Bon Jovi takes fans on trip back to 1980s

By Rob Thomas
March 31, 2003

Towering over the stage at Bon Jovi's concert at the Kohl Center on Saturday night were three giant satellite dishes, each of them serving as a giant video screen.

As lead singer Jon Bon Jovi and the rest of the band paraded across the screens, you could imagine that they really were satellite dishes, receiving images that were beamed into deep space around 1986 and were only now bouncing back to Earth, 17 years later.

It's not surprising that a band that had its biggest hits in the 1980s would invariably resurrect the era in a live show. But the five-piece rock band from New Jersey did so with an almost museum-quality degree of detail, from Jon Bon Jovi's leather shirt, unbuttoned almost to the navel, to guitarist Richie Sambora's leopard-skin hat and quasi-mullet.

But most importantly, the band sounded exactly like it did 15 or 20 years ago. As Sambora launched into yet another self-involved guitar solo, or the cheesy synthesizer intro of "She's a Runaway" began, it was if Ronald Reagan was president and "The Cosby Show" was still a top-rated show.

Jon Bon Jovi even retained the swagger of an old-school rocker, when he told the crowd: "I'm in the middle of a college town on a Saturday night. There's 12,000 women and five of us. I think the odds are pretty even." That kind of nostalgia trip was exactly what most of the fans at the near-sellout show were looking for. When Bon Jovi moved on to new material that didn't have the neon glow of '80s nostalgia about it, they proved themselves to be a capable but uninspired rock band.

While the fans seemed appreciative but not wild about hearing songs from the new "Bounce" album, they reliably sprang to eardrum-rattling life when a venerable hit like "You Give Love a Bad Name" or "Living on a Prayer" began. Jon Bon Jovi even let the audience sing the first verse and chorus of "Wanted Dead or Alive," and they hit every note perfectly.

Bon Jovi always had a pretty canny formula for appeal to both genders, putting a lead singer with matinee-idol looks in front of a classic guitar rock band. While the girls could debate whether Jon Bon Jovi was growing his chest hair back, their boyfriends could deconstruct one of Sambora's solos.

That formula endured Saturday night, even if most of the songs haven't aged so well. Jon Bon Jovi strode around the stage and its two catwalks, flashing flirtatious looks at cheering female audience members. When he left the stage in the middle of the show, letting Sambora take lead singer duties, you could feel the charisma level plummet.

The Goo Goo Dolls played a very authentic-sounding and entertaining opening set. The Buffalo-based band seems to be doing the impossible - retaining its punky, bar-band energy in its rock songs while occasionally throwing out a hugely successful pop ballad (like the set closer "Iris") that actually connects.

Incidentally, as a safety precaution, tour organizers may want to install Plexiglass barricades at the front of the stage to protect both bands. Both Jon Bon Jovi and Goo Goo Dolls lead singer Johnny Rzeznik were pelted with flying lingerie during their sets. Workers' compensation might not cover bra-related injuries.


Published: 9:26 AM 3/31/03