Gig played on 21/01/06

Bon Jovi's Saturday didn't start out too well. Not by a long shot. In the wee hours, the group's private plane overshot the runway in Hamilton, due to torrid weather. Nobody was injured but it seems a brush with mortality can bring out the best in people, even a band as safe and as seasoned as Bon Jovi. At least that's the case for some of the 150 minutes the Jersey rock legends are onstage this evening.

Opening with "Last Man Standing", Jon Bon Jovi stands alone at the back of the arena resembling Elvis, guitar in hand, shaggy blond hair but rather pale gyrations. Wading his way through the crowd, he shakes hands, accepts kisses and smiles like a charmed politician before "You Give Love A Bad Name" turns the venue into a resurrected Wembley Stadium, all standing and all singing.

"It'll take more than a plane crash to stop me!" Mr Bon Jovi says as he crumples up the set list prior to "Sleep When I'm Dead" with Richie Sambora lavishing us with another epic guitar solo. With the audience lapping up every minute, the group tears into "Getting Older" and "Born To Be My Baby". The rarely played "Wild Is The Wind" is also thrown in and you realise how good Father Time has been to these songs and this band. However, with each number, the "can do" mentality of drummer Tico Torres slowly becomes more like "can do but it's going to be bloody hard to do".

A snippet of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" leads into "Have A Nice Day", and we're then led down a 60-minute corridor of minor tedium. "It's My Life", once a crisp radio-friendly force now consists of a slow, pedestrian tempo as unbearable as the Stones' live version of "Start Me Up". Meanwhile, Tico's gasping behind the kit takes on the potential of a medical emergency. The acoustic portion features Jon, on a small riser in the stands, ranting at the lighting crew for missing his spotlight on "Blaze Of Glory". Given how limp the lush, orchestrated "Bed Of Roses" is, the lighting guy might consider shutting the lights off completely.

Fortunately, the group turns it on again for the homestretch, kicking off with "Bad Medicine", featuring an impromptu break into "Gloria". It's this second wind that brings the early frenzy back to both fan and band, resulting in the aerobic workout that is "Raise Your Hands" and a rabblerousing "Livin' On A Prayer". Returning respendant in a Philadelphia Soul jersey, the arena football team which he owns, Bon Jovi throws out the galloping "Blood On Blood", finishing with the appropriately named "Wanted Dead Or Alive". Ultimately, Bon Jovi are winners tonight. And all it took was a near tragedy...

by Jason MacNeil