Bon Jovi plays a special
private show in Pittsburgh, Special report from Linda Spielman
With the release of Bon Jovi's "Bounce"
on October 8,2002, the band embarked on a large-scale promotional campaign
to bring the 8th Bon Jovi album to the people. The Jersey Boys have always
been about bringing the music to the people. Even if it means a four day,
nonstop, roller coaster ride of radio promotional appearances to help launch
the latest Bon Jovi album entitled "Bounce" which hit stores on Oct. 8th.
A favorite stop of the band over the years, Pittsburgh was not just lucky
enough to host a private concert at the Hard Rock in conjunction with B-94
and The Star 100.7, but the largest crowd of roughly 150 people in the
4 day promo tour.
Needless to say, Bon Jovi stops in Pittsburgh
on a regular basis during tours for obvious reasons, the fans. When word
hit the airwaves that the boys were coming to town to play a private gig,
both B-94 and The Star phone lines were jammed during the "win only" pass
giveaways. Bon Jovi fans will do just about anything for the group. During
the hour long lunchtime concert which was set up in the VH-1 Storyteller
fashion, the guys fielded questions from the audience.
Like I said, Bon Jovi fans or should I
say husbands of Bon Jovi fans were willing to do just about anything to
get there hands on passes for this show. The audience & band found
out one gentlemen was willing to wear his wife's bikini and walk around
in rush hour traffic to get her in to see the show. As Jon Bon Jovi said,
"I wouldn't do that for my wife even for Mel Gibson." To get a standing
ovation from the members of Bon Jovi for that valiant act is sure to be
something that bikini wearing husband will brag about for years to come.
Bon Jovi played an acoustic set which included
a few tracks from "Bounce", Livin On A Prayer, Blood On Blood, Someday
I'll Be Saturday Night, Wanted Dead Or Alive and a few other favorites.
So willing to joke around with the crowd as if the 150 guests were all
old friends, we found out that the guys favorite CD's right now are by
Barney, Power Puff Girls, and Sponge Bob. Holy cow, the Jersey boys are
Jersey dads. Jon joked about trying to intellectual conversations about
Pokemon with his seven-year-old son Jesse, and how the events of September
11th influenced the writing of the album but didn't solely
comprise the entire album. As Jon noted, "We didn't want to make
a 9/11 record." Even though only three tracks were directly inspired by
that day's events, the album as a whole encompasses what many of us may
have forgotten, that when push comes to shove we have the resilience and
strength to bounce back from anything.
For the lucky 150 winners, friends of the
band and staff of both B-94 and The Star it was an incredible way to spend
a lunch hour. As per usual Bon Jovi fashion, despite a whirlwind of travel
to the countless cities in that four day time period, the Jersey Boys did
what they do best...rocked the house. What a way to christen the new Hard
Rock, what a way to spend your lunch hour, and what a way to launch an
album.
For those not lucky enough to be inside,
the show was audible from the streets of Station Square. And for those
not able to skip out of work to at least listen, the gracious people at
The Star 100.7 recorded the show that was later aired various times at
the end of the week.
More Bon Jovi
Linda Spielman is an iconoFAN contributor
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