CONCERT REVIEW: Bon Jovi’s explosive tour kickoff at KeyArena in Seattle

CONCERT REVIEW: Bon Jovi’s explosive tour kickoff at KeyArena in Seattle

Posted February 20th, 2010 by genestout

Bon Jovi at KeyArena (photo: Kristen Blush)

Some bands merely grow old, others grow up.

Today’s Bon Jovi, among the premier pop-metal bands of the 1980s, has a depth that wasn’t apparent in its younger days. Once defined by the album “Slippery When Wet,” Bon Jovi is now more socially adept. Or at least more socially conscious.

Among the new songs from the band’s “The Circle” album that underscore this are “We Weren’t Born to Follow,” about personal empowerment in the modern world, and “Work for the Working Man,” a compassionate tune for these tough economic times.

The songs were part of Bon Jovi’s high-energy show Friday night (Feb. 19) at KeyArena, the first official concert of the band’s 2010 “The Circle” tour (though two shows preceded it in Honolulu last week). A second show is tonight (Feb. 20) at KeyArena.

The 26-year-old band has matured without losing its vibrancy. With Jon Bon Jovi (born Bongiovi) at the helm, the show opened explosively with “Blood on Blood,” as it had at the warmup shows in Honolulu.

In regard to song selection, there were a couple of big surprises in the set list, among them a nod to Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen.

In addition to Jon Bon Jovi, the New Jersey-based band featured guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres and two extra musicians. The band’s spectacular stage production included multiple, giant LED screens (mounted at angles to each other), a large circular stage, a VIP pit and a crescent-shaped catwalk that the band used for its more intimate songs. From one of the suites where I watched the concert, it looked fantastic.

Jon Bon Jovi (photo: Kristen Blush)

The afore-mentioned “We Weren’t Born to Follow” featured oversized images of Muhammad Ali, John Lennon and other heroic figures, as well as pumping fists.

“Just like riding a bicycle,” the 47-year-old Jon Bon Jovi announced after finishing the song, indicating that the band was firing on all cylinders for its comeback tour.

For its third song, the band rolled out a classic, “You Give Love a Bad Name,” and the crowd exploded. Many sang along to the memorable lyric: “Shot through the heart/ And you’re to blame/ You give love a bad name.”

Jon Bon Jovi talked about being in Seattle for the week between the Honolulu and Seattle shows. Seeing the restored Paramount Theatre sign brought back memories of one of the band’s first local shows. “It was 1984, and I was about 12 years old,” he quipped.

Sambora, one of rock’s guitar stars of the ’80s, strutted his stuff during a powerful “Shot Through the Heart.”

Jon Bon Jovi talked about a new era in which “we” was more important than “me.” His comments introduced the new song “When We Were Beautiful,” a wistful tune about lost innocence that features a “sha la la” chorus.

When the band finished a nice version of “Lost Highway,” Jon Bon Jovi said, “Not bad for a first night.”

“Superman Tonight,” a single from the new album, was a compassionate song about helping someone desperately in need. It featured the line, “Who’s going to save you when the stars fall from your sky?”

Among the surprise tunes was “Homebound Train,” a blues song featuring Sambora on guitar and vocals. The band apparently hadn’t played the song in concert in 20 years, and it really sounded great.

Richie Sambora (photo: Kristen Blush)

The other surprise was Jon Bon Jovi’s moving version of Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” a very unusual selection for a band of this kind.

The melancholy, poetic song has been covered by many artists, from John Cale to Brandi Carlile. Jon Bon Jovi, performing from the catwalk, gave the classic song a kind of hard-rock spin that lent it a different feel from most versions. Afterward, the singer touched the hands of concertgoers just below him.

The entire band then joined the band leader on the catwalk for “Bed of Roses,” a sad, morning-after ballad that provided a wistful interlude for the mostly hard-rocking show.

The band returned to the stage for “Work for the Working Man,” featuring the line, “Won’t someone help me, someone justify/ Why these strong hands are on the unemployment line?” It was a powerful song that addressed the frustrations of the Great Recession.

Bon Jovi finished the main set with “Bad Medicine, ” “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” and Love’s the Only Rule.”

The three-song encore featured “Thorn in My Side” and two of the band’s biggest hits: “Wanted Dead Or Alive” and “Livin’ On a Prayer.”

“Wanted Dead Or Alive” today sounds like a prototypical country rock song, rangy and powerful.

“Livin’ On a Prayer” was, well, explosive. A true crowd-pleaser to close out the show.

Bon Jovi (photo: Kristen Blush)

Opening the show was Boca Raton, Fla., alternative-rock band Dashboard Confessional, led by singer-guitarist Chris Carrabba. It was the band’s first night on the Bon Jovi tour, and a very auspicious one.

Armed with songs from its current album, “Alter the Ending,” the band was tight and energized — and clearly thrilled to be on tour with Bon Jovi.

If you attended the concert, what did you think?

For additional dates on the Bon Jovi tour, follow this link to the band’s Web site. For tickets to the second Seattle show, follow this link to Ticketmaster.

By the way, Jon Bon Jovi was in Seattle this week before the tour kickoff at KeyArena. Find out what Jon Bon Jovi was up to by clicking on my preview here.

Here’s the set list:

1. Blood on Blood
2. We Weren’t Born to Follow
3. You Give Love a Bad Name
4. Born to Be My Baby
5. Roulette
6. Shot Through the Heart
7. When We Were Beautiful
8. Lost Highway
9. Superman Tonight
10. We Got It Goin’ On
11. It’s My Life
12. Homebound Train
13. Hallelujah
14. Bed of Roses
15. Something For The Pain
16. Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night
17. Work for the Working Man
18. Bad Medicine
19. Who Says You Can’t Go Home
20. Love’s the Only Rule

ENCORE:

21. Thorn in My Side
22. Wanted Dead or Alive
23. Livin’ on a Prayer

Filed under KeyAren

my video for the Bon Jovi contest

http://animoto.com/play/bePseOh2p4I2dJEhkp19qQ

Seattle just before Sound check Feb 19th

Love Is A Social Disease: Jon Bon Jovi Visits the Shelter on Eastlake Where Homeless Drunks Aren't Kicked Out for Being Drunks posted by JEN GRAVES on

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2010

MUSIC / NEWSLove Is A Social Disease: Jon Bon Jovi Visits the Shelter on Eastlake Where Homeless Drunks Aren't Kicked Out for Being Drunks

posted by JEN GRAVES on WED, FEB 17, 2010 at 5:04 PM

• I took a picture of these many-times-taped glasses at the counter of 1811 rather than taking a picture of anyone living there.

There was a very drunk man at the door. I waited for him to go in, but he did not want that. He wanted to idle and rock back and forth on the balls of his feet while looking down. Shortly after I went in, three drunken men followed, one singing the theme song to something while lifting his leg and jumping. They got in the elevator with shopping bags in their hands, presumably to go upstairs and drink what was in the bags.

This is how it works at 1811 Eastlake. Unlike at any other shelter in Seattle or almost anywhere, at 1811 Eastlake you don't have to stop drinking in order to stop being homeless—which means you're safer, which means you land in the emergency room less often, and which means that maybe, eventually, you might actually be able to start dealing with your habit. 1811 Eastlake is one of those rare common-sense public service projects. The kind that conservatives would say is downright Canadian. You know, the kind that work. This single little program, which opened in 2005 and houses 75 hardcore, formerly homeless alcoholics—people referred in according to how many public services they use at places like the Harborview ER and the Sobering Center—saved taxpayers $4 million in its first year alone, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this past April.

And when HUD secretary and Jon Bon Jovi pal Shaun Donovan mentioned 1811 Eastlake in a speech, Bon Jovi decided to take a tour of 1811 Eastlake since he'd be in Seattle anyway for the kickoff Friday night of the world tour for his new album. (Key Arena, sold out.)

• There are several necklaces under there, including one with black beads, and yet somehow, he did not look remotely like a jackass.

This is how two reporters and two photographers ended up sitting around a table this afternoon with Bon Jovi, who could not have come across as a more lovely fellow. He is also hot. Still. And it is, still, partly his looks and partly his personality, which seems very New Jersey in the best way.

We asked him the basics: why homelessness ("I don't need a scientist to invent the cure; it just takes money and determination, so this is something I can make a difference in"), why philanthropy (he founded the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation in 2006 to help poor and homeless people; good deeding became an interest "for real for real for real"—after years of obligatory photo ops and celeb benefits—because it's time to do something "instead of sitting in hotel rooms like I have for the last quarter century").

This was the first stop on "a factfinding mission" he'll keep doing in other cities on his tour, looking for models for JBJ Soul Foundation. He came across as smart and unsimplistic. "Not everyone is suffering at the entry level," he said, seemingly referring almost sheepishly to the fact that his past work helping mothers and families get housed in Philadelphia was maybe easier than what they do at 1811 Eastlake, where the residents are "advanced" in the backwards, disease sense of the word.

Like a politician, he dropped the name of a guy he'd met: Ed, a vet, who after years on the street, finally started sobering up at 1811 Eastlake. "We're all people in this together," Bon Jovi said. "None of us are able to rely on the private sector as an island or the government. It's only grassroots up." This woman is his hero.

Here's a recording of the whole 11-minute group hug. (Yes I did make that "Livin' on a Prayer" joke. And later I told Bon Jovi that I went to see him at Saratoga Springs when I was 13 years old, despite the fact that the night before, I fell down a 9-foot dry well and was entirely covered in abrasions from which I still have scars. I did not tell him that I do a mean karaoke "Livin' on a Prayer." "Mean" as in I mean it. I am not fooling.)

All the photos I could snap without feeling like a big jerk (how do shooters of living beings do it?) on the jump.

• ART!

• Okay, maybe I got a little too focused on the art.

• I could have sworn he had a giant grease stain on the front of his shirt, but this photo disagrees with me.

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The Set list from Honolulu

SET LIST

* Blood on Blood
* We Weren't Born to Follow
* Bad Name
* Born to be My Baby
* Roulette
* Shot Through the Heart
* When We Were Beautiful
* Whole lot of Leavin'
* Superman Tonight
* We Got It Goin' On
* It's My Life
* Bad Medicine
* Make a Memory
* Diamond Ring
* Bed of Roses
* Work for the Working Man
* Have a Nice Day
* Who Says You Can't Go Home
* Loves the Only Rule
Encore
* Tokyo Road
* Wanted Dead or Alive
* Livin' On A Prayer

Feb 12, 2010 Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI

Bon Jovi on Twitter

http://twitter.com/BonJovi

Thanks Nadine!