Some thoughts on U2 and Bon Jovi

If Jon wouldn't still be looking good and look like Bono now, BJ would also have "the fireworks"

Need some help!

I am argue on U2 forum about that Jovi think about 35 mil. , 2500 concerts and 50 countries!
NOBODY JUST DONT WANT TO BELUIEVE ME. THEY ALL WANT SOME PROVE FROM BILLBOARD. They just dont care what media or mtv sad,lol!
Also i need some prove of that. We all know that they played to that many peoples and U2 didnt,hehe.
Also i need some Jovi tour gross of year 2000 to 2010! Or a total attendance and things like that.

Both bands are great live and both bands have seriously lost the plot on records

You are fighting a losing battle here Even if you provide credible references for your claims, don't expect most of those hard core fans to believe them. Anyway for Billboard figures, go to Google books. Almost all the previous edtions of Billboard magazine dating back to many, many years are available there. So if you are willing to spend a lot of time on there, good luck.

For concert / attendance figures, I remember Billboard had done a couple of cover stories on Bon Jovi in 2004 upon selling a 100 Million albums, and also during the HAND era, describing how BJ were the centre of a huge bidding war between AEG and Live Nation for getting them onboard. It had also surprised quite a few people how big a touring juggernaut Bon Jovi have been, and continue to get bigger every tour.

When comparing with U2, keep in mind that prior to HAND tour, Bon Jovi never reported the entire tour grosses to Billboard. Back then, they used to work with many independent promoters. Hence the reason that despite doing HUGE tours from 1986 onwards, they are not listed in any of the top grossing tour stats until the HAND tour.

While we are at it, try telling those U2 fans that the trend of a show being reported as "sold out" despite not being full was started by U2 management. During the Popmart tour, they largely played to half empty stadiums in the U.S. This was reported negatively in the media at that time. So from then onwards, U2 made sure that every show they played was reported as "sold out". Now this has become the industry norm. To add to it, during the 360 tour, many shows were played in front of half empty, or half full, stadiums, but still reported as sold out (mostly in the U.S.)

I have always thought that U2 are one of the most overrated bands of all time. I have never understood the hype.

I like some of their songs, but I don't get the hype either.
I have heard they do put on a great show so maybe if I saw them live I would "get it".

I agree that u2 are a huge band, but had also a lot of support from media-critics, rolling stone butchers all bj albums but congratulated u2 for the no line on the horizon, an album that even u2 later stated that wasnt what it should be, interesting ideas but not great result imo.
i didnt know that u2 played in half full stadiums in america, i had the idea they sold out almost every time, in greece there were 5.000-6.000 empty seats but the concert was a success none of the less, it was considered sold out 100%...
if we try to find the biggest active touring acts then rolling stones are in the top spot, u2 are close and bj come third being more popular than the previous 2 in certain markets. ac dc-metallica-springsteen touring wise would come after the first 3 bands imo, metallica are a big brand name but touring wise they dont sell as many tickets and cannot charge as much money, ac dc had a widely succesful tour but i believe that if they had toured as much as the other bands the last decade the black ice tour wouldnt be as succesfull.

Agree with all your points

I have to agree. I like them, but they are very overrated.

As for the sold out business, Jovi is said to have sold most venues here for their concerts...hopefully they HAVE sold out and won't be playing to half full stadiums hahaa

U2 are the critics darlings, every f*** critic gives them such great acclaim and their last album was not god sent like the critics made it out to be.
Bon Jovi has been the fan favorites

But i will say that both bands needs to take a break because they are both running out of ideas and both fans are getting tired of them