By Jeffrey Podolsky
- Dave Allocca, Starpix
If you ever thought that being Jon Bon Jovi was as simple as having a nicely coiffed head of hair, think again. In the Showtime documentary, “Bon Jovi: When They Were Beautiful,” which airs this Saturday and which had its New York premiere last night, the fantastically successful New Jersey-bred band is portrayed as a hard-working, flagship brand with Bon Jovi as its fearless leader and self-described “CEO.”
“It was a risk,” said Bon Jovi of the film at the after-party last night where, immediately upon entering Showtime’s penthouse party space in TriBeCa, he was besieged by VIP attendees who shamelessly whipped out their BlackBerries to photograph the moment.
The black and white documentary, which tracks the band’s 2008 Lost Highway world tour, depicts a matured bunch of down-to-earth men who please packed stadiums but lead an often lonely life together on the road. Bon Jovi describes touring together as a “sexless marriage,” in which he finds himself in anonymous hotel rooms with “my ears ringing.”
There is no doubt that Bon Jovi is the “boss” who guides the band’s vision and oversees every little nuance of managing a peripatetic, Fortune 500 company. To his credit, he allows himself to be seen as a forever fretting and downright exhausted professional, grimacing from having to please VIP fans just before taking the stage to freely admitting with some frustration that the band has never been a darling of the critics.
“I wish I looked like I was having more fun,” Bon Jovi said at the premiere. “The funny thing is that you internalize so much that sometimes it comes across as heavier than it is. But we tried to show the truth, warts-on. We didn’t want to make some sort of ‘Behind The Music’ film — and I think it worked.”
He isn’t the only one who thought the film, which shows surprisingly little concert footage, was a success. “I thought it was phenomenal,” said Ric Ocasek of The Cars, who also attended the premiere. “What you saw is what most bands go through. I certainly went through having a family and then not having one when I was on the road. All those years I was touring, I didn’t even know my children.”
Added Ocasek’s wife, former supermodel Paulina Porizkova: “I loved the film and I didn’t think I would. I went because of my husband, but the movie really captured what it feels like to be a band on tour — which is a boring f***ing thing. It’s about as glamorous as being a model — and I mean that sarcastically.”
The film itself is earnest, touching upon band members’ struggles with sobriety and how the musicians good-naturedly accept the ruling hand and overarching stardom of their leader (even if it took a shrink to help counsel them back together after their temporary split in 1988). “Be men,” intones Bon Jovi at one point in the film before the band takes the stage in Abu Dhabi.
In person, Bon Jovi resembles a 47-year-old Dorian Gray who still excites female fans with his overly tight jeans. But he seems most relaxed when speaking about his numerous political and philanthropic efforts. The JBJ Soul Foundation has given over $5.5 million to revitalize communities in such areas as Louisiana, Philadelphia, Detroit and New Jersey, where he just gave “a half-million bucks” towards new housing in Camden.
After a meet-and-greet and shaking of the obligatory hands, Bon Jovi left the soiree to make an early call in New Jersey this morning to announce next year’s world tour. Bon Jovi will be the first band to play at the newly-erected Meadowlands Stadium. There was no time to mingle unnecessarily.
“There’s an old adage in the music business that no matter what the story is, the final sentence reads ‘And the singer went home,’’’ he said. “I can’t stay here and even have a drink. There are party nights and there are work nights, and tonight’s a work night. I’m going home and to bed. That’s my job.”
