Jon Bon Jovi was “Livin’ on a Prayer” so he could help his manager stay out of jail when he performed in the USSR in the 80s.
In a recent episode Conan O’Brien needs a friend podcast, the Bon Jovi frontman, 62, reflected on how he made history by performing in Moscow in August 1989, a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall that November. But as well as recalling what an important moment it was to play at what was called the Moscow Music Peace Festival, he opened up about how he did it as part of a deal so his then-manager could return to the US, following an alleged drug bust.
“To keep him out of jail, I had to go to the Soviet Union,” the rock star said of his former manager, Doc McGhee, who he says was accused of “smuggling a lot of drugs” at the time.
“My first manager got into trouble with the law,” Jon explained. “Honestly, he was accused of smuggling some incredible tons of marijuana into America.”
Bon Jovi perform at the Moscow Peace Music Festival in August 1989 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty
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He continued, “Somehow his deal was to take a young, sweet kid and throw him to the wolves and the judge and say, ‘I have an idea: we’re going to go to the Soviet Union and promote peace and harmony and blah blah blah. And please, your honor, don’t put me in jail.'”
“So I had to go through the snow to the Soviet Union and say, ‘Here we come!'” added the Grammy winner. “He put together a package with some of his shows and some of his friends and we went to play. It was a crazy story. He never went to jail.”
The “It’s My Life” singer also emphasized in the podcast how unprecedented it was to perform in the politically charged USSR in the late 80s.
“You have to remember, Soviet Union, if you even thought about an album as we knew it, it would have been shut down,” he said. “There were children who had lists on a piece of paper that was very small, because if the KGB came at that time, they would crumple it up and eat it.”
The rocker explained that Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium even assigned extra security backstage at the event as they expected “riots” as fans saw catering from the Hard Rock Cafe. “Meanwhile, we’re playing this festival with these other bands and nobody cared because the security really cried when they saw the food,” he said.
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Bon Jovi performing at the Moscow Peace Music Festival at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow in August 1989.
Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty
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The Moscow Music Peace Festival was held over two days from 12-13 August 1989 and featured a line-up of bands from the Soviet Union on stage alongside acts from the US and UK, alongside Bon Jovi, A-listers such as Mötley Crüe , Ozzy Osbourne and Led Zeppelin’s Jason Bonham also performed.
The event was organized by American band manager and Russian musician Stas Namin, and eventually drew 100,000 fans to Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. Fans around the world also watched the broadcast on television.
In an interview from 2017 about the concert with Rolling stoneMcGhee and his attorney, Joe Cheshire, opened up about the historic show that arose out of “marijuana conspiracy charges in several jurisdictions” of music industry professionals.
Cheshire explained that he thought of starting the Make-a-Difference Foundation, which sponsored the Moscow festival, as a way to “keep [McGhee] from serious punishment.” He said, “We had to suggest to the federal courts that it would be much more profitable for society to have this non-profit foundation exist and raise money and spend money for appropriate purposes than it would be to take one human being and put him in prison. So that’s what we did.”
Sam McGhee added, “I heard this then, and I’ve heard it for years afterward: ‘I can’t believe all you have to do is rock a show and you’re done.’ Well, for one, I’m not sure any court, no matter what you’ve done, would give you a suspended sentence [as], ‘If you go and change the world, stop the Cold War, you get off’. ALRIGHT? I don’t think anyone should invent that s— invent. That had nothing to do with it. It happened to be an aspect of time. I was already over all that s— before I went to Moscow.”
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Richie Sambora, David Bryan, Jon Bon Jovi, Tico Torres and Alec John Such of Bon Jovi in Moscow in August 1989.
Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty
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Bon Jovi fans will be able to learn even more history about the iconic group from New Jersey in upcoming documentary series Thank you, good night: The story of Bon Jovi. The four-part Hulu series is set to premiere on April 26, with all episodes beginning to air at once.
The project documents the rise of the hitmakers, as well as the tumultuous moments in their four-decade career, and promises to feature never-before-seen images and previously unreleased demos.
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New music from the band “You Give Love a Bad Name” is also on the way. Bon Jovi will release their 16th studio album on June 7, Forever.
So far, they’ve given fans a taste of their new music by dropping lead single “Legendary.”
Announcing the LP, the frontman said: “This record is a return to joy. From the writing, through the recording process, this is turn up the volume, feel good Bon Jovi.”
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Source: HIS Education