Page 50 - Black Velvet Issue 96

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Living In Sin City
Living In Sin City

It’s been a good three years since we last visited Las Vegas, and ever since that time, we’d been
longing to return to the glitzy city and its nearby glorious Grand Canyon counterpart, so when the
opportunity for a trip came up we grabbed it with both hands. And with our Boots (vegan) meal
deal in our carry-on bag, we headed (via Frankfurt and Chicago) to Sin City.

he highlights of our trips – aside from our day at the Grand
TCanyon – was Jon Bon Jovi’s ‘Runaway Tours’ show at The
Joint – and the night preceding that, Nickelback, also at The Joint.
Nickelback kicked off a five-night residency at The Joint in the Hard
Rock Hotel on February 23rd. We headed there a day later after our
day at the Grand Canyon, luckily getting into the venue 15 minutes
before the band hit the stage. Kicking off with the title track of their
latest album, ‘Feed The Machine’, the band gave fans a fun-filled
evening, playing everything you wanted and expected, such as
‘Photograph’, ‘Far Away’, ‘Too Bad’, ‘Rockstar’, ‘How You Remind
Me’ and more. ‘Lullaby’ switched things up with guitarist Ryan
Peake playing the piano. Calling the previous, opening, night, a
‘debacle’, things seemed to be much more to their liking, and of a
high standard, on this Saturday night. A nice stage show with im-
mense lighting and pyro helped make the impressive evening
moreso, although the band’s 18-song set isn’t overly long, being
rounded off with ‘Gotta Be Somebody’ and ‘Burn It To The Ground’
in the encore, showing that it’s more about quality than quantity.

he Jon Bon Jovi show, meanwhile, kicked off at 4.30pm in
Tthe afternoon and was a much more intimate affair. As al-
ways with Jon’s acoustic Runaway Tour shows, the venue was
seated. Jon himself had a seat up on stage, as did violinist Lorenza
Ponce, guitarist Greg Mayo, and keyboardist Carl Gentry, with cur-
tains closing in to make the stage look smaller than it really was.
The show kicked off with a jazzy rendition of ‘You Give Love A Bad
Name’ before a soothing ‘I Will Drive You Home’. Jon chose a few
of the lesser-played songs for this show, including ‘Color Me In’,
like ‘I Will Drive You Home’, another bonus track on ‘This House Is
Not For Sale’. Fan favourites such as ‘Living In Sin’ were also
played as well as some of Jon’s own personal favourites such as In between songs Jon answered questions from fans. He’s
‘When We Were Beautiful’ and ‘Amen’. His voice sounded particu- asked everything from whether he thinks fans having Bon Jovi tat-
larly strong during ‘Amen’, which caused the crowd to cheer their toos are creepy to whether he’s still planning on buying a football
approval. team.
A fan asked if he’d sing ‘Silent Night’ from the band’s ‘7800° One particular fan asked what he’d like to ask fans, if he could
Fahrenheit album. As he couldn’t remember the lyrics, he joked he ask them anything in return. He asked “Are you guys over the
was surprised no-one had googled them – cue tech Mike Rew com- Richie thing?” He also asked if everyone liked the new record, and
ing onto the stage with his phone to show Jon the lyrics. if the European fans were pissed off that they haven’t toured over
there, adding that it won’t be this year. He also
enquired what songs they should play at the
Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction – telling
the crowd they only get three songs and they
need to represent their 35-year career.
When the subject of his voice comes up into
the conversation he gets quite emotional, stating
that he wants to be able to sing as good as that
every night and that “you guys deserve it”. He
says he’s working harder right now than he ever
has during his career.
He jokes at various times during the question
and answers, at one point saying that when he
was 25 he said, “When I’m 50, I’ll never be paint-
ing my fingernails and writing ‘BITCH’ on my
belly.” He adds that he was brave enough not to
get his hair dyed or facelifts but does exercise,
telling everyone “No-one likes the fat Elvis”!
There’s also news that he plans to open a
third Soul Kitchen community restaurant, this
one hopefully in Philadelphia.
Following the show and question and an-
swers, which is almost two hours in length,
everyone gets to have their photo taken with Jon
and everyone goes home with big smiles on their
faces. While Vegas is THE city to gamble in, one
thing you don’t have to gamble on is Jon Bon
Jovi sending everyone home feeling like they’ve
hit the jackpot.
Words & Photos By Shari Black Velvet

JON BON JOVI