A review by Dennis "DJ" Mikolay

Bon Jovi Comes Home To Applause
By Dennis “DJ’ Mikolay


Many of music’s greatest performers have called the Garden State their home: Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny, Gloria Gaynor, and the list goes on. But the one performer who has become synonymous with the State of New Jersey, perhaps more than any of those listed above, is the great band Bon Jovi.
That is probably why when Bon Jovi decided to come home to New Jersey, the state he was raised in, and still calls home, for three nights at East Rutherford’s Giant’s Stadium, tickets sold pretty fast. As a matter-of-fact, tickets didn’t just sell, they sold out!
Bon Jovi took the stage following opening act Nikelback, around 9:00pm on the 29th. It was both extremely hot an extremely crowded inside Giants Stadium, which was housing some 50,000+ plans. Amidst the scorching heat, crowds found various ways to entertain themselves before the band took stage; some watched the preview for Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” which was playing on a large screen above the stage. In the upper levels a beach ball was bounced around, and the wave was started by fans in section 333, and managed to carry itself around the entire stadium several times, which was actually an accomplishment in itself. But the crowd was tense: this was the last show of the tour, and a much anticipated “surprise” was allegedly in store for the crowd.
Luckily, Bon Jovi took the stage shortly after the last wave, and the crowd went wild. The show began with a group of cheerleaders dancing about, before the large “smirk” face, which is the tour’s mascot, appeared on a large screen. Then, the band triumphantly took the stage, opening the show with a rendition of Elton John’s “Saturday Nights Alright (For Fighting).” The rendition may not have had the tranquility of Elton John’s version, but it was entertaining, and well received, none-the-less. After the performance, Jon shouted “Its Saturday night…strap yourselves in, because it’ll be Sunday by the time I'm done!”
The show continued with Bon Jovi performing several of his classic songs. They were all well received, but the highlights were definitely “Runaway,” “Raise Your Hands,” and “Bad Medicine.” Bon Jovi also threw a cover of “Dancing in the Streets” and “Shout” in, which helped to lighten the mood.
Bon Jovi’s most recent hits “Have a Nice Day” and “Who Says You Cant Go Home” were also performed. It was widely speculated that Jennifer Nettles would arrive on stage to perform “Who Says You Cant Go Home,” but she didn’t. Images of New Jersey, most recognizably Asbury Park’s beachfront, were displayed on the screen during the performance. Jon got the audience extremely exited when he enthusiastic began listing various cities in the country, of which various parts of the crowd were obviously natives of, however, the biggest reaction came when he said “And maybe…if your lucky…you come from the great state…of…New Jersey!” To which there were thunderous applause and cheering as a reaction.
During “Have A Nice Day,” Sambora managed to give the audience the finger not once…but twice, an action which the audience cheered for both times, but seemed to rob the performance of its intimacy: giving your fans the finger doesn’t seem too appreciative of their presence. The audience went wild for the song anyway.
The show lasted about three hours. After Bon Jovi’s extremely long encore, which featured several more popular tracks, he wished the audience well, and left the stage. Bon Jovi’s final night during the “Have A Nice Day Tour” was definitely one wild night, and it was obvious that everyone in the stadium had a fantastic time, myself included. Whereas it may not be evident what the “surprise” was (unless it was the performance of the song “I am,” never before performed live) Bon Jovi did keep his promise…we entered the stadium on Saturday night, and didn’t leave until Sunday.

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