Would anyone else prefer an arena tour?

Jon has said in interviews he prefers the stadiums. More fans-- less shows.
It seems there are not many arenas on this tour. Maybe next time.

I'd like them to do a theatre or a much smaller arena next time they come to London. Smaller the better really.

I've said for a while i'd love a JBJ solo tour at the likes of Sheperds bush, Manc Apollo etc. Would just be an absolute bitch to get tix.

They are far too big for small intimate venues. I do like Arena gigs, but I've also loved the last two Hyde Park gigs - the atmosphere has been awesome and in the hot weather they've been just brilliant.

Aloha !

Yeah, just like he prefers stadiums over arena's in Europe...Until he's promised the same amount of money for an arena show compared to a stadium show, then he's suddenly interested in doing 20 arena shows in the U.K. The only reason why Jon wants to do these big shows is because he likes the money he gets out of them.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I've only ever seen them at big arenas or stadiums. I think it would be a great change of pace for them to do a one off theatre gig. You can't autopilot an intimate show like you can a big stadium.

If I remember correctly, he said he prefers deserts... haha

Maybe, but all the small arena shows Jovi has done were all pretty much short vanilla shows. At least in the last 10 years, we had shows like Shepherd Bush 2002, Tokyo Zepp 2002, Nokia Theater 2005, Lost Highway Chicago 2007, Best Buy Theater 2010, Madrid MTV EMA pre-party 2010, and I'm sure a few others. No matter what Jon says, I just think he sees small venues as unimportant and I can't see him wanting to do a great rarity-filled 27-song setlist for an audience of 1,000.

Do you see, for example, U2 touring those small theaters and doing intimate shows? No, they're too big for that. And I'm sure Jon wants to be mentioned in the same breath as them in terms of masiveness.

Arena shows would be fine so long as they aren't seated. Also, lose Gold Circle. Atmosphere killers.

Which is a shame, in my opinion. The band is rich enough already that they can do whatever the hell they want without worrying about living on the streets. Ticket sales are dwindling with every tour, and I imagine if they keep their same touring schedule, it will reach a point that doing arenas in Europe is feasible. They only did one gig in London this year anyway, for example, so I don't think there would be a problem with 2 or 3 shows in an arena in London. Hell, they could have an arena AND stadium stage in Europe if they wanted and alternate the style of shows. Is it as feasible? No. But it seems that they can for sure sell out an arena most places in Europe, but not a stadium (look at the Scotland gig for an example). This way they could still pull the "sell out shows" bullshit..

/soapbox.

I'm a big U2 fan, and regularly read a U2 messageboard, and U2 fans are all clamoring for an arena tour. The last time they played arenas was in 2005, and that was only in the USA, so the last times they played arenas in Europe (where much of their fanbase is) was in 2001. And before that, it was 9 years prior. The problem with U2 is that they still actually sell out all their shows (probably due to them touring only every 4 or 5 years), so getting tickets for an arena show would be rather difficult, and the band would have to play many more shows to meet the demand.

For U2, the main problem is the amount of shows, not the money. This is likely a problem for Bon Jovi, too. Ask a band of fifty-somethings (and sixty-somethings in Bon Jovi's case) whether they'd like to play 1 outdoor show or 3 indoor shows, and see what they'd say.