Jon Bon Jovi christens new Meadowlands Stadium just one day after it wins 2014 Super Bowl.

Bon Jovi kicks off the new Meadowlands Stadium with a concert on Wednesday night.

Just a day after the new Meadowlands Stadium snagged the 2014 Super Bowl, Bon Jovi became the stadium's opening act.

Well, okay, it was a little more than that for about 50,000 ecstatic fans who saw New Jersey's second-favorite son give the new joint its musical christening.

With a crisp sound system that felt like it was pumping thunder into the cavernous $1.6 billion stadium, Bon Jovi delivered precisely the upbeat, fist-waving anthems the mostly middle-aged crowd had come to hear.

That included the likes of "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Bad Medicine."

It also featured multiple songs from the band's new "Circle" album - including "We Weren't Born to Follow," about the "winds of change," and the ballad "When We Were Beautiful," which Bon Jovi introduced by saying the world is different now.

But this 82,000-seat stadium wasn't born for intimacy, and Bon Jovi wisely didn't try to turn it into a coffeehouse.

On the contrary, during the opening "Blood On Blood," he paused after the line, "Me, I'm still a singer," and threw his arms back to soak in the applause.

At several points during the big hits, he held out the mic and let the crowd sing - a ritual that proved helpful when the sound cut out for a minute or so in the middle of "Runaway" and only the crowd could be heard.

He also saluted the stadium several times, saying, "I like it, I like it, I like it."

He drew the predictable roar when he hailed the coming of the Super Bowl and expressed further hope the Giants would play in it.

Technically, it could be noted, Bon Jovi wasn't the first musical act to play the new stadium.

That footnote in local music history goes to Train, last night's opening act.

They played a solid set highlighted by a particularly nice version of "Save me San Francisco."

All in all, the night wasn't quite the Super Bowl of rock 'n' roll. But Bon Jovi gave the people the old songs they love and the new songs they are willing to hear.

"I'm gonna call this band Rice Krispies," he said. "Because it's full of nothing but snap, crackle and pop."

nydailynews.com