Aloha !

So, we've had all this confusion about the B-Street band being involved in the European leg of this tour yes or no.

I'm saying no. Lost Highway has bombed in Europe, and Bon Jovi know this. No song from that album hasn't been a hit, and Bon Jovi didn't put any effort into promoting it, since they knew the European market wouldn't really dig it.

Yet they wanted to play the songs live, which is why the Prudential shows were booked. The story about the deciding after the shows to do a full tour is obviously a load of crap. Venues were booked long before that, and they only released the tour dates after the Prudential Shows so they could be sure people would buy tickets for the shows in Newark instead of waiting for other shows in their own city. Also, they needed shows they could warm up with, and what better opportunity would there be than those 10 shows? They didn't need the hassle of doing shows all over North America, but could just stay home and warm up easily for this tour.

Next year, probably in March, we'll have the Greatest Hits Part 2, with a few new songs on it. They'll be released as singles, and the tour will be plugged by those hits. Bon Jovi will be in the charts again, people will realize Bon Jovi does a show near them, and with a Greatest Hits and a hit song in the charts, it's obvious that tickets will sell a lot better. Also, with a Greatest Hits that plugs a tour, it's easier to sell tickets, hence the more uncommon places they visit like Norway, Finland and Denmark.

Besides that, last tour, Bon Jovi had difficulties selling out the stadiums in North America on their second leg of the Have A Nice Day Tour. A lot more shows were planned, but the ideas were cancelled when ticket sales were slightly disappointing and the dates were never released. With a greatest hits out, there's new songs, and Bon Jovi can offer something new to their audiences. People in North America will decide to go to another show of Bon Jovi, since this one will be difficult compared to the one they saw with the back up band, and the stadium shows will sell too.

So no, I don't think the violist and pedal steel guitar player will join Bon Jovi in Europe. I think they'll be long gone, and the tour will focus on the Greatest Hits, instead of the Lost Highway album. A single will be released in the end of February/early March, and around April it will peak the charts like usual (if only for a week). The usual promotion for this tour will start (Win a new BJ CD, the last tickets...you get the picture) and the shows will be close to sold out, unlike the HAND tour.

I also think this tour will be one of the last for some time now, they've been going for 9 years and although it makes them good money, they want to do something different I think. Yes Jon has said that he wants to do another album after the Greatest Hits, but think that one will be released in 2011 or something. Just my thoughts, and with this in mind, we'll have 2,5 hour shows filled with greatest hits, and no new album tracks, meaning there's a lot more space for variety.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan