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Bon Jovi @ Prudential Center last night

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  • Bon Jovi @ Prudential Center last night

    So my fiancee bought us tickets to go see Bon Jovi @ the new Prudential Center in Newark, NJ....She rocks They're doing 10 dates there to open the place and as a tune up for their tour.

    Gretchen Wilson opened up. 90% of the audience was sleep walking through her set. It's very country, and every song is about either being a redneck, being in a bar, being a redneck in a bar, or being a redneck leaving a bar to go get into a pickup truck which, invariably, is parked out back.

    She did do a cover of "Baracuda" which woke me up....the guitarist had the tone from the original on a Wolfgang, and Wilson sounded EXACTLY like Annie Wilson. Nailed it, note for note, and with power. She has some tremendous pipes, there is no question. Too bad Jersey doesn't roll with country.

    Then Bon Jovi came on. I am a fan, mostly because I'm a Jersey guy & it's good time music. The intro was super-ridiculous. Some dude comes out on to the set, which was set up to look like a bar, carrying cases of beer, sits down at a lap steel guitar and starts playing, some girl comes out and starts playing the violin, very country western. Tico Torres comes out with the nameless bass guitarist, everyone goes nuts. Then David Bryan. Then Sambora, and finally, on the big screen, we see JBJ driving down a dusty highway (I guess the "Lost Highway") in a Chevy SS.

    Then, though a backlit door, you see...gasp! His SHADOW! Crowd goes predictably nuts, then he walks through the door and just kind of stands there.

    Thus begins my major complaint about the show. It was So. Very. Canned. They had cameras everywhere, which makes sense- if you have 10 dates in the same place, make a DVD. There was a tiny, tiny section of people very close to the stage, waaayyyy off on the left hand side that held perhaps 20 people. Everyone else was way far away. He'd walk alllll the way stage left and lean into this tiny "crowd", high-fiving them, and the camera would film it. If you saw the DVD, I am sure it seems as though he was 100% interacting with his fans. TOTALLY fake. Outside that frame of the shot, nobody was anywhere near the stage.

    He did alot of crap that was just nonsense- some chick throws a shirt on the stage, and he goes, "LET ME READ THIS NOTE!" and it was some BS about it being her birthday and her husband said it was ok if she....he trailed off, something dirty, obviously, and he says, "WELL THAT WOULD BE A NICE BIRTHDAY PRESENT INDEED!".

    I am sure he did the exact same thing the previous 4 shows and will do it for the next 5.

    He bitched alot, too. "Yeah, this is night what, 5? Man. Long week!" When he wasn't bitching, he was kissing his own ass. "I remember grabbing the DJ and saying "This is what a rockstar sounds like!" and launched into "Runaway". Lots and lots and lots of that kind of crap, all night. It was a real turnoff. Turning around, shaking his ass, and seriously, just a constant stream of self-compliments. No thank you's to the fans to speak of.

    OK- On to the show itself:

    They sounded very good. Song intros were a little ragged and when Sambora launched the song it would sound out of tune for a second but then come back ok...- I guess uneven sound is unsurprising...it is a brand new place and I'm sure the sound guys are just getting used to it too.

    Sambora is an absolute monster. I saw them live years ago and didn't pay too much attention, but the guy can play. And he played almost everything- 2 Les Pauls, a Strat, a double-necked tele, various accoustics, a snow white SG, and his "Sambora" guitar, which I had never seen before, but it was his major player throughout the night and it sounded GREAT. I believe it has a speedloader on it. No tuning pegs. He was squeezing artificial harmonics out of that thing like it was nothing....very, very nice sounding axe, overall the best sounding guitar I heard all night.

    Sambora also did a song on his own...I guess "These Days"? Frankly, his voice is better than Bon Jovi's....Bon Jovi has a tendency to sound whiney and thin when he's really wringing it out. Sambora has a much more powerful voice.

    So that's what I remember. Overall, worth going to see.

    If I remember anything else I'll update.

    Vass
    Last edited by Vass; 11-02-2007, 10:42 AM.

  • #2
    hahahahaha, yeah, being at DVD shows can be cheesy!!! glad it ended up ok the end.
    GEAR:

    some guitars...WITH STRINGS!!!! most of them have those sticks like on guitar hero....AWESOME!!!!

    some amps...they have some glowing bottle like things in them...i think my amps do that modelling thing....COOL, huh?!?!?!

    and finally....

    i have those little plastic "chips" used to hit the strings...WHOA!!!!

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    • #3
      My wife want's me to taker here to see them for her Birthday. I might just do it. I grew up listening to the Slippery When Wet Album. I have to agree that these days Sambora has a better voice. When I saw them on the Bounce tour, Sambora sang I'll be there for you and I liked it better than the original. There are also quite a few videos on youtube where he sings some Bon Jovi songs and does a great job.
      Damn, I love this Interweb.

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      • #4
        Question: Did they do Raise Your Hands?

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        • #5
          They did indeed- They raised them, and then they layed them.

          That reminds me- what also really turned me off... Before "Lay Your Hands On Me" he said, "Well I'm back in Jersey, at least you people will understand the irony of this" and launches into this whole "CAN I GET AN AMEN" thing, basically acting like a preacher.

          I am no holy roller, not by a longshot, but it was super, super shitty that he was basically and obviously making fun of his fans from the South and Midwest. Stupid faithful churchgoers! Now I'm in cool, urbane, & atheist Jersey and can make fun of all the fans who get excited about this song in other parts of the country!

          What a jerk. How fake, and how low class.

          Vass

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          • #6
            Eh Jon doesn't seem like that bad of a guy to me... you are right on about Richie though he kicks ass

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            • #7
              Haha, awesome and hilarious review! I'm seeing them in two weeks on their Canadian leg of the tour. MOST EXPENSIVE TICKETS I've ever bought, and I couldn't even get floor seats. They're saving those for radio contests, VIP ticket bidders, etc. And I was online trying to buy tickets the minute they went on sale too.

              The Richie versions of "I'll Be There For You" on Youtube destroy every version Jon has sung except for possibly the following:

              I'll be there for you, performed live in 1989 in Philadelphia. Incredible display of very full and powerful vocals, one of his best performances.Jon sings a ...

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              • #8
                Hmmm I love Sambora's vocals but I don't quite like the way he sings I'll Be There for You in the clips I've seen.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Vass View Post
                  The intro was super-ridiculous. Some dude comes out on to the set, which was set up to look like a bar, carrying cases of beer, sits down at a lap steel guitar and starts playing, some girl comes out and starts playing the violin, very country western. Tico Torres comes out with the nameless bass guitarist, everyone goes nuts. Then David Bryan. Then Sambora, and finally, on the big screen, we see JBJ driving down a dusty highway (I guess the "Lost Highway") in a Chevy SS.
                  I probably would have walked out at that point.

                  that is ultra fucking lame.

                  country Bon Jovi :ROTF:
                  the guitar players look damaged - they've been outcasts all their lives

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                  • #10
                    based on the past shows i've been to... bounce tour was the last they kick ass. jon has always been about the fans... richie is just richie... the 'cat' as he would say gets it.
                    Guitars... Rhoads RX10D
                    Amp... Pioneer
                    Effects... Boss ME-20

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                    • #11
                      What you described is every Bon Jovi show I have seen ( 2 times at Giant Stadium, once at MSG)... although they always sound great...JBJ basically plays up to the crowd and shakes his ass, does a horrible SHOUT medley and then makes fuck me faces to the women in the audience (which my wife goes crazy for)...I told her although I like Bon Jovi I will not be wating our money on them...as I have seen THE SAME SHOW each and every time

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                      • #12
                        There are guys that listen to Bon Jovi? I don't recall any guys being a fan of them. Then again I grew up in the Southwest, must be a East Coast thing.
                        Come and get one in the yarbles, if you have any yarbles, you yunick jelly thou!

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                        • #13
                          Did any one from Boston see this topic and think it was the Prudential Center in Boston, which is a Shopping Mall?

                          I thought of Spinal Tap playing at that amusement park haha!

                          P.S. Bon Jovi has some great tunes!
                          Last edited by tanpsi; 11-03-2007, 10:11 AM.

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                          • #14
                            Jovi is a good band, but, at least in the last 10 years, if you've seen them once, there's no need to do it again. The only thing that changes is their cheezy stage. They can never quite seem to decide if they're from Jersey or Texas either - I don't get that. But Poison does the same thing. And don't get me started on Tommy Lee...

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