Review: Bon Jovi - CeDAR Fundraiser

Bon Jovi sets a feel-good tone at cozy fundraiser

When Bon Jovi plays Denver, the multi- platinum arena rock band plays the big rooms — the Pepsi Center, and McNichols Arena before that. But on Friday, the band known for genre-defining hit songs "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "You Give Love a Bad Name" played a cozy club show inside the Colorado Convention Center's Korbel Ballroom to help raise funds for the Center for Dependency, Addiction and Rehabilitation.

Frontman Jon Bon Jovi was front and center as he led his six-piece band through a party set that jogged from covers to favorites. The singer-guitarist, wearing tight black jeans and a fitted black T-shirt, was relaxed and playful throughout the set, often asking the dressy, chatty crowd, "How're we doin'?"

They were doin' just fine, according to the crowd's hands-in-the-air reaction. The band's set suited the party atmosphere inside the ballroom, which had purple, twinkling lights across the ceiling. The band led off with a cover of the Dave Clark Five's "Glad All Over" that went directly into the sing-along "You Give Love a Bad Name."

Yep, it was a feel-good set list for a feel-good night.

Patrons pushed against the stage wearing everything from designer suits to Ed Hardy T's. An older woman wore a tiara. A teenage boy wore a backwards baseball cap. It was all good.

The Denver Broncos' new executive vice president of football operations, John Elway, introduced the band to the excited, tipsy crowd as "not only great guys, but the greatest rock band in the history of music."

The hyperbole was lost on the crowd — some of whom paid $50,000 for a table, their entry to Friday's event. By the time the show started, tables full of wine bottles and schwag bags were left abandoned as everybody pushed forward, camera phones raised just so, to get closer to Bon Jovi, guitarist Richie Sambora and the rest of the crew.

The weight of Bon Jovi playing such an intimate room didn't go unnoticed. Kids from the kitchen peeked out a side door to catch some of the show, and even the off-duty police officers snapped a couple of shots with their camera phones before sheathing them and taking up a more official pose.

And the band? They joked around like Friday was a public dress rehearsal — all smiles for the fans. One eager fan brought a sign to the front that read, "My husband hates you . . . He knows I dream about you." After winking at girls in the front row through "We Weren't Born to Follow," Bon Jovi asked the fan for her sign. He held it up and read it out loud to the crowd. Catcalls ensued.

"Yeah, but after you're done dreaming," Bon Jovi quipped to the front-row fan, "your husband thanks me for all the attention he gets."

It was a night of music, laughs and good times — and Bon Jovi never missed a beat.

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Friday Funnies...

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Bon Jovi at Jazz Fest Again?

New Orleans Jazz Fest 2011 to feature Arcade Fire, Bon Jovi, Kid Rock, Wilco and many more

The New Orleans Jazz Festival 2011 welcomes Arcade Fire, Bon Jovi, Kid Rock, Jimmy Buffett, John Mellencamp, Wilco, Willie Nelson, The Strokes, Robert Plant, Lauryn Hill, Tom Jones, Jeff Beck, Sonny Rollins, Kenny G and John Legend & The Roots to the Fair Grounds in 2011.

The wide-ranging roster of "visiting" artists - those not from Louisiana - seems designed to position Jazz Fest to compete more directly with the likes of the Austin City Limits Festival, Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, even as it builds on a foundation of local music, food and crafts.

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell is April 29 through May 8.

Ticket prices are unchanged from 2010. A first-weekend discount package of three day-specific tickets is $120 plus service charges; a second-weekend package of four tickets is $160.

Advance single-day tickets, specific to each weekend, are $45 plus service charges. Tickets at the gate are $60. Tickets for children age 2 to 10 are $5, available at the gate only.

Louisiana representatives include Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, Irma Thomas, Galactic, Dr. John, Pete Fountain, Terence Blanchard, Deacon John, Jeremy Davenport, the Neville Brothers, a reunion of Los Hombres Calientes featuring Irvin Mayfield and Bill Summers, and the Radiators, who are slated to disband this summer.

The 42nd annual Jazz Fest will be the seventh since Quint Davis' Festival Productions Inc.-New Orleans partnered with AEG Live, the concert division of the international entertainment conglomerate.

AEG co-produces and/or created several major festivals. The company oversees the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the country-centric Stagecoach festival in southern California. AEG has submitted a bid to co-produce the Chicago Blues Festival. The company also created the Bayou Country Superfest in Baton Rouge with Festival Productions.

At least four acts coming to Jazz Fest for the first time - Arcade Fire, the Strokes, Lauryn Hill and Mumford & Sons - are also headed to Coachella in mid-April.

Due in part to AEG's deep pockets and music industry clout, artists whose tours typically bypass New Orleans are finding their way to the city via Jazz Fest.

John Mellencamp, appearing on the festival's first Sunday, has not performed in New Orleans for at least 15 years.

Bon Jovi was absent from the Big Easy for more than a decade prior to headlining the Acura Stage in 2009. Jon Bon Jovi and company return this year on the festival's first Saturday.

You will find the rest of the article and the schedule of appearances here.

I know nothing is absolute until we see it/hear from on high at BonJovi.com, but I know of at least one Fictionista who would be beside herself if this is for real.

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Buy One, Donate One...

From the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation

The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation
is excited to announce the newest addition to our online store!

This Eco-Friendly blanket made out of 100% recycled plastic bottles is available not only to purchase, but also to donate! You can either purchase one blanket or purchase two and one blanket will be sent to you while the second blanket will be donated by the JBJ Soul Foundation in your name to a homeless outreach organization to help someone in need this winter. You will receive a letter from us letting you know where the blanket was donated.

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