Exclusive: Count Basie announces second Hope Concert

Alex Biese, @ABieseAPP

This article originally appeared on The Asbury Park Press Website @ http://www.app.com/story/entertainment/2015/11/11/exclusive-count-basie-announces-second-hope-concert/75570594/

This holiday season, get ready for twice the Hope in Red Bank.

The Count Basie Theatre exclusively announced to the Asbury Park Press Wednesday morning that it will host “… And Even More HOPE,” an encore staging of this year’s hotly anticipated Hope Concert 8, at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 23.

Presented by Jersey Shore guitar hero Bobby Bandiera and Friends, the concert will feature Jon Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny Lyon, Gary U.S. Bonds and John Cafferty. Funds raised by the concert will support Mary’s Place by the Sea in the Ocean Grove section of Neptune, which works to support women during and after cancer treatment.

Tickets, which range from $50 to $500, go on sale at noon on Friday through www.thebasie.org, 732-842-9000 or at the Basie box office, 99 Monmouth St., Red Bank.

With a previously-announced 7 p.m. show benefiting the Visiting Nurse Association Health Group, 180 Turning Lives Around and the Basie’s Arts for All initiative in the Red Bank Borough Middle School, 2015 marks the first year that two Hope Concerts have been performed on the same evening.

All told, the Hope Concerts have raised almost $3 million for local charities since 2003.

Bandiera, a former Asbury Juke and touring member of Bon Jovi, has welcomed special guests including Bruce Springsteen, Gaslight Anthem lead singer Brian Fallon, Nicole Atkins and Tim McLoone to the Basie stage as part of the Hope Concert in past years.

Bon Jovi is a frequent Hope Concert performer; last year, he sang “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,”  “I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas” and “The Letter” in memory of the late Joe Cocker.