Post by ibtfygirl™ on Jun 28, 2010 11:23:45 GMT -4
Bon Jovi's O2 stint shows true pop metal
Whatever horrors and delights the summer of 2010 will be remembered for, its sound will always be the pop-metal of Bon Jovi.
Last night, they began their whopping 12-night O2 residency and if the sheer hubris of the enterprise has raised eyebrows, everything made sense once candy-coated metal anthem tumbled into candy-coated metal anthem.
Having seemingly resolved both their internal strife and external demons, as well as coming to terms with being equally silly and spine-tingling, Bon Jovi have become the Rolling Stones of the 21st century.
Their albums may yield diminishing commercial returns but the live juggernaut rolls on, propelled by a heroic work ethic and the reassuring understanding that the bigger the venue the better the band will be.
Their video screens were simple but brilliant, their sound was perfect, yet, for all their machine-like efficiency, in the shark-eyed Jon Bon Jovi, they have one of the great frontmen.
Part Elvis Presley (that Bad Medicine’s lighting was pure ’68 Comeback Special was surely no accident), part Mick Jagger and part his New Jersey forebears Bruce Springsteen and Southside Johnny, the former John Bongiovi worked the room from front to back. His terrifyingly white teeth bounced around with a vim which laughed in the face of his 48 years.
Nothing was beyond or beneath him, from comparing his band to Rice Krispies (“they ain’t got nothin’ but snap, crackle and pop”), to blowing his own trumpet (“the only American Idol you need to see is stood right here”), brazen nonsense (“I’ve been waiting for years for this night”) and shameless flattery (“I can’t count on radio, I can’t count on video, I can only count on you”).
Even so, while you suspected that deep down Bon Jovi preferred grappling with Leonard Cohen’s
Hallelujah to rattling through You Give Love A Bad Name yet again, only one brought me out in goosebumps; may the gods of taste forgive me, it wasn’t Cohen’s diamond.
Those sunny, strangely empowering, invariably self-referential hits — Livin’ On A Prayer, Lay Your Hands On Me, Wanted Dead Or Alive, It’s My Life — remain impossible to dislike. Being in much the same vein, the smattering of tracks from the current The Circle album, especially an almost moving Love’s The Only Rule, fitted snugly.
One down; 11 to go. There will be no stopping them, but who could possibly want to?
Bon Jovi play the O2 Arena tonight and on June 10, 11, 13, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26. Tickets: 0844 856 0202
Source:
www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/review-23842395-bon-jovis-o2-stint-shows-true-pop-metal.do
Whatever horrors and delights the summer of 2010 will be remembered for, its sound will always be the pop-metal of Bon Jovi.
Last night, they began their whopping 12-night O2 residency and if the sheer hubris of the enterprise has raised eyebrows, everything made sense once candy-coated metal anthem tumbled into candy-coated metal anthem.
Having seemingly resolved both their internal strife and external demons, as well as coming to terms with being equally silly and spine-tingling, Bon Jovi have become the Rolling Stones of the 21st century.
Their albums may yield diminishing commercial returns but the live juggernaut rolls on, propelled by a heroic work ethic and the reassuring understanding that the bigger the venue the better the band will be.
Their video screens were simple but brilliant, their sound was perfect, yet, for all their machine-like efficiency, in the shark-eyed Jon Bon Jovi, they have one of the great frontmen.
Part Elvis Presley (that Bad Medicine’s lighting was pure ’68 Comeback Special was surely no accident), part Mick Jagger and part his New Jersey forebears Bruce Springsteen and Southside Johnny, the former John Bongiovi worked the room from front to back. His terrifyingly white teeth bounced around with a vim which laughed in the face of his 48 years.
Nothing was beyond or beneath him, from comparing his band to Rice Krispies (“they ain’t got nothin’ but snap, crackle and pop”), to blowing his own trumpet (“the only American Idol you need to see is stood right here”), brazen nonsense (“I’ve been waiting for years for this night”) and shameless flattery (“I can’t count on radio, I can’t count on video, I can only count on you”).
Even so, while you suspected that deep down Bon Jovi preferred grappling with Leonard Cohen’s
Hallelujah to rattling through You Give Love A Bad Name yet again, only one brought me out in goosebumps; may the gods of taste forgive me, it wasn’t Cohen’s diamond.
Those sunny, strangely empowering, invariably self-referential hits — Livin’ On A Prayer, Lay Your Hands On Me, Wanted Dead Or Alive, It’s My Life — remain impossible to dislike. Being in much the same vein, the smattering of tracks from the current The Circle album, especially an almost moving Love’s The Only Rule, fitted snugly.
One down; 11 to go. There will be no stopping them, but who could possibly want to?
Bon Jovi play the O2 Arena tonight and on June 10, 11, 13, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26. Tickets: 0844 856 0202
Source:
www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/review-23842395-bon-jovis-o2-stint-shows-true-pop-metal.do
