
It came from dreaming.

Just like Jon Bon Jovi dreamed about Europe, walking along the shores of… Still at home, in New Jersey? 
Just like him, I needed to dream first.

Just like him;
YOU need to dream first.

Just like Jon Bon Jovi dreaming of Europe, and allowing himself to anticipate all the joys the tour would bring them, but also allowing the big picture, the meaning of it, to settle in;
Just like him, you need to fall in love with yoga first.

Before you can walk down the beach contemplating all the different ways in which you and yoga would hit it off?
Don’t do it.

Don’t do it, until you re as emotionally engaged as Jon Bon Jovi in Hannover 1996.
Don’t roll out your mat, don’t practice yoga, walk away from it and wait.
Wait until your voice would shake in Always. 

.
 ~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🥳 PayPalMe 
🇳🇱Tikkie van de week 

new page on this blog! 
https://dailybonjoviyoga.com/practice-materials-and-schedules/
With a yoga “touring schedule” 😉
To rock your Daily Bon Jovi yoga.

+ On my Dutch YouTube channel you can find all my playlists,
including my beginner friendly one + international teachers.

This blog is all the support you need
I will mention videos or things I added for you on YouTube, right here.
Subscribe to receive these posts in your inbox.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably on the top right.

.

This Daily Bon Jovi Yoga blog is an element of “Rock Star” [phase 2]

June 14 has only two regular shows, pre 1997.  But it is quite well known for 3 gigs on the streets of three different cities in the UK, all three this day in 1995. 
A single day off, between their Barcelona and Lisbon concert.

Which would already have been enough to explain the title “What days off?”;
If it had not been for the fact that just yesterday I received a list of 1985 dates they performed, off the grid. They were not included in their official touring schedules. 
And I was told they had done it again in 1988, but from that streak even less is known!

But the first time they used the less than one month off for extra shows, was  in 1985 between the European leg of their Fahrenheit tour, which ended in May 1985, and the upcoming first leg of their American tour, opening for RATT, which would start late June.

And to tie it to this blog; On June 10, I started this daily series. Where for one year I will follow their concert dates pre-1997. The “secret shows” started on June 12. 
So the first two shows should have already been in my two previous blogposts; 12 and 13 June, 1985.
The third of these gigs was today, June 14.

So before I catch up with you, with an overview of their official performances on this day, I want to share these three:

On this day, off the grid concerts in a three week break in the Fahrenheit Tour:
12 June 1985 Cleveland, Ohio, Mall C 
13 June 1985 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Metron 
14 June 1985 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Syria Mosque (As special guest / opening act)

I will dive into the three aforementioned UK performances, for this post. And see what’s online of those acoustic gigs they gave in Glasgow, Cardiff and London, but first let’s check in with the official tours.
What pre-1997 concerts were played on June 14?

The Slippery When Wet Tour:
14 June 1987 Denver, Colorado, McNichols Sports Arena
The New Jersey Syndicate Tour:
14 June 1989 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Civic Arena (second night) 

The concerts are not available on YouTube.

So with both the secret dates, as well as their official concerts on June 14 from the Slippery and New Jersey tour, not being documented;
The only material we have from June 14, are the promotional gigs they gave on the streets of Glasgow (*1), Cardiff and London.
On June 13 1995 they had played Barcelona, and on June 15 1995 they would play Lisbon.

June 14, acoustic sets United Kingdom.
Only the first one, in Glasgow, comes with a video: 

Tower Records, Glasgow, Scotland (*1)
Setlist:
1. Love For Sale
2. Livin’ On A Prayer
3. Wanted Dead Or Alive
4. Blood On Blood
5. This Ain’t A Lovesong
6. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
video: Bon Jovi | Acoustic at Tower Records | Glasgow 1995
source, BJ tours

Queen Street, Cardiff, Wales
“Bon Jovi played a short 20-minute acoustic show in the shopping street of Cardiff. There were still tickets available for their show in the city’s stadium a week later.” 
source, BJ Tours

South Bank, London, England
news item on MTV news:
Bon Jovi MTV News Busking in Britain June 1995
No videos or setlist are known of this performance either, but they would play Wembley three times at 23, 24 and 25 June.
source, BJ Tours

[post script June 15:
through a clip Jane posted on Twitter, I found a video about these three gigs, and the backstory to it!
Bon Jovi interviews/live 7:25
I didn’t have that at the time of writing the post below.]

I think some reschuduling may have been done, because to me it doesn’t make sense that they would play the streets of Glasgow, without having a show there that year.
But in 1996, one year later when they revisited Japan and Europe, they did play Glasgow.

All three acoustic gigs were absolutely packed; And must have caused severe disruptions in the streets of Glasgow, Cardiff and London.
For Glasgow, we can see so in the video;
for London we can see it in the item on MTV where the fans are even peeping through “windows” of what looks like a parking garage.
And of Cardiff a photo exists.

Three acoustic gigs in the UK, on their “day off” between Barcelona (Spain) and Lisbon (Portugal). And where Spain and Portugal are neighbors; the UK is definitely not next door.
And Glasgow is in the north, in Scotland, and Cardiff is in Wales on the east and London in England, on the west side of the UK.

So what at least in theory could have been a day off, probably turned into their most intense, travel heavy day of the entire Cross Road/ These Days tour.

And what I want to share with you, is not so much a lesson about when to rest, and when to go all in.
But something else, that has really worked for me, and that is this:
What if, you change your mindset, your thoughts about a specific day or a specific situation, into the exact opposite of what you thought originally?
From meh, to “this is going to be great!”?

I don’t know how the acoustic tour of the UK came about, but I imagine that on the drawing board in New Jersey, that 14th of June, had still been a day off between Barcelona and Lisbon.
And that somewhere along the tour that changed to: “We have to step on it!”
In the 90s we didn’t use the word “impact”, as in “the band wanted to have an impact”, but they did want to sell tickets.
And they were willing to put in the work, and do whatever it took. Now as much as in the beginning of their career; They were not going to leave it up to chance if they were going to be remembered as America’s biggest rock n roll band.

But still.
If you think you have it figured out, and then you have to work an extra day; That sucks.
We would all rather have a day off at that point.

But if you change your mindset around it; It feels entirely different.
In this case, Bon Jovi could go from: “We d rather not work, but we have to. We re all happy if this day is over. “
To:
“These three gigs are going to leave their mark. They will turn out to be the most important thing we do all year, and decades from now they will still be talking about it.”
Then you really board on the plane with an entirely different energy!

The same thing, can be said of your yoga practice.

On days when you’re not feeling it, a way to shift that energy is to go from:
“I don’t want to but I have to.”
To:
“I m going to have the most important yoga session of this year. I will always remember what happened on the mat today, and will think back to it with great fondness!”

And wishing, you had recorded more of it. That you had noted down exactly what you did, or exactly what music you listened to.
Because you long so deeply to understand what it was really like, and how you can get that special feeling of doing yoga that will last you for decades;
You want to know how you can have that again!

And just like Bon Jovi, you can’t.
It is what it is, there are not setlists or materials from Cardiff or London.

But the beauty is that you don’t have to know what happened exactly, to look back at it with fondness.
All you need is knowing that it was really great.
The best yoga session you ever had, with the most powerful insights and breakthroughs ever.

And the way to get there, is to decide right here and now;
That this is going to be the best yoga session ever.

And that this day, June 14th, is gonna rock! 

.
 ~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🥳 PayPalMe 
🇳🇱Tikkie van de week 

(*1) In 2020/2021 I made a few video reviews from the These Days tour.
This included June 14, Glasgow:
#17 Promotional Show Tower Records Glasgow June 14 | 1995 Bon Jovi Concert Series (Stories)

new page on this blog! 
https://dailybonjoviyoga.com/practice-materials-and-schedules/
With a yoga “touring schedule” 😉
To rock your Daily Bon Jovi yoga.

+ On my Dutch YouTube channel you can find all my playlists,
including my beginner friendly one + international teachers.

This blog is all the support you need
I will mention videos or things I added for you on YouTube, right here.
Subscribe to receive these posts in your inbox.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably on the top right.

.

This Daily Bon Jovi Yoga blog is an element of “Rock Star” [phase 2]

June 13, is a day with frequent Bon Jovi concerts! 
For this series, I m focusing on the 20th century, but in the Netherlands there were at least 2 June 13 concerts on a later date:
2008, Amsterdam, and 2019 Nijmegen.

Here you can find a video, posted by Jane, of a mesmerizing Someday I ll Be Saturday Night performance, from Amsterdam, 2008.

These are the five 20th century concerts on June 13:
13 June 1984 Portland (opening for the Scorpions)
13 June 1987 Casper, WY, USA (with Cinderella opening for them)
13 June 1989 Pittburgh Civic Arena, first night (with Skid Row opening for them)
13 June 1993 Century Hall Nagoya Japan
13 June 1995 Barcelona, Spain | video: Bon Jovi Barcelona 1995 (Bootleg)
13 June 1996 Erfurt, Germany | video: Bon Jovi – Live in Erfurt, Germany 1996 [FULL]

The last two have been recorded and uploaded to YouTube, so they will be the focus of this Daily Bon Jovi Yoga blogpost.
One year apart, they make an excellent case for the Practice Makes Perfect adage!
AND also offer context;
What does “practicing” (yoga) and “perfection” (in yoga) mean?
What can we learn from these two Bon Jovi concerts, one year apart.

In yoga, “practice” is almost always defined as choosing for some kind of method, some kind of schedule or dedicated time. Practice means routine, and practice almost always means:
Daily.
Looking at touring and concerts as an example, illustrate that, providing you are trained, you could opt for having three 2.5 hour practices a week! 
Instead of a daily 45 minute one.

Now if you ve never dipped your toes into the yoga pond, this probably sounds logical to you, but in yoga no one holds this view! 
Moderation, and settling on one style or even one series, and doing a little each day, is encouraged. And doing long sessions or bringing too much variety, is considered foolish.
You re supposed to deepen, your practice.
Not spice it up, mix it up, and sprinkle confetti on top.

But the concert analogy illustrates that if you want to give it your all, if you want to SHINE, if you want your practice to be memorable, and push you, and ask something of you that you re not sure you can give?
You can’t be doing it every day, or you can’t be doing it at that level everyday.

The concert analogy illustrates that ROCKING your practice, is a different ballgame, and that you have to set that shit up!
Like a world tour, having unforgettable yoga sessions are not going to organize themselves; You  have to start with a vision, if rocking it at that level is what you want.

I just created the week schedule below, to illustrate this principle, and I will use it in upcoming posts as well
so you ll see it more often.

You could go for practice days, and no-practice days.
But I ve created a schedule where you do entirely different things each day, including “3 shows a week”!

Monday: Find What Feels Good
Your juicy Pink Flamingo/ Let it Rock combo is out there for you. You just have to go out and find it!

Monday: Find What Feels Good,
guided:
practice with the popular Yoga with Adriene channel

Monday: Find What Feels Good, 
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Find what feels good on your own with Slippery When Wet (45 min)
or
a Slippery When Wet Tour concert (July 1986 – October 1987)

Tuesday, showtime! New Jersey Syndicate Tour
The monster tour, that nearly broke the band and each of its members.
And turned them into legends.

Tuesday, showtime! New Jersey Syndicate Tour,
guided:
Choose one or more from Ashtanga video from the Ashtanga yoga playlist
A unique school of yoga, with long, prescribed series of poses. Ashtanga yoga was one of the first yogas to reach America. Around since the 70s, not understood until this day;)

Tuesday, showtime! New Jersey Syndicate Tour,
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Practice Rock Star Yoga (vinyasa flow yoga, a strong practice) with New Jersey (1 hour) or
a New Jersey Syndicate Tour concert (October 1988 – February 1990, + Dec 1990, January 1991)

.
Wednesday: Santa Fe Day
Go out in the wilderness and start with a clean slate. 

Wednesday: Santa Fe Day,
guided:
Yin yoga/ relaxation video from the yoga playlist

Wednesday: Santa Fe Day,
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Some sort of flexibility/ relaxing practice with Blaze of Glory (45 minutes)

.
Thursday, showtime! Keep the Faith/ I ll Sleep When I m Dead Tour
According to many fans the tour with the most epic-beyond-belief concerts, including what is known as “The Holy Month of April”! (1993)

Thursday, showtime! Keep the Faith/ I ll Sleep When I m Dead Tour,
guided:
choose one or more from Shiva Rea playlist, the turn of the century founder of modern day yoga, or buy her 1999 double album 2h practice, Yoga Sanctuary

Thursday, showtime! Keep the Faith/ I ll Sleep When I m Dead Tour,
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Practice Rock Star Yoga (vinyasa flow yoga, a strong practice) with Keep the Faith (1h+) or a full concert (October 1992 – December 1993)

.
Friday: An Evening With Bon Jovi
Time to unwind with friends.

Friday: An Evening With Bon Jovi,
guided:
Choose one or more Tara Stiles videos from her playlist

Friday: An Evening With Bon Jovi,
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Practice hatha yoga on your own with a few songs from Cross Road (total album 1h:15min), or dive in with the excellent MTV production Keep the Faith: An Evening With Bon Jovi (this video 1h:10 minutes)

.
Saturday: Showtime! Cross Road/ These Days Tour
Time to bring it home and ROCK THE HOUSE!!!
In 1994 the Best Of album Cross Road was released, with the new songs Someday I ll Be Saturday Night and Always.
And in 1995, in the first months of their new world tour, the new album These Days was released: The album that won over even the most hardheaded European music journalist. 

Saturday: Showtime! Cross Road/ These Days Tour,
guided:
Choose from the Meghan Curry Playlist. Beware of the peppered ones!

Saturday: Showtime! Cross Road/ These Days Tour,
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Practice Rock Star Yoga (vinyasa flow yoga, a strong practice) with These Days (1h) or a Bon Jovi concert from the Cross Road/ These Days Tour (April 1995 – July 1996)

.
Sunday: Vintage Yoga,
Time to go back to how it all started.

Sunday: Vintage Yoga,
guided:
Playlist Vintage Yoga Videos + tv 

Sunday: Vintage Yoga,
freestyle yoga with soundtrack:
Do traditional hatha yoga poses with one of the first two albums from Bon Jovi, (Bon Jovi- Bon Jovi 1984 and Fahrenheit 1985);
Or with their first concerts,
-a world tour opening for major acts and playing smaller venues in the USA (September 1983-November 1984)
-or their Fahrenheit tour (April 1985 – December 1985)

I know it s a lot
& I will be getting back to the schedule and also turn it into a downloadable guide, soon. 

.
As mentioned before, the two concerts from this day, that are recorded are:
13 June 1995 Barcelona, Spain | video: Bon Jovi Barcelona 1995 (Bootleg)
13 June 1996 Erfurt, Germany | video: Bon Jovi – Live in Erfurt, Germany 1996 [FULL]
They are both part of the Cross Road/ These Days Tour, one from the beginning and one from the end. 
And exactly 365 days apart.

And judging from the schedule of this tour, with the tour basically ending December 1995, and Japan and Europe being visited again in 1996;
I think this extra lap was because the These Days album and the tour, had been such a huge success in Japan and Europe, that they extended their tour.

In other words, and I m sure that in the upcoming year I ll have time to fact check that for you, but I think there was far less at stake at the extra concerts in 1996, than in 1995, when they were playing an album that was new to them as well.
And three nights in Wembley…. 1995 was an enormous production.
When in 1996 they could freestyle.

They could freestyle not just because they were not under a magnifying glass, the way they had been in 1995. But also because they KNEW the material inside and out.
And I ve been listening to the Dutch 1996 concerts, and they may be the best they ever gave in The Netherlands.
And the recording of June 13, in Erfurt as well!
There is an acoustic set in the middle, and they even throw in an unprepared Never Say Goodbye!

Where, as far as I remember from making my video series in 2020 (*1), it would have been unthinkable, to improvise in their 1995 concerts.
The pre-Wembley concerts, contained songs they wanted to try out,  yes. And that was deliberately so they knew if they wanted to play them in Wembley.

There was no fooling around in the first months of touring in 1995.

So if we take the peak experience of concerts, and create yoga practices that mimic that same energy shift, around the week;
Then judging from the 1995 1996 dynamic, what can we tell about “perfection”?

Was perfection the military precision with which they worked up to Wembley?
Where they also recorded a the show.

Or was perfection 1996 when “no one” was watching, and they gave two legs of brilliant shows that in all probability outdid everything they had done the year before?

Was it the MASTERSHIP of 1996, or the CRAFTMANSHIP/ SHOWMANSHIP of 1995?
What defined “perfect”?

I already gave it away in the first paragraphs, when I said:
“Practice makes perfect”
In my opinion, 1995’s practice had made 1996’s shows perfect.
Perfect in the sense that they had full mastership over the material.
They were in absolute full control, of the show, of the music. They could flip  it around, turn it backwards, toss it in the sky, and it would still land on its feet. And to the beat 😉

And I want you to remember that.
I want you to UNDERSTAND that.
Because this is stuff no one teaches you in yoga.

That yes, you can “learn” yoga, like practicing an instrument.
But that’s Jon Bon Jovi buying his first guitar stuff.
Yes, you can design and structure your way to make sure you can “achieve” things in your body, in your life. And get your Wembley tape out of it, or whatever it is you re after.

But if you want the joy, the mastership, the surprise, and the confidence of Bon Jovi 1996? 
If you want to be able to freestyle and improvise and even rock your yoga when you don’t know how to do it properly?
Like Jon Bon Jovi not knowing the lyrics to Never Say Goodbye, in Erfurt?

Then you have to let all of that go.

You have to let go of the idea of having to come up with your version of a Wembley dvd in a few weeks time.
Losing weight, getting more flexible, getting “good” at yoga;
Let go, let go.

But hold the vision of yourself, practicing with ease, rocking your yoga, laughing at yourself when you forget how it’s done,
and go with the flow forever and always.

And then 365 days from now?
Just like the 365 days between 13 June 1995-1996;
Just like that you will have mastership over your yoga, and effortlessly, deliver your best work.

I know today is Monday, but someday?
You ll be Saturday night. 

.
 ~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🥳 PayPalMe 
🇳🇱Tikkie van de week 

*Want to start yoga?
On my Dutch YouTube channel you can find all my playlists, including my beginner friendly one + international teachers.

(*1) In 2020 I made a few video reviews from the These Days tour.
This included June 13, Barcelona:
#16.part1 Barcelona, Spain June 13 | 1995 Bon Jovi Concert Series (Stories)
#16.part2 Barcelona, Spain June 13 | 1995 Bon Jovi Concert Series (Stories)

This blog is all the support you need
I will mention videos or things I added for you on YouTube, right here.
Subscribe to receive these posts in your inbox.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably on the top right.

.

This Daily Bon Jovi Yoga blog is an element of “Rock Star” [phase 2]