When you Can't Do What You do...

Do What You Can...

 

Read more...

Chicken Soup for the Show...

Concert preview: Bon Jovi returns to Atlanta fresh from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction

Bon Jovi stole the show, as usual.

At least that was the consensus following last weekend’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, at which the enduring New Jersey rockers were finally granted entry into the Cleveland shrine.

Between an expectedly uproarious introductory speech by longtime band friend Howard Stern and the fan-satiating reunion with guitarist Richie Sambora and original bassist Alec John Such, Bon Jovi topped every headline.

Bon Jovi perfroms during the 33rd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on April 14, 2018 in Cleveland. Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images

It’s a familiar spot for frontman Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan and drummer Tico Torres, who, along with longtime bassist Hugh McDonald and Sambora replacement Phil X, have filled arenas for more than three decades.

The band will play an encore performance at Philips Arena on Friday, slightly more than a year after their last visit to promote their 13th studio album, “This House Is Not for Sale.” The album was reissued earlier this year with a couple of new tracks.

Recently, Bryan and Torres chatted with reporters on a conference call to discuss Bon Jovi’s history and future.

On the number of artists announcing farewell tours and if Bon Jovi has thought about the end:

David Bryan: “Yeah, hopefully later than sooner. You know what, it’s amazing when you look at the reunion tour and then the farewell tours and you look at so many bands that have their 14th farewell tour. I don’t really know how true those are and how much they need to sell tickets. I think for us it’s more about, we’re just going to keep doing it and having fun. The future has yet to happen, and until then we’re just going to keep having fun and making records and go play in front of the people and have a great time. … Look at the Rolling Stones, and they’re in their 70s.”

Tico Torres: “We made a promise to ourselves as far as that. As long as it’s fun and as long as we can have something to contribute musically together, why not do it? That’s where we’re at. … Some people have to retire. A lot of it could be physical. Some people like (Rush drummer) Neil Peart, I was watching (something where he says), I can’t play like Neil Peart anymore. Then you have the other spectrum of B.B. King. He passed away with a guitar in his hand.”

On what they’ve learned about each other and the band during their decades together:

Bryan: “We always set out to be the biggest band in the world. It takes a lot of hard work to get lucky. We put in all the hard work and we got lucky and we went around the world to 50 countries and we played it over 30 times, each country. We’re proud to bring American rock around the world. We remain curious and kept just wanting to remain current, always getting better at our craft and always getting better at making records and playing live. It’s always a constant lesson. You just learn and stay curious and stay passionate.”

Torres: “The key is, like David said, stay true to yourself. I’m amazed that we have three generations in the audience that come see us play. That amazes me that it transcends not only to the kids that grew up with us, but their grandkids. To me, that’s wonderful that music can do that.”

On memorable live experiences:

Bryan: “At 3,000 (live shows), it’s hard. They all stand out. You can’t really say that one is better than any other. They’re all great and some are even greater. We’re very fortunate to have that many great experiences, really.”

Torres: “I can think of one. When we played for the queen of England. Presidents come and go, but the queen’s been around for (decades). It was kind of special to meet her and play for her. It’s those little things, but there’s a lot of those that are like Dave said, that really charm our life. We’ve been blessed.”

On the musical direction of the “This House Is Not for Sale” album:

Bryan: “We got in a room together, looking at each other and really bashing out in the studio. We hadn’t been doing that for a while on the other records, and this one was like, let’s just get live, get in the room all together and bash it out and really create something, and we really did and are very proud of that record. For this second leg of the tour, we added two new songs. ‘When We Were Us’ is for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and where we’re at in our careers and talking about where we were and where we’re at and where we’re going. We added a couple more songs (to the new edition of the album) to just bring some new material for these shows coming up.”

On pre-show rituals:

Bryan: “We all get together when we do sound checks. We all come together and we have a nice chicken soup together. We sit around and have soup.”

Torres: “That’s a prerequisite. We’ve got to have chicken soup in the dressing room at every show. Not M&M’s, chicken soup. It keeps the colds away.”

source

Read more...

Bon Jovi: Denver, 3-14-18

IT'S MY MILE HIGH MADNESS REVIEW

So, yours truly jetted off to Denver this week to visit a dear friend (Willow) and to take in the very first show on this leg of the This House is Not For Sale Tour.  It was a whirlwind trip which I would do again in a heartbeat.

I landed at Denver International Tuesday evening, and found that once I de-planed, I had to take a train to actually get to the terminal to where Willow was waiting to take me to her place.  I had no idea just getting to her would involve planes, trains and automobiles.  An adventure in and of itself for someone who's home airport involves nothing more than walking off the plane away from the gate and thru the doors to your loved ones and the exit.  

Anyway, I won't bore you with the hours prior to the show, other than to say that Denver is beautiful and the Rocky Mountains, breathtaking.  I can't wait to go back. If you ever get there, I can recommend Estes Park as one place to definitely visit.  

Our pre-show dinner was something I need to mention though.  We parked Will's car at the Pepsi Arena and Uber-ed to Dbar Restaurant.  If any of you are Food Network watchers like I am, you will probably recognize the name Keegan Gerhard.  He is one of the owners.  The place started as a dessert cafe, but now they added a restaurant and full bar.  The food was amazing as was the dessert we shared.  And, while we were waiting for our Uber back to the arena, we met Keegan himself.  He came walking up and was checking out the outside seating area and made a comment about us waiting and I instantly recognized his voice.  I wasn't 100% sure when I saw him, but when he talked I knew.  So, what do I do?  I actually said "you are Keegan!"  He chuckled and said yes he was, he shook our hands and chatted for a minute.  Pretty cool moment.  Then our Uber showed up and it was into the cadillac and off to the show we went.

We did the standard stand in line and wait for the doors to open, then had our bags checked and go thru metal detectors schtick.  While waiting we noticed a woman up ahead of us had the coolest jeans on.  She had patches from all the tours on them, the HAND smirk being prominently displayed on her back pocket.  That has to be one of my favorites.  The other thing we noticed about this woman, she had a toddler in her arms.  He couldn't have been more than 2.  I get that you want to share your love with your kids, but in my opinion, 2 is a tad young for a rock concert. But that's just me.

So, after waiting in a insanely long line for swag, we got our t-shirts (Queenie did not get a tour shirt, she supported the Soul Foundation with her purchase) found our seats, made some new friends and waited. 

We were not impressed with the opening act.  So we chatted with our new friends and commented on the young man sitting in front of us.  He was with his dad and in conversation found that he was wearing his dad's original 1987 Slippery When Wet Tour T-Shirt.  Pretty cool.

Now, the last time I saw the band, Richie was still with them.  I also wasn't impressed with their performance on the Iheart Music Awards.  So, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  

I shouldn't have worried.  They were fantastic.  So much better than what I saw on TV a few weeks ago.  The interaction I missed seeing during their television performance was there, the connection I hadn't felt was there.  It was incredible.  Jon was on and sounded as good as ever.  We got, what I think is a crazy good set list:

   This House is Not For Sale

  Knock Out

  You Give Love a Bad Name

  Whole Lot of Leavin' Going On

  Lost Highway

  When We Were Us

  Born to Be My Baby

  Who Says You Can't Go Home

  It's My Life

  We Weren't Born to Follow

  I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

  We Got it Goin' On

  Keep the Faith

  Bed of Roses

  Amen

  Lay Your Hands on Me

  God Bless this Mess

  Have a Nice Day

  Bad Medicine

  Encore:

  I Love This Town

  Wanted Dead or Alive

  Livin' on a Prayer

Some may not think the list was anything all that great, but it was all just up, up, up...the energy level was just crazy in the arena.  And Jon never stopped.  At one point I leaned over to Wills and told her "He's such a dork!"  He was doing one of his crazy, high step, marching kind of dances across the stage.  She agreed and added "that's why we love him!"

It was just high energy all the way.  Keep the Faith was a highlight.  He had the maracas working, and then, he disappeared down the stairs.  Quick change time. And here's where I have to give props to Phil X.  He absolutely killed it on that song, especially the extended ending.  It was ridiculously good.  And David had an insane keyboard solo.  Just amazing.  

And then Jon reappeared out on a side stage in the crowd, one section over from where we were sitting.  He gave us Bed of Roses and Amen from there before making all the ladies swoon and there was no shortage of cellphone videos from there. He made his way back to the stage and turned the volume back up to 11 for the rest of the show.

After Bad Medicine they all disappeared and made the crowd go crazy.  One guy near us shouted himself hoarse begging "more, we want more!" The guys must have heard him because they came back and gave us three more.

When they started Wanted, the man sitting in front of us (with the kid wearing his Slippery t-shirt) voiced the thought I had in my head.  It will never be the same.  While true, it was good in its own right.  They finished with Prayer and the crowd showed their love by singing the song for them.  Jon thanked the crowd for their love, friendship and support thru the years.  They took their bows, and Jon stood there for a long moment, hand over his heart beaming at the crowd before disappearing.

It was a good night.  I am so glad I was able to be there.  I probably won't get to any other shows this tour, as of right now they're not scheduled to be anywhere near me until Toronto and those dates don't work for me.  So, as short and sweet a trip as it was, I'm glad I did it.

QNote:  as an aside, I am a Bon Jovi purist.  Do I miss Richie?  Damn right I do.  Do I know he's not coming back?  Again, sadly, I do.  Does it make me miss what he and Jon had together any less?  Absolutely not.  Does it take away from what the Band is doing now?  I don't think so.  It's just different now.  I know they will never be what the were and that's okay.  I enjoyed the show, the line up now works, but it's just not what I think when I think Bon Jovi, and that's on me.  So, take this review for what it is, my opinion on the show by the Band I have loved since 1984.

Some Pics (shared from 303 Magazine):

Read more...

When We Were Us

New song, new video...





I like the song, I like the video, but like most of you, I miss the Jon/Richie dynamic.  But if you look close, you'll see Richie in the video more than once.

Read more...

iHeart Bon Jovi

A Behind-The-Scenes Look at Bon Jovi's Tour Rehearsals

"Let's take it from the top," Jon Bon Jovi says before launching into a rehearsal of Bon Jovi's What About Now song "Amen." Like a maestro, standing at the center of his home recording studio in his Native New Jersey, the iconic rocker is perfecting every detail for Bon Jovi's upcoming tour.

In just a few short weeks, Bon Jovi will kick off their 2018 This House Is Not For Sale Tour in Denver, Colorado (March 14), and exactly one month later, the legendary band will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The band is also re-releasing their latest album, This House Is Not For Sale, which includes two brand new songs, "When We were Us" and "Walls." Additionally, the band is also receiving the very first iHeartRadio Icon Award during the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Awards. It's a very exciting time for Bon Jovi.

Reaching the 35th year of their career, Bon Jovi has since shared 13 studio albums, three live albums, and six compilation albums, among other releases, and have brought their music to fans all over the world during at least 18 tours. The honor of being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is more than fitting for the band. "This is a club where you go, Elvis [Presley] is a member? Cool. [Mick] Jagger's a member? Cool. I wanna be in that club. So, it's very special," Jon says.

In Jon Bon Jovi's home recording studio, the band is gearing up to head out on the road. There is every kind of instrument you can imagine; a slew of guitars all lined up, ready for action, drums and percussion instruments galore, and keyboards. With the tour ahead of them in a few weeks, and a large catalogue of music to pull from into their set list, Bon Jovi is making sure they can give their loyal fans the best show possible.

As the band explains, "It's all about playing, making the best art you can, and then bringing it to the people, and looking out there at those faces. Everybody just having a great time and we're having a great time, and that's really what we live for."

And they have the accolades to prove it. Bon Jovi is one of the best live bands and greatest touring bands out there. In their rehearsal space is memorabilia to remind them of their incredible accomplishments over the last 35 years; magazine covers, tour posters, keepsakes of their record-breaking tours. 

As Bon Jovi says, the secret to their longevity is, "You just have to loving doing it. There has to be a motivating factor, which is the love of making music."

Bon Jovi is rereleasing their 2016 album This House Is Not For Sale (which debuted at No. 1 when it was originally released) with two brand new songs for fans. So, there's no doubt it's because of this way of thinking that the band not only continues to make new music, but that they also make music that appeals to fans of all generations. Jon explains, "To have a song that has lasted 35 years, generations, it's the closest that you'll ever come to immortality. The beautiful thing about a song is that it lives on."

Celebrate Bon Jovi's by watching the band perform and receive the first-ever iHeartRadio Icon Award during this year's iHeartRadio Music Awards. Fans can tune in live on March 11th at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on TBS, TNT and truTV, on iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide; and on the iHeartRadio app, the free all-in-one digital music, podcasting and live streaming radio service. TV subscribers can also watch the iHeartRadio Music Awards on the TBS, TNT and truTV Apps. You won't want to miss it!

source

Read more...

A Christmas Miracle...

Bon Jovi on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: 

'It's a Christmas Miracle'

Almost no band that started after the 1970s has been more successful than Bon Jovi. They have sold a reported 130 million records and packed just about every stadium in the world many times over. Their songs are inescapable on classic-rock radio (not to mention karaoke bars) and their last four new albums hit Number One on the Billboard 200. Despite all that, they only appeared on a single Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot before finally getting in this year, nearly a decade after first becoming eligible. Frontman Jon Bon Jovi shared his views on why that happened with Howard Stern last year, but presumably all is forgiven now that they are finally in. We spoke with drummer Tico Torres and keyboardist David Bryan a couple of days after they heard the big news.

How did you first hear you were in?
Tico Torres: Jon called me. It's something that's iconic in a sense. A lot of my friends are in it. It's pretty prestigious. The fact that it covers all types of music is a beautiful thing. Of course, there's so many other people that have yet to be in there like [John] Coltrane. Elvin Jones was my drum teacher for God's sake.

How about you, David?
David Bryan: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame carrier pigeon dropped by my house and delivered the note. [Laughs]

What were your first reactions?
David Bryan: It was great. There's a lot of people that are in it. There are a lot of people that aren't in it and deserve to be in it. There's a lot of people that are going to be in it. It's a nice recognition of 25 years after 1984, which is when our first record came out. We're what I call a current classic. We still have a Number One record and we're still out there touring the entire earth and selling out stadiums everywhere, and yet we're still a classic. It's a great thing.

Tico Torres: And we're old!

Did the news surprise you at all?
Tico Torres: I was elated. It was nice to tell my mom and my son. He was the first one. He's 13. I told him right away. I had to tell my mom. We grew up annoying our parents, making noise and having band practice. For me, it's been going on since '67. If anyone deserves the first mention, it would be my mom. Our parents.

David, what does this mean to you on a personal level?
David Bryan: When you look at it, its almost a journey of your peers. You're in with people you grew up with. They were my heroes, the reason why I play rock & roll. It's an honor to be amongst them. It's a nice nod from the industry. We've been eligible since 2009, so it's nice to be recognized.

Did it ever bother you that it took this long?
Tico Torres: There's only so much room. Again, David mentioned this, there's a lot of people that should be in before us that have since passed, like Joe Cocker, guys that made statements in life that we grew up with. It's an ongoing adventure of music. It also brings to light a lot of music of people that gets passed to younger people, people just getting into music. They can actually go backwards and research and learn from it.

David Bryan: We were at the inaugural, way before the Hall of Fame was built, we played that concert in Cleveland. We had Eric Burdon with us. There were so many greats that night, from Al Green to Little Richard to Jerry Lee Lewis. It was a pretty special event and it's wild that this many years later we're amongst them and there's a building now. It's all good.

They're taking in the two of you, Jon, Richie Sambora and Alec John Such. Do you think those are the right ones? Did they miss anybody?
Tico Torres: That pretty much covers the band when we started.

David Bryan: That was us guys living the dream, getting on a bus with no guarantees in any way shape or form or anything. It was, "Let's go out and make this happen." And we actually did. For me, it's a Christmas miracle.

Tico Torres: It's funny. You grow up listening to these great musicians and then you get a certain status in your environment as a musician where you actually get to play together and meet each other and jam. You always think, "Gee, I was born too late." But then you get better and better and fall in line and you're almost in the same schoolhouse even though you're younger. You get to hang out and play with your peers.

It's going to be you guys, the Moody Blues, the Cars, Dire Straits and Nina Simone. There tends to be an all-star jam at the end of the night. Can you think of any song that would work everyone?
David Bryan: That has to be the hardest part of the night because everyone has great songs. You can do a standard blues song or something. I don't know. I guess we'll figure it out when we're in the room.

Bands usually get three songs. Can you take a guess at which three songs you'll do?
Tico Torres: I guess we'll figure that out. It's kind of new to us. You have to include the songs that got us to this point. It's a hard pick. We'll figure it out.

David Bryan: We're trying to wrap our heads around it now and figure it all out.

Bands often play with former members at the induction ceremony. Are you down to play with Richie Sambora and Alec John Such that night?
Tico Torres: Absolutely.

David Bryan: Yeah. Why not?

Tico Torres: They are a huge part of us. We'd love it if they played with us.

Do you keep in touch with Alec?
Tico Torres: Honestly, he's a mystery sometimes. The hard part is finding him.

David Bryan: Alec is definitely a moving target.

He played with you guys in 2001. The fans are always very curious about him. He's the mystery man of Bon Jovi to so many people.
Tico Torres: He's always been the mystery man of Bon Jovi, even then he was like 007.

Do you think he'll show up?
Tico Torres: I think so.

David Bryan: I would hope so. The idea is that it's a celebration of what we were and what we are, so that was definitely what we were and we are what we are now. I think its a celebration of both those things. You'll see the current lineup and then see the original. It should be a fun night.

Many people will argue that Hugh McDonald should be inducted since he's been there for so long.
Tico Torres: He's a big part of the band. They should acknowledge that.

What are the future plans for Bon Jovi?
David Bryan: We're going to keep touring. That's what we do. We love to make records and we love to tour. We did a handful of shows this year down in South America and played a bunch of big stadiums and Rock in Rio. Next year, we're putting plans together and we're going to do some shows, do what we do.

So few bands are able to play those soccer stadiums you guys headline. 
Tico Torres: The hardest thing about those soccer stadiums is trying to find room in the soccer schedule since that takes precedent. We're lucky in South America that there wasn't much soccer that time of year. But it's incredible to still fill houses. A lot of it is because we try to stay current. We come up with new material and songs and try to reinvent ourselves. It's a journey of a lifetime. I'm glad we're able to do that as a band and keep creating and expanding our limits.

I think a lot of fans in America don't realize that you're just as popular overseas, filling stadiums in Asia, Europe – it's a real global thing.
David Bryan: The fans realize the hell out of it. It's been something we always set out to to from the beginning, which was play the world. We'd go out and play 50 countries. We've done 50 concerts 30 times. They're familiar with us and we're familiar with them. It's a big world out there. One of the greatest things about our band is that we bring the American dream to the world. Here's a bunch of kids that were living in nowhere New Jersey and we made it through a lot of practice and a lot of work and a lot of luck. It shows the world, "If we did it, you can do it." It's that whole dream of "you can make it" that we bring to the world.

David, you've won Tony Awards. The band has won Grammy Awards. How does this compare to those honors?
David Bryan: Any honor is an honor. You can't really say which one is better than the next, but it's always wonderful when you're honored by your peers for your work. There's the Tonys and the Grammys we won and were nominated for. The Tonys were an amazing evening and this will be another amazing evening. It's wonderful to be recognized by our peers, and the fans. This was one of the biggest fan votes. Almost 2 million fans voted for us, which was huge.

I'm sure the night will be very emotional. 
Tico Torres: For me, I live in the present, in the moment. It's one of those experiences I look forward to without a preconceived notion other than I'm excited.

source

Read more...

And, They're In...

Bon Jovi Leads 2018 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees: ‘It’s About Time’

Can one million Bon Jovi fans possibly be wrong?

The formerly huge-haired New Jersey group leads the 2018 class of inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the organization announced on Wednesday, an accomplishment that may have at one time been thought impossible. Long a commercial juggernaut, if scoffed at by music snobs, Bon Jovi also won the Rock Hall’s fan poll, receiving more than a million public votes, which counts as a single vote in the overall judging.

Asked about its inclusion, Jon Bon Jovi, the band’s lead singer, stammered a bit. “Well. I mean … we’re very happy about it,” he said in an interview. “And um, you know. It’s great.” He paused. “I really want to say it’s about time,” he added, using a colorful adjective omitted here.

The band will be inducted along with Nina Simone, the Cars, Dire Straits, the Moody Blues and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who will receive an Award for Early Influence, at the 33rd induction ceremony on April 14 at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland; the show will be broadcast later by HBO and SiriusXM.

More than 1,000 industry figures, including artists and historians, cast ballots for induction. The Rock Hall takes into account “an artist’s musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique,” according to the criteria. Artists become eligible for the Rock Hall 25 years after the release of their first recording.

“Am I relieved? Yeah,” said Mr. Bon Jovi, whose group has been eligible since 2008. “Am I pleased? Absolutely. But,” he repeated, “It’s about time,” using the same colorful adjective.

Starting with its self-titled debut in 1984, Bon Jovi has released 13 studio albums, including “This House Is Not for Sale,” which topped the Billboard chart last year. The group’s hits like “Runaway,” “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “It’s My Life” have led to more than 100 million records sold (hence the 2004 box set titled “100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong”).

Still, the band’s place in the pantheon — especially this one — has remained an open question. In “Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine,” a juicy new biography by Joe Hagan about the publishing mogul, who also co-founded the Rock Hall, Bon Jovi receives a special kind of scorn.

“I don’t think he’s that important,” Mr. Wenner, who remains chairman of the foundation that oversees inductions and was himself inducted in 2004, is quoted as saying in the book. “What does Bon Jovi mean in the history of music? Nothing.” Mr. Wenner also noted that Mr. Bon Jovi enlisted the billionaire investor Ron Perelman to help his case. (The band had been nominated once before, in 2011.)

Mr. Bon Jovi declined to respond directly to those slights. “There’s no reason to get into mudslinging,” he said, adding of the voters: “The truth is that they all came around and said, ‘You can’t deny the facts.’”

He continued: “We’re not on the ‘where are they now?’ tour. My last three tours were the biggest-grossing tours in the world. We’ve been blessed that people come and see us and there’s a big catalog of music. I wasn’t surprised, but I was pleased.”

The rest of the Rock Hall crop varies from more straightforward — Dire Straits and the Moody Blues, which both got in on their first try — to slightly left of center.

Though the Rock Hall has been criticized in the past for its lack of diversity, five of the nominees this year were acts led by women, while six featured nonwhite performers. Ultimately, two prominent black women — Ms. Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe (both deceased) — made it in as first-time nominees.

Other less down-the-middle rock ’n’ roll acts to receive their first look this year — including Kate Bush, Rage Against the Machine, Eurythmics and Radiohead — did not make the cut this time. Members of Radiohead publicly expressed ambivalence about the honor and booked a tour date in South America on the night of the induction ceremony.

Overall, this class of inductees also stands out for lack of acts especially popular with Gen X: Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, N.W.A, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Public Enemy have all been inducted in recent years. Additional nominees passed over this year included Depeche Mode, Judas Priest, J. Geils Band, the Zombies and LL Cool J, who would have been the seventh hip-hop act inducted.

Mr. Bon Jovi said he was looking forward to the ceremony, though he was not aware that all the groups present traditionally participate in an all-star jam at the end. “I really don’t watch award shows and get caught up in all that,” he said.

source

Read more...

New Music is Coming...

From USA Today

Coming in 2018: New Bon Jovi music

ASBURY PARK, N.J. — The new year means new music for Bon Jovi, said frontman Jon Bon Jovi during a Facebook Live on Thursday.

“We’re going to put out a couple of new songs to share with you for the new year,” said Bon Jovi. “I think they’re pretty good. Just two tracks to support what we hope to be sharing with you in 2018.”

Bon Jovi then gave a telling wink.

The new music will be the band’s follow up to This House Is Not for Sale, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart when it was released in November 2016.

Later in the broadcast, Bon Jovi said that current events will inform one of the songs.

“The current news has obviously been filtered for the past year to a place where I’m able to process some of it and put melodies to it, so there is some mention without being too opined,” Bon Jovi said. “It’s definitely prevalent in one of the two new songs.

“The world’s gone crazy — I’m looking to you guys, the next generation, to reinvent the wheel,” Bon Jovi said. “Be the future you want to be because we’re counting on you. It’s not being political if you’re worried about taking care of the planet that we live on and the people around you. We’re all more alike than we are different.”

Bon Jovi took a handful of questions that were posted to the band’s Facebook page and answered them for about 15 minutes. He spoke about maybe someday bringing the story of Tommy and Gina to Broadway, his growth as a songwriter and what the band has been rehearsing as of late.

Bon Jovi is expected to tour in 2018.

Songs from “These Days and a lot of the album tracks form ‘Keep the Faith,” Bon Jovi said of the rehearsal material. “We’ve been playing Dry Country again and Blaze of Glory, These Days and Hey God, so the rehearsals are feeling really great.”

The current lineup includes David Bryan on keyboards, Tico Torres, drums; Hugh McDonald, bass; Everett Bradley, percussion and backing vocals; and Phil Xenidis and John Shanks on guitars.

Bon Jovi also thanked fans for the more than 1 million fan votes they’ve received for possible induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“I came here to say thanks for exceeding a million votes with another week to go,” Bon Jovi said. “It’s really nice that our friends out there who supported the band for such a long time are having their voices heard. It’s been fun.”

Bon Jovi is one of 19 nominees for the Rock Hall’s Class of 2018. The top five fan voted acts will compose a fan’s ballot that will count as one of the ballots.


Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine, Depeche Mode, Judas Priest, Kate Bush, the Cars, Dire Straits, Eurythmics, J. Geils Band, LL Cool J, MC5, the Meters, the Moody Blues, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Nina Simone, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Link Wray and The Zombies are this year’s other nominees.

The 2018 inductees will be announced later this month and inducted on April 14 in Cleveland. Fans can vote once a day for their favorites through Tuesday at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s web site, rockhall.com/vote.

“Fingers crossed,” Bon Jovi said. “We’ll find out in the next couple of weeks.”

Read more...

25 Years Ago Today...

Bon Jovi's Keep the Faith, which arrived in stores on Nov. 3, 1992, signaled a new era for the Jersey rockers.

In many ways, this was inevitable. After spending most of the '80s on the road, the band had taken a break after the touring cycle wrapped up for 1988's juggernaut New Jersey. During this break, music trends had moved on from the kind of glossy hard rock and metal at which Bon Jovi excelled. Separately, the members of the band explored different sonic avenues. Jon Bon Jovi landed a solo No. 1 hit, the twang-tinged "Blaze of Glory," from the movie Young Guns II; guitarist Richie Sambora released a solo album, 1991's Stranger in This Town, featuring guests such as Eric Clapton; and keyboardist David Bryan dabbled in soundtrack work.

In a 1993 interview with The Georgia Straight, Sambora credited this break — and the band's individual creative detours — for rejuvenating Bon Jovi. “We needed to find ourselves individually,” he said. “The Bon Jovi situation was extremely successful, and I was very happy to be in a band of that stature, but there was almost nothing left to write about at that point — we were all just so tired and so burnt out. All we were writing about was bein’ on the road and bein’ in a hotel room and bein’ lonely and talkin’ to your girlfriend on the phone. They miss you and you miss them — that was what our lives were about at that time.

“So to actually take a step back and see what was happening in our lives gave us some more stuff to write about. Plus, all of a sudden I was working with people like Eric Clapton and Tony Levin from Peter Gabriel, and Jon was workin’ with Elton John and Jeff Beck, so workin’ with all these different artists gave us different influences, which we brought back to Bon Jovi. It made it fresh and brand-new, and we were excited to be with each other again."

Still, in the time between New Jersey and Keep the Faith, the members of Bon Jovi also nurtured their emotional and personal lives — and addressed the fissures and strains that contributed to the band's exhaustion. Jon Bon Jovi fired manager Doc McGhee and took control of the band himself, forming Bon Jovi Management. More notable, after chatting with Aerosmith manager Tim Collins, Jon Bon Jovi decided to enlist the help of an outside, unbiased mediator to help get to the bottom of the act's deep-seated disagreements.

"That was a saving grace for the band because we finally had a place where we could be honest and talk to each other about what was good, what was bad and what was indifferent," he told NPR in 2009. "And when you cleared the air and you realized, 'Wow, that was nothing, let's just go and make the next record,' everybody came back with a clear head. We went in two years later and made Keep the Faith."

Making Keep the Faith was a leisurely process that involved going back to their roots by spending time wood-shedding in Bon Jovi's basement. Later, the band decamped to Vancouver to work with Bob Rock, who had engineered and mixed Slippery When Wet and New Jersey. Asking Rock to produce Keep the Faith was an inspired move: The studio guru was fresh off Metallica's Black Album, and so had experience helping hard rock bands navigate the grungier '90s landscape.

And Bon Jovi assimilated quite well, mainly because they stuck to what they did best. "Little Bit of Soul" and the Desmond Child co-written "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" are laid-back, bluesy struts, like the Stones playing a dive bar in Jersey; "Blame It on the Love of Rock & Roll" is a glammy mash note to (what else?) rock 'n' roll; and "Woman in Love" is a classic Bon Jovi barn-burner with blazing guitars, stacked harmonies and slippery grooves. On the mellower side is "I Want You," on which a protagonist pines for an ex and all but begs her to rekindle their relationship, and "In These Arms" is a soaring pop-rocker that's not too far off from U2's sky-high anthems.

Yet Keep The Faith also took some rather impressive risks. "If I Was Your Mother" starts off like Black Album-caliber thrash, and quickly segues into a quieter section with strings and distorted vocals. The title track is a ferocious mission statement with a propulsive back beat that hewed toward contemporary Top 40. (It's no accident that then-popular electronic band Jesus Jones remixed the song — the seemingly weird pairing made perfect sense.) And the album version of "Dry County" — a mid-tempo power ballad with moody piano, scorching electric guitar and desert-blues acoustic accents — is nearly 10 minutes long.

But Keep The Faith's biggest hit, the Billboard Top 10 hit "Bed of Roses," was the most dramatic departure of all. A power ballad bolstered with Hollywood-caliber melodrama — waltzing piano, seagull-cry guitars, an anguished chorus — it provided a blueprint for the band's move into adult contemporary circles. Not that Jon Bon Jovi was necessarily thinking that far ahead when he wrote it.

"I think that the best songs that come out of honesty are the ones that you're quick enough to write down," he told Cosmopolis in 2002. "For instance, 'Bed of Roses,' when I was writing that song in `92, was in no mood to be writing a song due to the circumstances, and instead of putting the pen down and walking away from the piano, I sat down and wrote, 'Sitting here wasted and wounded with this old piano ... ' and the hurt that I was feeling physically that day."

Keep the Faith peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard chart, but only went double platinum, a far cry from the band's '80s sales milestones. Still, in the U.K., the album was even more successful; six singles landed in the Top 20 of the chart. And, more important, the record showed Bon Jovi that they could survive anything — changing musical trends, business turmoil, personal dust-ups — and come out ahead.

"The genre of music that we were a part of was now going away and, you know, here was this sign of faith, which is all we really had to go forward with," Bon Jovi told NPR in 2009. "We went into the '90s with a clear objective, and that was to believe in each other and have in what it was that we were all about."

source

Read more...