>Jon Bon Jovi

After circumnavigating the globe on a year-long tour, Jon Bon Jovi and his mates wheel into New Jersey's Giants Stadium for the finale, which will air on VH1 July 29. With their seventh album, Crush, gone double platinum and their first-ever live album, One Wild Night Live 1985-2001, Jersey-born Bon Jovi looks forward to a rousing homecoming.

How do you explain New Jersey's new cachet?

There was a time when New Yorkers thought they had to bring their passports to come through the tunnel. But no more. I think that with Bruce [Springsteen], and our-selves and The Sopranos, New Jersey no longer means the airport. Jersey's got a cool to it now.

Your movie Los Muertos comes out in the fall. Will you ever unplug the microphone to act full time?

I don't think so. In the music business I'm the star, the producer, the director, the studio. In the movie business I'm the bass player. It adds a great humility.

Are critics nicer to you now?

It's that survivor thing. They accept that there's 90 million records and 20 years behind us. You get beat up until they just give in.