Hampden Review from Independent 7.6.06

Sorry if this has been posted before but I didn't see it......


By David Pollock
Published: 07 June 2006
One moment summed up this first night of the New Jersey rockers' UK arena tour more than any other, yet it featured the star of the show in name only. In one of the live camera's dalliances away from the strutting Jon Bon Jovi, it alighted on a pretty brunette by the flanks of the stage. She was sporting a short tartan skirt and a T-shirt bearing the words "Mrs Bon Jovi".

It was always this way, of course. Bon Jovi, the singer, is no musical revolutionary, and his charm and good looks are as accountable for his band's success as their penchant for catchy soft rock. Surveying the crowd it's easy to assess their demographic: girls in matching pink cowboy hats and other, more conservatively-dressed women with their ambivalent boyfriends.

Yet their legacy is not to be underestimated. In the 22 years since their debut, Bon Jovi have amassed a repertoire of hits, and the fact roughly three-quarters of the two-and-a-half-hour set consisted of tracks even a casual fan would know the chorus of word for word is no mean feat.

In terms of value for money then, anyone who had splashed out stadium prices would have been richly rewarded. Proceedings were not short of the good-natured posturing either. At one point, Bon Jovi - in tight black jeans and distressed denim jacket -strutted messianically through the crowd on a catwalk, gamely trying to sing "In These Arms". At another, Jon Bon Jovi selflessly departed the stage to let guitarist Richie Sambora sing "I'll Be There for You".

A coda of Lulu's "Shout" at the end of "Bad Medicine" may have seemed like a regional deference, but it's a motif the band have adopted on each date of this tour.

While such gimmicks are fun, Bon Jovi is no Springsteen. He's best suited to pounding out entertaining rockers such as "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Keep the Faith". As video images of the New Jersey Turnpike played in the background, the homesick "Who Says You Can't Go Home" made for the most seemingly honest moment of the show.

It's a sweet song, but the singer earned as big a cheer for brushing aside the security guard who tried to remove one middle-aged stage invader intent on grinding against him.

Jon Bon Jovi then, coming soon to a hen night near you. All of them, in fact.

Touring until 11 June (visit www.bonjovi.com)

what a wanker. you think these guys have bon jovi templates on their word processors?

I agree. It does make you wonder. Giving on one hand and then taking away on another.

Yep I agree too. Also when will people realise Bon Jovi is a band not one man? It really pisses me off.

The fact that these reviewers can only see young girls attending their gigs is also complete bollocks.

i saw quite a few people in matching pink fluffy cowboy hats which was funny

yet another ****ing Springsteen comparison, for ****s sake.

The two artists are nowadys so musiclly far apart comparisons of this nature are just absurd, so basiclly because they both come from NJ that makes Jon a 'second rate Springsteen'? please.

And for the European shows at least, there is always a considerable younger audience here, and they are certainley not all woman dominated.


andi

not only all that, he couldnt even get the dates right, they finish in the Uk on the 13th you complete plank, not the 11th omfg, why can't ppl get their facts right oh man!!!