Bon Jovi delivers the classics at final Australian concert in Sydney
Jon Bon Jovi may be nearing 60 but he showed no signs of slowing down as he gave the 55,000 plus fans in Sydney exactly what they wanted in his final Australian show.
Music
Don't miss out on the headlines from Music. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Jon Bon Jovi made a boxer’s entrance, jogging down the sidelines and slapping hands as he made his way to the band’s final Australian concert at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Saturday.
The rock prize fighter, well practised in the showmanship required in the stadium ring, wasted no time bouncing across the stage, throwing his arms in shadow punches and revving the crowd up with those preacher-like spirit fingers.
The response to the opening one-two punch of You Give Love A Bad Name and Raise Your Hands confirmed this 55,000 plus crowd of true believers, scattered with some younger converts, were up for the challenge of matching the power of Bon Jovi’s sound system.
Their founding frontman and his band which includes originals, drummer Tico Torres and keyboardist Dave Bryan, came armed with an enviable catalogue of hits assembled across their three decades.
While other pop extravaganzas by Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift filled their stadium productions this year with megaton screens, fireworks and stuff that flew or blew up, Bon Jovi keep it old school, with a modest runway into the ground and the might of their musicianship.
There will always be a phone torch moment and that came during the concert’s epic power ballad Bed Of Roses as the stadium was bathed in red light.
Setting themselves further apart from their younger pop predecessors on Australia’s stadium circuit this year, the wealth of the set list wasn’t drawn from their most recent studio album, the 2016 charttopper This House Is Not For Sale.
“We ain’t go nowhere, never,” Bon Jovi said to introduce Rollercoaster, the album’s hot single at rock radio in America.
It’s as catchy as any of their upbeat pop-flecked radio songs but it might be another decade before it gets the same crowd karaoke traction as It’s My Life or Keep The Faith.
The silver fox frontman and his bandmates were generous with their delivery of fan favourites and enduring rock radio staples including Lay Your Hands On Me, Bed of Roses and Bad Medicine.
Like Mick Jagger, the man Bon Jovi cites as being the arbiter of stadium rock’s retirement age, the New Jersey singer, actor and activist has no plans to quit his day job any time soon as evidenced by his impassioned delivery of Its My Life’s chorus mantra: “It’s now or never, I ain’t gonna live forever.”
His unflagging energy in the gig is infectious and the end of that song’s performance was greeted by one of those minutes-long roars that grew in volume as he stood there wearing his megawatt Cheshire Cat grin and soaked up all the bonhomie.
Of course it’s impossible to maintain that kind of frenzy for an entire show and you may wonder why any live performer risks the mass sit-down, head-to-the-bar momentum killer of songs like God Bless This Mess or Captain Crash & the Beauty Queen from Mars.
But the band also deserve massive props for not pre-packaging the set list on this Australian tour with each gig changing up the order and song selection.
And Bon Jovi himself is no glory hound, with his bandmates getting their fair share of big screen time.
As for stage uniforms he also switched it up, forsaking the basic black for the striking heart and dagger bomber jacket.
While the crowd were always happy to swell in song during the bands classics, it was obvious Bon Jovi did struggle at times during the show to get his vocal power to match the might of the band’s volume.
There was some sound swirl in the stadium thanks to the intermittent winds but that’s sometimes what you get at an outdoor show.
And yes, most enduring fans may notice the presence of Richie Sambora who quit the band five years ago but no one was chanting about it at the Australian shows so we can assume everyone has moved on.
As everyone left the stadium having just sung their lungs out to Wanted Dead and Alive and Livin’ On A Prayer, you would be have to be the judgiest judgey fan to not have had a rocking good Saturday night.
Originally published as Bon Jovi delivers the classics at final Australian concert in Sydney