Gig review: Bon Jovi

"A happy Wednesday night to you here in beautiful, rainy Scotland," encouraged Jon Bon Jovi in the lazy New Jersey drawl the girls find so irresistible.

The well-preserved Bon Jovi knows the ladies love him, and he played up to it with some crowd-pleasing patter. Such willingness to satisfy extended to the setlist too, fortunately. Big hits You Give Love a Bad Name and Born to Be My Baby were offered up early, with minor favourites such as It's My Life peppered throughout. This band have just about enough global hits to keep their crowd engaged and singing along for almost two and a half hours. Lesser-known tracks like Runaway met with only muted approval, while new track No Apologies earned a truly meagre cheer.

Finally, sandwiched between Wanted Dead or Alive and These Days in the encore, came the definitive Livin' on a Prayer. "Can we move to Scotland?" gaped an incredulous Bon Jovi after the crowd spontaneously commandeered the first verse, at last a step away from the rest of the set's practised button-pushing towards something more heartfelt and true.