Heather Locklear, Marilyn Monroe, and Ava Sambora : 3 babes help
Chicago rock Jon Bon Jovi's Birthday

What's your favorite adjective for greatness? Whatever you came up
with isn't half as good as Bon Jovi was last night in Chicago, IL. Think
I'm kidding? From the time I left the United Center last night at 11:45
PM, Chicago time, till we began writing this (3:00 PM Ohio time), I
received 5 phone calls from Bon Jovi tour veterans (all folks who have
seen Bon Jovi live in excess of 20 times), all of the conversations
began with:
Dave: Hello
Caller: Oh my God, was that the best show of all time, or what? - OR -
Tell me you were in Chicago last night?
Dave: Yes. Yes, yes!
Further consensus shows that the versions of KTF, Saturday Night,
The Distance, RSOW, and Always were each the very best
performance of these songs ever, in the history of the world. Doubters
beware, proof follows...
surprise as
the sign said they opened at 5:00. The owner signalled us through the
window and let us in. After we had ordered and were admiring the
decor, we realized that the clocks were an hour behind our watches.
Security was pretty loose and I didn't see them turn down any cameras
of any type. At the merch booth they had 17 different T-shirts, 4
different posters, a sweatshirt, a tour book, panties, glow sticks,
disposable cameras, binoculars, flashers, drumsticks, lithographs, 2
ball caps and CDs. The marketing machine is in high gear. In
Chicago, they sell real alcohol as well as beer and folks were imbibing
like prohibition was coming back tomorrow. We did a bit of people
watching and talked with Michelle who we hadn't seen since standing in
line for tickets to the later cancelled Moline show on Richie's birthday
last tour. We saw Darcy but didn't get close enough to talk to her
before she turned into a ninja and disappeared into thin air. We got to
our seats before the Goos started their set and found we had a nice
view from section 112 and the sound was amazing.

Reznik and company played, hands down, the best set I have seen
from them in the 6 shows we have witnessed. They were tight and
precise with great crowd interaction. Early on they promised us a night
we would remember and they should have bought lottery tickets
because the prediction was dead on. I have finally pinned down who
the Goo bassist reminds me of: Angus Young of AC/DC, the little
dancing, strutting step the knee bouncing at the mic, the head flopping
with hair over the face, pure Angus. Without spending too much time
on it, they were quite simply great. I am not a Goo fan, but they put on a
hell of a show last night and the crowd was definitely into them.

Intermission: We got to know our very drunken neighbor who hadn't
seen Bon Jovi live since 1986 and thought fan club membership should
be free . Tony showed up to chat, having just arrived from seeing a
small band at a club gig with some record industry folks. He was sitting
4th row center with his buddy Rob who is a professional photographer
and had a photo pass for the pit for the first three songs.
We could see Barb from our seats but didn't get a chance to talk to her. During SDIBSN she was dancing like there was no tomorrow.
Excitement hit the arena before the lights even went down as Heather Locklear made her way to the soundboard where she would sit for a good portion of the concert.
Tony let us know that Jon, Richie and Heather had attended a taping of
a Dennis Miller comedy special the night before in Chicago.

The lights went out, the curtains dropped, the fans screamed
maniacally, Richie strode forward to begin the intro to Bounce and a
juggernaut was unleashed. Hell hath no fury like a Sambora inspired.

From the opening salvo, the concert was like a 5 man assault on the
endurance of a rabid audience, energy was flowing back and forth like
mercury in a teflon frying pan (don't try it at home folks, just trust me,
lots of motion). The crowd was alive, giving back as good as they got
and singing along in fine form.

Hardly a moments pause was taken as the band ripped through the
set. Richie in particular seemed on FIRE. He played like he was a
strapping young lad, trying to land a record deal. Witnessing him play
made me truly realize he is a legend in his own time. When the boys
played KTF, they pulled out all the stops, the song was long with Jon
giving the Jungle-mix a bunch of new twists, I think Richie grew a few
extra fingers to use for the solos and the entire crowd has pumping
their fists screaming by the end.

As the song finished I knew the night was something special,I have
seen and heard literally hundreds of versions of Faith and this one blew
them all away, the raw emotion was simply HUGE.

Throughout the night Richie seemed to throw in little extras, every solo
was a new highlight and the Tone Gods had smiled down on Rich and
Lumpy as the tone they achieved was an Entity unto itself, demanding
that lesser beings bow down in homage to it's greatness. The soaring
ambience of the RSOW solo would have made Vaughn, Clapton and
Gilmour weep, had they the privilege to hear. I vote for doubling the
ticket prices to allow Richie's twin muses to attend every show and
provide inspiration as they did last night. I'm a cheap old bastard, but
you can't put a price on greatness.

As Heather watched from the soundboard for most of the show,
Richie's daughter Ava had a much better seat. For the entire show
except for the few songs where fans were in the pits at the sides of the
stage, Ava played in the pit and onstage on Daddy's side were he could
smile and wave at her as she played and danced the night away. The
little princess seemed perfectly at home in her ear protection with
enough energy for all of us as she danced virtually nonstop from
beginning to end of the concert. When we first saw the little girl playing
beside the stage, we didn't realize it was Ava, because the last public
picture of the Hollywood dream couple's child was the tabloid snapped
infant shot, and for some reason I figured she must still be a baby. But
as the concert progressed, it was obvious form her interaction with
Richie who she really was, and Jon confirmed her identity during his
intro of Richie's rendition of I'll Be There For You.

Jon and Richie pulled out a new bag of tricks for Sat. Night using a
multi delay on the scat vocals Jon added at the break, it was another
highlight in an evening of non-stop highlights.

Chicago was a ton more appreciative of Dave's Piano solo than any of
the other cities we have seen or heard this tour, and he played nearly
twice as long as well, before starting RSOW to thunderous applause.
Jon thanked the local radio station for playing Misunderstood a million
times and announced that The Distance would be the next single here
in the States. During the second song of the evening You Give Love a
Bad Name, a fan from the front rows threw a pink envelope onstage
and it slid all the way back to the drum riser where Jon keeps his towel,
cup and talk-back mic. As the Boys began the 18th song of the main
set, ISWID, Jon finally noticed the envelope and brought it forward to
the mic as Hugh and Tico layed down the groove. He opened the
envelope, removed the card and threw the envelope into the audience.
He motioned Richie over as he read the outside and then the inside of
the presumed birthday card. "Rich........ she says she looooooves me"
said Jon as he tossed the card into the audience and the duo ripped in
to the guitar part. With barely a breath Sleep ran into the new main set
closer Born to be my Baby with the audience sing along and double
stop ending.

By the time Born to be my Baby was played the audience ws either in a
fevered pitch or exhausted in equal parts,but the Jovis wouldn't be
content to provide the standard 3-4 song encore, oh no my friends, a
good time was to be had by all. With darkness in the arena a new
Bounce logo was cast upon the video screens. But in a keystone cops
routine, a few stagehands were trying to set up a big fake birthday cake
via flash light and a blonde climbed inside. They looked like it was a
secret surprise but 17 flash lights and a statuesque blonde were kinda
obvious

After the briefest intermission, Richie led Hugh, Dave and Tico back
onstage in silver and gold sequined Top Hats and Tails and proceeded
to launch into the Beatles "You Say It's Your Birthday" with all four
singing in great harmony. After a full verse/chorus and an additional
instrumental chorus Jon wandered onstage looking awed and
embarrassed. He proceeded to the mic as though to begin the next
song and completely missed a Marilyn Monroe look alike popping out of
the big birthday cake. Richie pointed out the scene and Jon looked
truly surprised. He wandered over to her and gave her his microphone,
as hers wasn't working, and she gave him a kiss and said he was her
favorite Jon (John), the band giggled as Jon blushed. Then the girl
sang a JFK inspired Happy Birthday and gave Jon another kiss.

Next Richie led the crowd in singing another verse of Happy Birthday
and we were more than willing to oblige. Jon looked amazed at the
volume of the masses and expressed his appreciation and hugged
Richie before launching into the rest of the 7 (or 9) song encore. I had
never seen the band do "Rock and Roll Music" in person and it is a fun
addition, though I was amazed that a song from the do-bop era had
three verses, most of the early teen pop was very short. Twist and
Shout closed down the show and I'm sure many Chicago folks will be
feeling their age today, but for a few magical hours last night Bon Jovi
returned thousands of fans to their youth while celebrating his own
advance in age.

The boys didn't look or sound a day over 21, and Jon proclaimed he
would be celebrating till 4:00 in a local bar. He deserves it, as his intro
to Just Older says "like a fine wine, we just keep getting better all the
time." If they ever play a better show, divine intervention would have to
be involved. This was the longest Jovi show since the 96 Wembley
affair, not counting this years stop and start Yokohama acoustic filming.
30 songs and 2 REAL encores. I see alot of folks calling it 2 encores if
they bow in between songs then put the guitars back on and play
another song (for my money the band has to leave the stage and come
back out for it to count as a separate encore.) This is the stuff of which
legends are born, I feel truly privileged to have witnessed this event and
I'm sure 12 thousand plus other fans feel likewise. Bon Jovi may call
New Jersey home, but over the past three tours I would take any
Chicago show over any 2 Jersey shows, Chicago just plain ROCKS !!