NEW YORK (NFL Official Website/Bon Jovi Fans Website) -
Bon Jovi will kick off the coming pro football season with two special events in and around New York City. The band, in conjunction with the
National Football League (NFL), will play a special hour-long event dubbed NFL Kickoff Live From Times
Square on Thursday,
September 5.
The concert, which marks the opening day for the NFL this year, will include a New Year's Eve-style ball drop and countdown to the start of the football season, and it will include recognition and support of New York City's September 11 memorial events.
At the show, the band will perform its new single, "Everyday," for the first time in front of a live audience, which it's estimated will top 750,000 people. "Everyday" hits radio August 19, while the new Bon Jovi album, Bounce, comes out October 8.
Following the Times Square gig, the members of Bon Jovi will board a helicopter and fly across the Hudson River to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where they'll play at halftime of the New York Giants-San Francisco 49ers game, the first contest of the NFL season and the only game that night. The halftime gig will also include a performance of "Everyday."
Both events will receive masses of attention. Things get underway with a 90-minute edition of MTV's TRL at 3:30 p.m. ET that day, with VH1 carrying the NFL Kickoff show live from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET. MTV and ESPN will cut into regular programming at points during the Times Square event, and both networks will also show Bon Jovi's halftime performance from the game, which ESPN is broadcasting. Finally, CBS will air a one-hour special the following evening (September 6), and VH1 will re-air its coverage on Saturday (September 7).
The NFL actively sought Bon Jovi's participation for the events, and the band is extremely happy and proud to be included.
Despite a published report in the New York Post, sources tell LAUNCH that U2 is not now, nor has the band ever been, involved in the planning of NFL Kickoff.
