Lonn Friend on Bon Jovi

If you have the One Wild Night CD and artwork, you've most likely seen this in the cover booklet. I was cleaning out my document files tonight and came across a type-up I did of it, and I thought I'd share.

It still rings true - every single word. Bon Jovi puts on the best damn show on Earth, and fans and concert-goers have memories that are literally soundtracked to Jovi tunes. The fan experience is a package so deeply steeped in emotion, passion, and excitement that it's one of the most rewarding and special experiences in the whole music world. And I think this is (still) the best, most true-to-heart, succintly written reviews of the band to date.

GETTING ‘IT’ FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE BACK SEAT OF A CAR, FEELING THAT VIRGIN BEER OR POT BUZZ, SEEING STAR WARS BACK IN THE BEGINNING WHEN ABSOLUTELY EVERY HUMAN BEING ON PLANET EARTH WAS GOING THROUGH THE SAME THING AT THE SAME AWESOME MOMENT IN TIME: THESE ARE THE INTENSELY PERSONAL, EMOTIONAL, EPIPHANY-TYPE EXPERIENCES THAT ARE RIGHT UP THERE WITH BEING A BON JOVI FAN AT A BON JOVI CONCERT. IT’S BEAUTIFULLY SIMPLE. THE BIGGER-THAN-LIFE MUSICAL CIRCUS OF ROCK COMES TO YOUR TOWN AND NOTHING IN YOUR HUMBLE, ORDINARY, PEDESTRIAN EXISTENCE CAN TRANSCEND ITS IMPORTANCE. BON JOVI FANS ARE TELEPATHICALLY CONNECTED AT AN ALMOST COSMIC LEVEL. THEY COME FROM EVERY SOCIO-CULTURAL ENCLAVE, FROM DIRT-ROAD, TINY-TOWN MIDDLE AMERICA OR POLISH PROVINCE; NEW YORK TO NEWFOUNDLAND, BURG TO METROPOLIS, VALLEY FLOOR TO MOUNTAIN PEAK. WITNESS THIS GLOBAL COMMUNION OF THE MOST ROCKIN’. LAY YOUR HANDS ON THE BIBLE OF BANG, BEAT AND LYRIC, SPANNING TWO DECADES OF EARS AND HEARTS FAITHFULLY SERVED. YOU THINK I’M WAXING TOO POETIC FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT? JUST WAIT. I TAX MY OWN TORTURED TONGUE TO EXPRESS WHAT MUST BE EXPRESSED. THE MAGIC OF BON JOVI LIVE, FRONT ROW GIRLS SO DEEPLY IN LOVE THEY WOULD MORTGAGE A PART OF THEIR SOUL THEY HAVEN’T YET IDENTIFIED FOR A LOCK OF HAIR FROM THE JERSEY BOY WHO MADE GOOD, THE FRONTMAN WITH THE SUPERNOVA SMILE AND STAGE PRESENCE OF THE HISTORICALLY FEW AND FAR, FAR BETWEEN. BOYS FINDING THEMSELVES SUPERSTARS FOR A NIGHT BECAUSE THEY, TOO, DIG THE TUNES – BUT EVEN BETTER, THEY’RE DIGGIN’ THE WAY THE CHICKS GET WHEN THEY’RE DIGGIN’ THE TUNES. BON JOVI LIVE IS AN AUDIO APHRODISIAC, A GRAND-PURPOSE LUBRICANT OF MIND, BODY, AND SPIRIT. IT IS THE CEMENT FOUNDATION OF ONE OF MODERN MUSIC’S MOST ORGANIC, LEGITIMATE, TABLOID-TESTED, UNSHAKABLE, FAN-DRIVEN SUCCESS STORIES. THEY WERE ALL MERE BOYS BACK THEN. THEY PLEDGED AN ALLEGIANCE TO ROCK AND TOOK OFF FOR PARTS UNKNOWN. GREAT SONGS, GREAT PLAYING, A CHEMISTRY OF MAN AND WEAPON DIVINE IN ITS ELEMENTS. HERE WE ARE TWO DECADES LATER, AND YOU CAN FINALLY HOLD IN YOUR HANDS THE SOUNDS LOST IN THE ETHER, SOUNDS THAT ONCE MADE YOU LAUGH OR CRY, MADE YOU…BOLD, SHY, LOW, HIGH, YEAH HIGH! ONE WILD NIGHT IS BON JOVI’S OWN “BOOK OF LIVE” DIVIDED INTO 15 CHAPTERS, EACH ONE A MINI-NOVELLA. THERE ARE STORIES OF FAITH AND PRAYER, LOVE AND PAIN, FRIENDS AND FANTASIES. SOME ARE DUNE BUGGIES ON A ROCKY DESERT FLOOR; OTHERS ARE SMOOTH-GLIDING BENTLEYS OF IMPECCABLE INSTRUMENTATION, TINY SYMPHONIES THAT CARRY YOUR HEART TO PLACES YOU NEVER WANT TO RETURN FROM, EVER. THE INSPIRATION FOR A LIVE RELEASE HAD BEEN FLOATING AROUND IN THE MINDS OF EACH OF THE BAND MEMBERS FOR YEARS. BUT IT WASN'’ UNTIL BON JOVI TOURED THE U.S. IN THE FALL OF 2000 AFTER A FIVE-YEAR TOURING HIATUS THAT THE TIME SEEMED PERFECT TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK. IT’S ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT BEING ONSTAGE, ARM’S DISTANCE FROM THEIR LIFEBLOOD, THE FANS. “THIS RECORD IS SOMETHING THE FANS HAVE BEEN REQUESTING FOR A LONG TIME,” COMMENTS JBJ. “WE DIDN’T NEED TO DO A LIVE RECORD FOR US. BUT WE DID NEED TO DO IT FOR THEM, THE OLD GENERATION AND THE NEW GENERATION. ONE WILD NIGHT IS ABOUT PURE APPRECIATION FOR WHO AND WHAT GOT US HERE.” IN WRITING THE BAND’S BIO, I THINK I’VE FIGURED OUT WHY JON CALLED ME PERSONALLY AND ASKED ME TO DO IT. I BELIEVE ITS BECAUSE BEYOND MY JOURNALISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF BON JOVI AS THE COMMERCIAL, ARTISTIC, POP/ROCK PHENOM, I ALSO KNOW THEM AS JUST GUYS. BECAUSE BEHIND THE MUSIC, YOU’LL FIND THESE INCREDIBLY NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS COMPOSED OF THE SAME QUANTUM MATERIAL AS YOU AND ME. DIG DEEP DOWN TO THE CORE OF WHO WE ARE AND THERE IT IS, THE DNA CALLED ROCK ‘N’ ROLL. IN WHATEVER FORM YOU’VE EXPERIENCED THEM, IF WHAT BON JOVI HAS GIVEN YOU OVER NEARLY THE PAST 20 YEARS HAS BROUGHT YOU EVEN PARTWAY THERE, THEN ONE WILD NIGHT WILL TAKE YOU THE REST OF THE WAY HOME. OKAY, SO THIS BIO WASN’T SLICK AND STATISTICAL, BUT YOU CAN BET YOUR SADDLE-SORE ASS IT WAS THE TRUTH!

LONN FRIEND/APRIL 2001