Bon Jovi-Met Life Stadium-7/25/2013

Bon Jovi performed their first of two shows at the Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford New Jersey last night. This was their first New Jersey show without guitarist Richie Sambora. The show definitely had a different feel without Richie being in the band, but that did not make the show any worse.
Guitarist Phil Xenedis is filling in for Richie until he comes back, if he ever does. Phil took the bulk of the solos, while additional touring band member Bobby Bandiera also took a few.
The new version of Bon Jovi seemed to have more of a feel of being a backing band for front man Jon Bon Jovi. When Richie was on stage, the screens tended to show him quite a bit, and both he and Jon shared a microphone many times over the course of a show. Richie also use to sing a song at the majority of their previous shows, usually a Bon Jovi song, but occasionally one of his solo songs. The musicianship may be the same or better with Richie missing, but the part he plays historically with the band is noticeably missing when he is not on stage. The relationship between Jon & Richie is always apparent when they are on stage together. With Richie gone there was less focus on Phil X, and Jon stayed pretty much at his own microphone. In past shows Jon would frequently go over to Richie several times a show. The one moment where Jon did share his microphone was when he and Bobby Bandiera performed two covers during I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. Jon brought Bobby down to do a verse and chorus of the Rolling Stones classic Start Me Up, and a complete version of the Roy Orbison classic Oh Pretty Woman.
Bobby is a veteran of the Jersey clubs, and has performed with Jon for many years whether in the Asbury Jukes, or Jon's solo band or in one of countless charity events they perform at. Bobby knows virtually every classic rock song imaginable.
Of course keyboardist David Bryan and drummer Tico Torres also got plenty of screen time, but there was more of a feel of this being a Jon Bon Jovi concert and not as much a Bon Jovi concert.
This is however not an insult. The band sounded great and Phil X fit in perfectly. He was not brought on the replace Richie, but to fill in for him. He may actually be a better guitarist than Richie, as he proved with his solo on Keep the Faith. As great as Richie always is on this song, Phil brought it to another level. And when you thought it was done, David took a short organ solo, and then Bobby came in with his trademark crunchy guitar work. It may have been the best version yet that I have seen of the song.

Opening the show was the J. Geils Band. They were amazing. Peter Wolf is a great front man and the band was incredibly tight. I only wish more people were there to see them perform. They played a one hour set, which could have been lengthened to two hours, and probably still would have been too short. They performed a couple of their hits; Centerfold, Love Stinks, and some amazing blues rock songs from their extensive catalog.

         Here is a copy of the setlists.

                J. Geils Band
        Setlist included the following:

                 Sno-Cone
                 Hard Drivin' Man
                 Homework
                 Just Can't Wait
                 Centerfold
                 Detroit Breakdown
                 Give it to Me
                 Musta Got Lost
                 Love Stinks
                 Looking For a Love
                 Whammer Jammer
                (Ain't Nothin' But a)House Party

                          

                     
                 Bon Jovi

               What the Water Made Me
               You Give Love a Bad Name
               Raise Your Hand-see clip
               Born to be My Baby
               Lost Highway
               Whole Lot of Leavin'
               It's My Life
               Because We Can
               What About Now
               We Got it Goin' On
               Keep the Faith
               (You Want to) Make a Memory
               Bed of Roses
               Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen From Mars
               We Weren't Born to Follow
               Who Says you Can't Go Home
               I'll Sleep When I'm Dead/Start Me Up(Rolling Stones Cover/Oh Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison cover)-see clip
               Bad Medicine

               Runaway
               Wanted Dead or Alive
               Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
               Have a Nice Day
               Livin' on a Prayer

               Always
               These Days

The Fast Lane - Asbury Park, N.J.

                 Demolition has begun of the legendary Asbury Park club, The Fast Lane.
                 Not as well known outside of the state as the other world famous club around the block, the Stone Pony, but still a very important club in the history of popular music in our state.
                 The Fast Lane is known for being the club where Jon Bon Jovi got his start fronting such bands as The Atlantic City Expressway(which also featured David Bryan of Bon Jovi), The Rest and John Bongiovi & the Wild Ones.
                  But the club had many of the best artists perform there over the years. U2 played their first ever show in New Jersey at the Fast Lane in 1981. Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Bruce Springsteen, Ronnie Spector, The Police, Robert Gordon, The Ramones, David Johansen, The Psychedelic Furs, Mountain, John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band are just a few of the musicians that performd at the Fast Lane.

                  I only saw 3 shows at the Fast Lane. The first was around Christmas time 1991. Glen Burtnik's side project, The Slaves of New Brunswick, performed there. The Slaves had their origin at another New Jersey club, the Melody Bar in New Brunswick. My good friend, who like me was a huge Glen Burtnik fan, and I went to the show. They opened with the first tracks from their self titled CD, Exit #9 & The Girls that I Grew Up With. Bassist Tony Shanahan sang Slave of New Brunswick and Jigs Giglio sang Rock and Roll Queen and These Boots Are Made For Walking, along with many others.
                 The next show I saw was Bon Jovi's "surprise" concert to mark the release of their CD Keep the Faith, see earlier post.
                  The last show I saw was the weekend when the Fast Lane re-opened in mid 90's. The members of Skid Row performed with a new lead vocalist. The band may have been called Ozone Monday, but I am not sure. The highlight of their set was a cover of the David Bowie classic Jean Jeannie.
                 John Easdale of Dramarama was also on the bill, but we did not stay for his set.

                  Sorry to see another little piece of shore music history go away. Not many of the old clubs left, and certainly not many with a very rich history.

Bon Jovi - 10/12/1992 - The Fast Lane, Asbury Park, N.J.

   In memory of The Fast Lane which has just been demolished, I wanted to post the setlist from the second show I was able to see there.
   Back in 1992, Bon Jovi performed a special show at the Fast Lane prior to the release of what was considered by some to be their "comeback" album, Keep the Faith.It was their first album since the hugely successful New Jersey.
   The show was announced a couple days before the actual performance. I remember going down trying to get tickets for my then girlfriend(now wife) and I. No luck. The line was super long and did not seem to move at all once they went on sale. After an hour or so of standing in one spot I took a look at the front of the line which was a huge mass of people and I knew that there were more people than tickets available.
   The night of the show, just a day or two later, we went down hoping we might be able to get a couple tickets. We waited outside and listened as the show started. Local band Mr. Reality opened, and even performed outside for the large crowd which had shown up hoping to get in. Bon Jovi pulled up moments before they took the stage and waved to the crowd before entering through what I imagine was the stage entrance. They opened with A Little Help From My Friends, the Beatles song done in the Joe Cocker arrangement. As the show progressed a few of the people who worked the door would grab a bunch of the tickets that they collected, and would go to an alley at the side of the club and sell them. After several songs, my girlfriend got two and we were in. We crammed our way in and even managed to keep the stubs. This was one souvenir she was not about to give up.  We came in as the band was performing I'll Sleep When I'm Dead,the first of 3 new songs they did from Keep the Faith. It sounded great, a perfect bar band song. The crowd was peppered with local musicians, Danny Federici from the E Street Band, John Eddie and Lance Larson, who wound up performing with Bon Jovi in the encore. Lance managed to make his way through the shoulder to shoulder crowd when Jon called for him to come up during the encore. He heard Lance was there, but was not sure if it was true. Jon Bon Jovi talked about seeing one of Lance's bands The Lord Gunner Group at the Fast Lane and being very upset that original drummer Vini Lopez was replaced by some new guy, who turned out to be Tico Torres, who eventually became the drummer for Bon Jovi.
   Early in the show when someone yelled for them to do an old one, they did a very short version of their first hit Runaway, but then said he was more excited to do the new stuff, and launced into I'll Sleep When I'm Dead.
   The band worked several covers into their own songs, in tribute to the bar where many of them played in their youth. Jon fronted The Rest, The Atlantic City Expressway and The Wild Ones, who played the Fast Lane regularly.
   I only saw 3 shows at the Fast Lane, but this is one show that regardless of where it was, is one that I will always remember. Here's the setlist.

                   With a Little Help From My Friends(Beatles/Joe Cocker cover)
                   Wild in the Streets
                   You Give Love a Bad Name
                   Born to be My Baby
                   I'd Die For You
                   Runaway
                   I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
                   Bed of Roses
                   Keep the Faith
                   Lay Your Hands on Me
                   Good Lovin'(Rascals Cover)/Bad Medicine/Shout(Isley Brothers cover)
          
                   Livin' on a Prayer(Acoustic version)
                   Midnight Rambler(Allman Brothers cover)/Wanted Dead or Alive
                   Kansas City(Little Richard cover) w/Lance Larson
                   Blaze of Glory


              
   
  

Quincy Mumford & The Reason Why-Urban Nest, Asbury Park NJ, 7-6-2013

  New Jersey musician Quincy Mumford held a CD release party at the Urban Nest in Asbury Park on Saturday July 6, 2013. His latest CD, titled It's Only Change, will be released later this month, but was available early at the show.
  The latest CD is credited as Quincy Mumford and The Reason Why, however only longtime bassist Brian Gearty appears on the CD, along with several other musicians. But not to worry, The Reason Why are still together and sounding better than ever as this show proved. The Reason Why consists of Karlee Bloomfield on keyboards, Brian Gearty on bass, Mike Zdeb on guitar, David Vossel on drums and Nerio Matheus on percussion.
  The concert consisted of all but one song from the new CD, a few older songs of Quincy's and a few choice covers. Brian Gearty took the rap section of It Wasn't Me and Karlee Bloomfield took a portion of the vocals.

  Opening the show were Colton Kayser, performing a solo set and Long Miles from Pennsylvania.
  Here is the setlist from the show:

                A Hard Place
                Sunshine
                Baby Don't Go/D'Yer Mak'er(Led Zeppelin cover)
                Under the Covers
                My Friend
                Dock on a Bay
                Change
                For You
                It Wasn't Me(Shaggy Cover)
                Kush Bushes (A Go Go)
                When You Get Back
                December 1963(Oh What a Night) (Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons cover)
                No Love
                What is Love(Haddaway cover)
                Eventually
                Time Won't Wait

                Free From It All
                Feel Good Music