Chuggnutt!

Tag: Bon Jovi

  • The Portland/Bon Jovi writeup

    It was a whirlwind tour of Portland, but we managed to make the most of it. We did some quick shopping in Gresham on the way in, stopped to visit with our friends for a bit (had to take over some of my pumpkin ale for a missed birthday), and then went out to lunch at the Horse Brass.

    The Horse Brass rules. Seriously. It’s an English pub, with a ton of beers on tap, real darts, English food, the works. We had a tasty lunch (never had a Scotch egg before—it was good), tasty beer, and when we were finished, we stopped in to Belmont Station and picked up some harder-to-find beers.

    Afterwards, I was able to go to Powells for a little bit (“a little bit” is relative, because my ideal visit to Powells would quite easily be half a day), but didn’t find anything I wanted to spend that much money on.

    We checked in to the hotel, relaxed for a few minutes, met with our friends who were also going to the concert, and then went to BJ’s Brewhouse for dinner. It was good, although slow, and the service was ditzy at best. I have to say, though, they’re seven taster deal is amazing: seven five-ounce(!) tasters of beer for only $7.25.

    And, finally, the concert. We walked to the Rose Garden, entered without fanfare, found our seats. A local Portland band was playing the opening gig (they won a contest), I didn’t catch their name but I wasn’t paying close attention anyway. We had to move around seats a bit because when the tickets were purchased, the available seats remaining were single seats two rows apart (of course!), and after playing musical chairs trying to figure out the best place to see (and—damn it—missing a good portion of one of the classical Bon Jovi songs that everyone is actually there to see), the usher got permission to seat my wife and me in the announcer box seats at the top of the section—otherwise roped off to everyone else. That was pretty cool, because the view was much better and we weren’t surrounded by screaming fans.

    As far as the concert itself, it was decent. Two songs they performed that they didn’t do last time were “Runaway” (eh) and “Blaze of Glory” (cool!). And, Jon had a lot more audience interaction—the first song was from amidst the crowd in the back rows of the floor seats, and “Blaze of Glory” was amidst the crowd at our level one section over from us. The most amazing part? He wasn’t mauled by the crowd. :)

    Okay, this is getting long. I’ll leave you with this writeup of the concert—with pictures.

  • Going to Portland to see Bon Jovi

    On Sunday we’ll be heading up to Portland to see Bon Jovi in concert at the Rose Garden. Yes, we’ve done this before (warning: I sound like a drooling fanboy in that post).

    Anyway, we’re casting about for something to do Sunday after we get to Portland… we’ll be seeing some friends, probably, and of course my wife would love to do some shopping. Myself, I don’t really have any real plan; I like going to Powells and I wouldn’t mind hitting a brewpub or two, but I’m pretty open.

    Would any Portland bloggers want to meet up? I’m not promising anything, but you never know. ;)

    For that matter, any bloggers/readers going to see Bon Jovi too?

  • Is there a doctor in the house?

    My wife and I went to the Bon Jovi concert in Portland Monday night, and talk about a show. Damn right.

    The Goo Goo Dolls opened for them, and they were very good, too. Played to the audience nicely. Good choice to open, the crowd loved them.

    When Bon Jovi hit the stage, though, the audience went nuts. And if the Goo Goo Dolls plays up the crowd, then Bon Jovi has it down to an art form; they love their fans. I mean, the audience sang the entire first verse of “Wanted Dead or Alive,” not just the chorus, which you’d expect.

    Anyway. They played for 2 hours, a great mix of old and new of just about every hit you could name. Interestingly, Richie Sambora sang “I’ll Be There For You” while Jon took a quick break offstage.

    It was a great show, hell yeah.