Bon Jovi

For the fourth time in my life I stood in the pouring rain with Mrs Hotel 1 who is a big fan to watch a Bon Jovi performance. I attend in the capacity of her personal Close Protection Officer and because it gives me an excuse to kick back in some nice hotels that I always insist we stay in. I would say I am reasonably well placed to report as an unbiased observer.

Firstly the standard of musicianship was as high as it always been although the conspicuously absent Richie Sambora did seem to be causing some loss in the on stage chemistry. Lead Guitarist Richie Sambora is not appearing on the European leg of the tour and various reasons for his absence have been citied but it is claimed that he is not currently undergoing rehab. In the face of missing this central figure even more credit has to go to the other band members for stepping up to fill the gap, and the replacement one Mr X is clearly a first rate guitar player and vocalist, but some of the flagship guitar solos were missing from the set.

The band seemed to be enjoying performing less than usual but that is perhaps not so surprising since they were missing a lynch pin of the line up and it was probably this that lead to a somewhat shorter overall performance than we both expected. I feel it would be somewhat cruel of me to point out that this factor may have been down to the ever increasing age of the band especially as long time drummer Tico Torres is now into his sixties and showed no sign of it affecting his performance in the least.

As I said it is my dear wife who is the big fan and although she enjoyed the show she later said to me that she could only generously rate the show as a seven out of ten based on what we have seen and heard from this band before. I am neither a fan or anti-fan although I did lose some respect when Jon Bonjovi came out as Obama's chief dancing monkey not because I am an Obama/Democrat hater but politicising rock stars have always turned me off (this means you Bono, Sting,etc).

Some of the comments JBJ made at the end of the show did leave us both wondering if the future of this outfit is in the balance at the moment and we did find ourselves speculating afterwards as to wether the venerable Bon Jovi as we know it will continue beyond the end of this tour. This of course would be a very sad ending of an era not just I suspect for fans of Bon Jovi but for others who like me come from the last generation of people who have had bands and their music constantly with them throughout the many changing phases of their lives.

Please let me be wrong about this as I don't need anything else to make me feel even more ancient.

I realise that it is possible and maybe even likely that as Jon Bonjovi is well enough known and sufficiently spry at the age of fifty he may continue on in a solo capacity but even so that in itself would represent an era ending.

So let me end with a sincere note of thanks to a band that has provided me with some memorable experiences and through who I have met some terrific people over the years.

PS
My spellcheck does not like this bands name so apologies for variations.

I hated them when they came out but they have grown on me as time has passed.

here we go.

reply to post by boymonkey74

Greetings BM
Like I said I am not a crazy big fan but they have been a constant from my early adult years and the thought of them not continuing is a saddening one.

I'll be honest with you, I never liked Bon Jovi back in the 80's.
Up until Deadliest catch, I couldn't stand them, then they used this song:



Kind of gave me a different perspective,
and I liked the song, but it took years and just the right attachment to it.

One of my favotie band from my teen, and still enjoy. My teenage daughter played this song last week, brought back memories!

They played in Cardiff this week, a friend went and watching a few snippets on her phone, I was amazed that JBB done a cover of Let Me Entertain You by Robbie Williams…

Compliment to Robbie of the highest order there... He's going to be bragging about that the rest of his life I reckon

Always loved this band. It always amazed me how humble they were no matter how famous they got.