Greetings Jovinuts and Jukesfans! Where do I even begin in terms of covering the SSJ & the Asbury Jukes/Bon Jovi Blossom show in Cleveland?
Well, first I'll say ... its NOT IN CLEVELAND! Seriously, its not ... so for a vehicularly-challenged NYC girl, this was a bit of an ordeal.
After flying into Cincinnati to pick up my mom, we jumped on board the Greyhound bus on Sunday (yes, the BUS) up to Cleveland where we spent the afternoon exploring the city and hanging out at the House of Blues (where it seems we will be again in November.)
Monday morning (came so fast, what a fool to think that dreams would last ... sorry, I digress ... Jukes reference LOL) we woke up excited about the show. It was the first time my mom was seeing the Jukes and her first JoviShow since the last HAND concert at Giants. :-) We were VERY lucky (and grateful) that one of the amazing JoviGirls (will call her "D") offered to pick us up and drive us back and forth to the venue after meeting up at her house for pizza, wings and wine (ahh, now THERE'S a great trio!)
So, we're all in the Suburban - 9 of us ladies - blasting Jovi and singing and laughing when my phone buzzes and I see this tweet:
(from) Jeff Kazee: The Marv Albert of Rock & Roll? Play by Play tweeting by world famous Big Apple Jovi Girl..follow @bigapplejovi around 7:30ish for a kick.I guess that's better than "call @bigapplejovi for a good time", right? But in any case, ain't that just swell?! Thanks Mr. Kazee. Nothing like additional pressure to be on the ball after you've had a "few" glasses of wine. LOL (By the way D, I REALLY need to get some bottles of the red from the little Italian lady. That was the best wine I've had in a long time.)
Anyhoo, we arrive safely at the venue, pick up our tickets and head inside to check out the merchandise (of course.) I was very pleased to see a nice selection of Jukes stuff there ... and even happier that I already owned just about all of it so I was able to save a few bucks. We were walking around when I suddenly heard "Cross That Line" and just about ran to the fence and ended up hearing a bit of sound check. (...I could have given a pbp of that if someone had gotten me in ... ahem ... ahem.)Once we were in our seats though it was only a short time before Southside et al took the stage. I was disappointed that the majority of people sat thru the set ... I mean seriously, how can you SIT during a Jukes show? In any case, I was determined to stand regardless of how hot it was or that nobody else was really standing. Luckily, my mom and my friend Diana (the pics in this post are hers!) agreed to stand too. :-) And even though the audience sat, it seemed they really enjoyed hearing the band.
And, yes, I did my duty of tweeting throughout ... including a fervent request to Jon Bon Jovi to have the Jukes play on every show from this point on. Really ... they could just open with We're Having a Party and then have a 6-hour marathon alternating between the two bands and playing together. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me and would save me a whole lot of travel time following these two groups around. LOL
The set was a good mix of old favorites and songs from the new album (or "new favorites.") They sounded fantastic (of course) and it was great to see Richie, David and Tico standing in the doorway to watch them. A few songs into the set they welcomed back Bobby Bandiera and a bit later David Bryan joined them onstage.Here's the set list:
Cross That Line
Passion Street
Baby's Gone for Good
Gin-Soaked Boy
I Played the Fool
Walk away Renee
Talk to Me (with David Bryan on keys)
Without Love
Forever
Harder Than It Looks
I Don't Want to Go Home
Working Too Hard
Fever
One More Night to Rock
And here's are a few more pictures ...
... glad Jeff took those laminates off before he strangled himself (if he wanted THAT, I could have done it LOL)
and one last picture from Diana ... *smile*
Okay folks ... that's it for now. Waiting to see video from my friend B. Will post those as soon as they're available. And there is still the whole BJ portion of the show to go. So be sure to come back soon. :-)
