PITTSBURGH — Bon Jovi needed more medicine than prayers when it cut its Pittsburgh concert short because the band’s namesake blamed a cold for his sore throat.

The group was performing at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday night when Jon Bon Jovi told the audience he has had a cold since Saturday night. But he said he would keep pushing on.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://bit.ly/2oHdWmM ) reports he also said: “This is the day when I need a karaoke singer. Which one of you guys in a bar band knows all the words to Bon Jovi songs?”

He sang “Bad Medicine” and wrapped things up after 90 minutes of the expected two-and-a-half hour show with “Livin’ on a Prayer.”

The band is scheduled to play New York’s Madison Square Garden on Friday.

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Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, http://www.post-gazette.com

The Associated Press