THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
I had tickets to see the legendary band Bon Jovi at Wembley Stadium in early September and couldn’t have been more excited! It was the first of three sold out shows at the iconic London venue.
I grew up in the cornfields of Muncie Indiana drinking beer (illegally) and listening to ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ and "Wanted Dead Or Alive" on a cassette tape player. Those were the days of cow tipping and dancing in the "Disco Barn" which was literally a barn in the middle of a field! I was even named the ‘Disco Queen’ for my Saturday Night Fever moves. We drove to the big city of Indianapolis to see concerts, but Bon Jovi was too big to play in Indiana. It didn’t quell my love for them though.
They were "the other" band from New Jersey, as the band was Bruce Springsteen’s. Amazingly Bruce jumped onstage with a teenage Jon Bon Jovi when Jon (birth name John Bongiovi) was only 17 years old. Pre his eponymous band, Jon was playing in a cover band, Atlantic City Expressway, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. While singing the Springsteen song "Promised Land," the actual artist jumped on stage and sang along, which would forever change Jon’s life. “I realized at that point that I could really do this thing,” (be a rock star) he said. "One of my own New Jerseyans had hit the big time, as bands like Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith were too unattainable." When asked, Bruce said “I heard this young kid was pretty good and I just like to play, so when he sang my song, I joined him.” He now regularly joins the band when they cross paths. "Even your heroes need someone to talk to," Jon explained about his long time friendship with Springsteen.
Bon Jovi is a true Jersey boy – "I will never not be from New Jersey," he said – and although he has houses elsewhere as well, "my drivers license will always say New Jersey." Jon soon became a heartthrob when ‘Runaway’ came out in 1983 and the band "Bon Jovi" was formed. When their third album Slippery When Wet was released in 1986, they quickly became a phenomenon. Their videos were on MTV repeat and the songs were ‘80s, long haired, leather jacketed, cowboy booted, rock and roll anthems. It shows a bit of Jon’s character during their heyday with the story of the Slippery When Wet album cover. When the original was shown to the band by the record company, Jon felt it too provocative. It was a model in a tight T shirt with the band’s new album title emblazoned across her chest. He gave it a veto, then took a black garbage bag, sprayed it with water and wrote with his finger in wet letters ‘Slippery When Wet’, creating the iconic cover. It went on to become their best selling album.
Bon Jovi has been credited with bridging heavy metal and pop with style and ease. The band has composed 16 albums, five compilations and three live albums. They have sold more than 150 records worldwide (albums and singles) making them one of the best selling American rock bands, and performed 3,000 concerts in 50 different countries in front of a total audience of 34 million people. They’ve been inducted into the UK and US Rock Halls of Fame and are Grammy winners to boot.
Now 40 years later I have the opportunity to see them live in London on their Forever tour, promoting their new album of the same name. My son and I watched the fabulous documentary on Disney, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, in preparation.
Today’s band is minus Richie Sambora, Jon’s "brother from a different mother," the co-writer and lead guitarist who left the band without warning in 2014. "He just didn’t show up at the gig," recalls Jon. Sambora failed to show up hours before a show in Calgary, Canada leaving Jon to inform the stunned audience. Guitarist Phil X stepped in to finish the tour and has remained ever since. The band went through turmoil after Sambora’s departure, but three of the original Bon Jovi are still in the band over 43 years later, Jon, David Bryan on keyboard and Tico Torres on drums. Newer members include Phil X on lead guitar, Hugh McDonald on bass (who joined in 1994), John Shanks on guitar and Everett Bradley on percussion.
This tour is a significant milestone since Jon Bon Jovi is singing live for the first time since having vocal cord surgery. In 2015 Bon Jovi started having issues with his vocal cords and in 2022 had surgery placing an implant between his larynx and atrophied vocal cords. He has spent the last four years recovering. Despite the setbacks, the band and frontman has come out in fighting form. Paired with the release of the Forever album, this feels like a new chapter for the band and its charismatic and enduring frontman.
The light dimmed, and after a short film of Jon and the band addressing the audience, a black and white camera followed the band down the corridor and onto the steps of the stage. The stadium is completely sold out, over 90,000 avid fans of all ages. I sat next to an 11 year old and his mom.
They took the stage like a mature motorcycle gang, full of swagger and attitude. Jon, in a colorful military jacket, red T shirt and jeans (not quite as tight as they were in the ‘80s) strode around with obvious glee. In a surprising start, the chords of The Beatles’ ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’ began the set.
This unexpected start to the evening probably alluded to the difficulties the band has been having over the last decade. Jon admitted the band had had a very hard time with the surprise departure of Sambora and Jon’s health problems plus Covid. They have worked very hard to get to the place where they thought they could put on a great show and tour again.
The band’s maturity doesn’t erase the exuberance of their early years, instead it infuses it with greater depth, making their classic hits as alive and exciting as ever. Their music has been relevant for four decades. As Bon Jovi continues to sell out arenas and inspire audiences worldwide, their legacy is clear. They are not simply survivors of a bygone era but architects of a timeless sound, able to promote a new album as well.
The second song was ‘Beautiful Drug’ from their new album, then Jon announced that he was turning the clock back to 1986 and the crowd went wild with the first real banger, singing along with ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’. This was followed immediately by ‘Born To Be My Baby’ and the stadium lit up with the crowd dancing and waving their arms. The running theme of the evening was Jon’s joy in singing these songs again. "I’m just getting warmed up now," he said.
Then they played ‘Legendary’, also from the new album. This is a tribute to his longtime wife Dorothea. A lovely song in concert, I’ve appreciated listening to it more closely after the concert. He sings about the seemingly most important things in his life: " I raise my hands to the sky, don’t need more to tell me I’m alive ... Got a fistful of friends that’ll stand up for me ... Friday night comes around like a song, Sweet Caroline and we all sing along".
Jon is a real family man. He married his high school sweetheart early in his career and they have four children together, which is unheard of in the world of rock and roll. He says he never went the drink, drugs and women path of so many rock stars (well, I’ve heard from a reliable source that he had his groupie moments) and he was the one getting up early to do the radio interviews, not to mention writing and performing the songs and and keeping the band together. His party days were minimal: "Someone had to be the adult, and that fell on me." Today he is a grandfather to a baby girl from his son, Jake who recently married the British actress Millie Bobbie Brown of Stranger Things. Another son, Jesse, founded the company Hampton Water, who sponsored the Wembley concert. Jesse stood outside the arena in the rain all day giving out free tickets and samples of his product which is a premium rose wine. Incidentally, Jon and Dorothea give back to the community in Sayreville, NJ with his charity Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, a non profit he co-founded in 2006 to combat hunger, poverty and homelessness.
Back to the concert. The Wembley arch pulsed multicolored to the beat. Jon seemed to love it as well as he repeatedly put his hand on his heart and pumped his chest, often stopping and looking at the crowd in wonder, wandering into the audience to shake hands. He explained in a recent radio interview that it had been years since the band played in London. "A lot has happened in that time. Covid, my surgery, Richie leaving the band and all the other horseshit that comes with that". Richie’s departure was not just a loss, but a reason to reinvent the band. Asked if he would play with Sambora again, Jon said "it’s been 12 years but I’m still waiting for the phone to ring.’
With his lush mane of gray hair and movie star presence, Jon is mesmerizing. And with a million dollar smile back on his face, it would take a heart of stone not to feel pleased for the man.
Next up was ‘Lost Highway’ from Bon Jovi’s country-infused album of the same name, then the haunting ‘Bed of Roses’, which Jon sang perched on the stage with flickering red candles (a screen image to prevent a fire hazard) with the Wembley arch going pink and red and 90k hands waving back and forth. The song had an excellent Phil X on the guitar and the stadium was lit with every phone light.
Then came the danceable ‘In These Arms Tonight’. He introduced his band and, explaining the special relationship he has with Wembley and London, admitted this venue has a special place in his heart. Bon Jovi was the last band to play at the old Wembley stadium in 2000 and was supposed to be the first band to play at the new stadium in 2007, but the day of the show presented a problem – there were no chairs and the inside of the arena was unfinished. Over 100,000 fans needed to be shepherded out to Milton Keynes.
The band then launched into ‘These Days’ and ‘This House Is Not For Sale’, then another audience thriller, ‘It’s My Life’ with the lyrics. "I ain’t gonna live forever, I just want to live while I’m alive”, words to live by! This was followed by (to everyone’s surprise) ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’! This is widely known to be the final song of a Bon Jovi set so to insert it in the middle was a joyous shock. There are several videos online of the Wembley crowd singing every word, with the arch, lit orange, visible from miles away. The stadium was swaying as Jon let the crowd sing a few choruses but he was certainly able to hit the high notes after the key change in the last verse! Gone are his flying over the crowd by harness days though.
‘Raise Your Hands’ and ‘I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead’ let me have a chance to visit the ladies’ room (always a long, long line) only to be greeted by ‘Keep The Faith’, another banger, on my return.
After ‘I’ll Be There For You’, Jon asked if there were any cowboys in London. This led to shrieks of excitement as the introduction of ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ weaved through the amplifiers and the stage was lit with a sunset on a western desert. This was my absolute favorite as a teen so I’m afraid I might have hit a few concert neighbors with my jubilant hands. Whoops, but no one seemed to mind. They knew this was history in the making and they were happy to be part of it.
After this the band bowed and left the stage. How could the audience recover from this? But no one left their seats as an encore was surely on the way.
Jon came back, changed into his signature blue jean jacket with "Bon Jovi" and "Forever" emblazoned on the back. “Thank you for supporting me, I’ve been through some rough times and I love being back in Wembley Stadium," he said, tears shining in his eyes – genuine gratitude from a man who arguably has nothing to prove.
Before starting the encore he asked "Is there a doctor in the house?," then launched into the celebratory ‘Bad Medicine’ which had the crowd bathed in orange and red light. After a crazy audience singalong and foot stomping, the band hugged and bowed. I texted our ride that we were on the move to the car.
Wait… Jon broke away and said into the microphone that he couldn’t leave yet, he had one more song in him. Then the crowd erupted as the poignant chords of ‘Always’ started to play. This is one of their strongest ballads and produced such an emotional reaction from me that tears started pouring down my face. It lasted the whole song as I sang and swayed. Then the band hugged and bowed for real. Jon seemed truly emotional at the band’s successful return to this important venue and the reception he got from the audience. This didn’t help my tears. "I’ll be there 'til the stars don’t shine, 'til the heavens burst and the words don’t rhyme, I know when I die, you’ll be on my mind and I’ll love you, always." The song was written for the Gary Oldman movie "Romeo is Bleeding," but Jon wasn’t impressed with the preview of the movie so took the song for himself. The opening line is "This Romeo is bleeding’." The band finally left the stage to an awestruck audience.
Once we got out (the escalator lines were like airport immigration lines, so we snuck down a hidden staircase indicated to use only in emergency) we found our car. The driver said he could hear the audience and see the arch change colors from miles away. We played the songs that had lit up our evening, but they were recorded in the studio and somehow didn’t have the emotional quality of hearing them along with almost 100,000 people, through the PA amplifiers, and with the slightly deeper and raspier voice of the man himself, Jon Bon Jovi.
It had felt like a magical musical revival, a truly religious experience and the band were its ministers while the crowd was its choir. No one could quite believe the magnitude of the evening, even Jon himself!
Bon Jovi shows have always been more than concerts, they are cathartic celebrations, singalongs that transform strangers into a single, unified chorus. Even as the years have weathered Jon’s voice and reshaped the band’s lineup, the emotional resonance of the songs remains the same – pure joy!
