Life Lessons From a Bon Jovi Tribute Band

Emily Rose

At my job I periodically check Tweetdeck to keep an eye on the downtown community and see if there’s anything I should be ‘engaging with’. On Thursday a local company tweeted that they’d sent out some elves to roam the city with Bon Jovi tickets, and gave out clues as to where they were. At least, the Topgolf Dallas elves thought they had Bon Jovi tickets, but I can tell you now with certainty that they were for a tribute band. Because after years of Gishwhes training (and clues that pointed to the elves being right down the block from my office), my scavenger hunt instincts switched on like Christmas lights. I don’t particularly care to go see Bon Jovi, or their tribute band Blaze of Glory, but for one week straight every summer my brain gets trained to “do it for the hunt”. I guess it’s a drive that comes when it’s called. If only I could employ laser-focus and uncomfortableness for un-comfort’s sake outside of scavenger hunts.

After struggling to come up with the name of even four Bon Jovi songs, I still had to admit that I really do like that one, and decided to go. Luckily I have an awesome friend who was up for it, and didn’t mind trading in our prior craft-making plans to stand in the back of the House of Blues and slightly sway.

The show started with a Pat Benetar cover band made up exclusively of children. At first it was odd, but it turned out to be the best part of the night, if only because the songs were better (gasp) and there was a significant lack of terrible wigs. Also, we didn’t notice until midway through the final song of the Mötley Crüe cover band’s set that they were not the Bon Jovi cover band. Having cemented our status as not Bon Jovi fans, we decided to leave right after hearing this song. To fulfill that pledge, we unsurprisingly had to stay through the entire night.

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Turns out my friend Emily is not one to slightly sway and I’m more of a person to shift around erratically until it somewhat resembles dancing. So as we looked around the room and tried to guess each person’s motivation for being there, I’m sure everyone further back was looking at the pair of us and wondering the same thing. We did seem a little out of place – this was my very first time to ever see people holding up actual lighters at a concert. Despite the unexpected nature of the night, I couldn’t help but admire the level of event production that went into it, even if the show was not what we anticipated.

We went home and sat down to recap the night, coming up with more questions than concrete statements of what had just happened. What kind of person does it take to form and find success in a hairpiece clad tribute band? How did these musically talented, Pat Benetar-loving children find each other, and what are their moms like? Which of the guests had actually bought tickets to be there, and why? There’s a whole world of touring tribute bands out there, and by happenstance, we’d been exposed to it. It was a learning experience, really. If I can’t call the evening educational, I don’t have any other words to describe it. Reflecting on the scene, I realized that behind every successful tribute band, there’s likely a dedicated lighting hire company ensuring every performance shines as brightly as the originals they pay homage to. And amidst all this, we couldn’t help but ponder about the logistics behind the scenes – the power source that kept the stage alive, the subtle hum of the generator hire supplying electricity to the vibrant spectacle. For events like this, hybrid event management is increasingly important, as it blends in-person experiences with seamless digital integrations to keep the show running smoothly. Additionally, for events that require more advanced setups, we offer plasma screen hire to elevate the experience just check out this site at https://corporateeventproduction.co.uk/plasma-screen-hire/. Also, for covering some big screen events, you can click here to explore our video wall hire options.