Bon Jovi / Jon is a legendary artist. I think with the absence of Richie and not having any real mainstream exposure lately, they lost a little popularity amongst their fan-base. I don't think he's quite up there with Paul, Bruce, Billy, Etc. and don't think he ever was but he's also one of the few 80's bands to go beyond any of his peers. With that he'll always have that niche market.

Like any other type of business sales, they have to sell towards whatever market they could maximize in. They should have no problem playing Arenas within heavily populated major cities. Now stadiums are a completely different type of monster. 20 thousand compared to 60 thousand is a huge difference. They'd be lucky to play 5 across the US right now.

Jon is becoming an old 55. I think he's burnt out both physically and mentally. He even wrote lyrics "My voice is shot, I'm going grey, these muscles all ache" Big long tours might be a thing of the past. Even if he has 10 years left in him, he's going to slow down. These arena shows were perfect for him.

Props to Jon for taking a solo band and mixing it with Bon Jovi so he could release an album and more so tour under that name. He put up some impressive number and exceeded everyone's expectations.

I wonder how much the high ticket prices affected sales? I think they have to.

I know tickets were discounted closer to the concerts but if someone doesn't have their heart 100% set on seeing BJ then they might not check back to see if they are discounted at some point.


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Here is an interesting comparison between the current attendance numbers and previous outings, providing an idea of growth/decline in a particular market. The difference may be owing to many factors, e.g. venue, stage/arena configuration, economy, market saturation, Richie's absence etc. Still, it indicates the health of business in markets they have toured this leg. Statistics (difference in ticket sales) are based on reported Billboard Boxscores.

Growth:

Greenville: 2,399
Atlanta: 2,002
Nashville: 4,365
St. Louis: 978
Dallas: 106
Las Vegas: 3,736 (different venue)
Sacramento: 1,313 (different venue)
Phoenix: 2,146 (different venue)
Columbus: 1,234
St. Paul: 200

Decline:

Sunrise: -1,053
Birmingham: -1,757
Oklahoma City: -1,298
San Jose: -2,011
San Diego: -1,450
Inglewood: -797 (different venue)
Memphis: -5,526
Cleveland: -5,969
Indianapolis: -1,623
Philadelphia: -121

The band played stadium shows in Chicago and Detroit during the BWC tour, and a festival date in New Orleans.

Your Cleveland "Decline" number is interesting.... There must have been a different "configuration" aka the back of the stage???? because they were only 1500 seats away from a sellout however the decline is 6000

The next leg of the tour will be the real test, I think, because there won't be any more "guessing" about what the show will be like. Let's see if the numbers can hold up.

The last time they played Cleveland at the same venue in 2013, the concert was reported a sell out with 19,050 paid fans in attendance. Quicken Loans Arena has a capacity of 20,562 (http://www.theqarena.com/arena-info/...rena-fun-facts).

Don't forget about cancelled stadium show in Cleveland on July 14, 2013. No official reasons, but most likely it happend due poor tix sales.

I did a quick calculation and the band pulled in an average of 1.35M per show, this tour... That doesn't include what they bring in with merchandising.

So with that, it takes 7 to 8 shows to cover the overhead costs based on that figure supplied in that article... Factor in another 3 shows to pay the band members and miscellaneous costs (could be a couple more)

I guess one could assume that every show after 10/11 is pure profit for JBJ...

1.35M times 19 shows is 25 Million... Seems a little high but without Richie's salary and elaborate productions, I'd say it's close...

For what it's worth I have a friend that works for the group that owns the arena in Toronto.

Ran into him at a raptors game last week. I asked what he thought of the shows... besides his comments which I won't bother to post, he specifically said the second show sold terribly with a ton of tickets given away or discounted at the band's request to fill the arena.
He said night 1 sold well but not typical bon jovi well.

He also added that the band has 2 tentative dates booked in the fall and will likely be back for another go... But has his doubts how well it will sell after the past 2.

It seems to me that there some here that are hell bent at not calling this tour a success. Analyzing numbers, finding ways to discredit the Billboard article, which is a legit music magazine. And, trying to find people who "claim" to kneow the band, saying that the shows didn't sell well. Ok, you can believe what you want to believe, but I believe in the real world, and its telling me that this was a successful tour, for at least this first part of the year. Now, there will be others tours from other artists that are coming up, especially this summer, and probably will do just as well, maybe a little better than Bon Jovi, but I am happy that for at least this first half of the year, THINFS tour was a success, whether you like it or not.