If Jon wants to continue touring at all, at some point he's going to have to modify the type of show he does. Tico is eventually going to retire; Jon can't sustain stadium setlists over the long haul; and imo, David's been in it for a paycheck for a while now. I don't believe $$ is the primary motivator for Jon. I think it's a combination of workaholism and addiction to the high he gets from performing, whether that's due to addiction to the adulation, the routine of touring, or other factors.

I agree there are songs Jon sounds bad on in his acoustic shows; but he sounds better and seems to enjoy those shows more than he has stadium shows for the last 2 or 3 years. I keep going back to the rumor that Lost Highway was first intended to be a Jon and Richie acoustic. I'd fall all over myself to get tickets for something like that; when I wouldn't walk down the street to see the band as they are now. That's just my opinion, and it's obviously not what some people associate with Bon Jovi; so that type of show wouldn't appeal to them. But I believe enough people would be interested to make it worth Jon's while to play acoustic shows in smaller venues. It would be easier on him and Tico; and for as long as Hugh, David, and Tico were interested, it could legitimately be called Bon Jovi. (It could technically be called that without them; but as far as I'm concerned, Jon would lose any credibility he has left if he did that.) For it to work vocally, though, they'd need Richie.

I think a lot depends on how it's structured. If they did the big hits the way they're usually done to give the majority what they expect, pulled it back for some acoustic numbers, and mixed things up enough, I think they could get by with it. Until fans got used to it, there might be a let down at first, or some lulls they'd have to overcome. But if they spiced it up enough, and threw in some rarities they know people want to hear, it might appeal even to the diehards. I'd be willing to bet that the first time fans took a beer or bathroom break, and later learned they had missed out on a Cadillac Man or a Mona Lisa while they were gone, they'd probably stick around the next time. JMO.

Most fans don't even know that a Jovi song called Mona Lisa exists, though.

True. I just pulled those out of the air as examples, though. Most fans wouldn't know My Guitar Lies Weeping either, and probably didn't know Amen. There will always be songs that most fans don't know. That's why they would need to continue doing the big hits the way the majority expects; and perhaps gradually cut back if that becomes necessary, until the less demanding songs become what is expected. :)

Beyond that, though, I see no reason why they shouldn't be able to mix it up with acoustic, electric, the songs most people expect, rarities diehards would love to hear, singer-songwriter moments, etc. It might be harder to come up with setlists, but the changes in pace and the energy required during the shows would make up for it. Again, JMO.

Well I’m not really going round in circles, because it’s something we don’t know, a new space,...better to try something new, especially now he has all the money and fame in the world.

Credibility? Self-credibility, self-belief, self-esteem...exactly what he’s been lacking definitely since Richie left and probably since Lost Highway (like it or loathe it, it’s probably the last record Jon believed in).

Go and listen to Jon when he believed in himself, listen to some Jason Mraz; Jon needs to think about himself, you guys will keep moaning whatever he does anyway 😹

I agree about Lost Highway having been the last record he's really been into, all the other stuff was just going through the motions. And you keep moaning on whatever he's currently doing too, just because you'd like to hear TLFR and Stand Up Guys songs doesn't make it much different :mrgreen:

And just to clarify: I would've wished for them to do something different, be it an acoustic tour or re-arranging songs with a symphonic orchestra like Kiss, The Scorprions, Metallica (hell, even Bounce) had done. But they never had the balls to do so and always played the safe card because that meant steady tickets sales and big tours.

Even up until 2011, they would've been great in doing such a thing as a laid-back acoustic show where they dug deep into the albums. The band definitely would've been up for it, it usually was Jon who stopped this. Just like that show in 2010 when people requested In And Out Of Love and Richie spontaneously started jamming on his acoustic guitar until Jon made him stop. Or in Mannheim 2011 with the NSG sign where he kept asking him "you wanna do that?! you wanna do that?!" until Richie said no and they started I'll Be There For You.

I feel that, of all people up there, Jon's always been the one least interested in digging out rare songs. Once something wasn't successful, it was cut off. Fahrenheit wasn't the breakthrough they had hoped for, so it all got scrapped from the setlists once SWW and then NJ had hit big. These Days failed in the states and was basically ignored on setlists there onwards. Bounce didn't follow up the success of Crush, so it was even scrapped from the Greatest Hits. Who Says and then the Lost Highway record were quite big in the USA, so we get in everywhere now. And so on...

He could've done a solo album and then tour these kind of songs, but ever since Destination Anywhere failed on US soil, I feel he doesn't have the guts to do another one. Which is rather sad. After the big break in 2014, they kept touting that they don't have to proof anything anymore, yet we get another carbon copy of the same album. After the RnR Hall of Fame, they said the same, yet we're most likely to get WAN part 4 next year.

If Jon wanted to lay the focus on rare songs he truly believed in, he could easily do a solo tour and play these. His current solo line-up sounds a lot better in terms of guitar playing and vocal harmonies anyway.
But if the artist doesn't believe in his work, how could one expect the audience to do so?

I'm in that small camp that thinks the recent albums aren't carbon copies of each other. Sonically they are all pretty different from each other. Song wise, and guitar part wise, maybe. but The Circle doesn't sound much like WAN, and This House is a more aggressive sounding album than WAN.

OFF TOPIC: You and your Bounce tribute band... rolling my eyes
I prefer this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1j_...ature=youtu.be
those guys are BJ fans from Argentina (they opened for Bon Jovi in 2017)

As if you're posts would ever be on topic :p :D

There are other tribute bands I like a lot too like Soma or back then Kon Chauvi. But it was just an example of missed opportunities. Back on topic ;)

What a great post...

Just 2 observations:
- I’m not moaning about the current Jon. I’m taking my 6 year old daughter to see him and the guys next week in Madrid. Yep, his voice is shot and sounds like a strangled cat, but that’s just fact. I can’t wait and the show will be great.
- I have no TLFR or Stand Up fetish; I just think that sort of thing (not that EXACTLY) is what Jon could be doing and sounding half decent.

The rest of your post, I mostly agree with.

There is one thing though, ‘belief’ in oneself, ones work, music,... is all about state of mind and of course, it all depends one the people you are surrounded by. Jon is a narcissist and having Richie as an empath kept him going on, he kept on feeding. Shanks hasn’t had the same effect, because he’s just as narcissistic. What was the name of that producer Bounce/TLFR era? Patrick...he was someone who helped Jon believe in himself. Believing in yourself brings confidence and again, it’s what Jon needs. Not some wannabe rock star/pop-junk producer who just keeps on saying ‘yes’.

Richie, Patrick, Bob Rock, Bobby Bandiera (as much as we hate his solos),... without that kind of person, Jon will always be missing something

I don't think anyone has ever said it any better than this.