Bruce, Bon Jovi to team for benefit



Wednesday, March 19, 2003


BY JAY LUSTIG
Star-Ledger Staff

The big three of New Jersey rock 'n' roll -- Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and Southside Johnny -- will perform in a benefit concert at Red Bank's Count Basie Theatre on April 29.

The beneficiary of the show, titled "The Hope Concert," will be a musician who has backed them all many times in the past: Bobby Bandiera. The guitarist needs the money to care for his son, Robert Bandiera Jr. No further details on the benefit's cause were available at press time.

Bandiera himself and Gary U.S. Bonds will also appear at the event, and Big Joe Henry of the Trenton-based radio station New Jersey 101.5 FM and Tim McLoone of the shore-based charity band Holiday Express will co-host.

Tickets, priced at $100, $250 and $300, go on sale Friday at 9:30 a.m. at the Count Basie box office, 99 Monmouth St., and the through box office's phone line, (732) 842-9000. There will be a four-ticket limit per person.

It will be difficult, if not impossible, to scalp tickets to these shows. Ticket buyers will receive a written confirmation of their purchase, but all tickets will be held at the box office until the night of the concert. Ticket buyers must be present on the night of the show to claim the tickets, with two forms of ID, including at least one photo ID.

Springsteen is on tour with his E Street Band, but has no other shows scheduled between April 19 and May 6. He will present 10 shows at the 55,000-capacity Giants Stadium this summer, while Bon Jovi has two-night stand scheduled there. The Count Basie Theatre holds about 1,400 people.

Bandiera is a longtime key member of Southside Johnny's band, the Asbury Jukes, and also plays with Holiday Express as often as his schedule permits. He performs frequently in New Jersey clubs as a solo artist and as the leader of his own Bobby Bandiera Band, and has released two albums of his own music.

He played guitar on Jon Bon Jovi's 1997 solo album, "Destination Anywhere," and was a member of Bon Jovi's backing band that year.

In 1998, when Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny, Steven Van Zandt and others joined forces for a benefit at the Count Basie Theatre for the family of Patrick King -- a Long Branch police sergeant who had been murdered -- Bandiera led the house band.

He also performed at holiday benefit shows Springsteen presented at Asbury Park's Convention Hall in December 2000 and 2001. In 2001, he sang lead on a cover of the late George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun" at most shows.

The Bobby Bandiera Band backed Springsteen and Southside Johnny at two private benefits for the Rumson Country Day School that were held at the Asbury Park rock club the Stone Pony in April 2002.


Does anyone else find it little annoying that even though JON is the one who organized the Patrick King benefit and it was called JON BON JOVI & FRIENDS Bruce always gets top billing when it's referred to in articles?

Becky