Bon Jovi plans free concert in Central Park

BY GLENN GAMBOA | glenn.gamboa@newsday.com

July 1, 2008

Jon Bon Jovi announces a free Bon Jovi concert in Central Park on July 12, 2008. (AP Photo / June 30, 2008)

Bon Jovi will play a free concert on Central Park's Great Lawn on July 12, as part of Major League Baseball's preparations for this year's All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.

Though the show is free, fans will need a ticket for admission.

Major League Baseball will start handing out tickets at 9 a.m. tomorrow at Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, and KeySpan Park in Brooklyn.

Tickets will also be available at DHL All-Star FanFest at the Javits Center on July 11 and through a drawing on MLB.com.

While free concerts in Central Park are commonplace during the summer - Latin star Julieta Venegas will be playing at Rumsey Playfield on the same night - the Bon Jovi show will be the first major show on Central Park's Great Lawn since the Dave Matthews Band concert in 2003.

"The 2008 All-Star Game will pay tribute to the storied history of Yankee Stadium, and Bon Jovi will help us ensure it goes out in a blaze of glory, hopefully a blaze in late October," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement announcing the concert yesterday.

Bon Jovi is also set to play Madison Square Garden on July 14 and 15.