Opening for Bon Jovi-The Recap
Posted on February 13, 2010 with 8 comments
Wow, what a great night and an amazing opportunity. Special thanks to Tom Moffatt Productions, AEG and Bon Jovi Management for allowing a local band the chance to open for Bon Jovi. In talking with the management folks, they said the two Honolulu shows are the only time they are having local bands open for them. The remainder of their tour will be supported by Dashboard Confessionals and some other national acts.
We showed up at the arena yesterday and the place was just buzzing from Bon Jovi’s sold out show the night before and all the workings of prepping for Friday night’s show. We loaded in, got staged and settled ready for our time to hit the stage for line check and sound check. From stage left, we got to see some of Bon Jovi’s sound check as they worked through some of their new songs. This was about as close as we got to the band throughout the night. Unfortunately, we did not get to meet them but we knew that going in, no complaints here though, the crew that we did interact with were totally professional and cool to us. I have had the chance to play with some other big acts and it’s not always the case.
Thanks to my band and our crew we were ready to go which allowed us to get not only the standard line check but also to run a song prior to doors opening. To stand there on the arena stage and run a song full blast was awesome, the sound was great, the feel was great and we knew we were in for a killer show. The band which consisted of Matt Cole-drums, Ikaika “Ike” Tecson-keys, Jason Nobriga-lead guitar, Chazz Harbison-bass, Keith Algeo-sax & Bill Watson-trombone were on point, amped and ready to crush it! Just before doors, as we were running “cut me loose” the production guys, Bon Jovi road crew and arena staff were all prepping for the show. Running through the song, it was cool to look out and see everyone stop what they were doing and check us out. The Marines from Marine Corps Forces Pacific, Marine Corps Base Kaneohe and Combat Camera were there to capture every move from back stage to sound check an throughout the show. I can’t wait to share the pictures and video they captured.
6:30pm sharp, sound check ends and the doors open as people made their way into the Blaisdell Arena for the sold out show. We get our final instructions for the show, went over the timing and lighting cues with the production folks, then it was off to catering for dinner. They had a great spread backstage for all of us, with some great local food and warm hospitality filled with aloha.
At 7:15pm the band and crew assemble in our dressing area, we go over some last minute things and get hyped for the show as if we weren’t hyped enough. From here on out it is all surreal. 7:25pm we are standing by lower stage left and the house lights go to half, 7:29 house lights out and 7:30 lights are full on with the downbeat and thundering tom beats leading into “Start Saving Me.”
We had a 30-minute set and made the most of it. After each song the crowd noise got increasing louder. After “Start Saving Me” we rolled into “Sometimes it rains” then into a song from the upcoming album called “Lucky One.” At this point we’re playing as a five piece then after a quick intro we rolled into “Three Words (You Were Right)” we brought in the horn section Keith and Bill. Horn section at a rock show, heck yah! After a quick guitar change and knowing we were filming, I introduced and dedicated “On My Watch Tonight” to all our troops deployed overseas and asked the crowd to light the place up with their cell phones so when the troops see it on youtube they’ll know the folks back home are thinking about them. A truly unbelievable sight to be center stage in a packed arena and see a sea of cell phones lit up waving back and forth along with an amazing energy the crowd was sending out. For the rest of my life I will cherish that moment. The roar of the crowd after “My Watch” was killer. From there, we rolled into our final song “cut me loose” with full on band, horns and all. Right on time, we ended our set and made our way back stage. That 30 minutes felt like 10, it all went by so fast.
Then like clockwork, 8:20pm Bon Jovi hit the stage and blew the roof of that mutha! I went and grabbed dinner back stage then headed out to my seat to take in a great show. As they rolled through their set of songs that spanned 20 years of hits past and present, I had flashbacks of high school and prom as one of my prom theme songs was “I’ll be there for you” along with other songs that are still timeless rockers today. As they ended their show and before their encore, I headed backstage to stage left again and captured (snuck) a video of “wanted dead or alive” on my cell phone. UNREAL! That was the first song I ever sang in public at a karaoke night in Charleston, SC, before I started singing and playing guitar, before the fist CD and before it all. To hear everyone sing “wanted” you know the part I’m talking about, was awesome. No, magical!
Finally got home around midnight, trying to take in all that happened that night. Mike Corrado-you just shared the stage with one of the biggest bands in Rock’n’Roll what are you going to do now? “I’m going to take my daughters to play putt-putt and ride some bumper boats!
For all of you on the “mainland” who could not be with us last night, thank you for all the support, e-mails and kind words posted on Facebook. We felt your excitement and encouragement all the way here in Honolulu!
Until next time….
We showed up at the arena yesterday and the place was just buzzing from Bon Jovi’s sold out show the night before and all the workings of prepping for Friday night’s show. We loaded in, got staged and settled ready for our time to hit the stage for line check and sound check. From stage left, we got to see some of Bon Jovi’s sound check as they worked through some of their new songs. This was about as close as we got to the band throughout the night. Unfortunately, we did not get to meet them but we knew that going in, no complaints here though, the crew that we did interact with were totally professional and cool to us. I have had the chance to play with some other big acts and it’s not always the case.
Thanks to my band and our crew we were ready to go which allowed us to get not only the standard line check but also to run a song prior to doors opening. To stand there on the arena stage and run a song full blast was awesome, the sound was great, the feel was great and we knew we were in for a killer show. The band which consisted of Matt Cole-drums, Ikaika “Ike” Tecson-keys, Jason Nobriga-lead guitar, Chazz Harbison-bass, Keith Algeo-sax & Bill Watson-trombone were on point, amped and ready to crush it! Just before doors, as we were running “cut me loose” the production guys, Bon Jovi road crew and arena staff were all prepping for the show. Running through the song, it was cool to look out and see everyone stop what they were doing and check us out. The Marines from Marine Corps Forces Pacific, Marine Corps Base Kaneohe and Combat Camera were there to capture every move from back stage to sound check an throughout the show. I can’t wait to share the pictures and video they captured.
6:30pm sharp, sound check ends and the doors open as people made their way into the Blaisdell Arena for the sold out show. We get our final instructions for the show, went over the timing and lighting cues with the production folks, then it was off to catering for dinner. They had a great spread backstage for all of us, with some great local food and warm hospitality filled with aloha.
At 7:15pm the band and crew assemble in our dressing area, we go over some last minute things and get hyped for the show as if we weren’t hyped enough. From here on out it is all surreal. 7:25pm we are standing by lower stage left and the house lights go to half, 7:29 house lights out and 7:30 lights are full on with the downbeat and thundering tom beats leading into “Start Saving Me.”
We had a 30-minute set and made the most of it. After each song the crowd noise got increasing louder. After “Start Saving Me” we rolled into “Sometimes it rains” then into a song from the upcoming album called “Lucky One.” At this point we’re playing as a five piece then after a quick intro we rolled into “Three Words (You Were Right)” we brought in the horn section Keith and Bill. Horn section at a rock show, heck yah! After a quick guitar change and knowing we were filming, I introduced and dedicated “On My Watch Tonight” to all our troops deployed overseas and asked the crowd to light the place up with their cell phones so when the troops see it on youtube they’ll know the folks back home are thinking about them. A truly unbelievable sight to be center stage in a packed arena and see a sea of cell phones lit up waving back and forth along with an amazing energy the crowd was sending out. For the rest of my life I will cherish that moment. The roar of the crowd after “My Watch” was killer. From there, we rolled into our final song “cut me loose” with full on band, horns and all. Right on time, we ended our set and made our way back stage. That 30 minutes felt like 10, it all went by so fast.
Then like clockwork, 8:20pm Bon Jovi hit the stage and blew the roof of that mutha! I went and grabbed dinner back stage then headed out to my seat to take in a great show. As they rolled through their set of songs that spanned 20 years of hits past and present, I had flashbacks of high school and prom as one of my prom theme songs was “I’ll be there for you” along with other songs that are still timeless rockers today. As they ended their show and before their encore, I headed backstage to stage left again and captured (snuck) a video of “wanted dead or alive” on my cell phone. UNREAL! That was the first song I ever sang in public at a karaoke night in Charleston, SC, before I started singing and playing guitar, before the fist CD and before it all. To hear everyone sing “wanted” you know the part I’m talking about, was awesome. No, magical!
Finally got home around midnight, trying to take in all that happened that night. Mike Corrado-you just shared the stage with one of the biggest bands in Rock’n’Roll what are you going to do now? “I’m going to take my daughters to play putt-putt and ride some bumper boats!
For all of you on the “mainland” who could not be with us last night, thank you for all the support, e-mails and kind words posted on Facebook. We felt your excitement and encouragement all the way here in Honolulu!
Until next time….