SamboraBlog

Bon Jovi is on the move Jon Bon Jovi starts some of his New Jersey rock band's shows by punching a jukebox. It's a sign of the hits to come.

It's not the only button being pushed by Bon Jovi -- the frontman and the band -- these days.

This week, the charismatic Bon Jovi was busy fending off rumours he was planning to run for governor of New Jersey, the band's home state.

Bon Jovi had hired media guru Ken Sunshine, once on a New York mayor's staff. That fired up rumours, promptly denied by Sunshine, who told buzz-igniter the New York Post: "Jon has been approached many times about running for office. His day job is going too well, and this way he can keep the house."

Bon Jovi maintained his hold on the family's longtime home in Red Bank, N.J., while he and his family recently moved into New York City.

And the rock superstar did drag the New Jersey governor into his spin on moving to the Apple.

"The (New Jersey) governor's in mourning right now, Bon Jovi said jokingly. "For me, it was an energy thing. It's just the idea that I'm closer to work and, look, like my wife put it succinctly to the kids: 'It's two years abroad. If it doesn't work, we'll go back. It's across the river, not the ocean.' "

Bon Jovi, the band, is on the move, too. It plays a sold-out show at the John Labatt Centre on Monday night

The band has been mixing it up in recent weeks. During a triumphant 10-gig stand in Newark, N.J., Bon Jovi liked to open with Lost Highway a la country icon Hank Williams and then Lost Highway in Bon Jovi mode -- as in the title track of their country-tinged 2007 CD.

"I'm a Jersey Devil and this is my new house," the frontman told a jammed Prudential Center in Newark last month. "It looks good with all you people in it. Welcome to The Rock here in Newark, N.J."

Singing the title song from Lost Highway, Bon Jovi christened the $380-million arena pegged as a hope to help revitalize the struggling New Jersey city.

At Montreal's Bell Centre, the opening of Bon Jovi's Canadian tour, Jon Bon Jovi made contact with the jukebox and the band used 1986's You Give Love a Bad Name to open and then followed with Raise Your Hands, another hit from the same era.

For a Jersey band, Bon Jovi has spent some pivotal times in the Great White North.

Three of the biggest albums of their career -- 1986's Slippery When Wet, which went on to sell more than 10 million copies, New Jersey and Keep The Faith -- were recorded in Vancouver.

Guitarist Richie Sambora has fond recollections of the B.C. city.

"Tremendous memories -- I was single for one, I had a great time, obviously. We made some great music there -- the monumental album of our career Slippery When Wet, that really, really changed our lives," Sambora tells Sun Media.

Slippery When Wet was inspired by the New Jersey rockers' affection for strip clubs.

"That was a daily occurrence in our lives back then, for sure. It was something that we did for fun every day . . . but everyone has families now, so we're not doing that kind of stuff anymore," he says.

The rockers have sold 120 million albums since emerging in the 1980s. But Bon Jovi had a No. 1 country hit with and won their first Grammy Award for, Who Said You Can't Go Home (from 2005's Have a Nice Day), which featured Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles.

Lost Highway (Universal) keeps the country flowing, New Jersey rock style.

The story behind Lost Highway shows how the bandmates' lives have changed.

Bon Jovi's career have tended in the past decade to be more socially or politically influenced (Bounce was inspired by 9/11, Have A Nice Day followed the 2004 U.S. presidential election).

Lost Highway is personal, filled with stories inspired by the band members' lives, loves and losses.

Frontman Bon Jovi's writing partner and band guitarist Richie Sambora had a lot to work through, after splitting from wife Heather Locklear, hooking up and then breaking up with Locklear's former friend Denise Richards, losing his father to lung cancer, and then checking into rehab.

Band keyboardist David Bryan split from his wife and lost his dad.

"I realized the pain that I saw my friend, my collaborator, Richie Sambora going through, and it was identical to that, that Dave Bryan was going through," Jon Bon Jovi told Sun Media's Jane Stevenson.

"They both lost their dads, who I've obviously known for 25 years, the only sons of those dads. And I watched the bitter divorces both went through. And I thought, 'There it is. There's the obvious. Let's internalize.' "

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SET LIST

A Bon Jovi set list from its recent 10-concert stand at Newark, N.J's Prudential Center:

Lost Highway (Hank Williams hit)

Lost Highway (Bon Jovi)

You Give Love a Bad Name

Summertime

Born To Be My Baby

Just Older

Whole Lot of Leavin'

(You Want To) Make a Memory

It's My Life

We Got It Going On

Have a Nice Day

In These Arms

These Days (sung by Richie Sambora)

Seat Next to You

Blaze of Glory

I Love This Town

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

Raise Your Hands

Bad Medicine

Shout

Bad Medicine (reprise)

Who Says You Can't Go Home

Encores

Any Other Day

Blood on Blood

Livin' On a Prayer

Wanted Dead or Alive