Post by mbwl on Jun 10, 2010 18:07:01 GMT -6
An Interview with Jon
Keepin’ the faith
He’s a chilled philanthropist and father of four who can still pack out a stadium with 50,000 fans. Meet buff rock god Jon Bon Jovi
Tim Cooper
Published: 6 June 2010
It's unfair to call them rock dinosaurs... Rock legends Bon Jovi (Handout) "Eighties hair metal is back!” scream the posters in the window of a downtown New York City club, advertising a tribute band called Twisted Crue. Ten miles away, for the 50,000 people packed into the New Meadowlands Stadium, in New Jersey, it has never gone away.
This is the natural habitat of Bon Jovi. They have been filling stadiums for more than 20 years and making anthemic pop-rock and supercharged power ballads since the start of the poodle-permed, tight-trousered 1980s. Today, the mullets and spandex may be gone, but everything else is much the same as it ever was, including the singer’s Dorian Gray looks. For Jon Bon Jovi and his fans, the Meadowlands show is a piece of history. It marks the opening of the new,£1 billion-plus home of New York’s two American football teams, the Giants and the Jets, and the just-announced news that it will host the Super Bowl in 2014.
Down in front of the stage, fans in the first two rows have paid a small fortune to witness history being made. Jennifer Canziani, 37, has come all the way from Arizona and spent at least $5,000 on flights, hotels, a $1,875 front-row VIP package — including a buffet meal, a backpack and a fold-up seat emblazoned with the Bon Jovi heart-and-dagger logo to take home — and a separate $900 fan- club package with the chance to watch the soundcheck in an otherwise empty stadium.
She’s no high-flyer with money to burn. “I’m a stay-at-home mom with four kids,” she says, although it was dad and the kids who stayed at home. How does she afford it? “I put it on my credit card. This is what I do. I don’t do anything else.”
Beside her is Linda Vena, who lives in Woodbridge, home town of the band’s guitarist, Richie Sambora, and first saw Bon Jovi in 1989 just yards from here, at the Giants Stadium — now a tangled wreck in mid-demolition.
“I’ve seen them 50 times,” she says, before trying to explain the appeal. “It’s the sound of the voice and the songs,” she says. “And obviously, the looks don’t hurt.” She adds: “I love Bon Jovi, but I’m not a nut for it. Some people go too far, but I don’t make shrines at home or anything. My family comes first.”
The one thing you can’t say about anything I’ve done is that it’s been anything other than honest These are the same sort of down-to-earth priorities they see in Jon Bon Jovi, a father of four who remains married to his childhood sweetheart and, until recently, lived exclusively in his home state, New Jersey — albeit in a mock French chateau. After almost 30 years, the band he formed up the road when he was 16 — the same year he met his wife, Dorothea — still has the same guitarist, drummer and keyboard player, and they still sing the same uplifting tunes about standing up for what you believe, living before you die, working for the working man and turning your world around. You may think it’s a bit of a cliché — and many critics would agree with you — but, as the title of their 2004 box set rather succinctly put it, 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong.
It is somehow extraordinary that Jon Bon Jovi can maintain his blue-collar credentials while earning gazillions, travelling in a private jet with his name on the side and living in a pseudo-chateau with its own “English” pub. He also recently bought a loft in downtown Manhattan. Yet he displays few other outward signs of ostentatious extravagance and is rarely seen on the red carpet. Far more likely you will find him doling out tea and sympathy at soup kitchens and homeless shelters, where he underwrites and undertakes a wide range of philanthropic works with his own charitable foundation. When it comes to actions, he remains close to his roots.
So, how, I wonder, when we sit down to talk in what will soon be the locker room of his favourite football team (the Giants), does he empathise with his blue-collar fans while living the American dream to the max? “The one thing you can’t say about anything I’ve done is that it’s been anything other than honest,” he insists, with the mixture of defensiveness and defiance that is his default interview position. “I don’t put on a bullshit air with you. I don’t pretend to be something I’m not. I don’t talk about who my friends are. I don’t give a f*** about it, you know. I ain’t traded the wife in for a starlet. It’s a bunch of serious rock clichés. I know what my job is — to go out there and be the best I can be tonight, the best singer, the best father, the best husband, the best philanthropist, for me. Because I’m the only one that lays down on that pillow at night.
“If you don’t like it and you don’t wanna write something nice about it, that’s your prerogative. If you don’t wanna buy a ticket, that’s your prerogative. I don’t care. I ain’t here to sell you anything. I’m not a politician. So, the rest of it, you gotta say one thing — it was honest. And that’s all I ask for.”
Phew. You would be tempted to call him chippy, were it not for the fact that he’s so chilled, he has been almost comatose until this point. In fact, it’s hard to imagine anyone more relaxed before such a big date with his public. Arriving at the stadium for the first time, he wanders through the dressing rooms like an excited schoolboy, peering into the showers, fiddling with the lockers, then checking out the seats. As for the soundcheck, he leaves that to the band — the guitarist, Sambora; the drummer, Tico Torres; and the keyboard player, David Bryan — who pound and strum away while he sits down to talk, picking at a plate of ravioli from catering.
By the time you read this, Bon Jovi will be in London for the start of a 12-night residency at the O2, the first time they will have played an indoor arena in Europe for 20 years. The nomadic lifestyle of a touring band is all Jon has known as an adult, but one wonders whether, at the age of 48 and after 2,600 shows, he might be beginning to tire of the travel, the hotel rooms, the endless interviews, autographs and photo opportunities. “That’s the life,” he shrugs. “At the moment, in this hour, I’d rather be at home sitting on the couch, watching the news. I’m tired. It’s been a long day already. I was up at 6.30am, and I made everybody breakfast and took the kids to school. But this is what I do.”
In When We Were Beautiful, he described himself as 'the CEO of a major corporation'. Does he regret that now? 'No'
He does it well, whether you like this kind of thing or not. And, with his pretty-boy looks, his perfect smile, blow-dried, blond-streaked hair, bulging biceps and six-pack stomach, Jon Bon Jovi is in pretty fine shape for a man who has tendonitis in his knee and can see his 50th birthday looming. He scoffs at the idea that he watches his diet, and forks another mouthful of ravioli between those dazzling teeth. “I work out a lot,” he nods. “I feel better when I’m in good shape.” Does he put on weight between tours? “Yeah, definitely. I’ve probably lost 10lb since the beginning of the tour. You’re doing a 2½-hour show and you’re in the gym for 1½ hours a day, so you could burn whatever you put in there and get away with it. Whereas, when you’re at home for a month, you’re eating and drinking, and not burning much off.”
It must be hard to return to family life after a tour where you spend night after night being worshipped by tens of thousands of women who want to sleep with you and men who want to be you. “I don’t expect my children to applaud when I come down the stairs in the morning,” he laughs. When I ask how it feels to walk out on that stage, he replies, surprisingly: “Walking out doesn’t impress anybody. Doesn’t impress you, doesn’t impress your mother, who taught you how to walk. It doesn’t mean shit. [But] leaving there three hours later, fully drained of everything you had to leave on that stage, is a feeling of exhilaration.”
That and the knowledge that he has just made more money than most of his audience will see in a lifetime. In the recent documentary When We Were Beautiful, he described himself, rather charmlessly, as “the CEO of a major corporation”. Does he regret that? “No. Someone said we should take that out [of the film], and nine other people said, ‘No, leave it in.’”
Does he not worry that it makes him seem cynical and mercenary? “I’m not cynical at all,” he insists. “I live the ultimate kids’ fantasy, doing what I love to do. I’m in the locker room of my favourite football team on the day that the Super Bowl is announced — and they haven’t been in this room. I mean, is that like a kid’s WILDEST WET DREAM? I’VE SOLD THE PLACE OUT FOR A WEEK! So, cynical? F***, no, this is Christmas!”
The next time I see Jon Bon Jovi, 24 hours later, there are 50,000 people looking at him as he stands on stage in a leather waistcoat and jeans in the 90-degree heat, arms outstretched to the heavens and yelling: “This ain’t television, baby. This is reality.” Does he still love it? F***, yeah!
Bon Jovi play the O2 Arena, SE10, from tomorrow. Tickets from bonjovi.com. The Circle is out now as a special edition on Mercury
Win Bon Jovi tickets: Times+ members can win tickets to see Bon Jovi at the 02 on June 25 and 26. Visit mytimesplus.co.uk for details
Keepin’ the faith
He’s a chilled philanthropist and father of four who can still pack out a stadium with 50,000 fans. Meet buff rock god Jon Bon Jovi
Tim Cooper
Published: 6 June 2010
It's unfair to call them rock dinosaurs... Rock legends Bon Jovi (Handout) "Eighties hair metal is back!” scream the posters in the window of a downtown New York City club, advertising a tribute band called Twisted Crue. Ten miles away, for the 50,000 people packed into the New Meadowlands Stadium, in New Jersey, it has never gone away.
This is the natural habitat of Bon Jovi. They have been filling stadiums for more than 20 years and making anthemic pop-rock and supercharged power ballads since the start of the poodle-permed, tight-trousered 1980s. Today, the mullets and spandex may be gone, but everything else is much the same as it ever was, including the singer’s Dorian Gray looks. For Jon Bon Jovi and his fans, the Meadowlands show is a piece of history. It marks the opening of the new,£1 billion-plus home of New York’s two American football teams, the Giants and the Jets, and the just-announced news that it will host the Super Bowl in 2014.
Down in front of the stage, fans in the first two rows have paid a small fortune to witness history being made. Jennifer Canziani, 37, has come all the way from Arizona and spent at least $5,000 on flights, hotels, a $1,875 front-row VIP package — including a buffet meal, a backpack and a fold-up seat emblazoned with the Bon Jovi heart-and-dagger logo to take home — and a separate $900 fan- club package with the chance to watch the soundcheck in an otherwise empty stadium.
She’s no high-flyer with money to burn. “I’m a stay-at-home mom with four kids,” she says, although it was dad and the kids who stayed at home. How does she afford it? “I put it on my credit card. This is what I do. I don’t do anything else.”
Beside her is Linda Vena, who lives in Woodbridge, home town of the band’s guitarist, Richie Sambora, and first saw Bon Jovi in 1989 just yards from here, at the Giants Stadium — now a tangled wreck in mid-demolition.
“I’ve seen them 50 times,” she says, before trying to explain the appeal. “It’s the sound of the voice and the songs,” she says. “And obviously, the looks don’t hurt.” She adds: “I love Bon Jovi, but I’m not a nut for it. Some people go too far, but I don’t make shrines at home or anything. My family comes first.”
The one thing you can’t say about anything I’ve done is that it’s been anything other than honest These are the same sort of down-to-earth priorities they see in Jon Bon Jovi, a father of four who remains married to his childhood sweetheart and, until recently, lived exclusively in his home state, New Jersey — albeit in a mock French chateau. After almost 30 years, the band he formed up the road when he was 16 — the same year he met his wife, Dorothea — still has the same guitarist, drummer and keyboard player, and they still sing the same uplifting tunes about standing up for what you believe, living before you die, working for the working man and turning your world around. You may think it’s a bit of a cliché — and many critics would agree with you — but, as the title of their 2004 box set rather succinctly put it, 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong.
It is somehow extraordinary that Jon Bon Jovi can maintain his blue-collar credentials while earning gazillions, travelling in a private jet with his name on the side and living in a pseudo-chateau with its own “English” pub. He also recently bought a loft in downtown Manhattan. Yet he displays few other outward signs of ostentatious extravagance and is rarely seen on the red carpet. Far more likely you will find him doling out tea and sympathy at soup kitchens and homeless shelters, where he underwrites and undertakes a wide range of philanthropic works with his own charitable foundation. When it comes to actions, he remains close to his roots.
So, how, I wonder, when we sit down to talk in what will soon be the locker room of his favourite football team (the Giants), does he empathise with his blue-collar fans while living the American dream to the max? “The one thing you can’t say about anything I’ve done is that it’s been anything other than honest,” he insists, with the mixture of defensiveness and defiance that is his default interview position. “I don’t put on a bullshit air with you. I don’t pretend to be something I’m not. I don’t talk about who my friends are. I don’t give a f*** about it, you know. I ain’t traded the wife in for a starlet. It’s a bunch of serious rock clichés. I know what my job is — to go out there and be the best I can be tonight, the best singer, the best father, the best husband, the best philanthropist, for me. Because I’m the only one that lays down on that pillow at night.
“If you don’t like it and you don’t wanna write something nice about it, that’s your prerogative. If you don’t wanna buy a ticket, that’s your prerogative. I don’t care. I ain’t here to sell you anything. I’m not a politician. So, the rest of it, you gotta say one thing — it was honest. And that’s all I ask for.”
Phew. You would be tempted to call him chippy, were it not for the fact that he’s so chilled, he has been almost comatose until this point. In fact, it’s hard to imagine anyone more relaxed before such a big date with his public. Arriving at the stadium for the first time, he wanders through the dressing rooms like an excited schoolboy, peering into the showers, fiddling with the lockers, then checking out the seats. As for the soundcheck, he leaves that to the band — the guitarist, Sambora; the drummer, Tico Torres; and the keyboard player, David Bryan — who pound and strum away while he sits down to talk, picking at a plate of ravioli from catering.
By the time you read this, Bon Jovi will be in London for the start of a 12-night residency at the O2, the first time they will have played an indoor arena in Europe for 20 years. The nomadic lifestyle of a touring band is all Jon has known as an adult, but one wonders whether, at the age of 48 and after 2,600 shows, he might be beginning to tire of the travel, the hotel rooms, the endless interviews, autographs and photo opportunities. “That’s the life,” he shrugs. “At the moment, in this hour, I’d rather be at home sitting on the couch, watching the news. I’m tired. It’s been a long day already. I was up at 6.30am, and I made everybody breakfast and took the kids to school. But this is what I do.”
In When We Were Beautiful, he described himself as 'the CEO of a major corporation'. Does he regret that now? 'No'
He does it well, whether you like this kind of thing or not. And, with his pretty-boy looks, his perfect smile, blow-dried, blond-streaked hair, bulging biceps and six-pack stomach, Jon Bon Jovi is in pretty fine shape for a man who has tendonitis in his knee and can see his 50th birthday looming. He scoffs at the idea that he watches his diet, and forks another mouthful of ravioli between those dazzling teeth. “I work out a lot,” he nods. “I feel better when I’m in good shape.” Does he put on weight between tours? “Yeah, definitely. I’ve probably lost 10lb since the beginning of the tour. You’re doing a 2½-hour show and you’re in the gym for 1½ hours a day, so you could burn whatever you put in there and get away with it. Whereas, when you’re at home for a month, you’re eating and drinking, and not burning much off.”
It must be hard to return to family life after a tour where you spend night after night being worshipped by tens of thousands of women who want to sleep with you and men who want to be you. “I don’t expect my children to applaud when I come down the stairs in the morning,” he laughs. When I ask how it feels to walk out on that stage, he replies, surprisingly: “Walking out doesn’t impress anybody. Doesn’t impress you, doesn’t impress your mother, who taught you how to walk. It doesn’t mean shit. [But] leaving there three hours later, fully drained of everything you had to leave on that stage, is a feeling of exhilaration.”
That and the knowledge that he has just made more money than most of his audience will see in a lifetime. In the recent documentary When We Were Beautiful, he described himself, rather charmlessly, as “the CEO of a major corporation”. Does he regret that? “No. Someone said we should take that out [of the film], and nine other people said, ‘No, leave it in.’”
Does he not worry that it makes him seem cynical and mercenary? “I’m not cynical at all,” he insists. “I live the ultimate kids’ fantasy, doing what I love to do. I’m in the locker room of my favourite football team on the day that the Super Bowl is announced — and they haven’t been in this room. I mean, is that like a kid’s WILDEST WET DREAM? I’VE SOLD THE PLACE OUT FOR A WEEK! So, cynical? F***, no, this is Christmas!”
The next time I see Jon Bon Jovi, 24 hours later, there are 50,000 people looking at him as he stands on stage in a leather waistcoat and jeans in the 90-degree heat, arms outstretched to the heavens and yelling: “This ain’t television, baby. This is reality.” Does he still love it? F***, yeah!
Bon Jovi play the O2 Arena, SE10, from tomorrow. Tickets from bonjovi.com. The Circle is out now as a special edition on Mercury
Win Bon Jovi tickets: Times+ members can win tickets to see Bon Jovi at the 02 on June 25 and 26. Visit mytimesplus.co.uk for details
