Abu Dhabi gears up for one of the most awaited concerts of the summer, with Bon Jovi performing in the capital on May 20.
It's strange: how many people do you know who would queue up for a dose of bad medicine, all shaken up? They would rather opt for a martini like James Bond. But when the doctor is Jon Bon Jovi, you know they'll be screaming, 'Bad medicine is what I need!' That's exactly what's going to happen at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi on May 20. This is one highway you would love to get lost on.
From the 1986 multi-platinum winning album Slippery When Wet to the latest Lost Highway, frontman Jon Bon Jovi and his rock-solid group have been making spirits soar, hearts melt and arenas reverberate with their music for almost two decades. So many groups have slowed down or burned out with the passage of time, but Bon Jovi only gets better.
In their 25-year career, they are said to have played around 2,500 gigs in 50 countries to 32 million people. Jon Bon Jovi, lead guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboard player David Bryan and drummer Tico Torres have given unforgettable classic hits such as You Give Love A Bad Name, Bad Medicine, Livin' On A Prayer, Wanted (Dead Or Alive), Bed of Roses and Always.
Whether you're a fan of Bon Jovi's or not, you have to admire how they've kept their feet on the ground all these years. What keeps Bon Jovi going? Lead guitarist Richie Sambora had revealed in an interview to the website Joyzine.com long ago. "With time, we've just continued to find ourselves.
Throughout, we've continued to grow as a band, and even now, the longer you play together and the more you play together live, you come to know each other musically and also personally. Being in a band, it's not enough that you just know how to play your instrument. You have to really connect with your band members. You have to become a family."
Endearing, we must agree, considering that despite the one-for-all, all-for-one attitude that presently exists within Bon Jovi, Jon originally formed the band in 1983 as a tentative lineup.
As he had famously quipped in an interview to Joyzine.com, "When I put this band together, it was with the attitude that.... Tico was in Frankie & The Knock-Outs, and he was between albums; Richie had his own band going, and Alec John Such (former bassist) was a part of that as well. So I thought that maybe it would last about a month or so – we'd play a couple of the local clubs and I could keep writing. It was just that kind of thing. But, jeez, it just hit off so well right then that I knew that was it. And so we worked hard to keep it together."
Except for the departure of bassist Alec John Such in 1994, they certainly have worked hard to remain together. Though no one really came forward to say why Such left, it certainly must have not been easy losing him. As you can see, Such was never officially replaced. Though Hugh McDonald has taken his place during tours and recording, he never graces album covers and does not do interviews.
Not that the going was a smooth ride. In recent years, the US mega-band have had their share of troubles. During the period that they were recording their latest album, Lost Highway, in Nashville, Tennessee, guitarist Richie Sambora was going through a nightmarish phase – a painful divorce from his wife of 12 years Heather Locklear, a custody fight for his daughter Ava Elizabeth and the death of his dad to cancer.
Jon told the Sunday Mail, "When I saw the hell Richie was going through, the subject matter was right there in front of us. I thought it could be a way for Richie to get his mind off the death of his father and losing his wife."
More recently, Sambora escaped a jail term by a hair's breadth for drunken driving and child endangerment. We almost missed seeing the wonderful guitarist work his fingers through the everlasting guitar riffs that we are so used to hearing. Fans of the band will agree, Bon Jovi without Richie would never make a pretty picture.
To launch Lost Highway, Bon Jovi played a 10-night sell-out run at the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey. Diehard Bon Jovi fans were baffled by the group's change of direction.
"We kind of did it as an experiment, and it turned into a real record. Everyone seemed to like it, but I don't think it's a direction we're going to follow forever. We always want to try new things," Torres told the desmoinesregister.com.
Longtime fans probably couldn't fault the band for taking the new sounds on the road. Lost Highway became the band's first album to debut at No.1 on the Billboard charts. It was all kicked off by the song Who Says You Can't Go Home, a duet with Jennifer Nettles that landed the band a No.1 hit on the US country charts in 2006.
As for the May 20 gig in Abu Dhabi, best we can tell, the Emirates Palace will be ready for them and nothing can stop the super group from rocking the UAE. There is no denying Bon Jovi is a class act – 100,000,000 million (100 million) Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong.
