Sunday, October 25, 2009

The irony of The Circle

It might be too early to make that call, but based on the samples we've heard, The Circle could well be Bon Jovi's best album this decade, song-wise at least (I promise not to whine about the production until I have a physical copy of the album in my hands). But ticket prices are growing more ridiculous by the tour. I think I touched on this when the fan club show was announced, and when mentioning the Prudential Center shows, but lofty ticket prices are a recurring theme in Joviland so here we go again.

How can you justify telling every interviewer that you just had to write THIS album NOW in light of the economic downturn and hunger for political change, and then turn around and rape the wallets of your loyal fans? Hell, fans in Europe kept the band going strong through the 90s. How can you go on stage every night singing about Tommy and Gina while ripping off all the real life Tommys and Ginas out there? AEG might be the promoters, but Jon is the self-proclaimed CEO of a company and I don't believe for a second he is Mr Innocent when it comes this particular brand of daylight robbery. Sure, Bon Jovi is one band that can probably get away with charging exorbitant prices for every show because at the end of the day, they have enough fans who are eager or desperate enough for live shows to scrape up the cash. And as long as people are paying, the money making machine can keep jacking up prices. But does that mean they should?

It might have been a slightly different story in North America, but Jon might do well to remember the half empty stadiums at some of their European shows on the last tour, despite it being probably the best tour of the decade.


(On an unrelated note, some of you may have noticed the above clip is from Hey Hey It's Saturday which was the source of recent international controversy...)

1 comment:

Thanks for giving me your time.