For those who Weren't Born to Follow and want to Have a Nice Day with some Bad Medicine on a Bed of Roses while Living on a Prayer, Element Night Club in Castlegar will be the place to be this Saturday night when Bon Jovi cover band Blaze of Glory hits the stage.
Blaze of Glory is known as North America's premier Bon Jovi tribute band and they have toured not only throughout B.C. and Canada but the world.
"The original idea for Blaze of Glory came about in 2008," said Ted Moore, who portrays legendary frontman Jon Bon Jovi. "I was looking at the tribute scene and seeing how things were unfolding."
Moore put the band together with members of iconic Canadian bands Doug and the Slugs, Prism and the Headpins. "We probably rehearsed for the better part of eight months before we did our first show just watching videos of live stuff of Bon Jovi," he said.
Before Blaze of Glory, Moore was a in several different bands but was never able to become a top recording artist.
"I came to a point in my career where I didn't have a top 10 single, I didn't have a release, I don't have an album to put out - what is it that I want from the music industry?" said Moore. "I wanted to travel and see some places. I'm a rock performer, so I still want to play rock. I want to play some of the nicer venues: casinos, fairs, festivals and so on."
Moore, who lives in Chilliwack, came up with a short list of bands he could emulate and with the nudging of some elementary school students, came up with Bon Jovi.
"I was teaching school at the time. I had a grade 4/5 split," he recalled. "I would bring my guitar to school a lot and the kids would comment that I looked like Jon Bon Jovi and kind of sound like Jon Bon Jovi. It just kind of hit me all at once - this is the least stretch for me to do."
Moore also liked the wide appeal of the New Jersey rocker. "He's got a fairly large appeal now, all ages. We play a lot of all ages concerts with kids as young as seven and eight and people well into their 60's all singing along to Living on a Prayer and Wanted Dead or Alive," he said. "Even the crossover appeal with Bon Jovi being the only rock band in history to have a #1 country song (You Can't Go Home with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland). So I thought, 'Boy this is it.' Very large appeal. It turned out to be the right choice."
The success of Blaze of Glory has allowed Moore to put his teaching career on the back burner.
"The growing thing about tribute bands is that you're able to bring those big ticket artists at a much smaller ticket price," said Moore. "Instead of paying $200 for a ticket you can see the band for $25."
Moore said audience members can expect to hear all the big Bon Jovi hits from throughout the years. "I'm doing pretty much everything right from the start of his career in 1983 beginning with Runaway up to and including the latest hit What do you Got," he said. "It's pretty much an homage to a 30-year career for this artist. It's two hours of top 10 hits. It still strikes me as amazing that we play for almost two hours and every song is a top 10 single. That speaks volumes about the guy's career. They'll recognize pretty much every song in that show."