Bon Jovi: Mohegan Sun review

Bon Jovi at Mohegan Sun

Published: Sunday, May 08, 2011, 2:20 AM Updated: Sunday, May 08, 2011, 10:14 AM

By Donnie Moorhouse, The Republican

Rocker Jon Bon Jovi (AP file photo)

UNCASVILLE, Conn. - Jon Bon Jovi guessed from the stage at Mohegan Sun on Saturday night that it has been “29 to 30 years or so” that the fans have been supporting his rock’ n’ roll dream.

That fan base shows no signs of wavering.

Either does the band.

Bon Jovi played a sold out Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday, the fourth and final stop at the venue along the current tour, and thanked the faithful with a two hour and fifteen minute set of high powered rock.

The production alone was a tribute to the arena rock milieu. Everything above and behind the circular stage moved, morphed, and slid, from the hi tech video screens to the hydraulic risers that, when they weren’t supporting the lead singer, where also serving as video boards.

There may only be a handful of bands that can play an arena rock show like Bon Jovi. In fact, it is this band that might define the genre.

After the bells rung and the whistles whistled, Bon Jovi emerged from all the moving parts to ring up “Last Man Standing,” and followed with “You Give Love a Bad Name.”

The two songs made sense together but represent two very different parts of the band’s career. The latter was recorded when critics were putting Bon Jovi in the same hair-band category as Skid Row, Warrant, and Cinderella.

Anyone know where any of those bands were playing this weekend?

The latter song was also the first spotlight moment for fill-in Phil X, the guitarist who is taking the place of Richie Sambora while the longtime band member is doing a stint in rehab. Phil X is a well-known session player (Daughtry, Avril Lavigne, Alice Cooper) who seemed to fit right in with the group.

After anthems “Superman Tonight,” and “Lost Highway,” Bon Jovi rolled a little country flavor into the mix with the yearning rocker “Whole Lot of Leaving.” Again the newer song was paired with a classic, serving as the prelude to “Bad Medicine.”

It was during “Bad Medicine” that Jon Bon Jovi took leave of the set list and with prompting from Jersey pal and former Cats on A Smooth Surface (and occasional Asbury Juke) Bobby Bandiera wrestled in Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman.”

With the lights down, Bon Jovi made his way out to the center of the arena via the circular catwalk and gave acoustic versions of “(You Want To) Make a Memory,” and “I’ll Be There for You.”

He returned to the stage for “Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night,” subtly dedicating the song to Sambora.

“I can hear your voices,” he said. “You’re all pulling for our friend, right?”

Sambora’s absence seemed to affect the mystique of the band more than the music. Phil X was a formidable replacement and Bandiera, a longtime friend and occasional collaborator with Bon Jovi provided stability as well.

The band closed with “Living On A Prayer,” and put together a strong four-song encore that included “Wanted; Dead or Alive,” with Bon Jovi again thanking the crowd for supporting the band “even when we’re down a man.”

Hartford band Lakshmi earned and opening slot on the show thanks to winning a radio station battle of the bands and handled their half hour set like they were used to playing arena stages.

Bon Jovi: What did you do on your vacation?

It looks like David went to the island Anguilla in the Caribbean.  Part of the British West Indies.  North of Saint Martin west of the Virgin Islands (British & US).  He performed at an bar/restaurant called the Dune Preserve with a British artist named Ruel Richardson.

History of The Dune Preserve

The Dune Preserve is the name of the 2-acre strip of land on Rendezvous Bay which is flanked by CuisinArt Resort and Spa on the left and Temenos Golf Club on the right. This sliver of paradise is home to Bankie Banx, The Moonsplash Music Festival, The Dune Preserve Restaurant, and The Planet Dune live-music lounge.

The Dune Preserve is affectionately called the Planet Dune because it is unlike anything else on this earth. Since 1994, Bankie and his sidekick Bullett have collected old sail boats, fishing boats and driftwood and transformed them into an ever expanding work of island art. The Dune Preserve has embodied green architecture before anyone on Anguilla had ever head of green architecture. Literally built between coconut and mauby trees of predominantly salvaged and discarded material, it is barely visible from above and from the sea.

The Dune Preserve in 1994 sat alone on the west side of Rendezvous Bay before CuisinArt and Temenos were conceived. At its origin the Dune Preserve consisted of Bankie's one-room cabin which sat behind a 50-foot sand dune and a small beach bar which sat on the beach side of the sand Dune. The Dune Preserve was completed destroyed by hurricanes in 1996 in 1999. Each time Bankie and Bullett rebuilt the Dune Preserve with a new vision. After the 1999 hurricane the once majestic sand dunes at Rendezvous Bay were flattened from a combination of hurricane damage, shifting tides, and new construction. Since that time Bankie has worked with the Anguilla National Trust to restore the once majestic dunes. Over time the dunes have made a comeback although at only half their original size.

Here are some video of Dave performing with Ruel Richardson of British Dependency.

Bon Jovi: Happy Cinco de Mayo

As I enjoy my margarita... Enjoy some TEQUILA.

Jonny is giving twisting lessons.  I thought Night 1 was better....  But I was at night 1 so....

Bon Jovi: Montreal Review

The original Article is 'en Francais', my French is worse than my English (which is my native tongue... I know I'm shocked too).  So the fine folk at Google have translated.

BON JOVI CENTRAL BELL

Some notes and the crowd rises

Maxime Demers

04-05-2011 | 10:05 p.m.

MONTREAL - Even without its star guitarist Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi knows how to lift a crowd. And even more so when the crowd is Montreal.

The band Bon Jovi does not have to worry about his popularity in Montreal. The figures speak for themselves: five shows in Montreal in 14 months, more than 200,000 fans at the Bell Centre last 10 years.

But it is first and foremost on stage that the group of New Jersey can measure the magnitude of the phenomenon. We still had evidence Wednesday night, when more than 20,000 people crowded into the theater to applaud the Montreal show that the group presented the same place two nights ago for less than three months.

Same show? Not quite. In fact, there was a big difference and she was on stage, to the right of Jon Bon Jovi.

In rehab since last week, guitarist Richie Sambora had left his place to Phil Xenidis, who has also replaced in Triumph and has already worked with Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie. In short, not really a beginner, and he proved it a few times during this concert marked by the great success of the group ( Bad Medicine , Dead or Alive , I'll Sleep When I'm Dead , Livin on a Prayer ...) .

The show began around 20 pm to thunderous applause and screams. After a short introduction video, the group started the first chords of Lost Highway , immediately after linking with We Were not Born to Follow .

The party withdrew from the third song. Let the fun begin! launched Jon Bon Jovi before embarking You Give Love a Bad Name . The room erupted with a bound and was not stale by the end of the next title, the inevitable "Born to Be My Baby .

While Bon Jovi has lost quite a showman in Richie Sambora, the band owes much of its effectiveness on stage magnetism and energy of Jon Bon Jovi. At 49, the singer is still quite a showman who has nothing to envy the young pop stars (the Justin Bieber and others) which he mocked gently in The More Things Change .

While We Got It Going On , the rocker has even abandoned his guitar to go and dance to a platform above the stage. And when, in the middle of the show, he took off his leather jacket to let them discover his black jacket, women in the room uttered loud screeching.

In the coming weeks, the group of New Jersey will perform in a dozen U.S. cities, before continuing his tour of Europe.

Bon Jovi: A couple of articles on Phil X

Here are a few background articles on Richie's "understudy" Phil X.

Meet Phil X, Richie Sambora’s Replacement in Bon Jovi

Michael Leonard | 05.04.2011

Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora’s temporary replacment is Phil X, an Ontario-born session guitarist. The tour kicked off at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (on April 30) with Jon Bon Jovi announcing at the encore of “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “We’d like to send this out to our brother Richie.”

Phil X was born in 1966 as Philip Xenidis. He’s of Greek descent and the co-founder of the L.A. band Powder. He also has a second band, The Drills. He is used to standing-in: he replaced Rik Emmett in Canadian rockers Triumph for their Edge of Excess album (1993) and tour.

He’s also played guitar for Tommy Lee, Rob Zombie, Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, Chris Cornell, Adam Lambert and many more.

At Viva Cantina, a Mexican restaurant in Burbank, he’s played with country music collective the Cody Bryant Experience. According to MusicIndustryNewswire, “Phil X drops by to add his powerful guitar to honky-tonk numbers that turn into raging barn-burners that totally kick ass.”

For now, Phil X is the new Richie Sambora. Bon Jovi’s current tour ends in Lisbon, Portugal, on July 31.

Ugh Replacement makes it sound so permanent.  

Local guitarist joins Bon Jovi

Katharine Sealey

May 4, 2011

Rock on. Phil X, seen here headlining The Guitar World's annual
Rock 'n' Roll Party in Meadowvale in 2009, is filling in for
Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora on their current world tour. File photo

It's never easy being a temp, but this gig might make up for it.

Mississauga musician Phil Xenidis, better known as Phil X, is the new temporary guitarist for rockers Bon Jovi.

Xenidis, 45, joined the band onstage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on April 30 as a fill-in for their regular guitarist Richie Sambora, who is reportedly in rehab. Bon Jovi's current tour is scheduled to end in Portugal on July 31. The Circle Tour was last year's top selling circuit, earning $201 million.

Previously, Xenidis was best known as the replacement for Rik Emmett in the band Triumph in the early-'90s. Now based in Los Angeles, Xenidis is a popular studio musician, having played on albums for Rob Zombie, Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne, Alice Cooper and Chris Daughtry.

I bet Phil X hates being called a replacement. Also this article makes it seem like they plucked him from the "mean" streets of Mississauga, he lives in LA.