2008: 40 days on the road with Bon Jovi - pt 2

On June, 15th 1995, a young boy was listening to a radio broadcast, wishing to be 200 Kms away, where his heroes were performing live. His passion for music in general and specially for an 80's based Rock group was still developing, but the group's influence in his personality was already taking place. For the next 13 years he would imagine to see his heroes in flesh and bone in his home country. But what seemed more and more unlikely as time went by, eventually did happen on May, 31st, 2008.

Coming from 5 German shows, where I had seen some of the best shows Bon Jovi ever performed - Munich, Hamburg and Stuttgart - I landed in my home country on the eve of their "come back" show in Portugal. And so, I barely had time to rest and prepare a little surprise I thought of with my girlfriend.

The show was about to start, after 7 hours waiting and 10 rows of people separating me from the front barricade, when the lights went out I became the 12 year old again, who wished to see his heroes deliver a killer performance, playing like if they had no record deal, struggling to please every single person who was attending to the show. And that's what this young man saw. Hit after hit, the band proved why they are alive and well after 25 years, and unlike most of their peers, thrive with anthems that everybody sing along.

From the start I knew this show couldn't be compared to any of the others of the tour, since it was held in a Festival, meaning that they would only play the hits, and probably a shorter set. And if it is true that the opening with "Lost Highway" didn't impress many, "Born to be my Baby" was the kick off to what the audience was expecting: a summer night filled with hits. And the band noticed it, and immediately respond with one of their number 1 Hits: "Bad Name". To which the audience sang along. We were back in 1986 and everybody was pretending to be Rock stars singing "Shot through the heart and you're to blame. You Give Love a Bad Name", with air guitar movements and ear to ear smiles. No one could stay quiet at this point. "Raise your Hands" and "Runaway", that have been on heavy rotation in the last 5 tours, followed, and with it's easy sing a longs and catchy riffs maintained the hysteria.

"I'll Sleep when I'm dead" was for me the point of the show where I found out it wouldn't be a very short set, since the band kept the bluesy beat and blessed us with brilliant performances of the legendary "Star me up" and the brand new "Mercy". The audience was surprised and the band didn't hide that was having fun.

After that, it was time to rest a bit, and deliver what was the last minus of the show: "Whole lot of leaving", a mid tempo that has personal meaning to Jon, but can barely fill the needs of a stadium sized crowd. So the mid ballad, mid rocker "In These Arms", rose the bar to where "Sleep When I'm dead" had left it. And once again you could easily hear the audience singing every word, and the band proudly presenting all their charm and charisma. And just when the song ended, it took place, what was for me, the first highlight of the show: Jon taking the microphone and saying: "I'm sure you know this one", unlike the usual "This is for the die hards" that used to precede the song they were about to play. And the slight difference in these two sentences, make me think he put that song in the set list, because of a gift, he had received a few hours before. A gift with a note in which you could read in the PS: "If you want the audience to go crazy sing Always". That song made it worth not being front row, since I could not only share with my fellow Portuguese the magic of their greatest power ballad, as I had a little influence on that big event. And once again the 12 year old boy took over me and listened to the song that made him discover Bon Jovi. Just like 13 years ago, I could now listen to an ovation to the Gods. A prayer to Heathen. A conjunction of words and music that touches hearts and ultimately does the necessary chemistry to make 65 000 people share the same feeling of joy and ambition, tenderness and guilt, regret and desire to keep fighting for their dreams. The brilliant performance had the sweet cherries of a crying guitar solo at the end, and of course the Capella's last chorus with lead singer and audience delivering the most poetic vision of a love song ....

And just when we were still recovering from such a highlight, the band demanded more with "We gotta goin' on", and the audience had already to jump and sing along to another rocker. Nothing could prepare us for what was coming next, as the second highlight happened when the hyperactive Jon Bon Jovi set himself free from the huge stage, and deliberately went to the corridor that linked stage to the soundboard, and gave himself to the fans, who didn't want to let him go. He grabbed scarfs and flags and for the whole song he showed how he wanted to embrace the country for such an extraordinary reception. This fact is even more relevant if we take into account that the lead singer stopped doing this in 2000, making this an historic moment, not only for the country, but also for the band.

The adrenaline levels didn't come down with the 2000 smash hit "It's my Life", followed by the groove of "Keep the Faith", with 2 extended solos and lot's of screams.

"I'll be There for you" was the next song, performed by the lead guitarist Richie Sambora, who knew how to calm the audience down for a bit. But, if the jumping stopped, the same didn't happen with the sing along, as the choirs for this broken heart ballad were shared by everyone. I must confess I was a little bit concerned about the reaction of the audience towards the absence of the lead singer - there are many shows in which this absence leads to some disconnection between the audience and the band - but, I was positively surprised, as all the presents greeted the guitarist with a deserved ovation. It evidently touched Richie, as he was either singing or letting his guitar cry. He left a fantastic atmosphere to the front man, as he returned to the stage to deliver one more hit. This time his solo number 1 song, Grammy and Oscar Nominee, "Blaze of Glory". And just like I had heard through the shows I had seen so far, this was the best rendition of the song from the last 10 years. Musically it was perfect, the drums shouting as bullets, the bass giving the rhythm, the keyboard setting the far-west atmosphere and the guitars delivering sounds that made us feel like we were actually in the presence of Billy the Kid himself, riding towards the sunset. And of course, most of all, Jon's voice, that carried the hope and indulgence of the character the song talks about. The screams after the bridge made us think we were still in the 90's and a 30 year old Jon didn't age. Brilliant!

After the cowboy ballad, they performed their country hit: "Who Says you can't go home", a song which I could never imagine would have a good reaction since 1) it wasn't a hit in Portugal, and 2) usually Country music isn't very successful here. But the truth is that the easy "It's alright" sing along was soon replicated by the whole audience and for me the lyrics got yet another new meaning - after in the last show of the 2006 European tour, this song was my official "been all over the world with this band, and now I don't wanna go home" - now it sounded more like a "Been all around the world, ... and there's only 1 place left I want you to go: who says you can't come (to my) home". Yes, since the dream took the 12 year old, the teenager and young man had set his destiny towards far countries to see his heroes live. From central Europe to the UK and even the United States, he traveled all around the globe, but there was only one place he could call home. And there they were, making more young kids to dream and fulfilling the wishes of so many starved fans.

The irony of "Have a Nice Day" kept the atmosphere while the "Is there a Doctor in the house?" prelude made heaven and earth open. "Bad Medicine" didn't let anybody on their feet. And just when some people thought they would rest, the band stroked back with "Shout", the classic that makes everybody jump. Back to some more minutes of Medicine until everyone was officially "healed". "Livin' on a Prayer", probably the biggest Hit from the 80's closed the main set, and just like in the previous songs the audience corresponded with a loud sing along, to which the band injected more passion than ever. It's always a highlight, but even more in occasions like this, in which band and audience are as one, an unique strength of nature that produces such an enormous amount of energy. Speechless.

The few minutes break before the encore only got me and my friends more excited as we were anxious to know if "our plan" had been successful, and our "gift" would be revealed to the world. Fortunately it didn't take long before the band came back and delivered the third moment of the night. The fact that would be mentioned on every magazine, newspaper, TV news flash or discussion about the concert. The sole reason why I wasn't, like I got used to, in one of the first 2 rows. The way me and my girlfriend had figured out to make this an even more unique and special event, not only for us, but for all the fans that were there. Jon was wearing a Portuguese National Football team shirt with the name of the band on its back. And the song they played next, "Someday I'll be Saturday Night", couldn't be more appropriate. Like a banner in the first row said: "After 13 years of Mondays, Finally it's Saturday Night". And it was, for all of us who dared to dream and hoped they would come back. We were living a 13 year old wish. And for me, looking at Jon, listening to him singing those words of hope, wearing a shirt I had wore a few hours before, it felt like a chapter was about to end. The little 12 year old boy had come full circle, and while becoming a man, fulfilled one of his biggest dreams, crafting with his own life the words of his favorite songs. "Wanted dead or Alive", the band's national anthem closed the show with the already legendary line "I've seen a million faces and I've rocked them all". Yes, that night Bon Jovi did see another 65 000 faces, plus 1. One of a new man who, applauding, stared at his "old friends" saying goodbye and thinking his 30th Bon Jovi concert, and his first at Home, was only the beginning.....

And the next adventure was already scheduled. A few hours later there was a plane to take after a 2 hour sleep and other dreams to fulfill, as the Bon Jovi European Lost Highway Tour was heading to Spain.... Soon on pt 3 of my "40 days on the road with Bon Jovi" review.