on a steel horse I ride...........

Music is a large part of my life, it permeates my world every day and is what inspires me, motivates me, makes me feel good, bad or indifferent depending the tune and I feel I have an excellent opinion when it comes down to what music is good and what simply sucks. And yes there is a large volume of music that in my opinion sucks. I had an experience last night which reminds me of not only what effects good music and showmanship can have on the masses but the staying power of bands that really focus on their music and not gimmicks or concepts.

As a birthday gift to my sister I got her and I tickets to see Bon Jovi (www.bonjovi.com) in Newark, New Jersey at the Prudential Center (www.prucenter.com) which is the new home of the New Jersey Devils Hockey team.

Bon Jovi is a band that celebrates over 25 years of making music. I submit that they are one of the all time great American rock bands. Here is a short synopsis of our trip.....

We left Laurel around 1:00pm and with the help of Madeline (my GPS, named by my sister, Maddie for short) we made the near 200 mile trip in under 3 hours. The ride was full of tolls, fast food and good playlists provided by R2D2 (my ipod). Apparently I name my electronics. We got there and checked into our hotel. We got a room because we didn't want to drive 3 hours home after the concert, turned out to be an excellent idea.


We got to the Prudential Center with hopes of restaurants for dinner and pre-concert cocktails both of which were kinda let-downs but we did get sub-par pizza and watered down coke products. We found our seats which were on the floor, dead center and only 16 rows from the stage....SWEET! That is what 670.00 gets you, which is what I paid to take my big-sis to see one of her favorite bands so in hindsight it was completely worth it.

The opener was the All American Rejects who played about 8 songs including "swing swing" and my "my paper heart" closing with "move along." They were pretty good, not the best, but I was really there for Bon Jovi so no harm.

Then Bon Jovi came out and I cannot describe it adequately so in a word....again.... AMAZING.

They played for 2 hours and 40 minutes and did not stop. They first played the entire new album "Lost Highway" which is pretty solid and then played 16 back to back radio hits beginning with Living on a Prayer and ending with "Keep the Faith." Jon Bon Jovi might be the hardest working man in show business due to the simple fact that his stage presence can trump most musicians today. He is so incredibly energetic and works the crowd into such a frenzy engaging his audience in each song.

I had such a good time, this was a great experience and I'm so fortunate to have shared it with my sister as I'm sure she had a blast as well.

Here is the setlist: (Intro/Lost Highway/Summertime/Last Night/Whole lot of Leaving/Want to make a Memory/Everybody's Broken/We got it going on/Any other day/Till we ain't strangers anymore/I love this town/Seat next to you/One step closer/Living on a Prayer/You give love a bad name/Raise your hands/runaway/It's my life/Born to be my Baby/Have a Nice Day/Lay your hands on me/Sleep when I'm Dead/Bad Medicine/Who Says you can't go home...Encore: I'll be there for you/Someday I'll be Saturday Night/Wanted Dead of Alive/Keep the Faith.)

It was hard to imagine a better concert and although he shied away from some of the ballads I love, the sheer energy and love for his craft made watching Jon and the boys such a meaningful experience. If you get a chance to see them in concert I'd take it and be ready to be impressed.
Hope everyone can share something like this with those you love. Having my sister with me and seeing her reaction to the show was my favorite part.....

-TS

My favorite Bon Jovi song:

"Born to be my Baby"

Favorite lyric from that song:

"Buckle up baby, it's a bumpy ride."