Saturday 3 December
The soundtrack for today is:

Bon Jovi
3 December 1986
Eilenriedehalle
Hannover, Germany 🇩🇪
🏟️ Slippery When Wet Tour

If you do your research on this concert, of even if you don’t, because truth be told there are few sources on it
– in particular if you are someone who is not willing to go deep into the fan forums for what is a daily habit of posting a Bon Jovi concert “On this day”-
even then!
You will have a high chance of finding praise for Hannover 1986 for being an amazing recording, being hailed for having Livin’ on a Prayer with the original key change, and just in general for being of a beyond-Bon Jovi fandom -recollection quality, even for that time.

A show so good, that even the other fans of late 1986 shows- which I think we can all safely agree on was the absolute best and most epic time to see Bon Jovi live- 
that even those other fans would envy the lucky ones who got to see Hannover 1986, because the quality was even higher than the rest of the European leg of the tour.
Stunning show of stunning musical quality.

But I will remember this show for it’s highly erotic nature.
And a language twist.

Hit ‘m hard. Fire away. Dankjewel.

👩🏼‍💻 the story 3 December

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Language twist first!
And I heard them at least two times, but it’s possible the 10 year old (!) upload sans timestamps in the description box (these are all signs something is antique on YouTube!) carries more Dankjewels, to be excavated by future generations.

But I heard the first Dankjewel at 23:00, closing Bad Name and the other one at 1:31:45 closing Get Ready and the concert.

The rest of this post will take a deep dive into two songs in particular, and Get Ready is one of them.
So more on that song in a moment.

But first, for those not German or Dutch, context to why Dankjewel is such a remarkable thing to say for Jon Bon Jovi!
The Dutch or German will know, because dankjewel is not German!
It is Dutch.

Logically speaking, dankjewel should have been in the 27th of November Arnhem show. But not in the French, Swiss or German shows after.
But from Arnhem we only have Livin’ on a Prayer YouTube, and that one doesn’t contain any dankjewels.
In all probability, the whole Dutch Arnhem show didn’t contain any Dutch.

A concert I should have written about, in the three weeks between my last post here and this one, is Rotterdam 21 November 1988;
Also a Dutch show, two years later.

I would have told you many things about it, but what I want to refer to here is that Rotterdam 1988 is interesting because there is so much story telling going on.
Jon clearly whitelisted The Netherlands as a country where people spoke English, and he didn’t need to hold back.
I don’t recall if he threw in a Dutch word here and there, but I can imagine he didn’t and that he wouldn’t have used Dutch in Arnhem 1986 either.

If he had used dankjewel in The Netherlands at the Arnhem concert 27 November 1986, he would probably not have thought dankjewel was German, on 3 December 1986 in Hannover.

Dankjewel is a Dutch way to say “thank you”. I say a Dutch way, because there are multiple ways to do it.
You can say “dank je”, which is the literal translation of “thank you”.
You can say “dank u”, which is a very polite way of saying it.
And then there is the third option, “dankjewel” which is informal, but also a disarming, almost childlike way. 
When you say “dankjewel” there is nothing standing between you and the person receiving, it’s a very intimate way of acknowledging the other person.

Unless that other person is German!
Then your dankjewel just pulled up a tremendous language barrier.

But I am certain that in 1986 no one noticed, because next to the impeccable renditions of songs all sung in their original key or even higher, there was simply so much full-on Bon Jovi magic going on, that this show will be remembered for its high energy!

And it’s difficult to grasp into words. A lot more difficult than knowing what thank you is in German (Danke).
But I’m going to try.

Because Hannover 1986 is electrifying.
It’s layered, it’s conflicting, it’s like a lover who makes little scratches in  your flesh, because he needs the challenge of making you forget the pain.
And remembering only sweet surrender.

It’s as if Jon Bon Jovi chose Hannover 1986 to unleash his full sexual power, and teased, shocked, pushed, pulled and stretched, a hell of a lot more than his vocal cords.

The Hannover show opens with Slippery When Wet’s (unnamed) intro Pink Flamingos, followed by the B-side of the album’s opener Raise Your Hands;
Immediately confusing the audience from the get go, because they would have been expecting the A-side opener Let it Rock, at this point.
With Raise Your Hands the concert makes a steamroll-entry, running all the way up to its first dramatic full stop.
The first of many!
And smacking down into a final “Raise Your Haaaaaaaands!!!”

Without missing a beat, the electric guitar opens Breakout; 
A song from the first album that was removed from the setlist in future years, just like all other songs from the first two albums (bar Runaway).
And it is here Jon starts playing with our hearts.
The music slows down to a beat where the audience is just dying for some singalong! 
Which is often granted, but not tonight! 
(“No, no not tonight
You gotta let me go”!) 
And instead of “Whoo-hoo Breakout!”-ing with the audience, he does not respond in any way to their singing, and instead uses the intermezzo for a creative interpretation no one can predict.

“Guttentag Hannover Germany how are you?!”
Finally! Jon Bon Jovi greets the audience and promises a long and sweaty night. 
After asking the audience for permission for the musical debauchery this night is going to be, and them of course yelling “Yes!!!!”, he concludes that this thing is then settled;
“Okay then! Take me back to Tokyo Road!”

And no slow Japanese folk song/ music box intro either; Tokyo Road hits it off, straight from the bat.
And the bridge, the talking bit, is cut short too. No frills, keeping the Jovi train , Hannover steamroller, whatever they have moving forward here, firmly up to speed.

“You guys sound like you’re ready to have a good time tonight, is that true?”
Jon takes a moment to inform the audience the next song is from the new album, and that they probably know this song because it is the first single in Germany.
“Tico give me the beat!”
You Give Love a Bad Name, commences.
And closing with the aforementioned dankjewel, while in the background drummer Tico Torres has already picked up the beat to Wild in the Streets.

After Wild in the Streets we hear a melancholic tune on the electric guitar,  that resembles Prince’s Purple Rain intro.
It will move into Silent Night, where Jon Bon Jovi always uses the same story as an introduction. A moment where I (and I imagine others) always hope he has decided to change it, but he never does.
But Hannover does get a slightly toned down version…. Fans of the 1986 period know we’ve had worse.

And so on a melancholic, Purple Rain like foot, and with an audience that has just had any ideas of being gently handled effectively slapped out of them;
Silent Night sets off.
Starting slowly, yes, but in the finale Jon’s singing reaches a crying your eyeballs -out intensity!
And Richie Sambora takes over the “lead”, when Jon has sung his final deeply emotional words;
With a few chords, guitar only, the song ends.
Leaving you emotional, unsteady, but also wanting more.
And you have totally forgotten, you were hurt by that same man, just 10 minutes ago.

“Thank you!” the man says.
“This one is for Gina, wherever she is. This is called Livin’on a Prayer.”
And in the final months where this song could technically still be omitted because it was not the staple song it would very soon become!
Livin’ on a Prayer begins.
With fireworks after the first chorus.

In the break between songs, we hear Jon making little screams (quite sexy to be honest!) which together with other 80s experiments will evolve into the Keep the Faith “jungle” noises, which will be added to the live renditions of the song.
Some of the 80s tours have early examples of these future Keep the Fiath intermezzos, but I’m not familiar enough with the tours to say exactly which one.
It may be just the 1986 concerts, I don’t know.

“God damn, you guys are good tonight, good tonight, good tonight!
Let me hear you make a little noise!”
* yeah! * 
“A little more than that!”
* yeah! * 
“A little more than that!”
* yeah! * 
“A little more than that!”
* yeah! * 
“Alright!
This is something of the Slippery album, and I’m going to need. your. help.”

After the crowd solemnly swears to help, Let it Rock begins. 
“I’ve got a story to tell.”
Jon Bon Jovi adds, just before the first verse.

Let it Rock sounds strong, convincing, there is an extra scream, a “huh!”, a “yeah!”. A whole array of sounds added in and invented on the spot.
And then we go!
The question, answer, Jon playing the audience-game, to the BEAT! of Let it Rock.
To the BREATH!
Of Let it Rock.
To the very FIRE!
Of perhaps the most underrated Bon Jovi song in the history of Bon Jovi, and under the threat of Jon Bon Jovi losing 100 Deutschmark to Ritchie if they don’t sing louder;
The crowd is forged into an allegiance, with Bon Jovi.

This is the point of No Return, where Jon knows he can now do with them whatever he wants, and they’ll not just say yes;
They’ll be begging for it.

So naturally, he gives them time to cool off.
He breaks the connection, and introduces Richie Sambora, for a guitar solo that moves into a guitar and drum solo- but without singing.
Without a recognizable melody.
Until the guitar-drum combo brushes against a predicable beat, where the crowd enthusiastically starts to clap “Hey! Hey! Hey!”.
Only to be cut off within seconds.
Silence.
Drum solo.
Guitar joining.
But still…no predictable tune. Nothing, to hold onto. Until?

“In and out of love.”
In long wails, and on repeat, the title of this second album song is sung on top of the incomprehensible music. 
Four times total, before the music adapts to the words, and we recognize In and Out of Love.

“Everybody put your hands up in the air!”
Jon addresses the audience again, with In and Out of Love dropping back to give him space to play with the audience. 
Or so you think! Because a few second later he says something like:
“Come on players. Let’s take them out.”
Leaving the audience unsatisfied and sidelined.
“Bang bang baby,” Jon adds later.
Which is also a reference to the song Bang, Bang, which he sung in harmony in 1984 and 1985– as a wonderful intro to Shot Through The Heart.
And if you have never heard that, you will not regret clicking that link.

But in 1986 the casual “Bang bang” was nothing like the thoughtful cover of earlier tours;
It was a spoken word Bang Bang, that was a push, not a pull!
Followed by a powerful improvised verse, and another invitation to “Sing!”;
But without giving the audience a chance to do so.

In and Out of Love is constricting the audience, giving them so little room to “move”, that they have no choice but to hold back their love, their appreciation;
Their desire to join and become one.
They have no other choice, but to hold themselves back.  
They do get a chance to sing along, 6, 8 times “In and Out of Love”; But it’s not in a question/answer fashion, and the crowd seems to miss the window of opportunity.
And then Richie’s solo begins, the starting sign of the song’s closing sequence.

“Well, well well. Hannover I’m afraid we’ve only got time for one more song tonight.”
Jon says at a little over an hour.
The crowd lets out whistles and screams, to express their disappointment.
“Well,” Jon says. “I mean it sounds like you guys are getting a little bit tired tonight.” 
Crowd is having mixed emotions…
“Are you getting tired out there?” Jon now shouts.
“Noooooo!!!!”  the crowd answers! 

“Are you sure?!”
“Yess!!!!” 

“Well alright! Runaway!”
Runaway it is. And at one point you can hear Jon laugh! Something that I have not heard anywhere else in the shows.
So he’s having a good time, or is surprised by something happening.

On the outro of Runaway, Jon thanks the crowd and closes the show.
“Auf wiedersehen! See you again real soon!”
Fireworks + the crowd sings, claps, whistles we want more.

The sound of wind is already audible, meaning that Wanted Dead or Alive will be played, but the crowd doesn’t seem to hear and keeps screaming until Richie has appeared on stage and he starts playing guitar.
A sign their prayers are answered and there will be more.

To be honest, the intro to Wanted Dead or Alive almost sounds too polished, too produced, in comparison to the rest of the show.
Maybe a tape was used.
Wanted Dead or Alive is played to resemble the album, but Jon’s vocals are live, and raw!

After the Emmy worthy power ballad Wanted Dead or Alive, Jon addresses the audience in a very laid back fashion.
Thanking them for being a great audience and announcing a cover song; 
A care-free rock n’ roll song Boys are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy. 
And yes!
Finally.
In question-answer style, with “a little louder!” and “I can’t hear you!” the crowd is invited to singalong.
“Thank you, goodnight!” Jon closes.
With the crowd clapping, yelling and whistling: “We want more!” and “Bon Jo Vi!” all over again.

After inquiring if the crowd is sure they haven’t got enough yet, and are sure they want some more, which of course they do, Jon asks David to give him “some of that sweet soul music”.
A cover song, with piano and sung in harmony again; Drift Away.
With one verse with Richie Sambora on lead vocals as well.

And although the crowd probably has no idea what this song is, Jon gives them some hooks to sing along.
Before announcing what will prove to be a ten minute long, closing song.
“Get Ready!!”

“Put your hands together.”
“When I say Come On Come One, I need you to say “Get Ready”. Can you do that Hannover?!”
After 90 minutes of being teased and pushed and pulled, Hannover is more than willing!

Wait a minute. Hold it! 
Wait a minute. Hold it! 
Wait a minute. Hold it! 
Stop!
Stop!
Stop!
Stop!
Stoooooop!

In an exhausted husky voice:
“Get your hands together!”

*crowd starts clapping rhythmically* 

Suspenseful:
“Come on, come on… Come on come on…. Come on come on…”

Shouting:
“One more time! Hannover! As loud as you can!”

To Tico Torres:
“Hey Animal! Give it to me! Hit ‘m hard! Fire away!”

To us:
“Let me see Hannover Germany. One more time. As loud as you can, yeah! Here we go!
Say: Come on, come on.”

CROWD: “GET READY!!!!!!”

Jon: “Alright! Dankjewel!”

Therefor 

3 december 1986, Hannover, Germany🇩🇪
BON JOVI LIVE FROM HANNOVER, GERMANY 1986 (FULL SHOW)
3 December 1986
is the soundtrack for today

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The show has been added to the playlist 
“Bon Jovi concerts on this day”
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06ScAo9UN4GyhtQWYfl3d6jMT
at 3 December.

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 ~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
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