Okay...well, so much has happened over the last week in terms of concerts that my mind is befuddled by all the details. So, I give up! Rather than cover each event with individual posts, I'm just going to do a quasi-improvisatory, stream-of-consciousness, write-it-as-it-comes type of blog post. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. And, I know y'all just come for the pictures, anyway. ROFL
Anyhoo, this is why I'm all crazed:
Thursday 2/24 - Bon Jovi MSG 1
Friday 2/25 - Bon Jovi MSG 2
Saturday 2/26 - Southside Johnny in Montclair
Sunday 2/27 - Bon Jovi in Washington, DC
Wednesday 3/2 - NYC Hit Squad at Iridium
Friday 3/4 - Lorenza Ponce and Bon Jovi at Mohegan Sun (#HolyMaryMotherOfAllSetlists)
Saturday 3/5 - Bon Jovi at MSG
Yeah ... that just about sums up the chaos. I already wrote a bit about that first duo of Bon Jovi MSG shows, so I'll just jump into the Southside show...
All Was Well in Wellmont
So, as if back-to-back nights at Madison Square Garden wasn't exciting enough, they were followed by a much-anticipated Saturday night in Montclair, NJ with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.
I had been looking forward to this show for quite some time, knowing that many of my friends in town for Jovi were going to be attending as well. After meeting up near Port Authority, a few of us girls (including a couple of the crazy Gs who were part of my EuroTour adventure) boarded a bus to New Jersey. #AlwaysAnAdventureWithBAJG (lordy I spend a lot of time on buses in the name of music! *rolls eyes*)
After some slightly anxious moments (seems the bus driver wasn't too keen on telling anybody where the bus stops are ... we were just supposed to know by osmosis!) we eventually make it to the venue with plenty of time for the girls to shop for merchandise and for me to catch up with my Jukes family. In relation to many of my fellow Jukians (Juke-ites? Juke-osos?), I came pretty late to the party. Nonetheless, I have made some great friends amongst the gang and shows are always a blast when we are all together.
I had never been to the Wellmont so I really didn't know what to expect ... the venue was fine, though not crazy about all the concrete within the hall itself (which can wreak havoc on acoustics.) As for the show, in usual Southside Johnny fashion, it was ... well ... unique. WONDERFULLY unique. It is no surprise to regular readers of this blog how much I adore the Jukes - the music, the guys, the spontaneity, the chaos. Never a dull moment ... there was a gorgeous off-the-cuff performance of Up On the Roof, amusing stage banter between Johnny and Kazee, a special guest appearance by Outside the Box keyboard player Mark Masefield, a fantastic cover of Loving Cup by Kazee and a show-ending performance of Hearts of Stone, dedicated to my friend T from Atlanta (a fellow JoviJukesGirl.)
I may have gone a little overboard on the whole picture-taking thing ... I ended up with about 4,000 images. *bows head in shame* But, I can justify it! Jukesfans don't take pictures like Jovinuts do. There isn't as much out there ... I'm single-handedly taking care of that! LOL
Here are some of my faves...
...Southside always wears his heart on his sleeve on stage...
...trumpet player extraordinaire Chris Anderson...
I had been looking forward to this show for quite some time, knowing that many of my friends in town for Jovi were going to be attending as well. After meeting up near Port Authority, a few of us girls (including a couple of the crazy Gs who were part of my EuroTour adventure) boarded a bus to New Jersey. #AlwaysAnAdventureWithBAJG (lordy I spend a lot of time on buses in the name of music! *rolls eyes*)
After some slightly anxious moments (seems the bus driver wasn't too keen on telling anybody where the bus stops are ... we were just supposed to know by osmosis!) we eventually make it to the venue with plenty of time for the girls to shop for merchandise and for me to catch up with my Jukes family. In relation to many of my fellow Jukians (Juke-ites? Juke-osos?), I came pretty late to the party. Nonetheless, I have made some great friends amongst the gang and shows are always a blast when we are all together.I had never been to the Wellmont so I really didn't know what to expect ... the venue was fine, though not crazy about all the concrete within the hall itself (which can wreak havoc on acoustics.) As for the show, in usual Southside Johnny fashion, it was ... well ... unique. WONDERFULLY unique. It is no surprise to regular readers of this blog how much I adore the Jukes - the music, the guys, the spontaneity, the chaos. Never a dull moment ... there was a gorgeous off-the-cuff performance of Up On the Roof, amusing stage banter between Johnny and Kazee, a special guest appearance by Outside the Box keyboard player Mark Masefield, a fantastic cover of Loving Cup by Kazee and a show-ending performance of Hearts of Stone, dedicated to my friend T from Atlanta (a fellow JoviJukesGirl.)
I may have gone a little overboard on the whole picture-taking thing ... I ended up with about 4,000 images. *bows head in shame* But, I can justify it! Jukesfans don't take pictures like Jovinuts do. There isn't as much out there ... I'm single-handedly taking care of that! LOL
Here are some of my faves...
...Southside always wears his heart on his sleeve on stage...
...trumpet player extraordinaire Chris Anderson...
...Jeff Kazee, keeping it all together and moving along...
...and Tom pounding out the beat...
...Jeff and Mark Masefield... (p.s. you should check out OTB's site and listen to their songs. Suddenly Saturday and Silenced the Radio are favorites of mine! Suddenly Saturday has one of the catchiest choruses I've heard in a while.)
...Neal Pawley on trombone...
...quintessential Johnny...
Okay...I better move on given the number of pictures I COULD post of the Jukes. Needless to say, there is no longer a shortage of images. ROFLMAO
So, what was up next? Oh yeah ...
Mr. Bongiovi and the Boys Go to Washington
I always end up going to the DC show, regardless of the "DC curse" that has existed for years. It just happens that the DC show is usually after a big show in either New York or Philadelphia, and as such that show is a bit more lackluster than others. Of course when you are talking Jovi, you are still talking an incredibly high level of performance anyway. Nonetheless, the set list was exactly as I expected. Probably I could have skipped this show, but I'd promised a dear, dear friend of mine that I would take him to his first Jovi concert ever. He loved it ... and got to hear his favorite song off The Circle album (Work for the Working Man.) I got a great dinner and sangria out of it ... and was able to play hooky and work out of my firm's Washington office on Monday. So, in the end, not so bad.
Of course, I took a few pictures ...
...Jon's Mick Jagger impersonation (though in this shot, looks more like the funky chicken. LOL)...
...Richie and Hugh...
...one of my favorites from this show...
...have I mentioned that I love this guitar? (I know...two or three hundred times hehe)...
...Jon's "dance moves" up on the platforms during WGIGO...
...Keep the Faith...
Well, like all good things ... this blog post needs to come to an end at some point. So, until next time (NYC Hit Squad, Mohegan and MSG3) ... ciao for now!
p.s. no worries if you wanted more pictures ... I will be doing some random "images only" posts as I go through the nearly 10,000 pictures I took in the last two weeks. :-)
