Bon Jovi first debuted on the charts in 1984 with first single, “Runaway”. They achieved stratospheric success in 1986 with the release of “Slippery When Wet” which included “You Give Love a Bad Name”, “Livin’ on a Prayer”, and “Wanted, Dead or Alive”. Having sold over 130 million records, they are among the pillars of the hard rock genre.

The 2025 Mentor Concert series comes to a close in style on Tuesday, August 26th as Boston-based tribute Livin’ on a Bad Name delivers a peerless, blow your (big) hair back concert performance featuring all of Bon Jovi’s biggest hits.

We caught up with lead singer Ken Pittman who looks forward to their Mentor return and shared some background on the band.

What inspired you to start this band?
Originally, it was supposed to be a one-time concert. A fundraiser for the new Bedford Symphony Orchestra in Massachusetts. We played Bon Jovi music and after the audience‘s reaction, we thought we would put a tribute together and see where it went.

How long has the band been together?
The band is now 15 years old.

What is your favorite on-stage moment?
There have been so many, but maybe when the band learned while on stage that someone from Bon Jovi actually picked us to replace them at the New York State fair.

What’s your favorite Bon Jovi song to perform?
That’s a tough question. Sometimes it’s more rewarding when the audience appreciates a song that they aren’t necessarily familiar with like the big hits. I like “Dry County“, because it gets to show off the musicians in the band and it’s really well written.

What are you looking forward to at your Mentor Rocks date?
Mentor is just about our favorite stop in the country. We love the staff, the food, the crowd and the energy. It’s a great and well-established concert series now and we’re happy to be part of it.

What can fans expect from you?
The audience can expect an instant warm relationship with the band as soon as the show starts, incredible guitar performed by the world renowned Ethan Brosh, and an impersonation that we take great pride in displaying. We also have a couple of things in the set nobody will be expecting.

Do you have another side gig? Original music or other bands you’d like to mention for people to check out?
Our guitarist Ethan has his own original music with some incredible guests on his records, like Dave Ellefson and Marty Friedman from Megadeth, George Lynch from Dokken, Mike Mangini from Dream Theater, Greg Howe from the Michael Jackson band, Satchel from Steel Panther, and others. Ethan is also on the roster of Steelheart, the Eric Martin band, and tours as opening act for 80s guitar gods such as Jake E Lee, Yngwie Malmsteen, George Lynch, Marty Friedman and others.

Our drummer, Keith Pittman, performs as drummer in the Michael Sweet band and also is heard on chorus in the last four Stryper records.

Any other message for the fans?
Just that we love performing in Mentor, everyone there takes this concert series seriously and their rock ‘n’ roll seriously and we want to reciprocate that and give them everything we have.

Learn more about Mentor Rocks at www.mentorrocks.info.