On Sunday night, May 20, 2001, Bon Jovi set their sights on Albany, NY for the last night of the American leg of their One Wild Night Tour. A strong mix of younger and older fans came together to watch the Jersey boys rock the house. Though the night was filled with technical problems that would have brought a younger band to its knees, Bon Jovi managed to persevere and bring their crowd the show they were longing to see!
SR-71, a new band from Baltimore, Maryland, opened the show. They were a much better fit on this tour than Less Than Jake were (see my other Bon Jovi review, linked below, for details), and they really won over the crowd! As this was their last night of the tour (they aren’t going to Europe), their set was peppered with silly stunts being performed by members of Bon Jovi’s road crew. These stunts included dragging a table onto the stage to lean on and watch the show, sweeping up the stage (and the bassist) as they played, covering the cymbals with towels, and even attempting to give a cymbal to an audience member. SR-71 also promised to come out and do something wild to Bon Jovi when they were onstage, suggesting that they might run out naked during “Lay Your Hands On Me.” Despite the craziness, the band did play well. I had never seen them before, and they won me over! I do plan to pick up their CD soon! For those who may be interested, they also did a meet and greet out in the hallway after their set. I didn’t go out there, but from what I heard, they were very, very popular!
Bon Jovi came onstage to a similar video to the one they had last fall. The only difference being that this time they had footage of accepting their VH1 award for Best Video. It was like they couldn’t believe it themselves that they had won! Once again, instead of giving a song-by-song report, I will just give the highlights according to moi…
First, the bad – they did seem plagued by technical difficulties during this show (could it be that their crew was too busy tormenting SR-71?). To say, “plagued” makes it sound bad, though. By technical difficulties, I mean that it seemed Richie was having some monitor problems in the beginning, and maybe a few guitar problems here and there. Nothing big. Jon seemed to have a monitor problem just before the encore, but pulled through the difficult “Always” (“Crossroad” album) with flying colors. These were things what you would only notice by watching them, not by how they sounded. Sound-wise, they were still wonderful! The biggest technical problem of the night, I’d say, was when the organ died! But, we’ll get to that!
Now, the good (great!) – During “Keep the Faith” they made a surprising segue into the Rolling Stones “Sympathy For the Devil!” Brian and I thought this was fantastic, but a lot of the crowd (probably the younger ones) didn’t seem to know what was going on!
Just before “I Got the Girl” (a new song off “Crush”), Richie said something that I didn’t catch (if anyone did please e-mail me!). During the song, footage was played on the screens of a cute little blonde girl running and playing outdoors. I have to wonder if this was Richie’s daughter with Heather Locklear, Ava. She would be about the age of the girl onscreen and she did look an awful lot like Richie with Heather’s blonde hair and big blue eyes!
It was after “Just Older,” (another song off “Crush”) that the arena went dark for a few seconds and the band left the stage. According to recent setlists, “Lay Your Hands On Me” was probably going to come next. But, it quickly became apparent that something had gone wrong. Suddenly, a spotlight shone on the stage. Jon said something like, “that doesn’t bother me any,” and strolled back onstage with an acoustic guitar. “Mr. Sambora?” he said, gesturing offstage, and Richie came out with his acoustic. And this is where we got our biggest shock of the night. The organ had broken down (making “Lay Your Hands on Me” an impossibility – sorry naked SR-71 dudes!). While they were trying to fix and, ultimately, replace it we were lucky enough to hear an acoustic version of the “Slippery When Wet” classic: “Never Say Goodbye!” The crowd roared with shock and excitement. Many of us hadn’t heard this song live since the 80s!
The acoustic set continued through “Blood On Blood” (“New Jersey” album), and the intro to “Blaze of Glory” (Jon’s solo album / Young Guns II Soundtrack). After that, it was back to being plugged in. It was somewhere around this time that SR-71 made their threatened appearance. Instead of being naked, they waked out between the barricade and the stage and yanked down their pants, mooning Bon Jovi. The line of rear-ends was blazing on the big screens, and something was written on those behinds (and it made Bon Jovi laugh), but in the utter shock of the moment, I didn’t even try to read what was written!
The last song of the set was “Bad Medicine” which went straight into their own version of “Shout.” The crowd went wild. The boys returned to do a three-song encore that ended in, of course, “Wanted: Dead or Alive” Jon had the audience sing the entire first verse, which sounded just stunning. After that Jon and Richie took over, and, I think, messed up the lyrics a little – but no one really cared.
Although my seats this time around were not nearly as cool as the ones I had last fall, the show still made me weak in the knees. Those who know me know that Richie will always be my hero, as will the rest of the guys. In Albany that night, Bon Jovi showed us all why they are still around and that they are thoroughly a professional band. At times when other bands might get nervous, or give up, Bon Jovi continued to play as if nothing bad were happening at all. And maybe to them, nothing bad was happening – after all, it was nothing they couldn’t handle! And we were in for a treat – a rare acoustic performance! Sometimes things just work out in the end! Keep the Faith!
One Wild Night
You Give Love A Bad Name
It's My Life
Keep the Faith (Sympathy For the Devil)
Livin' On A Prayer
I Got the Girl
Born To Be My Baby
Bed of Roses
In These Arms
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
Just Older
Never Say Goodbye (acoustic)
Blood On Blood (acoustic)
Blaze of Glory
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
Bad Medicine (Shout)
Encore:
Always
Say It Isn't So
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Where Do I Go From Here?
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