+1. Sad but true.
Now if lessons from your elders are to be learned, remember what happened to Bruce Springsteen in the 90s: Bruce fired the E Street Band in 1989. Then he did several solo tours (really solo, i.e. "Springsteen alone + his acoustic guitar + his harmonica" as the concert posters said), then in 1992-93 he simultaneously released 2 new albums without the E Streeters then toured with session musicians + surviving E Streeter Roy Bittan (the band was nicknamed "the other band", to give you an idea of how much the public cared about them!). Bruce tickets had NEVER been so easy to find and he/they didn't play stadiums but medium-sized concert venues. Because everybody hated the albums and didn't care about "the other band".
Then in 1999 Bruce called the E Streeters back and tickets were very very hard to find again.

The casual audience may not care about the band members but they go to a BJ concert to hear BJ songs (hits) so I guess it will all depend on the quality of the next album (and of Jon's voice).
And expectations are very low according to some (I always find these lists funny) :
http://www.3wsradio.com/onair/jonny-...ey-10-12982297

Just my 2 cents.