Jon admits he wants to out-do himself!

Reading jelous Americans bitching about setlists that Europe is getting is damn entertaining I do feel sorry for that little number of US die hards who don't get great setlist, but in other words, the sky is blue. It's not like it's only Europe priveleged. Australia and South America also got strong setlists, as well as Canada. The way I see it, Jon clearly notices the difference in a majority crowd behaviour in US and pretty much anywhere else (maybe except Japan), even in YouTube videos it's quite obvious. I do wish great shows for any Americans who are flying to Europe this summer, they truly deserve it.

And the rest of us don't?

I agree with that.

The die hards do deserve it, but I just said specifically those who are going to be in Europe, so that they would get the shows and songs they never see at home. Plus, if I were you, I certainly wouldn't bitch about this subject, looking at the list of shows you've attended in 2010/2011, the amount is incredible and some of them were great ones.

heres hoping he will 'outdo' himself at HRC

I'm self-admittedly very lucky to have gotten some of the sets/shows that I've gotten. I just really don't like/appreciate this idea that European shows are "more deserving" than American shows, mainly because Euro shows don't have seats casual fans can sit in when they get bored.

Jon has really made a boo-boo with this one, clearly not thinking the states would get to see it. Its the internet Jon- do an interview anywhere and your fans will pick it up, surely you get that by now?

As far as the US setlists go, I feel for the fans who went to those shows with the shitty static setlists, it was boring to follow them on here. And the fact that they come straight over here, we get Richie back and quality setlists must be galling.

Maybe in Jons mind he is just giving each audience what they wants- he think the US crowds prefer LH infused sets, whereas they don't like TD. TD was popular here and he subsitutes the two to a degree. Maybe. But I think its a bit rich of him to say the Americans don't give a shit about rare songs when he doesnt even play them for them to be an alleged shit crowd for! He prices the fans out of the best seats, plays the same shitty 22 song setlists for nights on the trot, not in many ways dissimilar to tours since 2005 onwards and then wonders why the crowd arent in raptures!

Aloha !

All I can think of is that I've got a great idea for a game in the van filled with Americans and people from Europe. I'll let iTunes start a song, and let's see who knows the verses the first. Let's see if I can outdo all you Americans.

To be honest though, they're doing 23 shows in Europe this tour. Playing 75 different songs means 4 different songs per night, that's not that hard. And when looking at the O2 setlists who were not that spectacular to begin with it's not exactly a lot of stuff to look forward to. Half of the songs that were mixed up were rather dire, in Jon's world it might as well mean getting I Love This Town, The Last Night, Story Of My Life, Hallelujah, Work For The Working Man, Whole Lot Of Leaving, (You Want To) Make A Memory...as soon as he has run out of playing the same 10 rare songs that showed up last tour, and the tour before, and before that one. Sure, the beginning of this tour looks promising, but Hawaii looked promising too.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

To be honest - I think he is right. I've never been to US show but comparing the shows from bootlegs it is clear that the audiences are different there. The same goes for hockey. Our Czech players who play in NHL say that people go to see hockey because it is a cool thing to do and chance to go out rather then go crazy supporting their team. When the NHL started in Prague last year, the US and Can players were amazed by the loud atmosphere here. So the crowds are just different. So I understand Jon saying this. Remember that the community here is just few % of the fanbase and of the crowd at the show. There clearly are diehard fans in the US knowing the verses and not only choruses but generally in Europe there are probably more demanding fans. And it is connected with the venues, those are big stadiums and if there are full of people willing to have fun, sing along I understand that it is a better motivation for the band. I definitely see why you guys are pissed. At least you got twice or three times more shows.

Aloha !

He is right, to a certain extend. I just talked about this with the wife, and told her that when we were near the catwalk, there wasn't a single fan singing along to the songs. However, that spot cost us both 110E or something, so would an American die hard be willing to spend that much money on a ticket up close, or would he really end up in the back, surrounded by the most casual fans ever?

I agree that there are more casual fans in a stadium then there are in Europe and as soon as one of you upset Americans have seen a European show you'll see it's true, but Jon brings it as if there's no such thing as a die hard in America who actually knows the verses and that's quite retarded, and also quite stupid considering there was a fanclub package for New York that had fans requesting all sorts of rare songs. Yet the only real rare songs he played were Dry County and These Days.

He's shooting himself in the foot over and over again until he's got no die hards left there anyway and the pit will be filled with these so called "fans" who just have the money to spend on an expensive ticket, so therefore end up in the front, yet wouldn't know any other song apart from what they listened to in high school. And then Jon can do more bitching about the fact that no one knows his new songs, and do some more complaining about a situation that he created just to get some more money on his bank account.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan