Bon Jovi

It is a flying visit to Marshall Amplification HQ for Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora – literally.

Bon Jovi are enjoying a 12-date stay at London’s 02 Arena when he decides to check out our Bletchley-based high voltagebusiness,andarrives inthe new city by helicopter.
“Being at Marshall is a big honour for me. I’ve been using Marshall Amplifiers since I was 19 years old and to me they are the premier amp in the world, without a doubt,” he says, speaking exclusively with City Nights. “One of the reasons is that I have a myriad of different kinds of guitars and no matter what guitar I plug into the Marshall head, they all sound brilliant,” he said, giving the company the rock seal of approval.

The 02 dates are now fond memories for more than 200,000 people who enjoyed the band during the mammoth stretch.

Speaking towards the end of the stint, Richie told me: “We have been having such a good time. I think this is the first time that we’ve ever really camped out in London for a month, and we haven’t played indoors in the whole of Europe since 1988 or something, it’s been that long.

“It’s incredible when you go back to the 02 every night, you look around and go ‘this seems small!’” he says, laughing. “The crowds have been unbelievable and obviously it has been a lot of fun for us...last night I think we played for 2 hours and 47, so people are having a blast, the band is playing better than ever and I think our production is wonderful.” Bon Jovi 2010 are not to be confused with a band going through the motions either.

ONE GREAT MEETS ANOTHER: Jim Marshall met with Richie Sambora during his 12-day stay at the O2. Below, in conversation with Sammy Jones

“We are very spontaneous and off the cuff. It It keeps us interested and it keeps us having a good time.
“We have been playing songs that we’ve never played before, or that we haven’t played since 1985 or 1986... the songs live in different ways now and the lyric content comes out a little differently because the arrangement does.
“It’s fun to be a rock ‘n’ roll band where the production is massive and extraordinary, but it doesn’t rely on choreography or anything like that.”

And just what does the guitarist with one of the world’s biggest bands choose to do in a foreign country between shows?
“I get around pretty good,” he smiles, “I go out to plays, shop and go to restaurants. I’ve been coming to London since 1984 so I have many friends and rely on them – I give them the gas pedal and let them drive me around!”

Bon Jovi, completed of course by singer Jon, David Bryan on keyboards and drummer Tico Torres, are already looking to the next stage of the band’s career. Simply, a machine as big as theirs is always working. “We are going to be putting out a greatest hits compilation in the fall and will do a proper stadium tour,” he reveals.

“Next summer we are going to be coming back. We have about 40 stadiums on tap across Europe...as long as you are having fun, why stop?” he asks. “We’re getting better with age.”