Saturday, October 25, 2008

LH Magic Memory #19: Damned in St Paul

Bon Jovi delivered a few (pleasant) shocks on the Lost Highway tour, particularly from midway through the second North American leg. One of these surprises was at the Xcel Energy Center in St Paul, Minnesota on March 19, 2008. On the second of two nights in St Paul, wedged between LH tour regulars "Whole Lot of Leavin'" and "We Got It Goin' On" was.... "Damned".

This is the best embeddable video I could find but it's such a funky song and such a rarity that I had to revisit it. Richie Sambora's guitar work is awesome, and you can see Jon and Dave Bryan in the background getting into the song.



Click here for another partial (but much closer/clearer) video.

Prior to St Paul, Bon Jovi had last played "Damned" in Toronto, Canada in 2003. Here is that performance (with "If Loving You Is Wrong" intro).


I think Jon's voice handles the chorus a lot better in 2008. In 2003 he's sort of screeching and seems slightly out of breath. But which version do you prefer?

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

This better be on the Lost Highway DVD!

Been very busy lately with the end of semester drawing near but here's a little video just to let you know I'm still kicking around. ;)

"Dry County" from Wembley Stadium on June 23, 1995 (IIRC, the Live in London DVD is from June 25). There were some technical problems on that day, as you'll notice during the bits where the sound "skips" or parts of the mix drop out for a few seconds. But nevertheless, a mesmerising performance from the band.



Bon Jovi also played "Dry County" at Madison Square Garden this year and Obie O'Brien has said the Lost Highway tour DVD won't be out before Christmas. I don't mind the wait, but if "Dry County" (the greatest thing this band has ever recorded) isn't on that DVD, there'll be some hell to pay! ;)

Thursday, October 16, 2008

A distinct lack of Republican musicians?

Less than three weeks out from the US Presidential elections, and Bon Jovi are the latest musicians (following the Foo Fighters, Heart, John Mellencamp, and Jackson Browne) to take issue with the Republicans' use of their work. Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been playing "Who Says You Can't Go Home" at her campaign rallies this week. Jon gave this statement to TMZ.com:

We are surprised to hear that our song, "Who Says You Can't Go Home" was used by the McCain campaign at rallies yesterday and today. We wrote this song as a thank you to those who have supported us over the past twenty-five years. The song has since become a banner for our home state of New Jersey and the de facto theme song for our partnerships around the country to build homes and rebuild communities. Although we were not asked, we do not approve of their use of "Home".


Of course, JBJ is a known Democrats supporter but this isn't even a political issue to me. More like "moral rights". I know I can be insanely protective of my work, whether it's published or not. While art is open to interpretation, as an artist, I'd hate for my works to be misappropriated. I cringe when people try to turn Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" into a flag-waving celebration. Or when people dedicate Heart's "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" to their spouses. Although the use of "Who Says" by the Republicans doesn't miss the point to THAT extent!

It does raise another issue though. Most of musicians, artists, and entertainers you see tend to support the Democrats. As far as Republican musicians go, I think we've got Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, Johnny Ramone, Hank Williams Jr, and I'm sure many others. Might be safer for the Republicans to go with one of those next time.

In other news, I cobbled together a header and promotional banner for the blog. Do you like them?


Sunday, October 12, 2008

Undivided

The world changed on September 11, 2001 but the truth is, from the island nation of Australia, New York and America seemed so far away. What truly brought the reality of the "outside world" home to people here were the 2002 Bali Bombings (October 12) in which 202 people were killed. Here's a song for them. The bombers are currently on death row but I'm not interested in hate or vengeance.



A million prayers to God above
A million tears make an ocean of
One for love, one for truth
One for me, one for you
I found spirit, they couldn't ruin it
I found courage in the smoke and dust
I found faith in the songs you silenced
Deep down it's ringing out in each of us


Rest in peace.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Vote #1 Bon Jovi (again)

Four albums remain in VoteNumber1's top albums of this decade:

Bon Jovi - Have a Nice Day
Daughtry - Daughtry
Bon Jovi - Crush
Green Day - American Idiot

Personally I think it's criminal that Bruce Springsteen's The Rising wasn't even one of the contenders. And IMHO, Crush is actually one Bon Jovi's weakest albums. On the other hand, I will be a HAND defender until the day I die, and it's the only album that looks like it could beat Daughtry -- so vote for Have a Nice Day if you want our Jersey boys to win. You can vote once a day, and one album will be eliminated each week.
http://www.votenumber1.com/votebestalbumsever.html

Bon Jovi sued for... a hell of a lot more than Tommy & Gina will ever see!

The famous Bart Steele is now suing Bon Jovi and a bunch of other parties for $400 billion for copyright infringement. This is the guy who claims "I Love This Town" is a ripoff of his Red Sox tribute song "Man I Really Love This Team". I'd prefer not to reproduce the whole antiMusic article in a blog post about alleged copyright breaches, so you can read the story here.
http://www.antimusic.com/news/08/oct/10Exclusive-_Bon_Jovi_Facing_$400_Billion_Dollar_Lawsuit.shtml

Bart also sent antiMusic a copy of the lawsuit: Steele v Turner Broadcasting System Inc. et al

And his Myspace page, where you can hear the song in question and read his blogs: http://www.myspace.com/chelseacitycouncil
I was a little amused to find that Bart has put Joel Ellis, who accused Bon Jovi of stealing "I'll Be There For You" from him, in his top friends. :P

Bart says his song was used as a temp track. The main query I have about that is, while "I Love This Town" has been used to promote Major League Baseball, the song itself is about Nashville. I don't think the songs sound alike and can't really stand Bart's song enough to listen to it again while playing the MLB video on mute. But use your own ears.

Friday, October 10, 2008

LH Magic Memory #18: Central Park

When Jon Bon Jovi announced that the band would be doing a free concert in New York's Central Park, I wasn't all that enthused. Apart from the fact that I obviously wasn't going to be there and knew the set would be pretty standard, I was expecting the performance to be half-arsed. I mean, it's a free gig. Not exactly going to contribute squillions to the Swiss bank account.

What we got was on July 12, 2008 was indeed a short show (thanks to the 10pm curfew), but a real committed high-energy performance that shows why Bon Jovi is one of the best live bands going around today. They sure made me eat my hat a few times on the tour!

LIVIN' ON A PRAYER
I really dig this song as a closer to either the main set or the encore, but this video captures the anticipation of the crowd before the band comes on to deliver a signature song. Opening with "Prayer" only had the masses wanting more. The vid is quite shaky though so just pretend you're moshing or something. :P


HAVE A NICE DAY
Loved this song on the Lost Highway tour. It had so much more attitude compared with 2005-06, not to mention better vocals.


ALWAYS
No need to introduce Bon Jovi's biggest worldwide hit. ;)


WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
One of the best songs to come out of the 80s. What can I say, I love a good extended metaphor. Probably the band's first little foray into "Western" sounds, nearly 20 years before "Who Says You Can't Go Home".


Just a few snippets of what was a great show. In excess of 60 000 lucky people got to be there to experience it.

New York City, USA - Central Park (12/7/08)

LIVIN' ON A PRAYER
YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME
LOST HIGHWAY
BORN TO BE MY BABY
RUNAWAY
I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD w/ Start Me Up
BLAZE OF GLORY
WHOLE LOT OF LEAVIN'
IN THESE ARMS
WE GOT IT GOING ON
IT'S MY LIFE
I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU (Richie Sambora lead vocals)
HAVE A NICE DAY
KEEP THE FAITH
WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME
BAD MEDICINE w/ Shout

Encore:
ALWAYS
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
I LOVE THIS TOWN

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Happy birthday Tico!



Today is October 7 and you know what that means?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HECTOR SAMUEL JUAN TORRES!

Better known as Bon Jovi drummer Tico.

"The Hitman" turns 55 today.

Have a nice day. :)

Anyway, I saw the Shannon Noll concert in Perth on Saturday night and I might do a mini review in the next post (given he has a loose connection with Richie Sambora). The next magic memory will follow shortly. ;)

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

LH Magic Memory #17: Hallelujah in Hamburg

A couple of days ago Bon Jovi's recording engineer Obie O'Brien confirmed that "Hallelujah" would appear on the Lost Highway Tour DVD. The Leonard Cohen classic, famously covered by the late Jeff Buckley and several others, was first performed by Bon Jovi in 2007. It's proven to be one of their more popular live covers, albeit sometimes a bit polarising because it doesn't showcase the "rock" side of things too much. But if you put that aside and appreciate the universal language of music for what it is, you'll find a beautiful, mature rendition of a very poetic song. For Magic Memory #17, I tried to find the "best" version of "Hallelujah" from the Lost Highway tour, but the truth is I haven't heard a bad version. So here's "Hallelujah" from HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg, Germany on May 28, 2008. Enjoy! (The video is very Jon-centric though so be aware of that).



Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah