Sayreville’s own Jon Bon Jovi came home to play a concert this year at the Starland Ballroom in Sayerville to help the Parker Family Health Center in Red Bank. The show was a full house and the band rocked the crowd with their hits. Photographer Mark Sullivan captured the event.
Bon Jovi has been rocking it around the world since the eighties and they haven’t slowed down a bit. They still tour huge arenas and they can still sell them out.
It’s no wonder fans can’t wait to get to the venues for these shows. There’s nothing quite like seeing them live! They’ll make you feel like you stepped back into the 80s with their big hair and bright neon shirts.
They started with a double whammy of ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ and ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’ to rock the crowd. Jon didn’t walk into the audience like he does in other concerts (thank goodness) but his enthusiasm never waned and the crowd loved every minute of it. There was no smoke or pyro but the massive network of lights were rock-show worthy and they even had a video screen above the stage that displayed a series of five huge medical crosses or, alternately, silhouettes of women doing the kind of gyrating that was popular in music videos for bands during the heyday of the eighties.
The band plowed through all their hit songs including some from their most recent album ‘What About Now’, which proves they’re still relevant today. The new song ‘Beautiful Drug’ showed off a more effective lower range for Jon’s vocals but it couldn’t match up to the classic ‘Slippery When Wet’. The acoustic version of ‘Limitless’ also proved to be an effective crowd pleaser.
But it’s not just the hits that keep fans coming to see them, it’s the fact that they’re an expert showman band first and foremost. Jon can still get a whole room singing along with him and he has a young soul that shines through in his performances. He may not be able to project his higher notes as well anymore but it doesn’t matter. He’s a legend with a great smile and he knows how to get a room going! The boozy swaying and the dancing in the aisles didn’t hurt either. It was a night to remember!