Set list vs show impression

Well, that was interestingly put. I wish he'd read that.

Bullshit. There is no way that Lost Highway was bigger than Crush. Where MAM debuted means nothing in the grand scheme of things. There is no way that you could argue that it was a bigger single than It's My Life. More importantly, the impact It's My Life had on Bon Jovi is huge and still is played in the U.S. a fair amount on radio stations, arenas, stadiums, etc. No one give a shit about MAM and even if it did give Bon Jovi new fans, it didn't to the magnitude of IML.

The tour was certainly bigger than Crush's but the band was still trying to win back people at the time from their long hiatus.

If the band knew what they were doing with the sets, then why does it take until WGIGO to get the crowd into the show?

Yeah, no way is Lost Highway a bigger album than Crush. Hell, Crush sold 8 million copies worldwide. Lost Highway sold maybe 5 million.

To compare It's My Life to Make A Memory is just silly. It's My Life was a monster, by any standards.

Aloha !

The tour was so big because of the success of Have A Nice Day in the US. The same goes for the Bounce Tour, which was a lot bigger than the Crush Tour. It wasn't so big because Bounce had been a big hit, it was so big because many people missed them on the Crush Tour. All this talk on how Lost Highway was such a succesful album is bullshit.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Yes and no. It was bigger than Bounce or The Circle. May even be a bit bigger than HAND. As for why the tour was bigger, it's because they made it longer. Bon Jovi could have the biggest tour every year if they wanted to. Just depends on how long Jon wants to be on the road for.

In fact that’s the only thing that I am missing at the moment – more TC songs. Especially BPL, Bullet and TIMS. If they could only change any 3 songs from LH for those 3 that would be enough for me. The rest of the set is quite good.

I was thinking about it for some time. Do the band members really know this board exists and come here from time to time and read our opinions? Really? Anyone has some kind of proof for this?

I can tell you this. I am a boss for myself too, just like Jon, and believe me this is twice as hard as having a boss telling you what to do. The whole pressure is on you. You have to find the ways to get your money, if you fail you get nothing. No matter what your boss tells you, he must give you your earnings once a month or once a week. When you are your own boss you have to make tough decisions and if some people won’t like it they will blame you. No one else. Look, no one is throwing trash at Dave or Tico or Rich about the set lists. It’s always Jon who gets kicked for that. And after so many years he had to learn to live with it and defend his beliefs and decisions. Does he has the right do to so? Yes he does. It’s his band, no matter what you say. But like I have said, with great power comes great responsibility.

It’s a huge difference between 3 straight shows at Meadowlands and any other single show in US in my opinion. Of course those 3 shows will be great and he surely knows that many die-hards will go to see all 3 (and more coming in July). And I am sure he will put on a fantastic show over there and will change the set lists significantly. I wish I could be there myself. And maybe those numbers that you have mentioned are correct, but it counts only for NJ shows. There are really few fans that will follow them for several shows throughout the whole US. This is minority. For every other single night shows in US I would say 99% of the audience will see them only once and that’s it. So he prepares the sets that will please the masses for those shows. Like you have said – he’s not an idiot, and for sure he knows how to balance the shows for the audience of the casual fans in the US. They leave the shows fully satisfied so I think he does his job well in general. Not 100% because few die-hards during those shows might (but don’t have to) feel disappointed, but in general it works. He will save great shows and great set lists with rarities for great cities where he knows the die-hards will always follow and they will appreciate those songs. It’s the same here in Europe. The greatest shows have always been in the same cities – Munich, Frankfurt, London, Manchester, Amsterdam. What about the rest of the cities? The set lists are Ok but not great. He knows where die-hards will go and he rewards them in those places. But he surely puts his whole heart into each show no matter where it is. The set lists may differ but the passion is always there.

And I don’t think Jon has turned touring into a job. He really loves what he’s doing and you can clearly see that when he’s on stage. I don’t recall Jon saying he doesn’t like touring anymore. I think he said he just misses his family when he’s away and that’s it. And I, as a father and a husband too, really understand him. He is much more mature, come on, he’s almost 50. It’s obvious he won’t enjoy touring (bus trips, flights, hotels, interviews, parties, award ceremonies, TV appearances etc) anymore but when he’s on stage he feels like a fish in the sea. He knows he’s blessed because he earns a lot of money by doing what he really loves. And he truly deserves that money because he has created it. It was not given to him. You can see only the bright side of that but if you don’t run your own company you won’t see all the sacrifice that you have to get through to gain success. If you think his job is easy, why don’t you do the same thing as he did?

But the thing that hits me most is that you are one of the few that have seen them live this tour and then you said you really liked the show. And now you come back again and complain about the set lists on paper, of the shows that you haven’t attended personally. Which by the way are very similar to the one you have seen and liked. I don’t get it.

I explained why it bothers me in my post.

After reading this post it is hard for me to add anything more substantial. Those arguments are the soundest I have ever heard.

It is strange how people accuse Jon of taking pleasure of being in the spotlight. Actually it is hard work. The hardest and the most responsible part of the job is done by Jon. And the most ungrateful. Like you say - whatever the fans (so called "diehards") do not like is simply blamed on Jon!

I like your argumentation concerning Jon's alleged dislike of touring. Indeed, he is not a young rebel any more but a responsible father and husband. I can really feel his frustration each time he must leave his family. But I also know that he never ever has said that he hates being on stage. Conversely, he always stresses that all those hardships of touring he choses to bear because of those two plus hours on stage which for him are magic. Magic, because he loves so much to share his music with the fans!

As to danfan - I think that if you are so bothered about setlists, afraid that the next couple of shows to which you are planning to go will be the same as your first one - well, just go to one show only! There are people who enjoy the show even if they were to see the same songs each time. For even the same song sang during a different show is not exactly the same song. It has its new life in a new context. Even the show when the same setlist is played is not the SAME experience! If you cannot feel that, you are not forced to go to more shows than one!
To can campare it to what I am doing for life - well, I am a university teacher. Each week I have to teach the same topic in four different groups of students. And even though I discuss the same topic, the same literary work (as I teach British literature) in four classes a weak, each class has a different atmosphere. It is because each of these four seemingly identical classes has different audience, different interaction; beacuse I am in different moods, have different experiences and inspirations that come to me before each of these four "identical" classes. So it must be so with the shows with "identical" setlists!


actually I do understand why BJ are not changing the setlists dramatically. Come on, they are playing 23-25 songs each night. Each of them had to be carefully prepared. If they changed half of the setlist each night, it would be impossible to prepare and rehearse it si carefully to make it so perfect!

If Jon is saying that they are going to change setlists, one should be intelligent enough to understand it within proper bounds of realism. Yes, they are going to change but the changes are not going to be utter, dramatic, radical and occuring each time! If somebody interprets it differently it means that he or she is a foolish dreamer with disturbed sense of reality. It is physically impossible for a band to be ready to play so many different songs from such a large repertoire/body of work and to change it every night!

And still, I find it a bit pointless to analyze setlists on paper without being to the show! It is a waste of time and it is absolutely irrelevant!