Concert Review: Bon Jovi Vector Arena

Jon Bon Jovi lets the audience know the way to the door at Vector Arena. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Who: Bon Jovi
Where and when: Vector Arena, Sunday night

Slippery When Wet remains one of the great scream-yourself-stupid albums of all time.

Let's face it, if you're not singing along to Livin' On a Prayer when it's playing at a party you're letting the side down - go home.

And tonight it's another song off that late-80s hair metal-cum-hard rockin' gem that incites a loud, throat wrenching sing-a-long. Let me hear you sing: "Shot through the heart, and you're to blame, darlin', you give love, a bad name."

It feels good.

Even die-hard Bon Jovi fans have to admit the late 80s, and early 90s were the Jersey boys' greatest years. But the Circle Tour, in support of their eleventh album, released late last year, comes packed with a set list spanning around 27 years.

So there's everything from Runaway - the first song off their first album in 1984, which comes on like Yes-meets-something out of Footloose - right through to newer material such as the jaunty country twang of Lost Highway and the big, beautiful and harmless We Weren't Born To Follow.

There are times where it's more like Bruce Hornsby and the Range than Bon Jovi.

These later songs sound sedate and a little bland in comparison to the rousing Bad Medicine and It's My Life from 2000, which was the band's last truly memorable anthem.

But despite the bouts of blandness, Bon Jovi are still superstars, even in their late 40s, early 50s.

Jon Bon Jovi especially looks like a stallion in his shiny black shirt unbuttoned almost all the way down, full-bodied hair, and those big white teeth. And the guy can sing.

The other main man, guitar hero Richie Sambora might look a little more haggard, but he plays some chugging and mean licks, and even leads the "congregation" on Lay Your Hands On Me.

The maracha-driven Keep The Faith whips things up, a tense and spiralling seven-minute version of (Wanted) Dead Or Alive is the centre-piece of the encore, before the all-in crowd a cappella intro to Livin' On a Prayer gives way to the bouncing and hollering masses.