Houston Article

Short show... I guess I no longer have to kick myself for not going. LOL

Becky



Bon Jovi gives rock good name at the rodeo
By MICHAEL D. CLARK
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
For years, RodeoHouston has been an opportunity to see some bullriding, ride the Ferris wheel and cap the evening with some live honky-tonk by a country superstar.


Christobal Perez / Chronicle
New Jersey-born Jon Bon Jovi cranks up the volume for the rodeo crowd at Reliant Stadium on Wednesday night.

Once or twice a year, however, a curveball is thrown in and watching the results can be as interesting, if not more so, than seeing the singing cowboys.

Two years ago when Simon LeBon and the rest of Duran Duran walked through the muck to the stage to mix Stetsons with synth-pop, they might as well have been aliens stepping off a spaceship. Def Leppard surprisingly adrenalized the Reliant Astrodome that same year with its two decades of British hair metal.

Wednesday in Reliant Stadium, this year's rocker-out-of-water was Bon Jovi. For 20 years, the group has been thrilling crowds of teens and young adults with its brand of New Jersey-born arena rock.

Former groupies now in their 30s and 40s, and younger fans converted by the group's most recent album, Bounce, found their way to Bon Jovi's first-ever rodeo gig to see if Jon Bon Jovi and his crew could crank the noise even louder for a 70,000-capacity stadium.

Bon Jovi is the anti-Keith Richards. Wearing a western work shirt unbuttoned to his stomach and a coif of hair resembling a stallion's mane, he still looks like the youthful kid from the cover of his self-titled debut album.

Greeting a Houston fanbase that hasn't seen it play locally in nearly eight years, the group wasted no time diving into a hits catalog that has helped it sell 93 million records.

You Give Love A Bad Name was seasoned with scorching electric chords from guitarist Richie Sambora and one of the most successful crowd sing-alongs at RodeoHouston in the past four years.

After blue-collar power ballad Livin' On A Prayer, Bon Jovi's acoustic guitar and Sambora's double-necked electric model dueled on Wanted Dead Or Alive, letting the audience sing the first verse alone.

Like a fine country whiskey, Bon Jovi's voice has mellowed with age, and his bronchial system is much less congested. On past favorites such as It's My Life and Bad Medicine, his notes are now taking a more honey-soaked road out of his vocal cords. The group's newest set of songs capitalizes on this less-throat, more-diaphragm style.

The vocals of recent single Everyday fall back to a defensive position instead of the attack mode of past Bon Jovi chart-toppers.

Bon Jovi put some thought into what he had to offer that might please a rodeo crowd. Eschewing the easy route of playing a greatest-hits set, the group dug into its catalog for the twangy guitars and spaghetti western humor of I'll Sleep When I'm Dead.

At a midsong break he borrowed a trick from fellow Jerseyite Bruce Springsteen and asked the crowd to reach for the roof and give praise to the church of rock 'n' roll.

The encore was a docile cover of The Beatles' Twist and Shout.

The eclectic programming would have worked had Bon Jovi still had enough time to play all the requisite hits, too. With less than an hour on the stage, however, several expected singles, including I'll Be There For You and the rodeo-ready Blaze of Glory, were absent.

Let's hope he doesn't make fans wait another eight years to hear them.

Less than an hour? The oompas said it would be a 90 minute show!