Bon Jovi was scheduled to play its first concerts in China next week -- in Shanghai and Bejing. Yesterday, the band announced the concerts were cancelled for "unforeseen reasons." The Financial Times reports it was because the backdrop to one of the band's songs at a 2010 concert included the image of the Dalai Lama.
Seriously? That has to be the song "We Weren't Born to Follow", which as I've written several times (see here for one), is one of my favorite all time videos. I've probably watched it 100 times and I've seen the band perform it twice, in 2010 and 2013. It is both inspirational and empowering.
While Dalai Lama is not shown in the official video, the band did include his image when performing the song live during its 2010 Circle Tour. Here is an image from the performance in Tokyo. [More...]
The Dalai Lama was on the screen for all of five seconds, flanked by real time live shots of Bon Jovi singing. His image was one of dozens of people that flashed on the screen while the band played the song.
The official video (shown above) featured Martin Luther King, Jr, Bobby Kennedy, Princess Diana, sports figures, handicapped athletes, and a host of other inspirational figures, including a 5 second portrayal of the iconic image of a man standing in front of a tank at Tiannanan Square.
I wonder if the Tiannanan Square image wasn't part of China's reasoning. Certainly the video has been seen by millions more people than those who attended their 2009 and 2010 concerts.
The song's messages are freedom, resist, stand up for what you believe, don't give in, don't apologize and hold on to your dreams. Some background images playing during the 2010 live concerts:
This one goes out to the man who mines for miracles
This one goes out to the ones in need
This one goes out to the sinner and the cynical
This ain’t about no apology
This road was paved by the hopeless and the hungry
This road was paved by the winds of change
Walking beside the guilty and the innocent
How will you raise your hand when they call your name?
We weren’t born to follow
Come on and get up off your knees
When life is a bitter pill to swallow
You gotta hold on to what you believe
Believe that the sun will shine tomorrow
And that saints and sinners bleed
We weren’t born to follow
You gotta stand up for what you believe
Let me here you say yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah
This one’s about anyone who does it differently
This one’s about the one who curses and spits
This ain’t about our livin in a fantasy
This ain’t about givin up or giving in
We weren’t born to follow
I don't know why China cancelled Bon Jovi -- it's hard to believe a fleeting image of the Dalai Lama or the man in front of the tank would cause such a drastic reaction. Plus, there's no excuse for waiting until days before the shows to cancel it. The shows were announced in June.
Here's Bon Jovi performing "We Weren't Born to Follow in Germany" in 2009 at the official celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall:
The band has announced it will refund ticket purchases. I think the Chinese government should pay.
Upcoming shows are proceeding as planned this month and next in Macau, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Taipai and Israel.
If you want to see someone (besides me) get excited over Bon Jovi, check out this clip of Al Gore introducing him at the Live Earth concert in New Jersey in 2007. I've never seen Gore so passionate about anything: