JonBon at the Waldorf Astoria

Jon  Bon Jovi performed at a fundraiser for President Barack Obama last night at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. 

Thanks to CatteSambora for rounding up and sharing the pictures!

Read more...

Review: Jon Bon Jovi & Friends, Starland Ballroom 1-27-11

Jon Bon Jovi sings for a favorite charity at Starland Ballroom

"You did a good deed," Jon Bon Jovi told the sold-out house at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, at the conclusion of his ninety-minute concert.

He'd led his seventeen(!) piece group through rock classics ("Start Me Up," "So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star") and pop-soul favorites ("Glad All Over" by the Dave Clark Five, Wilson Pickett's "634-5789"), made room onstage for Southside Johnny for a few numbers, and vacated the premises for a fifteen-minute stretch while his band of Friends took center stage.

He did some of his own material, too. Sixteen songs into the show, Bon Jovi gave the crowd what it wanted the most, playing "Wanted, Dead or Alive," "You Give Love a Bad Name," "Who Says You Can't Go Home," and "We Weren't Born to Follow," the lead single from "The Circle" LP. Later, he'd encore with an acoustic -- and considerably defamiliarized -- version of "Living on a Prayer," his signature song.

The show -- not quite a Bon Jovi concert, and not quite a blithe classic pop revue -- was held to benefit the Parker Family Health Center, a clinic in Red Bank. The Center provides primary care, immunization, mammograms, diabetes treatments, and other services for Monmouth County residents (the Parker Family clinic counts 85,000) who are underinsured or uninsured. Bon Jovi spoke about the importance of the Parker Family Health Center between songs, and discussed his own continuing commitment to its operation. He talked about the clinic without rock star bluster; he was conversational, and, at times, emotional.

That gravity colored his performances. He opened the show with a slow acoustic rendition of the Beatles' "Help," turned "Lonely" (a song from the "Lost Highway" sessions) into a plaintive entreaty, and, most remarkably, stripped the usual triumphalism from "Livin' On a Prayer." Instead of soaring to the high chorus, he altered the melody, kept his voice low, and allowed his six-voice choir to sing the hook. On Thursday night, Gina and Tommy weren't just defiant rock and rollers: They were broke kids lost in the system, maybe a little frightened, too. They were the kind of people, Bon Jovi implied, who might need the services of the Parker Family Health Clinic. This reimagining stripped some of the exhilaration from the song, but it demonstrated its flexibility. "Livin' on a Prayer" is more than just an arena-rock shoutalong.

The concert came on the heels of a Billboard.com interview in which Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres, in an unguarded moment, admitted he could use an extensive breather. Guitarist Richie Sambora was quick to dispel the idea of a Bon Jovi hiatus, but as the veteran rock group nears the end of the touring cycle for "The Circle," the immediate future of the band is in question. If Torres really does need some time off -- and let's be fair, the guy has been pounding it out at the drumkit nonstop since "The Circle" came out -- don't be surprised if the Bon Jovi frontman throws himself even further into charitable, or even political, efforts.

JON BON JOVI & FRIENDS
"Help" (Beatles cover)
"So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star" (Byrds cover)
"See See Rider" (traditional blues song associated with Chuck Willis)
"Glad All Over" (Dave Clark Five cover)
"I Can't Help Myself" (Four Tops cover)
"Pretty Woman" (Roy Orbison cover)
"Blue Bayou" (Linda Ronstadt cover, Jon Bon Jovi offstage)
"Lonely"
"Nothin' But a Party" (with Southside Johnny)
"Hold on I'm Coming" (with Southside Johnny)
"Start Me Up" (Rolling Stones cover)
"She's Not There" (Zombies cover, Jon Bon Jovi offstage)
"Ooh Child" (Five Stairsteps cover, Jon Bon Jovi offstage)
"Somebody to Love (Jefferson Airplane cover, Jon Bon Jovi offstage)
"Build Me Up Buttercup" (Foundations cover, Jon Bon Jovi offstage)
"Midnight Confessions" (Bobby Bandiera vocals)
"Wanted Dead or Alive"
"We Weren't Born to Follow"
"You Give Love a Bad Name"
"Who Says You Can't Go Home"

ENCORE
"Livin' on a Prayer"
"Treat Her Right" (with Southside Johnny)
"634-5789" (with Southside Johnny)

source

Read more...

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.

source

Read more...