imagine a u2 concert without the edge...

If you are a U2 fan (which I am) this seems unimaginable. I can't see Bono ever hiring a session musician to "fill in" for The Edge in concert... or Adam or Larry for that matter. Probably because U2 is a BAND with all four members signed to the record contract, not just Bono and his rock god ego.

But if you are a Bon Jovi fan (which I also am) and you have tickets for the current leg of their North American tour, then this is what you are being subjected to: A Bon Jovi concert without Richie Sambora. See, Jon Bon Jovi (and his rock god ego) is the only member of Bon Jovi signed to a record contract. The other three members -- Richie, David Bryan and Tico Torres -- are his employees. It's been this way since 1984, which I've always found odd. However, now I also find it sad because this apparently means anyone but Jon is replaceable.

This also angers me because last Friday night at Staples Center I had probably the third best seats I've ever had for the who-knows-how-many Bon Jovi concerts I've been to since April 1989: 5th row on Richie's side of the stage. But Richie wasn't there. (See photo at right of Jon, that could've/should've been of Richie.)

And as I sat through almost three hours of Bon Jovi (or as I now refer to this incarnation, "75% of Bon Jovi") all I could think was, "This isn't right." "This isn't the same without Richie." and "If I'd wanted to see a Jon Bon Jovi solo concert, I would've gone to Vegas a month ago and seen him at the Hard Rock for half this ticket price."

You see, without Richie there, there is no one for Jon to perform with. He has a band playing music for him to sing to, but it's just Jon out there running around the stage. Normally it's Jon AND Richie -- the (their quote, not mine) "two brothers from another mother" -- running around together, playing to the two sides of the arena.

But on Friday, it was just Jon at center stage, with Dave and Tico behind him, glued to their respective instrument set ups. Then there was poor Hugh McDonald (who hasn't been an official band member for going on 20 years now) on bass and Bobby Bandiera (who has been playing rhythm guitar at Bon Jovi's live shows since 2005), both relegated to specific spots on the riser next to Tico and Dave. The only musician not in a delegated area of the riser behind Jon was Phil X, the Richie Sambora fill-in, who, while an excellent guitar player, is not Richie Sambora. And -- probably smartly given the situation he's been placed in -- stayed pretty much glued in place too, in front of Tico's drums.

Now, I'm not saying it wasn't a good concert. It was. It just wasn't the Bon Jovi concert I've come to love attending over the last 24 years since I first saw them live at The Forum on The Jersey Syndicate tour, three days before Jon and Dorothea eloped to Vegas. (Yes, I remember that fact. It was very traumatizing to my teen-self at the time :P)

As he always does, Jon worked his 51-year-old ass off Friday at Staples. He even looked close to bursting a blood vessel in his neck while trying to hit the high notes on Always during the second encore. But Richie's presence was noticeably absent, especially on songs I love like Born to Be My Baby, Livin' on a Prayer, and -- of course -- Wanted Dead or Alive, where his backing vocals are engrained in my brain as essential parts of the songs. 

The only song I didn't miss him on was "Bed of Roses," because that's the song Jon came out on the catwalk for and ended up standing right in front of me to sing. It was awesome. Don't believe me? Click play below. I had awesome seats. (And yes, that is my video on YouTube.)

 

But once that song was over, and Jon started singing "I'll Be There For You" my sadness returned --  Richie normally sings that song in concert to give Jon a vocal break. (And he actually sings it better than Jon these days. Witness Richie's solo concert at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood last November. Yeah, I had a good spot for that one too ;)



Whatever "personal issues" are keeping Richie from performing with the band -- rumors range from him falling off the wagon (which I don't really believe), to Richie being ticked at Jon for telling him to stop promoting his solo album now that the new Bon Jovi album is out (which seems more likely to me) --  need to get worked out... and quickly.

Jon told the first audience to miss Richie in Calgary that he had two choices upon learning three hours before showtime that Richie wasn't going to be there (which makes the "Richie's ticked at Jon" theory more plausible): postpone the show or play with a fill-in guitarist. He chose to play. 

As a fan of the BAND, I kinda wish he had chosen to postpone.

That puts more pressure on whoever is having "issues" to get said issues resolved as quickly as possible. (Of course that assumes the issues are actually one of the two rumored issues above and not something else that's entirely out of anyone's control, which is also totally possible.) It also doesn't punish fans who believe Bon Jovi is more than Jon and his rock god-self. I know it's obviously much harder to replace a singer/frontman, but U2 postponed their tour for a year when Bono had his back injury. Just sayin'... 

Okay, I'm done venting... for now.

PS: Here's the setlist from the 75% of Bon Jovi concert at Staples Center on April 19th. Note: They only played three songs off the new album. Just sayin'...

1. That's What the Water Made Me (What About Now)
2. You Give Love a Bad Name (Slippery When Wet)
3. Born to Be My Baby (New Jersey)
4. Raise Your Hands (Slippery When Wet)
5. Lost Highway (Lost Highway)
6. Whole Lot Of Leavin’ (Lost Highway)
7. It’s My Life (Crush)
8. Because We Can (What About Now)
9. What About Now (What About Now)
10. Work For The Working Man (The Circle)
11. We Got It Going On (Lost Highway)
12. Keep The Faith (Keep The Faith)
13. (You Want to ) Make A Memory (Lost Highway)
14. Bed Of Roses (Keep The Faith)
15. I’ll Be There For You (New Jersey)
16. Have A Nice Day (Have A Nice Day)
17. We Weren’t Born To Follow (The Circle)
18. Who Says You Can’t Go Home (Have A Nice Day)
19. I'll Sleep When I’m Dead w/ Start Me Up (Keep The Faith/cover)
20. Bad Medicine (New Jersey)


Encore #1


21. Dry County (Keep The Faith)
22. Wanted Dead or Alive (Slippery When Wet)
23. Livin’ on a Prayer (Slippery When Wet)
24. Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night (Crossroads)


Encore #2


25. Always (Crossroads)
26. Treat Her Right (cover)

too much entertainment?

So like a year ago, my friend asked if I wanted to go see Aerosmith at the Hollywood Bowl with her on August 6th. Back then, that was a super-long way off. I said sure.

Then back in, oh April maybe, I got a Ticketmaster alert for my fave skinny white kid who sings and plays the blues like a big fat black dude from the South (that would be Jonny Lang, for all of you who are not Cwennen and don't get what I just said) and bought tickets for Cwennen and I to see him August 7th at the Greek Theatre.

Around then, tickets also went on sale for Memphis, the Tony-Award winning Broadway musical written by Bon Jovi's David Bryan, at The Pantages. It was my duty as a faithful Bon Jovi fan for 20-something (let's not get into those details) years to go see that. Tickets purchased... for August 9th.

Then, in early July, after hearing that our summer intern had "Going to the Hollywood Bowl" on her "Things to do in LA before I go back to the Midwest" summer bucket list, I decided to get tickets for the non-video part of my team (who I've spent the better part of this year not having time for) and I to go see Pixar In Concert on August 3rd.

Then a few weeks ago, I got a Living Social deal to see Cirque du Soleil's Micheal Jackson The Immortal World Tour at Staples Center. I'd missed it the last time it was here. I heard it was amazing. I never got to see MJ in concert and now that he's dead, this was probably the closest I'd get. I got tickets for August 14th.

So before I knew it, August 1st rolled around and I realized I had tickets to five entertainment events (most with bad parking situations) in 10 days. And, while I survived them all, I've realized I'm getting too old for this. I really like sitting on my sofa watching Friends reruns and reading magazines. So sad.

Anyway, here's what I thought of all the shows, and the.... let's call it "atmosphere surrounding the experience"... because there were some doozies. People in LA are scary. Like laugh out loud and/or cringe and back away slowly scary....

Event 1: Pixar In Concert
Date: Friday, 8/3
The Show Itself: A+. John Lasseter was there to intro the first and second acts. They played music from all the films and showed clips. Made me want to go re-watch all the movies again.
The Atmosphere: Lovely as all Bowl experiences where the LA Philharmonic, not a popular music act, are performing. We packed cheese, crackers, salads, desserts and wine and picnicked at that top of the Bowl before going to our seats. Only bad part was Lisa wasn't with us... she had to get her gallbladder removed that day. :(

Event 2: Aerosmith

Date: Monday 8/6 

The Show Itself: B. Steven Tyler can't do backflips anymore like he did in the late '80s/early '90s when I last saw the band back at the not-so-fabulous Forum. But they still sounded great. Oh, and they had a hot special guest join them for their last song :) 

The Atmosphere: Normally the Bowl is great... when people are in the audience who know what the Bowl is like. It's not like that at concerts with famous musicians. Their fans don't know that the benches at the Bowl are marked off for X number of seats that fit the skinny butts of people from the 1920s when the Bowl was built, not the butts of the larger, processed-food-eating-generation we are currently a part of. So, sorry Dude sitting five seats to my right. I'm not moving over more so you and your chubby girlfriend have more room. There is nowhere for me to move to. The row is packed like a sardine can. Get over it and shut up. Oh, now you're going to get an usher to check we're all properly ticketed and in the correct seats. Oh look, you just wasted 15 minutes of your time and hers to be proven WRONG. Did I say sit down and shut up yet? Stoopid. Besides him, there were a lot of scary people older than me who looked like they hadn't gotten haircuts or new clothes since the '80s. Frightening. But it did make me feel really young after feeling really old a month ago at VidCon. ;)

Event 3: Jonny Lang

Date: Tuesday 8/7

The Show Itself: A. Jonny was the opening act for blues legend Buddy Guy. Both were excellent. And we had seats in the 12th row.

The Atmosphere: Seats in the 12th row on the aisle were great... until the 50-something man three seats away from me showed up for Buddy Guy, high as a kite. Headbanging (I mentioned this was a blues show, right?) and moving his arms like a spastic person about to have a seizure. Oh, and did I mention he kept sneaking whiffs off his doobie? Yes, five seats in off the aisle, right in front of the ushers manning the front curtain, who did nada. I felt really bad for the older couple sitting in between Spaz-man and I...but not bad enough to switch seats with them when the jokingly asked. 

Event 4: Memphis

Date: Thursday 8/9

The Show Itself: A. I had no idea what the show was really about going in. I knew one of the songs (because it was added to the Bon Jovi 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong box set a few years back when Dave was still writing the show ;). And I was seriously impressed. Great music, poignant story about race relations in the South in the '50s, laced with lots of humor and a little sadness. And does the female lead ever have a set of pipes! 

The Atmosphere: All good. Although if I'd been one row back I might have felt differently... I heard the people behind me saying the woman behind them was yelling at the people behind her to stop clapping and singing along at one point. (Um, I know we're at "the theater" but this is a show full of rock and roll songs written by a guy in a rock band. Chill.) I personally had a great time watching the show and spending part of intermission staring up at the ceiling of the Pantages. It was restored about 10 years ago, and it's still gorgeous... old school theater fanciness :) 

Event 5: Cirque du Soleil's Micheal Jackson The Immortal World Tour

Date: Tuesday 8/14

The Show Itself: A. Most Cirque shows are fascinating to watch and this was no exception. But this one didn't feel all mystically French and mime-y like most do. This one had a live rock band and amazing dancers and choreography, and really cool production effects between the video screens and set pieces. It was like being at a highly-produced rock concert... minus the lead singer.

The Atmosphere: Halfway through the first act I remembered that Staples Center is where Michael Jackson had been rehearsing for his London concert run when he died. Then I also realized that Staples Center is where his public memorial was held. Then everything started feeling weird and kinda creepy/sad. So to distract myself, I spent intermission trying to angle myself in my seat so I could see behind the giant black curtain covering the LA Kings and Lakers banners up on the wall. I wanted to see if they'd moved around the Kings banners to make room for their Stanley Cup Championship banner that will be unveiled on October 12th. I think they have :) Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.