Cape Town - Eighteen years ago I was in matric, Justin Bieber was one year old and Bon Jovi was rocking South African stages. Back then, thanks to certain financial constraints and a boyfriend oddly obsessed with spear fishing, I was unable to attend said concert. This time round, nothing was going to stand in my way to see these rock legends perform live.
The “nothing” turned out to include a brisk walk from the train station to Cape Town Stadium, courtesy of a certain bus drivers’ strike. But, surrounded by hundreds of fellow pedestrians, the Fan Walk experience ended up being quite pleasant and there was even time to stop off for a quick snack along the way.
Arriving in high spirits (yes, the snack did include one shooter of questionable Hungarian origin), I was shuffled through the security line, quickly stopped off at the beer tent and then claimed my spot in the general standing area on the open field.
There was hardly anytime to appreciate the starry sky above before 2011 Idols finalist Mike Haze plugged in his electric guitar and got proceedings off to an early start at 7.30pm. He was seamlessly followed by Elvis Blue, the 2010 Idols winner, who won over the crowd with his usual charm. Whether by accident or design these two South African artists fitted Bon Jovi’s act like a glove with Haze and his hard-rock sound representative of the band’s early years and Blue’s more contemporary angle reflecting their later work. One thing stood out though, South Africa’s got big talent.
The thing about big talent, especially a band which have been around as long as Bon Jovi have, is that they have a huge vault of material to choose from. The worry that big hits will be forsaken for fresher material, especially if there is a new album in circulation, is a real one among fans.
Bon Jovi’s Because We Can tour is obviously aimed at promoting their new album What About Now, so a few singles from the album was to be expected. For the rest, it was a bit touch and go in the beginning as the crowd was swept up into a frenzy with huge hits like You Give Love A Bad Name the one moment, and left hanging with a set of less familiar songs the next.
But being a veteran showman, Jon Bon Jovi soon got things back on track with his broad American twang and, dare I say it, almost evangelistic talk of “putting a quarter in the jukebox” and coming up with surprise covers such as Rockin All Over the World. By the end of the evening the band had the crowd shouting along to old favourites such as It’s My Life and Bad Medicine and waving their arms to songs from their “country” period.
And then the party really got started. The encore, which is usually limited to about three songs, stretched to 40 minutes of pure rock heaven when Bon Jovi brought out the big guns, including Livin’ on a Prayer and, of course, Always.
To quote the man himself: “I may not be as young as Justin Bieber, or dance as well as Timberlake, but I’ve been around longer than both those guys’ careers combined.And I’m not going anywhere.”
Rock on Bon Jovi! - Cape Argus
• Catch Bon Jovi this Saturday at the FNB Stadium, Johannesburg.