He's not joking. Actually, alot of folks here on the board preferred the more up-tempo version of The Blues from Rio. Personally, the best I've heard were Boston and Pittsburgh from the '02 tour. Boston for a smoother sound, and Pittsburgh for more emotional vocals. Just my opinion.
I may be weird but I preferred the japanese versions of this song (ie: Tokyo and Osaka 2002). KOHD from these shows was also something else...Didn't care that much for the US versions.