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Bon Jovi's keyboard player wore my Google Glass! (Gosh)

Chris Barrett, Google Glass explorer, gets a rock band's minor figure to wear his glasses. He calls it "the most amazing night of my life." Oh.

Chris Matyszczyk
3 min read
Yes, he could see his keyboard. Chris Barrett/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

I could always understand it when women (and men) threw their underwear at their favorite rock stars during a concert.

There was something so uninhibited, something so primal about the gesture.

"I am all yours!" it screamed. "Yes, ALL of me." That is my definition of love.

Times have changed. Rock stars tend now to be older. Give them $1 million and they'll play for a corporation. Give them a little more and they'll sing "Happy Birthday" to some of the world's most questionable leaders.

So I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised to hear that the apogee of some people's excitement these days is to get someone in a rock band to wear their Google Glass.

This movement from underwear to overwear came to pass last Saturday. Bon Jovi's keyboard player, David Bryan, wore Google Glass during a concert.

Who could be surprised that it was PR person Chris Barrett who pulled off this coup? He has already filmed an arrest on his new Google gadget. He's even worn it in a casino and not been physically assaulted.

One thing that these two films had in common was a memorable lack of drama.

You might imagine that once a rock star wore them, however, the excitement would be palpable. You might also imagine that Jennifer Nettles really does sing you a personal lullaby every night.

This movie doesn't fulfill my wish of a great Google Glass rock star cameo.

I would, though, have wished to enjoy a Google Glass angle on Justin Bieber piddling into a restaurant kitchen's mop bucket.

And the mere concept that one day Ozzy Osbourne might chow down on a bat while wearing Google's famed gadget makes my veins throb with anticipation.

Still, perhaps more exciting here is the tale of how Barrett managed to persuade a fine rock star to wear his precious jewel.

Barrett told me that it took one call to his friend Naveen Jain, who runs a digital agency called sparkart that works with bands. It took just 9 minutes to get Bon Jovi's management to agree. There's no point living on a prayer when you know the right people.

Barrett revealed his secret to no one. "I kind of didn't believe that I'd actually get to share my Google Glass with the band," he told me.

But then he was given the power of the backstage pass: "I got to give demos to the entire band, management, family, and even some of the security at the stadium."

I fear then that the moment got the better of him. For during the concert, he took the walk toward the stage, in order to personally hand his Glass to Bryan.

Hark Barrett's words: "I knew this was a moment of rock history. This was the first time Google Glass has ever been on stage at a sold-out stadium concert."

Well, indeed.

While you bathe in the footage, I will offer you more of Barrett's words as accompaniment: "I think this is the most futuristic point of view concert video ever."

I'm not quite sure about that. It seems that at every concert I go to, there are cameramen everywhere, including one beneath the lead singer's trouser leg.

Some might be wondering whether Barrett wiped the sweat from the glasses when he got them back.

I am merely concerned about what has happened in his existence thus far. For he told me: "This was the most amazing night of my life."

This topped filming an arrest on the New Jersey boardwalk with his Google Glass? Well, I never.

Still, it can't be easy having to live with the fact that someone's beaten you to wearing Google Glass in a strip club.