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Originally Posted by BJFan2021
Hey guys! This won’t be another “favorite x” thread (let me know if you want me to continue though 😅  , I got some questions I’ve been wondering about for quite some time. Here we go!
1. Why did Bon Jovi rarely play These Days tracks on concerts from 2000 and up, heck even on the These Days tour itself.? Don’t they know that it’s a fan favorite? |
Jon once went on record saying that he didn't sing them much anymore because he mostly wanted to do "happy shows". Somewhere in around 2000/01 I think. And the alternate rock sound from the 90s often did have a darker side to it. However, that was just him not addressing that his vocals had deteriorated so much in the four-year time span which would've made a higher number of these songs impossible (on a regular scale).
You're mistaken about the These Days tour though. 1996 had a huge amount of These Days songs almost on a nightly basis, 6-7 tracks were pretty standard with Dublin '96 even having 11 tracks off the album in its setlist.
Only early 1995 rarely featured them, but you have to keep in mind that the album wasn't released until they were about halfway through their European tour and hence the audience wouldn't have been familiar with the stuff. The 2nd half of 1995 had already seen rising numbers of These Days tracks in the set. Take Tampa 1995 (on YT) as an example.
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Originally Posted by BJFan2021
2. Does anyone have any information on “Starting All Over Again” from the Box Set 2004? I absolutely love that song and think it would be perfect for a not-too-sad Bon Jovi tribute whenever they call it quits.
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Jon and Richie joked on the Box Set Bonus DVD that they didn't include it because it would've killed Jon's voice. Something along the lines of "if we did that one, we could pack up after three shows on the tour and go home 'cause I'd be done..."
As of now, we can safely say that Bon Jovi will never play that and Jon most likely has forgotten about it anyway.
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Originally Posted by BJFan2021
3. I think I might know the answer to this one, but why did Bon Jovi lose their popularity in the US? Did that also contribute to their break from 96-00? Which other factors played a part in that break?
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The music scene had changed drastically in the early 90s. 80s Bon Jovi (or hair metal in general) had been the absolute opposite of what had become popular. Of course, Bon Jovi adapted their sound which helped them survive in the long run, but at the time, no Grunge fan cared about hearing their songs and the old-time fans who stuck to the hair metal genre were alienated by the change in looks and sound (as Jon said himself). So there wasn't too much room for them to fit in.
I don't think the break was because of that though, but due to the band members striving for creative outlets at the time (Jon with solo album and movies, Richie's solo album, Dave's independent album, Tico's art exhibitions) and their tight working schedule from late '92 to mid-'96 wouldn't have allowed that. Keep in mind that 1995/96 actually was their peak in popularity in almost all parts of the world, except for the US.