Bon Jovi at the Rock

Last night Mrs. Legalbgl and I, along with my sister-in-law and her friend, saw Bon Jovi at Newark New Jersey's new Prudential Center, a/k/a The Rock. For those of you who didn't know, last week the new arena opened in downtown Newark, with hopes of revitalizing the area. And, much like New Jersey's other son, Bruce Springsteen, did with the Brendan Byrne Arena years ago, Bon Jovi is playing 10 dates to open the new venue. Last night was show three.

Bon Jovi's first show, Thursday night, received mixed reviews. Eddie Trunk hated Thursday's show. Friday night I heard his review on Q104.3's Friday Night Rocks and was afraid that I wasted several hundred bucks on the tickets. I have listened to Eddie Trunk for years, and usually agree with his tastes. Generally, he is spot on in his assessments.

However, I think he is giving Bon Jovi a raw deal here. I thought Bon Jovi rocked on most of his hits. Excellent versions of "You Give Love A Bad Name", "Runaway" and "Blood on Blood". Even a great version of mediocre songs "Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars" and "Have a Nice Day". I though they did a poor version of "Lay your Hands On Me", way too slow and I thought they did to many songs from "Lost Highway" which is a horrible album. However, I don't think they just phoned it in like Eddie seems to think. Yes, they were better on the last tour. Yes, they could lose the fiddle player and the other two nobodies that no one cared to see on stage, and yes, the new album is way to country, but they did put on an excellent show.

As for the Prudential Center, the venue still has an unfinished quality to it. The walls are still stark white, with very little by way of decorations. The seats were comfortable. One thing, the ushers lined up by the main entrance at the end of the night and where cheering and doing a little dance number for you as you left. A cute touch. A few negatives: poor signage directing you to the parking lots. I never saw a sign directing you to turn off of Broad Street on to E. Kinney Street and no sign to turn from E. Kinney on to Mulberry Street and poor signage indicating which lot was which. Also, I felt as if Mulberry was poorly lit as you were walking from the parking lot to the arena. I must say though, the Newark PD did an excellent job of traffic control getting you out of the area and onto the highways.

Overall, I would rate the concert a 6.5-7, and the Rock a 8-8.5.