Uncasville Concert Review
 

http://www.courant.com/features/life...headlines-life


Bon Jovi Revisits Pop Blockbusters
November 28, 2005
By KENNETH PARTRIDGE,

Special to The Courant While Sly Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger are busy hawking pudding snacks and dreaming up bogus ballot initiatives to foist on Californians, at least one action star from the '80s is proving he's not afraid to stick to his guns and stay old school for the sake of the fans: Jon Bon Jovi.

Sure, Bon Jovi didn't start acting until the '90s, but his band's hits from the '80s - over-the-top metal-lite tunes awash in synths and talk-box effects - were the musical equivalent of Hollywood blockbusters. They were pop songs, but like one of Rambo's bomb-laced arrows in "First Blood Part II," they really went boom, swapping subtlety for mass appeal that lay somewhere between Journey and Bruce Springsteen.

ADVERTISEMENT

Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Bon Jovi put on a two-hour show that, despite its reliance on new material, brought the '80s proudly into the present. It was a barrage of shrieking guitars, flashy lights and corny stage banter - a heck of a good time, particularly if you were in the right frame of mind.

This frame of mind - one where you crave music designed solely for making people shake their butts and sing their guts out - is one nearly everyone at the sold-out arena seemed to be in. As the band played "You Gave Love a Bad Name," fans screamed as if they'd awaited such release for decades, or at least since the last area Bon Jovi tour stop.

New songs such as "Last Man Standing" and "Complicated" went over almost as well, perhaps because they didn't stray far from well-worn territory. The group's latest single, "Have a Nice Day," in fact, sounded so much like their last, "It's My Life," you could sing the choruses interchangeably.

That didn't matter much as the band continued down memory lane, with guitarist Ritchie Sambora donning progressively more ridiculous cowboy hats and overcoats with each smash. Meanwhile, hysterical women up front clawed at Jon Bon Jovi as if he was hiding the meaning of life in his jean pockets.

On the second encore, "Wanted Dead or Alive," Jon Bon Jovi reminded fans that in addition to action adventure, he does westerns. As he sang about steel horses and the whole bit, it became even clearer that his sound isn't pop rock - it's popcorn rock. Let's all have ours with extra cheese.

"The group's latest single, "Have a Nice Day," in fact, sounded so much like their last, "It's My Life,"

Where's this guy been for the past 5 years?

Ok, so he might not have their discography to hand but let's face it, the boy has a point!