Bon Jovi's lack of 'interactivity' with their fans!
 

It's really dawned on me today, how little this band gets involved with it's fans 'online'.
I've been to a few other sites today of other artists and many of them have Christmas Messages to their fans.
There is nothing on BJ.com or Backstage. I know it's only a minor thing, but it's the little things that make the fans feel appreciated.
If you look at websites from the likes of U2, Madonna and even Def Leppard you can see that they really make an effort to 'connect' with the fans.

This is from the Lepps site:

HOLIDAY WISHES (posted 12.22)

From the the band, their crew and all of us at DefLeppard.com, we hope you will have some great holidays and best wishes for 2007 to all of you out there!

To wrap up things here at the site for this year, we got some more specific holiday messages from Joe, Phil and Viv -- and we asked for their 2007 resolutions:

Joe: "My new year's resolutions? Pfew! Guess you have to make them..... Stop biting my nails, don't drink as much, watch my football team win the Premiership..... No, seriously, it would be to try and make a ****in' great record!"
(For an additional audio message from Joe, click here.)

Phil: "Merry Christmas, happy holidays and all the best for 2007 for everyone! And, here's a kind of resolution: we're going to try and get an album recorded and finished in 2007. That'll be a new one for us!"

Viv: "Season's greetings and best wishes to all Leppard fans across the globe! Wherever you are, we wish you a peaceful holiday and a great new year ahead! And speaking of the new year, here are my resolutions for 2007: firstly, I really, really want to unpack my suitcase and feel like I'm not traveling - at least for a little while. Secondly, I intend to keep the band beholding to our earlier agreement to finish a new album in the first half of 2007. The naysayers don't believe that we can do it, but we'll prove them wrong. There's much excitement and anticipation about the album, too, as I believe that we'll actually make a better record through working to a deadline rather than having the usual open-ended arrangement. Look forward to seeing you all next year!

And we also hope to see you again 2007.


They also leave short video messages and proper tour diairies etc as do U2. Not a thing from Jovi!
For a band that makes out that it's the 'peoples band' rather than the 'critics' they real fail in this department.
I know Jon has always said he's rubbish when it comes to computers, but to me this is just a poor excuse.
Maybe their New Years Resolution should be to put this right!

While I agree they are lacking in stuff, it's an off year for them. Last year they had a tour pic while they were on the road. But I see what you mean.

EDIT: Their intentions always start out good. Exclusive updates from the road, tour diaries. I remember the Bounce tour, Dave was the only one to use it and it was like...once. I would love to see it updated more frequently next tour.

How hard would it be for Jon or one of his lackies to type up a one line message wishing the fans a Merry Christmas?!

Also the so-called new and improved fan club promised videos etc - we've been waiting for one from the event in London since last month, but I can't see it hitting the light of day.

See that's the thing i was going to comment on... it's not as if Jon himself would be there sitting over the keyboard typing it up so it wouldn't have been that special or meaningful imo... so them not having a message on their site doesn't really bother me, it's not such a big deal to me. Just like i am sure Madonna, Def Lep, etc. didn't sit down and write theirs out either...

I do agree with that tour diaries thing though... what did they do it for, the first show of the tour (?) and then i think that was it. That I did find to be minorly annoying...

And as soon as Jon does type a Merry Christmas message someone else is going to bitch that he said C---stmas and was insensivite to his Jewish fans. There's always going to be someone lined up to complain about whatever they do.

I don't know...maybe it's late. Two years ago they posted the poem wishing their fans a happy holiday and last year I think they did....I think it was at the bottum of the setlist for CAA on the 22nd.

I do agree though that there could be more involvement for the fans. But then again, they do a lot more than some other bands do, who don't appreciate their fans at all.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

As far as fan interaction goes, I still want Jovi to do something like what Megadeth(Forgive the comparison) did on tour around 2001. They had a list of about 30-40 songs on their website and for each show of the tour you could vote for the songs you wanted to hear. They let the fans pretty much make the set for each city.

With all due respect, Megadeth aren't a radio friendly band. Radio has turned it's back on most of Jovi's later singles but there's just a lot of songs they need to play every night I guess. But it's a smashing idea.

That's just political correctness gone mad and it hasn't stopped other artists.. A Happy Holidays message should upset nobody.

Saying Merry Christmas shouldn't upset anyone either, but it does. I wouldn't be offended if someone wished me a Happy Hannukuh even though I don't celebrate it.

But in Bon Jovi Land people ALWAYS find something to complain about.