Christmas is the best time of the year. There is still something magical about the season and how it makes people feel. As my Father use to say, "It's the one time of the year that you believe miracles can happen".
There are so many things that are representative of the season:the food, the movies, the T.V. Specials, seeing old friends and family, and probably more than anything else, the music. I've been very lucky to see some great Christmas concerts: Bruce Springsteen in Asbury Park, The Holiday Express in Red Bank, Glen Burtnik's Christmas concerts, and Bon Jovi.
Bon Jovi started doing Christmas benefit concerts at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank in 1990. The first couple years they mixed their standard fare with Christmas songs and rare tracks and covers. The first year I went was 1992. Keep the Faith had just been released and they were gearing up for a tour. In an Asbury Park Press article Jon did say that the Christmas show would not be a tour warm up. I was excited about what would be my second time seeing them, after seeing them play the Fastlane in Asbury Park the previous October.
Well, the show wound up being a slightly shorter version of their Keep the Faith shows. I was pretty disappointed. Aside from throwing in I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas and Please Come Home For Christmas, it was pretty standard setlist. So the next year when my future Wife and her Mother and I got tickets for the now Annual Christmas benefit, I was looking forward too it, but not expecting too much.
I am happy to say that I was more than pleasantly surprised. The show was excellent. It was everything you could hope for from a show by a huge band in an intimate setting. After the opening one two punch of Help and With A Little Help From My Friends, they did Bad Medicine, a song usually relegated to the encores. From there on the show got better and the band played with their usual energy and showed they are best in a concert setting. Both Jon and Richie Sambora performed some of their solo songs, and both keyboardist David Bryan and drummer Tico Torres got to come center stage. The band was augmented by a horn section for a few of the songs. Lasting 3 hours, it is still one of my favorite Bon Jovi concerts and one that my Wife and I still talk about from time to time.
The setlist follows.
Help- Jon & Richie Sambora Lead Vocals
With A Little Help From My Friends- w/Horns
Bad Medicine
Let It Bleed- w/Horns & David Bryan Lead Vocals
Keep the Faith
Tom Trauberts Blues(Waltzing Matilda) - Tico Torres Lead Vocals
Love For Sale- w/Horns
Stranger in This Town- w/Horns & Richie Sambora Lead Vocals
Blood Money- Jon solo
Blaze of Glory
Dry County
Lay Your Hands on Me
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead/Jumpin' Jack Flash
Livin' on a Prayer
-ENCORE-
The Answer- Richie Sambora Lead Vocals w/David Bryan & Alec John Such
Wanted Dead or Alive
Blood on Blood
You Give Love a Bad Name
Born to Be My Baby
Just Like a Woman- Jon solo
Bed of Roses
I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas
It's Only Rock n' Roll(But I Like It) - w/Horns Jon & Richie Sambora Lead Vocals
Never Say Goodbye
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