Stage Moves
 

I just finished watching a bit of the performance of Good Guys Always Wear White on the MTV Movie Awards from 1993. Well they sound good...but Jon looks lost...either not into it or just not sure what to do as far as stage moves go. Watching Shepherds Bush I noticed he also seemed a bit lost during Celluloid Heroes when he wasn't singing. Might as well have been a roadie on stage just kinda rocking back and forth.

Anyway....those are just two recent example I've run into..but I'm starting to believe that all of Jon's stage moves are actually taught to him....every little move, rather than just something he comes up with on his own. I'm guessing a professional choreographer is brought into it. It's not like his stage moves are complicated and ground breaking..but it does seem he's lost if it's something fairly impromptu. I don't expect him to come up with something right off the bat..but he looked kinda silly to me just swaying there while Ray Davies sang. He'd have been better off just holding on to his mike stand staying where he was.

Does anyone have any factual knowledge about this topic? Think of the songs that have certain choreography over the years:

In and Out of Love (the crouched down walk, most of you probably never saw this unless you saw them on the 7,800 or Slippery Tours)
You Give Love a Bad Name (evolved version of the above)
Wild in the Streets (Richie and Alec side by side at the beginning, Jon behind them facing Tico just flailing about)
Hey God (tambourine time)
Keep the Faith (Shakers)
Blood On Blood (just go to the official site Videos section if you didn't see the Jersey Syndicate tour)

The above are examples where I could easily accept and understand being under the direction of a choreographer. However, is every thrust of the mike stand during It's My Life something that was directed to by a choreographer? Something as small as the way Jon grabs the mike off the stand in Born to Be My Baby (right after "our love, our lives" in first verse) was thought up by someone else? If it wasn't for a choreography directing his every move...would all we ever have is Jon swaying aimlessly back and forth like a drunk doing karoke?

I don't think it would negate him has a performer if indeed his every move was taught to him...since he does have to pull it off himself anyway in the end. But I've always wondered who came up with what. I've seen shows where he seems so locked in with the music that he is simply channelling it through his stage moves on the spot. Others, its like "they didn't prepare me for this."

Jon has often said that everything he does on-stage was inspired by Southside Johnny. Having seen SSJ a few times recently I can fully believe this - he and Jon act very similarly.

I seriously doubt Jon has a correographer (sp?) in answer to your question. I do know what you mean about him looking uncomfortable when Ray was singing but I put that down the fact that he is usually singing - even when he turns up as a guest for other peoples shows he usually has a guitar to hide behind/focus his attention on etc.

I doubt Jon's moves are choreographed by someone else. If anything, he's had more experience performing certain songs live so he knows just how to do it. For example, he's sung Born To Be My Baby hundreds of times at concerts so those moves would come naturally to him. Singing Celluloid Heroes onstage with Ray Davies isn't something he does very often so he wouldn't know exactly what to do unless they had rehearsed it earlier, which I'm assuming they didn't..

Jon has been asked before if he used a choreographer and he found it quite amusing that anyone would think he did. It's all Jon. I would imagine that one reason he wouldn't be full-on while performing with another artist is to not disrespect that artist or seem like he's upstaging his guest. TV shows typically have smaller stages and they have to work with the camera crew. It's not the same setting as a stadium or arena show.

Becky

:D :) ok i dont think jon,need too be choreographed for those moves when he sings with ray davies and he is more comfertable sing not just singing with someone else on the stage but he does have too play something to keep his hands busy and all i dont want too sound corny and all on this resposed and all but i am tryin too say what is on my mind and all i still love jon and BONJOVI and i think jon is cute and sexy too so deal with it ok?

One thing I have noticed is that JBJ isn't as animated on stage as he once was. I watched a video of their "Slippery" concert in Sydney back in 1987 and he was running and jumping around the stage heaps and really working the fans in every song, smiling and high fiving. Yet when I watch the "Crush" concert he isn't as active and is more inclined to stay close to his mic, only breaking out in the odd song. I know he's 10 or so years older but that cheekiness/brashness has gone. Yet if you look at an old boiler like Jagger his moves are the same as what they were 30 years ago. JBJ is still the undisputed heavyweight champion of sex appeal though. Just ask my wife lol!

Hmm - Maybe the fact that he looks lost occasionally is an indication that it isn't choreographed, as sometimes he is not sure what to do.

Mike