Live Metal

Live Metal

96° FAHRENHEIT!

BON JOVI/KEEL

Madison Square Garden, NY August 3, 1987_

by Ida S. Langsam

As I entered the massive Madison Square Garden, I found myself amidst a giggling gaggle of girls, many with their moms. Countless numbers of them were dressed in their best animal print spandex outfits from the local K-Mart or Sears. Checking my wristwatch, I saw that it was 8:03. Showtime on the tickets was listed at 8:00 p.m. I could hear the sounds of live music coming from the stage already as my companion and I were busy trying to find our way to our seats. Winding our way through the cavernous hallways, we found ourselves walking in the “slow” lane. Directly in front of us were two girls dressed in miniskirts, fishnet stockings which were almost bursting at the back seams, and tight tank tops. It was a sure bet these girls couldn’t pass the “pinchan-inch” test and the outfits painfully showed this. Rather than looking like sexy metal vixens, they resembled fledglings who had not yet outgrown their baby fat. They also looked like 50 percent of the females in the audience.

“King Of The Rock” was the song Keel were mid-way through by the time we got seated. This was followed immediately by “I Said The Wrong Thing To The Right Girl,” with little-to-no between-song chatter from the stage. The first thing I noticed was the striking visual impact of the band, and who cares about wasting time with mindless stage patter when there’s so much good music being cranked out? I was totally amazed. I had been listening to Keel’s eponymously-titled new LP for most of the day and had already decided that I really liked what I heard, but was not prepared to be so impressed with what I saw. There were dozens of wellchoreographed poses and—surprise, surprise—some of them were even quite original! Lead guitarists Marc Ferrari and Bryan Jay were standing back-to-back.. . no, wait, one of them was running to center stage, playing his little heart out while perched on one knee, and lead singer Ron Keel joined him in a mirror-image pose at the front of the stage. It worked so well I was wide-eyed in awe. With Ron’s voice and the band’s superb musicianship, I didn’t even mind that some of the moves were cliched or trite. Despite throwing the necks of their guitars back and forth in a wild frenzy, and the obvious fact that all five members of the band have loooooong, curly, tossled (messy) hair, the sound of Keel is more mellow than furious. But then, I have trouble c IIing headliners Bon Jovi “metal,” too. Just a personal quirk, folks.

Onstage, Keel were into “Calm Before The Storm,” continuing their strong emphasis on the new LP. Next up was “Cherry Lane,” also from Keel (each song was an excellent live rendition of le sound so aptly captured on vinyl.) And the audience response was loud, positive ■ nd relentless, particularly on “Right To Rock,” an older Keel song. Still plugging the new LP, Ron introduced “Sor >ebody’s Waiting” as “our new video single.” Ending the show with “4th Of Ju ,” the lead singer demonstrated that he can twirl a mean cordless mike and still get the lyrics right while posing and rela ng to the crowd like crazy.

I must say I was very surprised to be so favorably impressed with Keel. They look great onstage, move well, sound good and play better than the aver ge band coming up through the ranks to ay. Their songs are catchy and infinitely r dio playable; I smell success in the air for Keel.

★ ★ ★

Suddenly, the lights went down ano the screams went up. Smoke filled the s ge, and the keyboard rose up from not ngness, set atop a pedestal that shook and wobbled in synchronized time to the music. 1 he accompanying lighting was strikingly dramatic, as one band member at a tim “appeared” from out of the mist. Spray 3 of sparklers shot up into the arena asthr star, Jon Bon Jovi, took a running leap into center stage spotlight and opened he show with a rousing version of “Rais3 Your Hands.” This felt like a party! The entire crowd was up on their feet, many standing on their seats and straining to see every movement. Jumping, dazzling, shining, flowing like liquid, embellished by long scarves, the entire group melded into one image of endless fringe , long coats and curly hair.

Bor Jovi launched right into “I’d Die For Yc u” next, and the song ended with a truly cute move: just the very split second bs fore the lights went off, Jon (this year’s op poster boy of metal) threw himself or the floor to demonstrate the sentiment of the song’s lyrics. There was no way th s would have gotten anything less than a spontaneous, piercing wave of concei led screams from the crowd. It was a! nost classically brilliant.

“To: yo Road” demonstrated that Bon Jovi have done some major rock ’n’ roll attitud studies; no doubt Paul Stanley and Stove Tyler have been major influences. °ose after pose was peeled off in rapid-fi e succession as the young singer appeal id to be composed, self-assured, and oh so relaxed in front of screaming, dying,1 mging young girls. The adrenalin was inr eed flowing.

Probably to sound more “adorable,” rather than making a political statement, Jon dedicated “You Give Love A Bad Name” to Lt. Col. Oliver North and Fawn Hall. Tf 3 tune was punctuated by bangs, pops, fl ushing lights and endless choruses, with the audience singing instead of the bar i “Wild In The Streets” opened and clc ;ed with a really good a capella segmer t that showed off the wonderful voices I ion Jovi really have. It’s rare that a rock iroup can sing well enough to carry of a tune without loud music to fall back or What followed next was a brilliant me e: as a harness descended from overhec d, Jon hooked his foot into the strap, h Id on with one hand and the contraption lifted him up and over the heads of the c owd to mid-way back in the hall. There, a platform awaited him and, perches high atop this “stage,” he proceeded o perform his own version of the classic Twist And Shout.” This turned into “Never Say Goodbye,” one of Bon Jovi’s r cent hits. Standing alone in a wash o red spotlights, surrounded by flaming ghters held aloft throughout the nail, Jof cut a dashing and dramatic figure. Then it was time to catch the return harness oack to center stage, and once again Jen “Peter Pan” Bon Jovi was sailln9 through the air with the greatest of ea®e: V 7 impressive, indeed.

“Livir On A Prayer” was up next, acuompar id by lots of running from one end of the stage to the other, more sparklers igniting the air. . . we are talking highenergy music now, folks. The guy must take mega-doses of vitamins before he goes out to perform! I can hardly remember another act with as much physical enthusiasm as this. Leaving the rest of the group for a moment, Jon re-emerged wearing a military cap, wrap-around glasses and the American flag draped like a cape down his back. With guitarist Richie Sambora (whom he introduced as his “best friend in the world”), Jon proceeded to conduct a contest which pitted the two halves of the audience against each other in a shouting match. The theatrics which accompanied this tried-andtrue method of crowd participation were what saved the ploy from being “hohum.” Ultimately, this rendition of “Let It Rock” turned out to be a cute schtick.

Surrounded by flaming lighters held aloft throughout the hall, Jon cast a dashing and dramatic figure... Very impressive, indeed.

Somewhat later, the band was joined onstage by a four-man horn section who added brass sounds to a version of “Get Ready,” but the piece de resistance was about to come: my personal favorite Bon Jovi song, “Runaway.” I always play the tune at a volume somewhere between 10 and 11... I just love that magic synthesizer sound. It will probably forever be the group’s signature song, and rightly so. Good choice to end the show.

But—if for no other reasons than the balloons had not yet been released—ev-. eryone knew the encore was still to come. After a lengthy version of “Wanted Dead Or Alive,” Jon was joined onstage by Little Steven Van Zandt, resplendent in yet another version of the ever-familiar scarf tied around his head. Despite the 96 degree heat and 100% humidity, Van Zandt was wearing a floor-length velvet coat with fur trim. Together with the aforementioned horn section, who rejoined the party onstage, and all of Bon Jovi, the ensemble performed “Drift Away,” and then “Lying In A Bed Of Fire” from the LP by Van Zandt’s Disciples Of Soul. Closing out the night was a rousing, upbeat version of the John Fogerty classic, “Travelling Man.” Naturally, all’s well that ends well, and a stream of balloons finally cascaded down over the crowd.

This was a perfectly-executed show, exactly what I would have wanted for my Sweet 16 party. It was pretty much good, clean fun: lively, sparkling, friendly, teasing, inviting, and pretty boys to look at in the process. What more could a metalette want, besides an hour with the real thing? Well, maybe two.