A review by Diamond Dave / drd8114@sru.edu

Mario Lemieux and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins are working toward replacing 41 year old Mellon Arena with a new facility. Bon Jovi must have supported their cause, because after the band tore through an unbelievable 2 hour plus set, is was hard to believe the Igloo was still standing. Following a 45 minute set from the Goo Goo Dolls, featuring all their radio hits and some material off Gutterflower, the curtain dropped to reveal three huge satellite dishes on stage. I couldn’t believe how big the dishes were, which were replicas of the ones featured on the Bounce CD cover. During the show they would also rotate and double as video screens. By the time the band bounded on stage for Bounce, it was hard to imagine the arena getting any louder, but I had little idea how wrong I was. Following an awesome high energy performance of the title track, the band shot right into You Give Love a Bad Name. After that they kept with the “slippery” vibe and performed Wild in the Streets. During the keyboard/guitar solo Jon, clad in a leather shirt and pants, sent the female portion of the crowd into a frenzy busting out a very Elvis looking twist. By the time the band was done with Livin’ on a Prayer my voice was absolutely shot, and we were only four songs into the show! Things slowed down a bit with David’s extended keyboard intro to Undivided, which featured Jon beginning and ending the song bathed in green laser lights. The band continued rocking through the set, Jon flying around the stage like a mad man, while Richie, who started the show in his red sergeant pepper style jacket laid down bad ass licks from his various guitars. I was very surprised to hear Wanted, as it appeared in the first half of the show. Jon let the crowd sing the first verse before, taking up the mic for the second part. Richie switched from his acoustic 12 string to an electric guitar to lay down what has to be the single greatest solo to ever hear live. With my thumb thoroughly burned from leaving my lighter on to long, I listened as Jon dedicated the Distance to “all the soldiers our government has F***ing around in Iraq” and wished that they all made it home safely. The song featured a very cool extended outro from Richie and sounded much better then on the album. After that the band got the place jumping with Its My Life. I received the biggest surprise of the evening when Richie guitar wailed out the first licks of Bed of Roses. The song featured a blond who came on stage and just about tried to rape Jon, who politely danced with her, kissed her and went on his way. Though I didn’t know what the next song was going to be in concert, the crowd belted out the big “I’s” during Misunderstood, which sounded better then I thought it would live. After that, Jon handed the reigns to Richie to sing I’ll Be There For You. Now I had heard that Richie was taking over vocal duties for this song and wasn’t to thrilled about the idea, but boy was I wrong. Not only did he nail the vocals, but David stepped in and sounded great on the parts that Richie usually sings. Richie folowed it up with great guitar work on the outro to make it one of the best songs of the night. Jon returned for Hook me up and after a few more songs including an fun ride through Raise Your Hands (30,000 plus hands in the air is an awesome sight), Blaze of Glory (so stoked to hear them bust this one out, it sounded great) and an extended Born to be my Baby, they left the stage because the crowd was “to tired”. Needless to say they returned, playing the cover Have a Little Faith in Me, then rocking out Keep the Faith. With the crowd already in a frenzy, Jon screamed “I am not responsible for what I’m about to do! …Is there a doctor in the house!?" The crowd exploded at the sounds of Bad Medicine, with us singing the final part. Before, they left the band made the arena erupt one more time with Shout then joined hands on the front of the stage for a bow. This was definitely the best show, with the best seats (11 rows back), and best stage set up I’ve ever seen. During the show Jon had told us the governor had given him the power to extend the weekend until Tuesday, which was a plus because I didn’t’ make my classes the next morning. All in all it was an unbelievable show and I can not wait to do it again. BOUNCE!

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