"Gentlemen of Ashbury, just wanted to congratulate you on your victory and welcome you officially to the tour," Jon Bon Jovi said in surprise recording that the station played on air during Ashbury's appearance. "You'll be playing one of three nights with us at Giants Stadium. Congratulations. I hope that one day you're gonna pass the baton on to a band like yourselves."

Ashbury beat out hundreds of unsigned Las Vegas acts who competed in the "Have a Nice Gig" competition to open Bon Jovi's March 11 show at Vegas' MGM Garden Arena. That win qualified them to compete against 26 other winning bands from the second leg of Bon Jovi's sold-out "Have A Nice Day" World Tour. Those 27 acts were narrowed down to a small group of semifinalists via roughly 750,000 votes that fans cast through an exclusive LiveDaily.com poll, and the semifinalists were then delivered to Bon Jovi in Japan, where Jon Bon Jovi and guitarist Richie Sambora selected Ashbury as the grand-prize winners.

Last month, Bon Jovi announced that Detroit's Jody Raffoul Band was first-leg winner of the "Have a Nice Gig" competition. The group--which, like Ashbury, scored a demo recording contract--will open Bon Jovi's July 18 show at Giants Stadium.

Tickets for Bon Jovi's July 18-19 stand at Giants Stadium went on sale last weekend. Not surprisingly, tickets to see the New Jersey-based group sold quickly, which has led to the addition of a third performance at the venue on July 29.

In addition to the Jersey shows, Bon Jovi has July stadium gigs lined up in six other cities. Details are included below.

Bon Jovi continues to back last year's "Have a Nice Day." The disc, which surfaced last September and debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 chart, moved 201,881 copies during its debut week, marking a career-high first-week total for the group.