Opening acts 2011

I just think that opening acts, if chosen wisely, add both to the atmosphere and the event as a whole. Back in -95 I got to see bands like Van Halen open for Jovi, I liked that!
Along with a really nice gig in Stockholm that same year that had Little Steven, Ugly Kid Joe, and Slash's Snakepit open for Jovi. However, the o/a in Sthlm 2001 were piss poor (Sahlene & Mel C). And for sure, the o/a does affect the event as a whole.

Yes it does over here in the UK. Lots of stadium shows by big artists have lots of good support. You get to see arena bands play stadiums, and slightly smaller bands earlier on the bill. You get to make a day of it and discover new songs, or get in the mood hearing songs you know.

Muse always have good support at their stadium shows, and from last time I went they had a small new act (I Am Arrows), a quite known new-ish act (White Lies) and a more popular act on the cusp of playing Stadiums (Biffy Clyro). It's a perfect warmup to the main event, and beats just standing in the sun/rain for hours with no entertainment.

Personally, I think the main support act is important. The support act can help make the atmospehere and experience that extra bit more hightened (Nickelback and Van Halen, in my experience) or flatten things (The Feeling).

The band/JBJ need to (and given their years in the business should) see that a stadium gig is more than just a headline act and that a mini-festival vibe keeps the fans happy and just as importantly (for them) spending once through the gates!

The knock-on economics of 60,000 people per show who buy 2 or more less drinks (and the rest) in the build up because they turn up later as there is little reason to arrive early should surely by now have prompted some swift action in signing someone on.

Which is why I keep checking back here and asking. If I'm expected to be inside a stadium from 1pm (approx) and wait until 8pm for Bon Jovi to perform then there needs to be some form of responsibility towards entertaining the fans. Less than 12 weeks before a show and no news of a worthy support act is hard to stomach, especially in a world of increased ticket prices and what appears currently to be reduced value for that money spent. I just worry that AEG have too tight a hold on the purse strings these days after losing a bundle on Mr Jackson.

If the Foos can have Jimmy Eat World and Biffy Clyro signed on then I feel justified in feeling disappointment that we Bon Jovi fans are still being kept in the dark.

Seeing as 2 of my top choices for main support act are spoken for, I do wonder what the other fans out there would like to see as a support act (damn you Foos for preventing me from witnessing Big Casino and The Middle performed live and followed up with lashings of Sambora greatness!)

I'm struggling to think of any acts close to rock who have had enough decent singles out recently that would keep the crowd happy - especially ones who aren't too big to be second billing.

I know the chances are slim, but part of me would love it if Def Leppard were signed on to do a greatest hits setlist prior to Bon Jovi coming on. Them or MCR would be nice. I'd even say Bryan Adams would be on the list for me right now and I'd more than happily even see Nickelback again!

I think Richie Sambora should open for them.

Yeah. well that can be said for every Bon Jovi fan, we are all of course mainly interested in the main act.

A support act gets the crowd warmed up and can lead t some great discoveries.

A rock show should be a day long event, not just a few hours then home.

I caved (like a fool) and bought tickets to the show at Mohegan Sun. The ticket says "An Evening With Bon Jovi", and the start time is 8:00PM. My hope is, Jon made sure this show would start early, and be a full set, thus getting rid of the opening act. Nothing against Lorenza Ponce, but what a complete waste of time. There's such a thing as doing a favor for up and coming artists, then there's such a thing as boring the shit out of your fans who paid a lot of money for their tickets.

I hate to tell you Danfan, but A Conn radio station is running a contest for an unsigned regioal act to open at Mohegan, it's not an evening with anymore. I'm sorry.

I want Train to support in Europe. I think they already have shows during the Jovi tour though.

Biffy Clyro supported the guys in Twickenham 08 (I think) and they sucked sooo bad.

I do think an opening act is important to the show. I saw Dashboard and Ryan Star and while neither was truly bad, I wasn't 100% entertained (Ryan Star is going to be a good frontman someday though). However, I also recently saw Slash open up for Ozzy Osbourne and that was amazing and totally set the mood for the show.