This is a transcript of an interview on the Australian TV show the Today Show, dated Friday 13th December 2002. Jon spoke with interviewer Richard Wilkins about touring Oz.

RW: Tell me about the decision to play at these Rumba shows.

JBJ: We were gearing up for a real tour and we have a lot of ground to make up here in Australia after not coming here for the Crush Tour. So, to get more radio support, it made more sense to do this for them (Bon Jovi fans), instead of just coming down on our own, and it seemed like a fun way for us to 'ramp up' to a real tour, so we have a lot of ground to make up here in Australia.

RW: That's a pretty candid answer and I guess that is the real truth, that you maybe, after not having been here for a while (for a full tour), maybe you didn't have the confidence to go out on your own-

JBJ: Oh no, no, like, we could play multiple nights in all the arenas but we feel comfortable in the stadiums here and I just wanted to do it the way we were accustomed to doing it, so I'd rather come back next year and play at the stadiums and sell them out, instead of..... well, not selling them out, which is what bands are doing here now, playing to half stadiums 'cos they're not doing the business. A certain somebody cancelled his show (Sir Paul McCartney), another played to half a house (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and now Bruce (Springsteen) tickets are on sale and he won't sell them out either. So, we're accustomed to selling out big venues and if we can't do it right, we won't do it.



Just a quick note about the main stadiums Jon is refering to- One is Telstra Dome in Melbourne, which holds 55,000-60,000 for a concert. The other is Telstra Stadium in Sydney, which was the Olympic Stadium for Sydney 2000, and even downsized slightly since then, could still hold 65,000-70,000 for a concert.

Paul McCartney cancelled his show in Melbourne at Telstra Dome due to poor sales, though that is not the reason he gave. The Red Hot Chili Peppers played at both these venues less than a month ago and the crowds for Sydney and Melbourne were approximately 30,000 and 25,000 respectively.

Here's hoping Bon Jovi can go a lot closer to selling them out than THAT! Cheers!