Vulnerable when wet, Jon Bon Jovi was tempting fate on Friday night in the outdoor arena at the RDS. But he largely ignored the rain, the thunder and the pyrotechnics to deliver an enthusiastic, slick, hard-rocking Bon Jovi concert that gave everyone their money's worth. And, probably, a head cold.
The downpour set in earnest not long after a prompt start - before many of the audience had arrived - and continued incessantly through the two-plus hours of concert. The mostly young crowd, steaming in the mercifully warm air, hung in there, treating the weather as part of the entertainment. The night, in fact, was a whole, big lot of fun. And Jon's end of things looked like more fun than you can get paid for - lots of rock-star capering, swaggering in front of huge images of yourself on video screens, pantomiming with your band and waltzing with pretty girls, bopping with the kid.
Kicking off with Living on A Prayer, they interspersed hits such as Born to Be My Baby, I Got The Girl, Forever, It's My Life and Bad Medicine with material from Crush, his current album. Ah, the joys of the recurring crescendo. A pause to change from wet leather to dry denim, and a change of pace, Mystery Train, One on One, These Days, Wanted Dead or Alive, Keep the Faith.
'Tis said all Bon Jovi's songs sound the same, and certainly each song outside their considerable hit-list was largely indistinguishable from the next, with the words lost in the palpitating bass-line. But they touched base time and again with well-known songs to get the bare arms up, hands clapping above drenched heads.
A steaming gig, with fireworks at the end. Though none, luckily, without a fuse.