Saturday night, Jon Bon Jovi admitted he had a less than honorable reason for opening his 2003 North American tour at the Bryce Jordan Center.

"I got this dirty fantasy of girls in a sorority," Bon Jovi said, before the band's last tune. "I never went to college, because I got such shitty grades in school... but I could imagine doing 'Louie, Louie' every night for free beer. The stinky frat house, the beer that sticks to your feet and you're praying that you get lucky and find someone that... well you know... All those girls were interested in the big, athletic quarterbacks anyway, not skinny singers. But it's not too late."

From the outburst of female screams, one could tell some women wanted to take him up on the offer. But he just smiled, shook his hair from his face and launched his band into a crowd-rousing version of the party-standard "Twist and Shout."

In that moment, Bon Jovi became the world's best cover band, even though earlier in the night it had shown it possessed talent far beyond that.

Bon Jovi's set clearly proved why the band was the pioneer and torch-holder of '80s pop-rock anthems, showing why its career has spanned more than 20 years. From the heavy riff of the set-opener "Bounce," to its classic first hit "Runaway," to a cover of David Bowie's "Heroes," the band played like the seasoned veterans they claim to be.

Richie Sambora straddled his guitar like a master. His fingers careened up and down the fret board with amazing ease. Bon Jovi wore pants tight enough to leave nothing to the imagination and worked the crowd with each fist-pumping tune. Drummer Tico Torres pounded the skins like a mad man, while keyboardist David Bryan provided ambient backdrops for each of the rocking tunes.

And the crowd loved every minute. It's ironic that Bon Jovi's newest album is called Bounce, because that's exactly what the crowd did non-stop through the entire two-hour performance.

The band's stage set-up looked like something from the MTV Video Music Awards, with three satellite video screens behind the band. The audience formed a stadium-sized sing-a-long during fan favorites "Livin' On a Prayer," "It's My Life," "Bad Medicine," "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "You Give Love a Bad Name."

Andria Rumford, from the Scranton area, said she loved Bon Jovi's set, but was disappointed the band didn't play the ballad "Always."

"It was great," Rumford said. "I really liked the older songs."

Opening the show for Bon Jovi were the Goo Goo Dolls. Johnny Rzeznik and company played its singles with a zealous up-tempo flair that sounded more like punk rock than its usual love-ballads. The band accurately shot through its hits "Slide," "Black Balloon," "Here is Gone" and "Broadway."

The songs sounded as if the Goo Goo Dolls were still in love with playing them, and it definitely upped the energy of the set.

During its first hit, "Name," Rzeznik stopped mid-song, pulled out a lighter, and joked with the audience.

"What, no one smokes anymore?" Rzeznik asked.

The band slowed the track down to a slower tempo and the crowd loved it as Rzeznick hammed up the sappy song.

Closing its set with the biggest hit "Iris," the Goo Goo Dolls did not disappoint the crowd of mostly Bon Jovi fans.

Stephanie Ferguson, of Oxford, Pa., said she was there to see Bon Jovi, but she really liked the Goo Goo Dolls.

"I thought they were great," she said. "I really liked the songs they played that I was familiar with from the radio."