Bon Jovi Rocks Out in Central Park

The eagerly anticipated free Bon Jovi concert attracted an estimated 48,500 people to Central Park yesterday. And were the audience members pumped: People were waiting since Friday for prime seats on the Great Lawn while others settled for arriving many hours before the concert, after having cased the stage set-up ahead of time. The NY Times spoke to one woman who had Jon Bon Jovi's signature tattooed on her back (immortalizing the time he signed her back in 2005) and her friend who gave her daughter the middle name "Jovie."

The band was prompt, starting at 8:02 p.m. and started off with "Livin' on a Prayer." They played their hits until 10 p.m. with the crowd singing along to "You Give Love a Bad Name" and many others. Jon Bon Jovi crowed about performing in Central Park, "Not too many people have ever done it. What a way to end up. We started 10 nights ago in New Jersey. We end up with the biggest show in New York on the Great Lawn." (The group is also playing two shows at Madison Square Garden on Monday and Tuesday.)

A total of 67,500 free tickets (the first 60,000 were quickly snatched up; an extra 7500 were handed out in the past few days) were distributed for the concert, which was meant to help energize residents for Tuesday's Major League Baseball All-Star Game. While some tickets were being scalped, some scalpers had a change of heart and were giving them away for free.

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Comments (9) [rss]

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Looks like pictures from Parking Lot circa 1986.

definitely not your hipster indie crowd. where are the cell phones? isn't that the thing to do at the hipster shows? feign interest.

what's with the photoshopped people in the bottom left corner of the first pic?

I was wondering why there was so much Jersey trailer trash walking around last night.

the only thing gayer than a bon jovi concert is waiting on line for an iphone.

But an iphone is not free.

The only thing gayer than people feeling above Bon Jovi fans are idiots who post about it.

I've never been a fan of Bon Jovi--I was into hardcore/punk at the time Bon Jovi came up, and Bon Jovi was the polar opposite of what I was about. Regardless, I would never feel above anyone for being a fan of him or his music. Music means different things to different people and none of you are better than any of them, so show some respect.

I had some friends who were at the concert and they loved it. Apparently it was a great show, and I'm happy for Bon Jovi fans who had the opportunity to go.

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