Bon Jovi: Wanted at the Mohegan...

WOW!

Whatever crack Jon was smoking last night he needs to keep smoking.

David sang In These Arms (which he did a solo version on one of his solo albums).

Richie sang Wanted, and my good pal Lauri (aka @gutter_ceo on twitter) and I were discussing Jon solo projects when he plays wanted and Richie solo when he plays wanted, and no matter how much we love Jon and his huge ego, Richie's versions always sound better. And last night was no exception.

Thanks Lisa (aka @blazeofglory2) once again for scouring youtube.  :)

Bon Jovi: Flash Mob at Memphis! Literally kids 'Steal Your Rock N Roll'

This is cool.  What a great thing for the Performers and cast of Memphis! and of course Mr David Bryan.

I think Flash Mob's are kind of contrived and any time Oprah does something kind of hip and urban it to use a quote about TV shows that have lost their originality "Jump the Shark".  So Flash Mob's to me died when Oprah had the Black Eyed Peas on and the people started the Flash Mob in front of the stage and Oprah got all O faced, and I just felt it was very staged (Oprah you haven't won an Oscar because you're a terrible actress FYI!).

This one is cool though.  Good for these kids.

Flash Mob at Memphis! Watch 1,100 Kids 'Steal Your Rock 'n' Roll'

VIDEOS By Broadway.com Staff March 2, 2011 - 12:16PM

Ready to be inspired by the power of live theater? Take a look at this clip filmed at a recent performance of the Tony-winning musical Memphis, when 1,100 New York schoolchildren were in the house at Broadway's Shubert Theatre. Rather than keep their seats during the curtain call performance of the show’s anthem, “Steal Your Rock ‘n’ Roll,” the kids jumped to their feet, flash-mob style, and began singing along with the cast. The delighted faces of Montego Glover, Derrick Baskin and the rest of the stars tell the story better than we can. And keep watching after the performance for cast member J. Bernard Calloway’s emotional reaction to the young guests, as Memphis composer/Bon Jovi rocker David Bryan looks on.

Awesome!

Bon Jovi: Even in Pakistan they love Bon Jovi

Found this on my Google alerts.

From the Daily Times, a new voice for Pakistan

Boston: Jon Bon Jovi performs at a concert at the TD Garden in Massachusetts. According to the Bon Jovi Tour organizers, 7,000 bolts hold the tracking video assembly together; 6,000 high strength magnets lock the stage together; 1,000 road cases are used to transport all the equipment for the tour including lights, audio, video, stage, band instruments and wardrobe; 807 total kilowatts of power are consumed during one arena show for lights, audio, video, rigging, motion control, and robots; 500 miles of cable are used for power, lighting, and audio equipment on tour; and 400 cups of coffee are made on tour daily. reuters

Bon Jovi: Bon Jovi at the Mohegan Sun

Bon Jovi will perform two shows at Mohegan Sun this spring

Bon Jovi will perform Friday and May at Mohegan Sun Arena.

By KELLY-ANN FRANKLIN

The Bulletin

Posted Mar 02, 2011 @ 11:30 PM

Because of high demand, Bon Jovi has added more dates to its Live 2011 Tour and that means a second night at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The band, scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Friday, now will also take over the casino’s stage on May 7 to entertain Eastern Connecticut rock’n’roll fans.

Bon Jovi recently released another greatest hits collection with four new tracks — “What Do You Got?,” “The More Things Change,” “No Apologies” and “This Is Love, This Is Life.” The new songs were written and recorded specifically for the compilation, includes the band’s biggest hits including “Livin’ On A Prayer,” “Wanted Dead or Alive” and the Grammy-winning duet “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.”

After 12 albums and several collection releases, Bon Jovi finally earned a Grammy Award in 2006 when they collaborated with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland for “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” and won for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals — not bad for a rock band from New Jersey.

For almost three decades, Bon Jovi has been performing worldwide for more than 34 million fans and has thrown together some of the most popular rock anthems from the 1980s through 2010. Some of those songs came early on from the band’s ’80s albums, in particular 1986’s “Slippery When Wet,” which bred “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Livin’ On A Prayer,” “Wanted Dead or Alive,” “I’d Die For You” and “Never Say Goodbye.”

Internationally, the band has sold more than 120 million albums, and performed more than 2,600 concerts in more than 50 countries.

Bon Jovi: A Bon Jovi GPS App.... You're halfway there...

This article talk about a company who made a deal with Island Def Jam and is looking for legal apps that use Island Def Jam's music.  This is just a portion of the article relevant to Bon Jovi.  For the rest as always click on the header.

Inside the Echo Nest's deal with Def Jam

A&R for apps

By CHRIS FARAONE | March 2, 2011

With Echo Nest building a legally compliant technological bridge between developers and IDJ's catalogue, there's infinite product potential, from DMX alarm-clock apps to mobile LL Cool J karaoke. In the near future, there will be applications introduced for remixing songs, and for editing videos, in which users create their own unique AV experiences. Up next, Echo Nest will challenge developers to focus on specific brands within the IDJ catalogue. For example: a DJ device to mash classic Def Jam beats with new-school Rick Ross rhymes, or a Bon Jovi GPS app that alerts drivers when they're "halfway there." "In a sense," says Lucchese, "IDJ is looking at us as an A&R for the coolest developers who can be matched up with artists who have a similar vision."

I personally like the Bon Jovi GPS.

I'd recommend Wild In The Streets, for when you turn down a street.  When you arrive home, This is Our House, or Rich Man Living in a Poor Man's House, when you go to a wine bar Bitter Wine, your Ex You Give Love a Bad Name, the Doctor's office, Bad Medicine, When you drive into California it plays Just Older.  The options are endless.

Bon Jovi: Behind the Scene's in Philly & Jon's cake

I don't as a fan of both Cake Boss & Ace of Cake I thought the cake looks kind of crappy and unfinished.

I wonder how big a slice Jon had, Mr I need to lose 10 pounds.

View more videos at: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com.

Mike Rew is always so excited. He must love his job.

Bon Jovi: Livin’ on a birthday prayer

Livin’ on a birthday prayer

By JAN RANSOM

Philadelphia Daily News

ransomj@phillynews.com

Before they reached the entrance of the Wells Fargo Center Wednesday night, Greg Suplick stopped his 8-year-old daughter Emilea in mid-stride, reached into his pocket and handed her a pair of Bon Jovi tickets.

The bright-eyed girl was all smiles before she hugged her father's waist. It was an early birthday surprise.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe he was taking me here," Emilea said.

Emilea wasn't the only one celebrating her birthday at the Wells Fargo Center as Jon Bon Jovi celebrated his 49th birthday with more than 18,5000 fans last night.

"This is the first time I've ever been able to take her out just dad and daughter," said Suplick, 41, of Kennett Square.

Suplick said he introduced Emilea to his all-time favorite musician before she was able to read and she's been a hardcore fan ever since.

Fabian Campos remembered when he saw Bon Jovi in concert in Mexico several years ago. Since he has lived in Philadelphia, he hasn't missed a show from the New Jersey-born rocker.

"Bon Jovi!" Campos, 31, shouted as he exited the Broad Street Line's AT&T station.

Street vendors marched past the crowds clutching Bon Jovi T-shirts for sale.

Some people paid more than double to ticket scalpers to get in.

A 29-year-old professional scalper who declined to give his name sold six tickets last night for $150 each. He and at least 10 other men hustled through the evening cold.

Although Bon Jovi hit the music scene in the early 1980's with hit songs like "Runaway," "She don't know me" and "Livin' on a prayer," 9-year-old Morgan Balan was still able to identify with the music.

"He's awesome," Morgan shouted, sporting a "Bon Jovi Rocks" T-shirt while holding onto a large poster board wishing the rockstar a Happy Birthday.

"They just keep getting better and better," said Lisa Fauls, 35, who was with her niece. "They will never get old."

Bon Jovi: Jon's reaction as the sound goes

Thanks Lisa (aka @blazeofglory2) for the tip

Bon Jovi: Interpreters and Concerts

Now this is interesting.

I have never though that an ASL interpreter would go to a concert.

How does one interpret Runaway, there's only picture hung in the shadow's left that will look at you, I say its a memory cause she's a little RU-UH-UH-UH-UH-UH-NAWAY. 

Course, my friend @sissy452 wouldn't care, she hates Runaway as much as I hate Who Says...  She could have saved the interpreter some time.  :)

What sign-language interpreters make of the likes of Lady Gaga and Bon Jovi

By Monica Hesse

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, March 1, 2011; 10:31 PM

The first question that interpreters get asked is, "But why would a deaf person go to a concert?" They think it's a silly question, but everyone asks it.

Going to a concert is partly about hearing the songs. It is equally about the costumes, the spectacle, the pulsing, the convulsing - the sticky, claustrophobic mass of humanity. When you consider this, it makes perfect sense that deaf people go to concerts.

But someone still needs to interpret the words.

In the upstairs computer room of her house in Riverdale, Traci Ison ponders the metaphorical question that freaky teens and worried parents have been asking for two years, but this time in a very literal way. How do you interpret Lady Gaga?

Here is the lyric:

"Come on now, this beat is sick. I wanna take a ride on your disco stick."

Here is the problem:

1. There is no ideal translation for the word "disco" in this circumstance.

2. The word Ison might normally sign for "stick" generally refers to what would snap off of a tree branch.

Thus, if the sentence is translated word-for-word from English to its corresponding signs, the resulting phrase could come across as something like, "I want to ride on the twig of John Travolta's dance moves."

Lady Gaga's "Love Game" is metaphorical, but exactly how metaphorical is it? Is the tone coy? Callous? Flirty? Dirty?

There is the added complication that Lady Gaga sometimes makes her own gesture when she performs "Love Game," and as it happens, that gesture does have a sign language translation.

"Lady Gaga's gesture means masturbation," Ison says matter-of-factly. (But doesn't everything, with Lady Gaga?)

Ison has a smooth cap of blond hair, big eyes, a wide smile. She is a CODA - a Child of a Deaf Adult - and she is the interpreter who has been assigned to work Lady Gaga's Monster Ball Tour at Verizon Center.

She has asked her interpreter friends how they would handle what shall now be referred to as the Disco Stick Problem. "One suggested I do this," Ison says - mimicking an aggressive hip thrust. But that solution seemed more vulgar than the playful lyrics implied.

All of this would be easier if she knew more about her audience - how well they spoke American Sign Language, how well they spoke Gaga - but interpreters at performing arts gigs rarely know their audiences until they arrive at the show.

Ison rewinds the song on her iPod and listens again.

Over in Germantown, Jon Bon Jovi is presenting similar problems for Traci Randolph.

"The pictures in the shadows," she says. "Do you think that's literal?"

She is sitting at her dining-room table, Skyping with her interpreting partner, Liz Leitch, who lives in Richmond. Leitch will drive up to Washington for the Bon Jovi show a few days later. In front of Randolph: a pile of printouts containing the lyrics for everything the singer has been performing on his latest tour. After each stop, Randolph Googles his latest set list to see what he's switched up. For weeks, she has been breathing Bon Jovi. When she is not working her day job, she is Livin' on a Prayer. These puns invade her e-mails. She can't help it.

"So," Randolph says, " 'There's only pictures hung in the shadows left there to look at you.' Is that literal? Am I literally picturing someone in a den," surrounded by portraits?

"They could be memories," Leitch offers.

Randolph experimentally tries out signs for "memories." Would these be good memories? Bad ones? The song is, after all, called "Runaway."

"Sometimes," Randolph says, "I'll do words on the mouth," to provide the literal translation, but the signs paired with it will be more conceptual.

She is a fan of Bon Jovi. Has been listening to him for 20 years. The job of an interpreter, however, requires a whole other level of attention to detail - an intricate dissection of every single word, with the knowledge that the interpreter's understandings of the song are going to inform or define other people's understandings of the song.

It is entirely possible that no one has thought this much about "Runaway" since Bon Jovi wrote it 31 years ago.

Washington is kind of like a "mecca" for the deaf population, Janet Bailey says. "Because once they come to Gallaudet from Kansas, they're probably not going back to Kansas."

Bailey is the former president of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, an Alexandria-based professional organization, and she now works as the group's government affairs representative. She also, back in 1982, founded the first interpreting agency and began approaching area theaters about interpreting their shows. The Folger Theatre was the first, followed by Arena Stage.

Now, RID's data say that there are about 120 interpreters in Washington. It doesn't sound like a lot, but, when you compare it to the general population, it's proportionally more than double New York state's or California's.

Last year, more than 1,100 would-be interpreters registered for their knowledge-based certfication exams nationwide, up from about 650 in 2006. (Interpreters have to pass the knowledge-based exams before the practical ones - and have up to five years to complete both - so numbers for the performance-based exams haven't caught up.)

In late 2009, Randolph and Leitch, along with business partner Kevin Dyels, founded First Chair Interpreted Productions, an agency that focuses solely on interpreting for concerts and performing arts. They do about 50 events a year, including all the work for Verizon Center. First Chair booked Ison and another interpreter, Danielle Hunt, for the Gaga concert.

"You'll hear me describe the difference between day work and night work," Dyels says. Night work is the concerts, the plays, the stand-up comedy. When he, Randolph and Leitch look for interpreters for night work, they're looking for people who have credentials, but they're also looking for groupies.

"I'm qualified to interpret Bon Jovi," Randolph says. "I wouldn't be qualified for Linkin Park."

Any interpreter planning to stand in front of an audience of Lady Gaga fans who love her enough to come to the concert wearing meat dresses should care very, very deeply about just what a disco stick is.

"I told Kevin that I would be doing this show," Ison says. She needed to. Months in advance, as soon as she saw signs for the concert, she knew she and Lady Gaga were meant to be.

"David Bowie, Led Zeppelin . . ." Suzy Rosen Singleton is rattling off her favorite concerts.

"Madonna," adds her friend, Charmaine Hlibok. "AC/DC."

Oya restaurant is noisy on a Thursday night, but Rosen Singleton and Hlibok, who are deaf, communicate by signing or reading lips anyway. Lady Gaga's Monster Ball show starts in three hours at Verizon Center. The two women's children cannot believe their moms are going.

Before the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1992 began requiring performing arts venues to provide interpreters on request, "I would make up my own words," says Rosen Singleton, who works as Gallaudet University's ombudsman. Interpreters, she says, "are now critical to my enjoyment."

But not every interpreter is cut out for concert work, and not everyone wants to do it. It's exhausting, both mentally and physically, which is why interpreters are usually assigned to events in pairs. It's taxing to provide meaning, convey emotion, and keep the beat at the same time.

And also, Hlibok says, "they have to be invisible to us."

This is a paradoxical requirement for someone whom she will spend two to three hours looking at. But what she means is the interpreter has to tread the fine line between acting as a conduit for the song and mistakenly believing they are the entertainment. The less successful ones, she says, "think they're the character. They get carried away."

What most non-signers don't realize is that sign language is not an exact science, a one-plus-one-equals. The same sentence, given to three different interpreters, might result in three different interpretations.

What most non-signers further don't realize is that "sign language" is actually an imprecise descriptor, and whatever any one interpreter is doing at any given moment might be a blend of multiple approaches.

American Sign Language is, as it sounds, its own language, with its own grammatical structure and particular nuances. Its roots are actually not in English, but in French - the language originated when Thomas Gallaudet traveled to Europe in 1815 seeking methods for teaching deaf children.

Signed English is, as it sounds, a more literal translation of spoken English, mimicking word order and grammar.

Some people think ASL works better for songs. It's faster, more expressive. It's able to convey emotions and tonal inflections that wouldn't be readily apparent to a non-hearing audience member. When Lady Gaga goes "Rah rah rah ah ah, ro ma, ro ma ma," a proponent of ASL might decide that the important thing to convey would be the raw, flirtatious tone rather than the literal words, which, after all, make no sense.

A strict follower of Signed English, on the other hand, might decide to spell out every R, O, M and A, deciding that Lady Gaga should be equal-opportunity nonsensical.

The line is between being visible and invisible, but it's also about figuring what it truly means to interpret something. It's about human perception and human fallibility, about the difference between aiding someone and patronizing them. It's about the search for a definite truth within an art form that is meant to be ambiguous.

"For my very first show, I spent weeks creating this perfect, beautiful ASL interpretation," says Hunt, Ison's interpreting parter for Lady Gaga. "Then I got there and the client said, 'I really just want to know the words.' " She pauses. "It totally changed my approach." Hunt is currently pursuing her PhD in interpreting at Gallaudet; she has studied the field since, as an undergraduate, she received dispensation to be one of Gallaudet's few hearing students.

"I could literally sign the words 'broken arrow,' " says Randolph, in reference to another set of elusive Bon Jovi lyrics. But that translation wouldn't make sense. "It wouldn't be interpreting. It would just be spitting back words."

She made an exception when she interpreted an R.E.M. concert a few years back. "Because," she explains, "we really didn't know what any of it meant."

This is what Ison has decided it looks like, to take a ride on a disco stick:

It looks like a left index finger rising slightly toward the sky, and right index and middle fingers coming down to curve around it and jounce up and down.

It's a sign that can't be exactly translated into English, but if you watch her do it, you get the gist that whatever she is doing with her hands is a wee bit naughty. She has decided to mouth Lady Gaga's words along with the signs, allowing Rosen Singleton, Hlibok and their friend Trina Schooley to follow along in more than one way.

(Randolph, meanwhile, has decided that Bon Jovi's pictures hanging in the shadows should be literal pictures.)

A few days after the concert, Ison shares a link to a video she made of herself at the concert to help her review her own performance.

"Love Game" is a fast-paced song, with lyrics spoken in a relentless monotone, leaving little room to catch breath or pause fingers. When Ison signs it, her hands flutter in front of her face and chest, the song ending with a triumphant "Game!"

Then, off-screen on the stage, Gaga produces a giant phallic torch, which she begins to stroke.

"I don't know if you heard," Gaga purrs, "but I have a pretty tremendous [expletive]."

In the video, Ison does a double take, making sure she has heard correctly, before signing the lewd man-parts term.

Then she shrugs and finger-spells the word, just to be on the safe side.

In the sense that nobody will ever really understand Lady Gaga, Ison has done the best she can.

Bon Jovi: Boston Herald Review

Another Boston review another reporter saying the soundboard blew.

Bon Jovi rocks just hard enough for Hub

By Lauren Carter

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - Updated 7 minutes ago

The New Jersey rock outfit’s success is largely due to dogged perseverance, a reliable collection of mega-hits and middle-of-the-road rock that offends absolutely no one. Even if you don’t particularly like Bon Jovi, it’s hard to hate them. Love, on the other hand, is something the band gets plenty of, mostly from middle-aged women reliving their teenage years and suburban men who find the unobtrusive, marginally tough rock appealing.

Yes, there are bands with better songs and more stunning live delivery. But those bands don’t sell out arenas on their umpteenth tour almost 30 years into their career, as Bon Jovi did at TD Garden last night.

It didn’t matter that the band’s main soundboard blew out 30 minutes into the show rendering them nearly inaudible (though wildly energetic frontman and Bill Belichick BFF Jon Bon Jovi hardly noticed). Ten minutes after Bon Jovi went mute, the band hooked up to an auxiliary board and 17,000-plus fans returned to screaming and intermittently pawing and clawing at Jon.

Let’s not kid ourselves and say that Jon still looks 25 — he looks like a 49-year-old rocker who has aged extremely well and still possesses a killer smile that guarantees entry into the heartthrob club. His frontman work is part lead vocals — distinctive and serviceable, but not stunning — and part calorie-burning repertoire of one-legged hops, fist pumps, hip thrusts and one-armed windmill moves that had him sweat-drenched an hour into the show. During “Keep The Faith,” he appeared to do an onstage Tae Bo workout.

The two-and-a-half-hour show’s highlights came almost uniformly from early material: “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Bad Medicine” and a stellar “Wanted Dead or Alive.” Lead guitarist Richie Sambora’s husky vocals handled “Lay Your Hands On Me,” his talk box work dotted the explosive show-closer “Livin’ On a Prayer” and his muscular guitar solos immediately called up the Bon Jovi of yore.

But the band’s post-“New Jersey” material — such as “Last Man Standing,” “Have A Nice Day” and “Love’s The Only Rule” — felt nondescript, a sort of tame version of what the band used to be. A retooled, reheated take on the glory days?

Yes, and just maybe, that’s exactly what fans wanted.

Bon Jovi: Boston Review

The writer sounds a tad bit jealous. This article states it was the soundboard, we on twitter from people there heard it was a blown speaker/transformer.

Will we ever know the truth?

The most important question is, who got the "Stink Eye"?

Loud and fast rules the night for Bon Jovi at TD Garden

Bon Jovi, led by Jon Bon Jovi, was determined to play its set list all at full throttle. The Jersey rockers delivered a solid, hard-driving performance over 2 1/2 hours. (Yoon S. Byun/ Globe Staff)

By James Reed

Globe Staff / March 2, 2011

Someone had to say it, and Jon Bon Jovi decided he would be the first to do so.

“I’m like Viagra for women out here,’’ he boasted last night at TD Garden, drawing deafening applause and approval from the ladies, many of whom had been pawing at him on the eve of his 49th birthday.

That joke — no doubt recycled night to night — came toward the end of Bon Jovi’s sold-out show at the Garden, but it wrongly implied the band’s appeal lies solely in its swaggering frontman. It doesn’t. Judging from the solid and hard-driving performance the Jersey rockers delivered over 2 1/2 hours, it was clear this band works hard to stay on top.

Theirs is a tough balancing act between arena-ready nostalgia and the fact that they are still commercially viable. For every monster ’80s hit (“You Give Love a Bad Name,’’ “Bad Medicine’’), there were newer ones lurking in the set list (“Lost Highway,’’ “I Love This Town’’), and they all jelled surprisingly well.

If the songs had a common thread, it was the band’s conviction to play them all at full throttle. It is not a slight to say bombast is Bon Jovi’s stock-in-trade, from Richie Sambora’s spiraling guitar riffs to the video screens that needlessly projected fireworks during a song already over the top (“Keep the Faith’’).

The band members were good sports, too. When their soundboard short-circuited and temporarily rendered the band completely inaudible, Jon hammed it up with a little tap dance and sulked on the lip of the stage. Any notion of an acoustic set was ruled out 10 minutes later.

Louder and faster, in fact, were actually preferable to the more solemn attempts at reverence.

When Jon turned introspective on a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,’’ he seemed ill at ease with the song’s soft-spoken charm. (And the poor guy’s heartfelt faces were, unbeknownst to him, nearly upstaged by the mugging women behind him grasping at his derriere.)

Other times, the comfort and camaraderie of a band that has been together so long were palpable.

Fist-bumps aside, it was genuinely moving to see Jon and Sambora soak up the adulation after “Wanted Dead or Alive.’’

And in case you could not tell they were having as much fun as the audience, there was mutual catharsis to be had in the wide-open call-and-response of “Livin’ on a Prayer.’’

James Reed can be reached at jreed@globe.com.

Bon Jovi: Leave a VM for Jon's birthday

You can do it, in your sexiest phone sex operator voice.  Or the voice you use to drunkenly voice mail people on a Saturday Night.

Happy Birthday Jon Bon Jovi

March 1, 2011

Today, March 2nd, is Jon Bon Jovi’s birthday! Jon will be celebrating his birthday this evening with a show at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia! You can be in on Jon’s birthday celebration even if you’re not going to the show tonight.

US/CANADA FANS: Call & leave Jon a voicemail message for his birthday! Call 1-201-984-5711 and leave your best birthday greeting.

UK FANS: You may also call and leave Jon a birthday message! Call 0208 8206662 and leave a voicemail after the beep.

Fans around the world: In honour of Jon’s birthday today we ask that you make a donation to Jon Bon Jovi’s SOUL Foundation. All currencies are accepted and every donation is appreciated. Even small donations go a long way when it comes to combating homelessness. Visit Jon’s birthday donation page to make a donation. Visit the SOUL Foundation’s website to learn more about the foundation’s mission and work to help those in need.

Happy birthday, Jon!

UK: Calls are charged at local rates from a BT landline. Calls from other networks may vary and from mobiles will cost considerably more

Related Stories: Band, Australia, UK

Bon Jovi: Conference Call Regurgatation Part 5 million

Hello Connecticut, its your turn.

Bon Jovi, the top touring act of 2010, returns to the road in 2011

By Kristina Dorsey

Publication: The Day

Music-industry pundits know this much is true: last year was a downright dismal one for concert tours.

Some famous names played to half-empty venues or canceled tours altogether.

And then there was Bon Jovi.

The rock band that's been around since 1983 was the #1 concert act of the year, selling $201.1-million worth of tickets at its 80 shows.

Yes, that means the Jersey boys even beat out Lady Gaga.

In late January, as the group was gearing up to head back on the road (they stop Friday at Mohegan Sun), two members of Bon Jovi - guitarist Richie Sambora and drummer Tico Torres - did a teleconference interview with reporters from around the country. Here are some excerpts from that session.

On how you get to be the #1 concert tour of the year: 

Tico Torres: "We try to put on a great show every time we come out and change it up every time. You're talking two-and-a-half to three hours a night. And give people a bang for their buck because it does cost a lot of money to see a rock and roll show these days. Rich?"

Richie Sambora: "What we have learned to do over, God, 28 years now of being together, is give good stadium. That's the best way I could put it. I don't know how to say it any other way, and I'm trying to be humble about it, but this band, we know how to give good stadium. And I'm telling you, Tico, best drummer in the world as far as I'm concerned. There's nobody else better."

Tico Torres: "Richie, best guitar player. So we actually like each other. We like what we do."

What they'll do once this tour is over:

Tico Torres: "We're going all the way to August 1 this year. When we're done with the States, we're going to do, of course, the rest of Europe. And I think we need to take a break. I mean it's a long, expensive tour since last February, ... not only just the tour but putting it together, doing the records. It's a long process.  It's important for us to just get away from the audience for a bit. We've toured the world quite a bit, and sometimes you've got to get away so people can appreciate you better. You also have to get away to live your life and create and recharge - not only your creative juices but you as a person and then you address it. So I mean the best thing I could tell you is we're going to need a couple of years off for sure."

Richie Sambora: "You know what? I think we're just going to work through this whole thing, and we're very, very proud of our achievements and what we've done. And I think T's right, we do need a little bit of a break, but not that much of a break because what's going to happen is there's going to be more songs to be written and, you know, guess what? We want to be the Rolling Stones. I know I do."

Bon Jovi became eligible last year to be chosen for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ... but weren't among those musicians voted in?

Richie Sambora: "Personally, I think it's a boys club over there. I don't know what they're doing. And, you know, they're looking for ratings or whatever they're doing, I have no idea. Is it legitimate?  Let's ask that question. That's my question ... And it has nothing to do with our legitimacy because our legitimacy comes with the people and the fans. You sell 125 million records and have the two biggest tours in the last three years - I'll take that. If I would complain, nobody would listen."

Tico Torres: "You've got to look at the bands that still haven't made it that are amazing, and, really, it's hard to pick three or four bands or even five bands. The bands that were nominated this year and the ones that made it, well deserved. And it's just - well, it's nice to be nominated. We have a long life ahead of us.

Bon Jovi tends to play stadiums, but the group has regularly stopped at the 10,000-seat Mohegan Sun Arena on its tours the past few years. What brings them back?

Tico Torres: "I think it's proximity of time when you try to line up a tour and the routing. It just happened to work out that way. I mean, when we played Patriot Stadium out there in the summer - of course, weather has something to do with it ..."

Richie Sambora: "It's always been a great venue for us. Obviously, we've been doing business with that place for a long, long time. And we enjoy it."

With so many songs in its arsenal, Bon Jovi does change the set list:

Richie Sambora: "When you do, like, 15 nights at the O2 in London or wherever the hell we did, you got to mix it up. ... This is a real band. This is not, like, a bunch of people dancing around, this, that and the other thing. We're just going up there and playing like human beings.

"That's what we do, and I think that's what people want to see. I really do. I think people want to see the unity, and even if you make a mistake, so what? You're actually really playing."

If you go

Who: Bon Jovi

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena

When: 8 p.m. Friday, March 4

Tickets: $135, $210

Visit: mohegansun.com

Bon Jovi: That conference call wRichie and Tico will be regurgatated throughout the 2011 Tour

I guess to avoid doing any press what so ever during the tour that conference call with Richie & Tico was the only thing anyone was going to get.

Once again it's reused and recycled for Philadelphia.

Bon Jovi is a crowd-pleasing machine

By: ED CONDRAN

Burlington County Times

Bon Jovi has sold more than 120 million albums and it has no problem filling stadiums.

The group's 2010 "Circle" tour was the most popular jaunt of the year and the band is more celebrated now than during its 1980s heyday.

What's left for the mega-loved, New Jersey-based phenomenon to accomplish?

"We want to be the Rolling Stones," guitarist Richie Sambora says. "I know I do."

Well, if that's the case, expect to see Sambora and his bandmates - vocalist-guitarist Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan and drummer Tico Torres - to be rocking in the year 2033.

That's when the band will mark its half-century together. The Stones are planning for a tour next year, which will celebrate its own 50th anniversary.

What a drag it is getting old, indeed, but Bon Jovi has a way to go before it embarks on any "Steel Wheelchairs" tour.

The group, which will perform on Jon Bon Jovi's 49th birthday Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center, is hitting its stride at midlife. It still has energy to burn and the members of the act know how to bring it.

"We know how to give good stadium," says Sambora.

What Sambora means is that the group has taken a page from fellow Garden Stater Bruce Springsteen, who wrote the template on how to connect with every audience member inside stadiums.

The fans have responded to the band's interactive live performances, as well as myriad hits Bon Jovi has recorded over the years.

However, musical arbiters of taste haven't been so kind to the act - but that doesn't bother Sambora.

"You know what? We get the respect from the people," he says. "I don't read the reviews. It's all about the people. I think that's what our goal has always been and I think that's what's always been important to us - our fans and taking care of them. I think we've done a good job of that, I really do."

Love them or hate them, Bon Jovi is a hit machine. "Livin' On a Prayer," "I'll Be There For You," "It's My Life" and "Who Says You Can't Go Home" are just some of the tunes that never seem to leave radio playlists.

"We've been fortunate," Sambora says. "We've had a lot of hits and we have no problem playing them. Our fans made them hits. So you'll always get the hits from us. How do you get tired of playing the hits? When I see my favorite bands play, I love to experience the hits. Hits are great. It beats the alternative."

Bon Jovi appears Wednesday at the Wells Fargo Center, Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia. Show time: 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $16.50, $26.50, $36.50, $52, $86.50 and $146.50. Information: 215-336-3600.

Bon Jovi: Jon, Have an Iced Day

Going to the show tomorrow, head back stage pre show and get a slice of Jon's birthday cake, although I'm not sure it will be as good as Richie's cake last July from Carlos Bakery in Hoboken (the bakery featured on the TLC show Cake Boss, Oh God I want a canolli).

Last Years birthday cake

Have an iced day

Since Jon Bon Jovi will be singing at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday, his 49th birthday, a guitar-shaped birthday cake has been ordered from Bredenbeck's in Chestnut Hill. "Happy Birthday, Jon" will be piped out in red. Elton John's March 25 show at the Wells Fargo Center also will be on his actual birthday - No. 64. "I'm Still Standing" would be a fitting inscription.

So all my tweeps heading to the that show tomorrow; @gutter_ceo, @sissy452, @blushnscarlet @liznorwich @soul3208 @antihobag have a great show.

Bon Jovi: Jon's Changing Looks

Saw this from People earlier today:


http://www.people.com/people/videos/0,,20469120,00.html

There's no embedding of the video but it's a nice little watch (although the commercial preceding it is annoying after the 10th viewing).

Jon through the years.  That feels like a bad Kenny Rogers (the singer and former chicken maker not the MLB pitcher).

Bon Jovi: Got a Netflix account

You can rent the NMS show from Netflix.

Bon Jovi: The Circle Tour: Live From New Jersey (2010)

This vibrant concert film captures the rapport between legendary rock band Bon Jovi and more than 200,000 hometown fans during performances inaugurating New Jersey's New Meadowlands Stadium as part of the group's 2010 "The Circle" tour. Fabulous lighting and stage design highlight the action-packed shows as the band performs classics and new songs, including "Runaway," "It's My Life," "When We Were Beautiful" and "Work for the Working Man."

Cast: Bon Jovi, Jon Bon Jovi

Director: Anthony M. Bongiovi

Genre: Music & Musicals

But I want to buy it.... Or at least download it from somewhere....

Bon Jovi: Richie and Balls

I have nothing to say about this, this morning except that once again Richie played with balls...

MIDDLESEX COUNTY Basketball round up

.....At the game, I ran into Johnson girls coach Tom Chmiel. I’ve known Tom for 100 years or so, dating back to when he was the head boys coach at Woodbridge. At Woodbridge, Tom coached Buck Jenkins, who is not only the all-time leading scorer at Woodbridge, but Columbia University’s all-time scorer as well.

Did you know that Tom Chmiel coached Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora when he played JV basketball at Woodbridge?

The two have become friends over the years. A few nights ago, Sambora left floor seats for Chmiel for the Bon Jovi show at Madison Square Garden. Backstage passes and all.

Bon Jovi: Best Bon Jovi songs?

I disagree with this list, #1 they ranked Always lower than I'll Be There For You.  I don't care if Always is about a stalker (Thanks Jon for ruining the song, Knowing what we're doing's  your saying's wrong
But better left unsaid.  A Damned reference) it's better than IBTFY (sorry Beth).

And Wanted is #3!!!  The National Anthem!!  PLEASE!

10 Best Bon Jovi Songs

Posted by AOL Radio Staff 0 Comments

Much like The Boss, Bon Jovi is a hometown hero for New Jersey. The band -- consisting of Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan, Tico Torres -- has remained at the top of their game over the last 28 years, consistently producing roaring stadium anthems and swooning rock ballads. From entering the scene with their 1983 song 'Runaway' to headlining the most profitable tour of 2010, Bon Jovi's idol status is well-deserved, outlasting the big hair fad that launched their claim to fame. As rated by AOL Radio listeners, here are the 10 Best Bon Jovi Songs.

10

'Always'

'Always' was originally written for the film 'Romeo is Bleeding,' but the movie was not up to snuff for Bon Jovi, so it was eventually released on the band's 1994 album 'Cross Road.' The song became a best-selling single on the album, and hit No. 4 on the US Billboard chart. Because of its extreme vocals, the song took its toll on Jon Bon Jovi's voice, which is why 'Always' is rarely performed live.

09

'Born to Be My Baby'

Peaking at No. 3 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, 'Born to Be My Baby' was the second single from Bon Jovi's seminal album 'New Jersey.' The low-budget black-and-white video for the song features Jon Bon Jovi's high school sweetheart and current wife of nearly 22 years, Dorothea Hurley, who Bon Jovi secretly married in Vegas while on tour for the 1988 album.

08

'Lay Your Hands on Me'

'Lay Your Hands on Me' was the fourth single from Bon Jovi's chart-topping album 'New Jersey.' Incorporating a long, over-the-top introduction, the anthemic song has been long heralded by fans. In 2003, the band re-recorded the song for 'This Left Feels Right' in a smoother, acoustic style, featuring the mandocello front and center.

07

'I'll Be There For You'

Beyond becoming a staple for couples skate in the '80s, 'I'll Be There For You' hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in 1989, and has since been regarded as a beloved power ballad. The song was Bon Jovi's fourth No. 1 single, and helped make 'New Jersey' a major commercial success.

06

'Bad Medicine'

'Bad Medicine,' the lead single from 'New Jersey,' topped the charts in 1988, and continues to be in radio rotation today. The No. 1 single was also included in the band's greatest hits album, 'Cross Road,' and is a staple in Bon Jovi's live set -- the band has been known to incorporate a one-minute interlude of the Isley Brothers' 'Shout' during the song.

05

'Runaway'

Jon Bon Jovi released 'Runaway' in 1983, but after winning a local radio contest with the song, it became a huge hit. 'Runaway' was the band's first single from their self-titled debut, and became Bon Jovi's first Top 40 single in the US. It has since been featured in a Mastercard commercial, as well as in the film 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop.'

04

'It's My Life'

The first single from Bon Jovi 2000 album 'Crush' incorporates a reference to Tommy and Gina, a fictional couple that is referred to in 'Livin' on a Prayer.' The song was a No. 1 and platinum-selling single in several countries, but only peaked at No. 11 on Billboard's Adult Top 40 chart.

03

'Wanted Dead or Alive'

In a 2009 interview, Jon Bon Jovi said rock groups are like "a young band of thieves, riding into town, stealing the money, the girls, and the booze before the sun came up." 'Wanted Dead or Alive' was a tribute to that lifestyle, and was intended for an Old West-themed album that was eventually scrapped. The song has been featured in dozens of films and movies since its 1987 release.

02

'You Give Love a Bad Name'

'You Give Love a Bad Name' was the first single from Bon Jovi's smash album, 'Slippery When Wet,' which reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts just a few months after it was released in 1986. Over the last 25 years, the song has been embraced by pop culture -- Dwight Schrute makes reference to it in an episode of 'The Office,' and it was recently covered by the modern rock band Atreyu.

01

'Livin' on a Prayer'

When one thinks of Bon Jovi, 'Livin' on a Prayer' instantly comes to mind, and with good reason. In 1987, the song spent four weeks at the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, and has become a mainstay over the last two decades. The definitive song topped VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s; is prominently featured in video games such as 'Guitar Hero World Tour' and 'Rock Band 2'; and is now the No. 1 Bon Jovi song, as voted by AOL Radio listeners.

What are Your 10 Best Bon Jovi Songs?

Let us know what you think are the 10 favorite Bon Jovi songs by leaving a comment below. Want to rock out some more? Check out our 10 Best Rock Anthems and the 10 Best Power Ballads lists, and tune in to the Hair Metal station to relive some of the Bon Jovi's best songs, as well as other hair metal hits.