Jon Bon Jovi dedicated his new song "We Don't Run" to his audience in Tel Aviv this weekend, telling the Israeli crowd he thought it should be their "fight song." The famous rocker also hailed his Jewish keyboard player during the concert, telling him his father would be proud of him for playing his instrument in Israel.
"Here's something new, then something old, then something new again," Bon Jovi said. "I don't know, I think this one should be the fight song for all you Tel Aviv-ers. It's called 'We Don't Run.'" The Times of Israel reports:
A few songs into the show, he underlined his empathy with Israel by introducing a new song called "We Don’t Run," released earlier this summer, with the comment: "This should be the fight song for Tel Aviv."
And later in the performance, the New Jersey-born rocker name-checked his keyboard player, the Jewish musician David Bryan (Rashbaum), by saying that "your father would be proud of you" for being in Israel pounding the piano.
Probably unbeknown to the band, the concert began minutes after a terrorist attack in Jerusalem 60 kilometers (some 40 miles) away, when a Palestinian man stabbed two Israelis to death in the Old City, and injured two others.
"Good evening Tel Aviv, Israel! Are you ready for rock ‘n roll? I’ve waited a long time for this, baby!" Bon Jovi called out to fans packed into Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park before opening with the song "That’s What the Water Made Me."
"We finally made it here. It took us a long time, and we still have a ways to go tonight. Are you with me?" he asked.
The song's refrain goes: I'm not afraid of burning bridges / 'Cause I know they're gonna light my way / Like a Phoenix, from the ashes / Welcome to the future, it's a new day/ We don't run / I'm standing my ground / We don't run / And we don't back down / There's fire in the sky / There's thunder on the mountains / Bless each tear and this dirt I was born in, (run) / We don't run / We don't run.