Jon Bon Jovi Lyrics

Bon Jovi: rockin' on

It takes a lot to rile Jon Bon Jovi -- a rock star you could bring home to meet your gran. But mention car-crash reality show Jersey Shore to this proud son of the Garden State and he's practically spewing bile. "I'm disgusted by it," he says, his perfect incisors gleaming in the afternoon light. "I can honestly say, I've never sat through an episode. I've seen them in celebrity magazines. That's not my New Jersey. It isn't the place I know."

Resting in an opulent Munich hotel suite, Bon Jovi is courteous, engaged and, once he has exorcised his loathing of Jersey Shore, pretty darn chilled. He certainly bears little resemblance to the grumpy singer who gave an ill-tempered interview to a UK newspaper late last year, lamenting his rumpled physical condition, and the endless dreariness of life on the road. "I'm 10lb overweight and I'm drinking too much," he said at the time. "And I'm bored to tears." To be fair, he had just tumbled off a long-haul flight and was woozy with jet lag. Whereas this morning he is basking in the glow of a sell-out performance to 75,000 screaming fans at Munich's Olympic Stadium the previous evening.

"Things are actually really enjoyable right now, because, knock on wood, I'm in pretty good health. It's not over yet, so I shouldn't count my chickens.

"We're on the longest tour we've done since the mid-90s -- about 130 shows in. Last night I did three hours and 10 minutes. And there ain't no drum solos at a Bon Jovi concert. That's me singing for three hours. The point is, we are smart and old enough now to pace a tour properly."

By 'pacing' he means foregoing the traditional rockstar perks of drugs, four-in-a-bed romps and champagne-filled hot-tubs.

Post-concert, Bon Jovi whizzed back to his hotel room and tried to switch on the TV. When he couldn't get the remote control working, he figured it was time to call it a night. He brushed his teeth, read a few pages of a book and killed the lights. The picture he paints is of a travelling salesman knocking off early after a successful but basically run-of-the-mill day (it comes as no surprise to learn Bon Jovi's pastimes include wine collecting and cooking). We're not exactly talking Ozzy Osbourne snorting powdered virgin blood out of a groupie's armpit.

"One minute you're in front of 75,000 people in a stadium that's as big as that one we played in Ireland, what was it called? Croke Park.

"You come back, you're sitting in your room by yourself and your ears are ringing. I couldn't figure out how to get the TV or the internet to work. So I said, 'oh well, time to go to bed'. Sad but true. I'm technologically challenged.

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