One Wild Night...

...well, quite a few actually!! Yes people, Bon Jovi are heading our way this June for a whopping 24 concerts all around Europe!!! Am I excited??? Hell yeah!!!

Here are the list of upcoming gigs...

June 8th - Maximir Stadium - Zagreb, Croatia.

June 10th - Ostragehege - Dresden, Germany

June 12th - Olympic Stadium - Munich, Germany

June 15th - Ullevaal Stadium - Oslo, Norway

June 17th - Olympic Stadium - Helsinki, Finland

June 19th - Horsens Stadium - Horsens, Denmark

June 22nd - Murrayfield Stadium - Edinburgh, UK

June 24th - Old Trafford Cricket Ground - Manchester, UK

June 25th - Hard Rock Calling (Hyde Park) - London, UK

June 27th - Ashton Gate Stadium - Bristol, UK

June 29th - RDS Arena - Dublin, Ireland

June 30th - RDS Arena - Dublin, Ireland

July 8th - Turk Telekom Arena - Istanbul, Turkey

July 10th - Piata Constitutiei - Bucharest, Romania

July 13th - Esprit Arena - Dusseldorf, Germany

July 14th - Letzigrund Stadium - Zurich, Switzerland

July 16th - Maimarktgelande - Mannheim, Germany

July 17th - Stadio Frilui - Udine, Italy

July 20th - Olympic Stadium - Athens, Greece

July 22nd - Ernst Happel Stadium - Vienna, Austria

July 24th - Zeebrugge Beach - Brussels, Belgium

July 27th - Estadio Olympico - Barcelona, Spain

July 29th - Estadio Anoeta - San Sebastian, Spain

July 31st - Parque de Belavista - Lisbon, Portugal

What gigs are you heading to? I'm going to both Dublin shows (Golden Circle) and *possibly* Edinburgh.... cue last blog post - http://itsmyjovilife.blogspot.com/2011/05/keepin-faith.html 

There are rumours circulating that Richie Sambora WILL be returning on stage with Bon Jovi, where he belongs, as of June 8th in Zagreb! Imagine the welcome he is going to get there, we have missed him!! Welcome back Mr King of Swing!

For the Bon Jovi fans both living in Croatia and those travelling far and wide for their opening European gig, enjoy!! And give our Richie the welcome back he truly deserves!!!

Have A Nice Day folks x

Sources: Official Bon Jovi website, Google images.

Keepin' the Faith...

...that I'll be seeing Bon Jovi in Edinburgh on the 22nd of June!! See, I'm currently winning a competition on http://www.fanshake.com/ to win two tickets to see our boys play Murrayfield a week before I see them in Dublin!! Being a fan of Bon Jovi for a number of years, I feel that I should have seen them alot more (than just once!) so now that the opportunity has arisen, I am determined to win and therefore see them at least three times this year.

If you'd like to help make my dream come true, all you have to do is click on this link...

http://www.fanshake.com/contests/Bon-Jovi-win-tickets-edinburgh-concert-gig-22-june-2011/submissions/9058/

...then all you have to do is click Vote for It, then either Create A Fanshake Account or Vote via Facebook. Then, once you are taken to a page that says Thank You For Your Vote, you're done! Also, just so you know, you get an extra vote for my entry if you share on Facebook via my post. It would mean the world to me! Thank you!!! And don't forget....

Have A Nice Day! x

Wanted Dead or Alive!

Wanted Dead or Alive is one of Bon Jovi's most iconic songs ever written, especially as it is for "all the cowboys out there". The opening chords are stunning and the lyrics aint half bad either!

This song was written for the 1986 album Slippery When Wet by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. Jon was quoted at one of Bon Jovi's gigs that this song was written in Richie's mother's basement at their home. Jon laughed when recalling this memory and thanked Richie's Mum for not doing the laundry that day. I think all of the Jovi fans worldwide should thank Richie's Mum for that! It was Bon Jovi's third single and it did exceedingly well, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Charts.

Jon himself said that this song was inspired by Bob Seger's song Turn the Page.

Jon believed that the lifestyle of rockers was similar to that of outlaws in the Wild West, and this song pays homage to that. After hearing Turn the Page, Jon convinced Richie that they had to write a song like this, and so, the following year, Wanted Dead or Alive was born!

This song has been performed in almost every setlist, normally as the second last or last song in the encore. It leaves the crowd with an unexplainable buzz that remains with them long after the gig has concluded.

Bon Jovi, with a lot of their hits, have opted to do acoustic versions which sometimes do work, but sometimes really do fail and do not live up to the original. Wanted Dead or Alive is one of those songs that they decided to do acoustically for their This Left Feels Right CD/DVD. Have a listen, let me know what you think. Is it as good as the original? Should it have been left alone? Is it better?

I remember my first time hearing Bon Jovi sing this song live. It was at Twickenham Stadium, London on June 27th 2008 and it was the last song of the night. The screens behind the band were illuminated with what looked like a sunrise, the dawn of a new day, ironically for what was the final song of the night. I remember feeling quite sad listening to this because it was my first time seeing Bon Jovi live and it was also a realisation that they weren't going to sing my all-time favourite song, Bed of Roses (those that know me know i'm pleading with the band through their online official pages to perform this in Dublin exactly 5 weeks from today). However, being a part of a 43,000 strong crowd singing along to one of Bon Jovi's classics was so memorable. It was truly amazing. The crowd sang the whole first verse and chorus which resulted in an electric atmosphere. Jon and Richie then took over and completely blew me away.

This iconic song has been used in many Hollywood films and television series and I can imagine that many Jovi fans get a little bit excited when one of Jovi's greatest hits is played without our fore knowledge. Some examples are Supernatural, American Dad, Wedding Crashers, Wild Hogs, NCIS, The Vampire Diaries, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. The song has also been covered many times in reality shows such as American Idol and Nashville Star.

Speaking of covers, some very brave people have jumped at opportunities to cover this song and make it their own. I will say some of the covers are good and sound very similar to Bon Jovi's style but goodness me, there are some really shockingly bad covers... There are 2 covers that I'm going to include here. One is a very country style one which works and is quite good (obviously not as good as Bon Jovi ;) )

The other cover which i'm going to include is by a band called Northern Kings. It is quite a hard rock,verging on metal cover which, in my opinion, is utterly dreadful. I have never heard of this band nor do I know any of their other songs, but I believe they should not have tried covering this classic. It just doesn't work. Opinions?

So, Wanted Dead or Alive. Almost 25 years old, and it's still one of Bon Jovi's greatest ever songs. The crowd still loves it and each time Jon sings "I've seen a million faces....", he most definitely rocks them all.

Til next time folks, have a nice day ;)


Sources: Wikipedia, Google Images, Youtube.

One Light Burning...

... for Richie Sambora, the guitar player extraordinaire, Jon Bon Jovi's right hand man.

The King of Swing!

Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) has been lead guitar player for Bon Jovi for 25 years and has released two acclaimed solo albums Stranger in this Town and Undiscovered Soul. He often takes over on vocals from Jon during Bon Jovi's gigs, most notably for the songs, I'll Be There For You, Homebound Train and These Days. There is no doubt in the world that Richie is an extremely talented man who can play guitar and sing extremely well. He is loved by Bon Jovi fans all over the world and his signature guitar solos during songs like Dry County and Wanted Dead or Alive are simply fantastic!

Richie & Jon - brothers forever!

However, Richie is human, just like the rest of us. He has battled with alcoholism for a number of years - the sudden death of his father and his split with Heather Locklear in 2007 proved too much for Richie (considering these life events happened less than 3 weeks apart). Richie entered a rehab facility to try and overcome his addiction in mid 2007. His fans have always been his support group and have always stood right behind Richie. So it was with a deep sense of sadness that we, the Jovi family, heard that Richie re-entered a rehab facility on the 28th April 2011. Unfortunately for fans, Richie was unable to play at numerous gigs around America which led to Bon Jovi taking on Phil X, a guitarist from the band Triumph and Powder, temporarily during Richie's recovery. Phil has now completed his touring with Bon Jovi as the US gigs are now finished and Bon Jovi move on across the water to Europe. This has fuelled rumours that Richie may possibly be healthy and fit enough to return and play during these gigs beginning in June.

Richie doing what he does best...

I remember seeing Richie sing and play at Twickenham Stadium in June 2008 and he was simply outstanding. I had never heard Richie sing solo prior to this and he blew me away with his version of I'll Be There For You. He took to the stage like a natural pro, he handled the crowd with ease and he melted the hearts of over 43,000 fans who were in attendance.


My picture from the main stand of Richie in London 2008

I have to admit, I adore Richie and I wish him every health and happiness and cannot wait to see him back touring again. I was shocked and truly gutted when I heard he had returned to rehab. At the same time though, I am really happy that he realises he has a problem and more importantly, he is willing to fix it. I love seeing people's pictures from gigs and seeing Jon and Richie fooling about, and I do miss that the most. Seeing Jon's face light up when playing alongside his right hand man makes the relationship, the brotherhood, the camaraderie, seem more real between them. The chemistry between Jon and Richie onstage is electric and that has been missing with Richie's absence. This will be a welcome feature again when Richie returns.

(Jon singing I'll Be There for You on May 6th 2011 - possibly the most heartbreaking version ever!)

Just remember Richie, every single fan and supporter of yours is behind you, and just so you know.....


Jon & Richie

 ...I'll Be There For You! xxx


Welcome to Wherever You Are

Hello everyone, welcome aboard the steel horse that’s riding through the interweb, providing interesting information and facts you may not know in relation to some of Bon Jovi’s greatest ever songs. Starting from their inspiration for their songs, to where they were first penned, to who has dared to cover them - this blog has got it all.

Some of you may wonder, why bother? There’s Wikipedia, isn’t there? There’s YouTube isn’t there? Yes, there is. But this is different. Anyone can pop along to this page, leave comments, feedback and send on any advice or information they have on any of these songs, especially if I make a mistake (which hopefully I won’t as that would really taint my reputation as being one of Ireland’s biggest Jovi fans!)

Additionally, all of the posts I write and publish here will be easily accessible, searchable and won’t be scattered about the internet, as that is par for the course of each individual song Jovi have done.

Even though this blog will be (mostly!) Jovi related, I will post about other things - little snippets about my own life, my hobbies and links to other blogs and websites that may be of interest to the readers.

This blog will be a learning curve for me too. I’m not doing this just because I love singing along to Bon Jovi’s classics ( or perving on them!!), I’m doing this because personally, I want to learn more about them, the background of their songs and what truly inspires them as individuals. I am a die-hard Bon Jovi fan, any of my friends will most definitely vouch for that. If one of their song titles is said in conversation, I’m the one who shouts out “That’s a Jovi song!” or if we are at a party or wedding, I will *always* ask the DJ to play some Jovi – it’s a given! I know the words to all of their songs (almost!), I brag to *everyone* about how amazing they are!!!

I have only been to one of their concerts (27th June 2008, Twickenham Stadium, London, UK) but this does not mean I am any less of a fan than someone who has seen them since they started touring way back in the late 80s.

For starters, I was born in 1990 so it would have been quite a challenge for me to attend gigs back then! I was meant to go their gig in Croke Park in Dublin in 2006 and in Punchestown in 2008 but unfortunately, education came first...!! Believe me, I was not impressed!!! However, to show how much I love them, I have entered so many competitions to see them!! Prior to their 13 night stint at the 02 arena in London, UK, a local radio station here in Ireland was running a competition to win tickets to the opening night. But it was not just tickets, oh no!! It was so much more! There were flights, accommodation, tonnes of merchandise, pre-show dinner, after party access and seats in the pit!! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. All that you needed to do was wait for a Bon Jovi song to be played on the radio and just text in (as many times as you wanted!) and pray that you got a phone call back! Ironically, the song played was Bed of Roses (some of you reading this will know this is my all-time favourite Jovi song and it holds a lot of memories for me). So, when I heard the opening keys being played by the sexiest keyboard (and accordion) player around, my phone almost had a meltdown! I texted in constantly for the entire length of the song until my fingers hurt! Over all, I text in over 70 times, spent over 10euro on credit and was left physically shaking. I *had* to win. But, as often happens, I didn’t. I was gutted but life does go on.

Now over a year and a half later, I’m looking forward to three possible gigs in June. I am most definitely attending their 2 Dublin gigs on June 29th and 30th in the RDS (Golden Circle :) ) and am currently first in a contest to win tickets to their show on the 22nd June in Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Scotland (I will be posting about that too in another post!). I’m a Jovi nutter and I am damn proud to be one!!

Again, even if you don’t have any interest in Bon Jovi, do check in and read my posts, they won’t *all* be about Bon Jovi! This emporium of facts and trivia on Bon Jovi and their music will be something that all Jovi fans will love, I have no doubt. And don’t worry! There will be pictures of our favourite guys too! Maybe even some videos ;)

Keep an eye out for my next blog post, it will be about one of Bon Jovi’s greatest ever singles, a song that you will always be guaranteed to hear the fans singing along to: Wanted Dead or Alive.

Until then though, have a nice day ;)