Bon Jovi at the Count Basie Theater 1993

Bon Jovi, Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ, December 20, 1993

When I worked at Mercury Records, Bon Jovi was doing Christmas charity concerts every year down near the Jersey shore.  It was always a great night.  It's a small theater and these guys were (and are) ALWAYS good live.  They're one of those rare bands that gets better as the size of the venue goes up OR down.  They're made for arenas, and in a club (or in this case, a small theater) they prove of how good they actually are as a band, not just showmen.  They shred.  Best memories of these shows over the years were 1) when Tico sang "Waltzing Matilda," which served as my introduction to Tom Waits, 2) Jon doing their brand new, yet-to-be-released song "Bed of Roses" on piano (which killed), and 3) holding an online chat with Jon and fans after the show, and the woman doing the typing for him spelling his name wrong as she was typing out his answers on the screen.  Totally mortifying for me....the guy who was trying to convince our artists how cool this new Internet thing was!