jacks.jukebox

It’s the 24th of June 2008, an 8 year old boy desperate for a day off school agrees to go with his mum to see her favourite band, Bon Jovi. Little did he know he was about to have an experience that would lurk in his shadows for the rest of his life.

That little boy was me and this is the story of how I managed to get on stage and “sing” with one of the most renowned bands of all time, infront of 40,000 people.

The first question that comes to mind is: why and how did an 8 year old boy with very little interest in Jon Bon Jovi end up on stage with the guy? The simple answer is, my mum.

She was obsessed with Bon Jovi, everytime they toured England she’d travel around the country to see them MULTIPLE times. She had been doing this since their heyday of the 80s.

About a year prior to the fateful day in 2008, my mum had finally passed her drivers test. After 40 years of being unable to drive, she relished at the opportunity to drive her kids anywhere. Whether to school ,or to the beach in Cleethorpes or simply just on a road to nowhere. And what do you do whilst driving? You plug the aux in and blast the tunes. But this was 2008 so CD’s will suffice.

It was usually either Bon Jovi, or randomly sometimes “Graduation” by Kanye West. That might explain my varied music taste.

Kids are rebellious by nature. If their parents find something cool, chances are the kids will not. And this was the case with Bon Jovi, mostly. HOWEVER, there was one song off their new album, “Lost Highway”, which caught my attention. It became this 8 year olds guilty pleasure. You’ve probably never heard it, and I don’t blame you it’s a pretty shit song – “Summertime”.

So, when my mum offered me the chance to see “Summertime” live, how could I turn that opportunity down !! *disclaimer – they didn’t even play it :(*

She had found these tickets on Ebay, backstage passes! Included a tour of the backstage area before the show, access to the golden circle, AND (most importantly) the opportunity to stand on the side of the stage for a couple songs. Even if you’re not a fan of Bon Jovi, that’s a decent little set up.

So, we woke up early, my mum made me wear the most extravagant, excessive Bon Jovi clobber you could imagine. Including a bandanna. A Bon Jovi branded bandanna, jesus christ of course I was gonna get invited on stage.

Off to Coventry we went. I don’t remember much of the day, we got a massive hot dog in the stadium, that was cool. All I really remember from the backstage tour was seeing Richie Sambora’s famous double-neck guitar. That was also cool.

My next memory jumps into the gig. It was a pretty forgetful performance, until I got involved obviously. Just a couple of songs before we were due to head to the side of the stage, I was hoisted on my mums shoulders and Jon boy must’ve spotted my cool af bandanna. He gave me a cheeky wave from the stage. That was one of the greatest moments of my mums life, I was just acting cool. “Eh it’s not a big deal”. You’re right there kid, it’s not a big deal, give it about 15 minutes though.

Moments before we were about to head to the side of the stage, some guy in all black came up to us with a strong Californian accent. “Hey dudes, Jon asked if you would like to come to the side of the stage for the next couple of songs, dudes?” Our thoughts at that point were, obviously, “Well, we just wasted loads of money on these VIP tickets.” Turns out all you have to do is dress your kid up all cute and you get full access.

So, there we are, stood in this little hole on the side of the stage, squeezed in with about 8 other people. My mum is absolutely loving it, in all these years following Bon Jovi she had never been this close to him. She could almost smell him. Little did she know that very soon her son could literally smell him. (He stunk of sweat, which I guess is understandable to be fair)

And then, out of nowhere this man in black (it wasn’t Will Smith… i think) was next to us again. “Jon wants you to go on stage for the next song.” Problem is, the next song was NOW. Before I could even begin to plan an escape route, this man in black has picked me up and literally chucked me on stage. wtf bro.

On the video, you see me sort of give a look back to say “wtf bro”. Like at least let me make sure my hairs looking good, cmon. Anyway,there’s no going back now.

I look out at the stadium full of people. Trust me, 40,000 people looks like 400,000 people when you’re up there. I can’t remember much at all of actually being on stage. But that image of the people will never leave me.

I was a pretty chilled out kid, very stoic, not much excited me, not much scared me. As you can probably tell in the video, I didn’t really care to be talking to Jon Bon Jovi. He clearly expected me to be a mega fan who knew all the lyrics to all his songs. I was wearing a fucking Bon Jovi bandanna after all. Truth is, I just wanted to hear “Summertime”, some random album filler off his newest EP.

On the video, I maybe come across as nervous or scared. Alot of the YouTube comments say just that. “Oh look at that cute little scared boy.” I really don’t recall feeling anything other than, “This is really really weird.” I was still pretty pissed off at the man in black for just chucking me on the stage.

Jon boy then proceeded to sing a song I didn’t know. Lol of course. And to add to that, the ONE word he wanted me to sing was “alright”. I don’t know if you can tell or not, but at the time I could not pronounce my R’s. So, instead of some mega fan who would steal the show, he got some uninterested little boy singing completely out of time with some speech impediment. That’s what you get for trying to use me for views and clout, bitch. (Just to be clear, I am half kidding. I am kinda grateful, I promise.)

Next thing I know, it’s finally over, he’s picking me up stinking of sweat and chucking me back off stage. I remember feeling like a proper celebrity for about half an hour. Whilst leaving the stadium I had all these girls coming up to me, “Oh my god were you the guy on stage, you’re so cool !!” Oh yes I am 😉

The reality check didn’t take long to hit though. Our car broke down on the way back. We had to wait hours and hours for a recovery truck to come pick us up and we didn’t get back home until the next morning. Life of a rockstar I guess.

So there you have it, pretty cool story right? But you might be wondering why I described it earlier as lurking in my shadows for the rest of my life. That is because throughout school, I was the guy who went on stage with Bon Jovi. I get it, that’s not really something to complain about, and I am perfectly fine with being known as that guy. BUT at times I just couldn’t be arsed with it. It just never felt like a big deal to me. I didn’t help myself though.

In 2013, I got invited and for some reason decided to go on prime time BBC One to talk about it. For somebody who just wanted to leave it behind, that was a weird choice. So I travelled to London and stood around having to watch an hour long episode of the One Show, which is my idea of hell. There was this eccentric German guy who played some weird instrument also on the show. In the green room we asked him if he knew the time. He responded in perfect English “Sorry I don’t speak English.” I liked him.

They interviewed me for about 2 minutes, I once again came across as pretty uninterested, Bon Jovi acted like he remembered me, doubt it though. He rocked up just as the episode was starting and left the moment it finished. There was a group of about 20 of his fans there. Didn’t say a word to anyone. I don’t care and I get it, I wouldn’t want to speak to 20 mega obsessed fans of myself either. BUT, he could have at least said hi, couldn’t he? Maybe that’s where my slight resentment for him and the whole situation comes from. But whatever, I’m not gonna hold it against the guy.

That was another weird snippet of what fame feels like. I had people I had hardly ever spoken to posting on Facebook saying, “Oh my god, my BEST FRIEND jack was just on the One Show!!”. I had my head of year at school come up to me the next day and acknowledge that I exist for the first ever time. “OH MY GOD JACK! I was watching the One Show last night and you popped up, I couldn’t believe it.” Yeah, yeah, if you want an autograph get in line love.

This might sound like sour grapes. Maybe you’re thinking, “Get over yourself, you sang on stage with 40,000 people that’s such a cool story, you’ve got nothing to complain about.” I agree. The older I’ve got the more I’ve appreciated just how cool of a story it is. It’s a great conversation starter. It’s an even better pick-up line. “Hey I’ve sang on stage infront of 40,000 people, pretty cool right?” But is that all it is now, a hinge prompt? I’ve got no problem with that. Better than “My most controversial opinion is: pineapple on pizza xD”

So there you have it, the story of how and why I sang on stage with Bon Jovi. A very, very cool story to have. But also a reminder of why I never want to be famous, Banksy had the right idea.

Until next time. Ciao for now.

P.S. I just wanna say, after looking through photos of the day and watching the video again, maybe I sound like I’m being harsh on Bon Jovi, but I really do appreciate the story he has given me. And even if he was just using me as part of the show, the smile on his and his bands faces in this photo below do look genuine and I am grateful to him. Just as he should be to me 😉