SamboraBlog

Bon Jovi shows Jersey pride, plays the hits

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/21/05

BY KELLY-JANE COTTER
STAFF WRITER
On the first of a three-night, sold-out engagement at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, Bon Jovi put on a show that was sentimental and low-key.

Except, that is, for the parts that were all pumped up and dance-worthy.

Bon Jovi, a band that has weathered more than 20 years of life in the music biz, knows how to create a proper mix for fans who want to party and to swoon.

Monday's set list included songs from "Crush" and "Bounce," the albums that introduced a new generation to Bon Jovi. The arena was filled with people in their early 20s who weren't even born when Jon Bon Jovi managed to get his single, "Runaway," on a New York rock station back in 1983.

"WAPP, where are you now?" Jon Bon Jovi called out, in tribute to that amiable station.

The crowd cheered, even though the vast majority of these fans surely had never tuned in to WAPP.

It is no mean feat that Bon Jovi has managed to secure such a devoted and young following. Sure, there are people younger than 30 at a Bruce Springsteen show, too, but there are a heck of a lot more who are deep into their 40s and beyond. At a Bon Jovi show, the very young fill the house — teenagers and people in their early to mid-20s.

How did this happen? For one thing, Bon Jovi has an excellent, fan-inclusive Web site. The band has been savvy about technology, allowing fans to go online and "eavesdrop" on the studio process, for example. And Jon Bon Jovi, who looks younger than his 40-something years, makes a concerted effort to reach out to the next generation by making references onstage to hip, young performers and by absorbing a modern sensibility without compromising his band's big-rock sound. The band invited local bands to fill the opening slot on the current "Have a Nice Day" tour, an incredibly cool opportunity for any aspiring musician.

There was plenty of Jersey pride, and no shortage of old-school hits, in the arena Monday night.

"Who says you can't go home?" said Jon Bon Jovi, raised in Sayreville and now of Middletown, before playing his song of the same name.

He encouraged the audience to dance and "show everybody else in the world where I learned to dance so good."

The crowd cheered.

"OK, I can't dance — Usher's got me there," Bon Jovi continued. "But I got YOU."

Earlier, Bon Jovi paraded through the crowd during his band's opening number, "Last Man Standing." He shook hands with fans the whole way and smiled for their camera phones. Several audience members tried to crown his famously attractive hair with a Santa cap.

"He is sooo hot," said one woman, as the trim singer made his way through the crowd in his tight black jeans and black leather jacket.

Bon Jovi will flirt innocently with his fans, flashing a smile and shaking his hair, but he gets down to business once onstage. The band's concerts run like clockwork, with no extraneous razzle-dazzle, but with the sense of well-honed craftsmanship that comes from a long, close, working relationship. The core musicians — vocalist/guitarist Bon Jovi, guitarist Richie Sambora, drummer Tico Torres and keyboardist David Bryan — have been friends and bandmates for their entire adult lives. Hugh McDonald has been the band's bassist for several tours. Most recently, the band invited guitarist Bobby Bandiera, a veteran of the Jersey shore music scene, to join the current tour.

That doesn't mean there's no room for spontaneity.

"Hey, I'd like to apologize for the beginning of "Bounce,' " Sambora told the crowd, explaining a minor flub. "I couldn't see."

Sambora and Bon Jovi then harmonized on a low-key arrangement of "I'll Be There For You" that changed the fist-pumping power ballad into something more mellow and melancholy.

Similarly, Bon Jovi performed "Blaze of Glory" with an emphasis on acoustic guitar and restrained vocals. He sang the song on a platform set up in the arena, and was surrounded by fans.

"We got a long way to go," Bon Jovi advised his fans at the start of the show, "so strap yourselves in."