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 |  Sujet: Bon Jovi Pittsburgh concert review Jeu 6 Mar - 14:57 | |
| [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]| Citation: | Bon Jovi concert review
By Scott Tady/Times Entertainment Editor
Published: Thursday, March 6, 2008 8:24 AM EST
PITTSBURGH – “Let’s go back to the ’80s,” opening act Chris Daughtry said Wednesday to a Mellon Arena crowd that would have done so instantly if it could.
Ah, the ’80s; a time when arena-rock reigned, beers didn’t cost $8.25, and Bon Jovi thrived more on musical relevance than nostalgia.
Sure, the Jersey rockers have enjoyed recent success on the country and adult contemporary charts, but the fact is virtually every spectator in the sold-out Igloo had showed up to hear the band pull from its string of 1980s hits.
And in that regard, Bon Jovi satisfied, waiting until just their second song to rip into “You Give Love a Bad Name,” with “Runaway” soon to follow.
In the next two hours, cherished Bon Jovi classics like “Bad Medicine,” “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “I’ll Be There For You” and encore selection “Wanted Dead or Alive” would enrapture a crowd of between 13,000 and 15,000 (the band’s management refused to yield an official tally).
It was a night devoid of major surprises.
To set up “Runaway,” singer Jon Bon Jovi recited his backwards count through time to 1982, just as he did when the band played Heinz Field a few summers ago.
And as guitarist Richie Sambora finished singing the ballad “I’ll Be There for You,” the house lights went dark momentarily, before a spotlight flicked on to reveal JonBon standing amid fans halfway back of the arena floor, a stunt he previously pulled off in the arena in 2005. Or was that the 2003 show?
It was a nifty move, nevertheless, as he slowly danced with one ecstatic female fan, and touched hands with several others while tenderly crooning “Bed of Roses.” By that time, Jon was wearing a bright red shirt, a welcome splash of color from the leather jacket and dark denim he wore for most of the show.
Sambora also favored black, including his trademark floppy cowboy hat. He made Frampton come alive on “We Got It Goin’ On,” creating that do-you-feel-like-we-do vocal effect that also showed up briefly on the opening to “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
Sambora had a few flashy moments, especially “Raise Your Hands” where his strumming was reminiscent of Queen’s Brian May.
Drummer Tico Torres displayed exhilarating power on “Have a Nice Day,” while keyboardist David Bryan earned his stripes with those familiar but ever-so-cool solos on “Runaway.”
A pretty female fiddle player joined the band throughout the night, though she wasn’t given much room to roam until 18 songs in, when her sawing could be heard prominently on Bon Jovi's country crossover tune “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.”
For an extra kick on several songs, the band slipped in verses from the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” the “Animal House” staple “Shout,” and a snippet of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” that was more Guns ‘n’ Roses than Bob Dylan.
A cameraman from CBS’s “60 Minutes” jumped onto the stage for “Livin’ on a Prayer,” shooting crowd footage for a Bon Jovi segment to be filed by Steve Kroft, who watched the action standing flush with the stage.
Beforehand, TV cameras also caught a glimpse of the backstage action, as the Bon Jovi bandmates posed for photos with their very own Pittsburgh Penguins jerseys personally presented by the team’s general manager, Ray Shero. Sure enough, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl made sure he got into the photo.
The concert began with former “American Idol” star Daughtry and his same-named band. A year ago, Daughtry played for about 600 people at the South Side club Diesel, and while he went on to sell a million albums since, he didn’t diverge from his tried-and-true formula of post-grunge, in the vein of Nickelback or Creed.
He’s got charisma, though, or maybe that’s sex appeal. And he came up with a clever and soon-to-be-often-imitated trick where he got the crowd to simultaneously snap photos with their cell phone cameras. He made fans wait precisely until the count of three, remarking, “Don’t be premature, because nobody likes that.”
Like Bon Jovi, Daughtry slipped in a few vintage mini-covers, including Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home” and Guns ‘n’ Roses’ “Paradise City,” the song that prompted him to say, “Let’s go back to the ’80s.”
Naturally, Daughtry’s guitarist didn’t match the speed of G’n’R’s Slash, but hey, that’s how it goes when you’re stuck in the ‘00s.
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