Beth and I went to Philips Arena last night to the Bon Jovi Concert.
It was a great show and an amazing time for us together.
Bon Jovi is one of the 80′s bands with a broad appeal and sound that has kept them active and relevant in the music world for 28 years. We really enjoyed the music and the multi media show. Bon Jovi looks good at 49 (much better than George Clooney at 50) and he must be in great shape after the aerobic workout he and the band put forth on stage.
Our seats were right in front of the band… about as far away from them as you could get! We were waaay up top, but the view was great and the sound was excellent. The show was scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. but with no opening act, the band didn’t start until 8:09 p.m. Yes I checked They got off to a rousing start and kept the momentum through the whole evening. They played most of the songs I was looking to hear: You Give Love a Bad Name, Bad Medicine, Runaway, Have a Nice Day, Who Says You Can’t Go Home (not the same without Jennifer Nettles), I’ll Be There For You, Make a Memory and more. He ended the show without two of my songs, but I was hopeful he would get to them in the encore, and he didn’t disappoint. He came back out and let us participate in Wanted, Dead or Alive (love the live version with Sugarland), and finished up with a powerful performance of Living on a Prayer. The multimedia show had a backdrop playing a wall of videos that looked like they were all from YouTube singing covers of Living on a Prayer… it was awesome because they were all synchronized with the performance. It was a great way to end the evening.
The concert itself was electric, but the two girls next to me were clearly having more fun than is legally allowed. They were intoxicated when they arrived and only increased their blood alcohol content while they were there. They spent more time standing and turned facing the guys behind them than they did watching the concert. And who would have thought they could talk loud enough to drown out the music! There were times I thought I was going to see more of her behind than I was Bon Jovi, but Beth and I were not to be denied our evening. We ignored what was going on around us the best we could and had a wonderful evening together.
We took Marta to Philips, and while we didn’t have any trouble, it was a lot more confusing than I had remembered. Not the actual ride or route, but buying the ticket to ride! So many options and choices! The Marta lady had mercy on me and came to help me out and actually pushed all the right buttons for me. It must have worked, because we had no trouble with our tickets. We took the south train from Lenox (I parked at work) and connected at Five Points. Easy in and easy out. Well, almost easy out. We were seated up at the very top of Philips, and when we were able to get outside, we were on the opposite side of Philips from where we needed to be. But it was a nice night out, and we enjoyed the walk and the people. Beth wanted to take a picture of a couple who looked like they were from the 8o’s themselves… frightening, but I told her I didn’t feel like getting my you know what kicked. The train wasn’t crowded and we made our way back without incident, except once again, we exited on the opposite side from where we needed to be. No big deal, we were just two kids walking the streets of Buckhead after midnight! It was a great night!
Beth and I saw Lady Antebellum at the Fox earlier this year, and we are already looking forward to going to Lakewood to see Journey and Foreigner later this year in September. It is one of the things we really enjoy sharing with each other.
