POP/ROCK: Christopher Roper
IT’S official. The gods love Jon Bon Jovi more than Michael Atherton. The rain held off on an overcast Cape night this week, and American supergroup Bon Jovi delighted the crowd with over two hours of the melodic stadium rock they’re famous for.
Durban lite-metal band Arapaho took the stage first and informed the crowd loudly that they were in Cape Town, but then started playing and lost their sense of direction. They warbled through 40 minutes of inoffensive rock, and ended with an obsequious homage to Bon Jovi.
When the megastars themselves pranced on to the stage I thought they were dwarves, but then realised I was in a really cheap seat. They started with Status Quo’s Rocking All Over the World and ended with The Beatles’ With a Little Help from My Friends, an appropriate gesture given that their audience seemed to consist mainly of the type of South Africans who would rather hear Hotel California covered for the thousandth time than listen to original local music. But the fans got what they came for, singing along lustily to favourites like Living on a Prayer, Bad Medicine and the current single, Something for the Pain.
Jon’s stage patter was restrained, though I still haven’t figured out what he meant when he said “I’m back”. Still, the crowd loved it, enveloping him in their adulation like flames around a bon mot. Richie Sambora produced a stunning variety of solos on different guitars, displaying a digital dexterity that makes it obvious why Heather has chosen him as her new man. He is without doubt a much better guitarist than Tommy Lee, the previous Mr Locklear. Drummer Tico Torres and keyboardist David Bryan add the harmonic flavours that push Bon Jovi into the upper echelons of pop-
Although the lighting was excitingly flashy, the stage set was disappointingly simple, a fake brick backdrop enlivened only by a large painting of Paul Slabolepszy disguised as Elvis Presley — perhaps a misguided homage to South African art. At one point two very large plastic figures billowed out of the stage. The one on the right, an Elvis with devil’s horns, a guitar and flashing red eyes, seemed to have marginally more charisma than Jon himself. The figure on the left was a sexy bellydancer, obviously intended to be the female equivalent of Elvis. There is no queen of rock’n’roll, which I suppose is appropriate, given the limp brand of rock that Bon Jovi produce.
But as much as you may criticise the unchallenging and unsexy nature of their songs, you can’t deny that Bon Jovi have heart. They played four encores, surely more than even the most demanding fan could hope for, and ended with a stupendous fireworks display. If you were a Bon Jovi fan, you had one of the best nights of your life. Jon said goodbye in German, perhaps a legacy of our past decades of bad press, or perhaps because he thought it was Afrikaans.
Bon Jovi perform at Johannesburg Stadium tonight, and at King’s Park in Durban on Sunday night