Review; Bon Jovi - Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton 7/15/10

Concert Review:

EDMONTON - By now, all the good Bon Jovi jokes have been used up.

Like: Maybe 100,000,000 Bon Jovi fans CAN be wrong.

Or: If a tornado hit, there would be no casualties because all the people who live in trailer parks were at the Bon Jovi concert.

And how about a new one in the wake of Bon Jovi suffering a torn leg muscle while performing last week: It's just a stage he's going through.

OK, he didn't actually fall through the stage. Apparently, his leg just sort gave out towards the end of the first show of the tour in New Jersey. It happens to many 48-year-olds doing much less strenuous or interesting things. Taking out the garbage, say. This old man is rocking.

But at the end of the day -- Thursday night at Commonwealth Stadium, more specifically -- there is no joke. The supernaturally attractive singer proved he is still a masterful showman capable of causing mass spasms of uncontrollable 80s nostalgia from the 40,000 fans in his complete control, whether they liked it or not, and of course they all liked it. You could tell by the mass spasms.

Also, deafening cheers, rousing singalongs and squeals of feminine glee every time the frontman tossed his stadium hair or flashed his stadium grin for the humongo-tron cameras.

Livin' on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name, Bad Medicine, Wanted Dead or Alive -- these songs will live forever, much like zombies.

Fitting that as the sun set, the band roared out of the gate with an old one, Blood on Blood, a song about an undying friendship, much like the one that exists between Bon Jovi and its fans since the 80s. Even the new stuff had the pungent aroma of that wonderful decade.

Saving the true crowd-pleasing chart-toppers till later like deadly bullets in its holster of hits, the band deployed several tunes from its new album, The Circle. These included We Weren't Born To Follow, which is a song about rebellion that isn't specific about whom we should be rebelling against, no mention of "the Man."

The video screens showed multiple images of Jon and his hair and his grin, along with the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King, J.F.K., Hendrix and even Elvis, whose importance in the history of rebelliousness is arguable.

But that doesn't matter. Almost every Bon Jovi song is a vaguely empowering anthem on topics both worldly and personal, espousing simple, wholesome values.

Most choruses are easy to sing along to. They were all performed full throttle last night, as if each song was last encore of the night. They could've ended the show anywhere, really.

Jon sang like a champ and made a valiant effort on all the rock star moves with his gamey leg. What a trouper.

Richie Sambora, meanwhile, tore of one screaming riff after another. By the fourth song, they were covered in sweat.

Jon did a great job rousing the crowd to frenzied heights of excitement. Early on, he shouted, "This ain't television, baby -- get out of your seats, get out of your seats, get out of your seats!" Obedient fans, we did, only to be rewarded with the first massive hit of the night.

I don't care what you think of Bon Jovi music, hearing 40,000 people sing "shot through the heart and you're to blame, you give love a bad name!" is a stirring experience. Now you'll have that song going through your head all day.

More recent material followed before the next climax of Bon Jovi classics, the night proceeding more of less like lovemaking -- fast, then slow. Hard, then soft. Not necessarily in that order.

Say one thing for these guys: they know how to pace a rock show. Bon Jovi has been at this long enough to make it look easy.

Of course, for all their gifts, at the end of the day, they're still just doing Bon Jovi songs. They are to blame, they give rock a bad name. Kidding! Just another cheap joke.

Opening act Kid Rock seems to be aiming for that mysterious demographical nexus between rednecks and hip-hop fans, a combo that makes as much sense as the African-American Confederate Flag Preservation Society (AACFPS). Weird, but there it is -- and no one owns this peculiar musical genre better than Kid Rock.

Rare is the performer who can pull off mangled versions of Sweet Home Alabama and Everyday People in the space of 10 minutes.

Mr. Rock also warmed up the crowd with a song about a rock 'n' roll Jesus, a song where he mentions wanting to have sex with your wife, and a song that sounded like Can't You See, but wasn't.

He played piano, he played guitar, he played drums, he rapped, he went heavy metal, he went country, he led the crowd in a chant of his own name. How's that for a multi-talented ego?

This guy literally wears lots of hats. None of them are very good, but points for trying. And more points for declaring that all the music heard was made by real musicians.

"This ain't no Britney Spears bull---!" he said. Sad one should even have to mention it these days.

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