Monday, May 24, 2010

Lefsetz e-mail of the day: Bon Jovi loses fan

Bob Lefsetz, writer of the Lefsetz Letter received an e-mail about Bon Jovi from one of his subscribers. It came after Lefsetz linked to a New York Times article about VIP packages. The e-mail is very scathing... here's but a taste.
The group managing BJ at this time is flat out insulting. I take my seat and the guy next 2 me asks what I paid, I tell him and he begins to laugh out loud. He goes on to tell me that he paid nothing, was given free tickets by the management team and that people like me pay for his tickets. He had been drinking but I couldn’t stop listening. He went on and on and told me that the band makes all their money from people like me who are dumb and foolish enough to spend the money (which was confirmed by the NYT article). He said that by me essentially buying 10-12 tickets it allows them to give freebies out to give the illusion that a show is a sell-out when it really isn’t.

The next 2 hours I don’t remember anything. I was so sick to my stomach I couldn’t even enjoy the show. I don’t remember any of it. I felt raped. I felt violated beyond words. Not to mention the bad experience backstage where I was offered a wondrous chance to take a picture with a certain members guitar.

Until the day I die I will let everyone I come in contact know about the experience, how its not worth it, how I was hurt and how I was lied to and taken advantage of. Ill never see this band again, buy their music or send a single cent their way. They may have gotten my $$$ but they’ve lost my loyalty forever.
You can read the full e-mail here.

OUCH. Thoughts?

5 comments:

  1. Does anybody remember that part in the BJFCBW boxset Doc when all of the girls crowd the boys and you can hear the snickers off camera? Somebody says something like "Whoa, look at that one." when a heavier girl sits down to get her picture taken.
    So the 'fat club' comment really doesn't surprise me.

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  2. im sure its completely true, at least the financial and business parts of it. i have no idea about any of the personalities involved. i love bon jovi's music but they are incredibly corporate. those kinds of prices for "VIP", packages, an increasing part of today's music industry are just absurd. especially from a band who "champions" the working man. its just a fact. i'm sure the response is, capitalism, if there is demand there is supply. but we all know where that leads when unchecked. ultimately, i just don't think its fits the the spirit of any music in general which is a sacred rite/right for all people.

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  3. Just read what you "get" before buying VIP packages. If I'm going to spend that kind of cash, I'm meeting the band personally (i.e. Metallica, other bands). Getting to take home a seat ... please. Getting to look at Richie's guitars ... cool, yes but not worth $1,000. If you want to sit close, pay a few hundred bucks and sit close but not front row (or in the circle).

    And, yes, I love Bon Jovi's music but they are as corporate a band as one can get.

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  4. Most of the comments on I've seen on blogs, forums, social networks, etc have been along the lines of "What do you expect? It's Bon Jovi". Lonn Friend has received around 80 comments since he posted this on his Facebook, and he aptly remarked: "What is fascinating here that in 70 some odd posts, virtually no one talks about the music, the songs, the live performance, the standards by which Bon Jovi became one of the biggest bands in the world".

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  5. Whilst I consider myself a 'diehard' jovi fan, I didn't and wudn't pay for VIP tickets, purely because I don't have that kind of money. If I did have that money, I think I probably would! Bon Jovi & Co are a multi-million $ empire, and they've got to this through the dedication of their fans, because we will pay the prices for their tickets to listen to the music that we've grown up with and love. At this moment in time i'd say they are THE biggest band in the world. In the jovi 'corporation', jon employs others to run it, he takes it in the neck for ticket prices etc., i'm sure most of this is out of his hands, and he obviously trusts these people, including his brother Matt, to do the right thing. Jon can't possibly do what he does, sing, perform, family commitments, tv appearances etc., and be 100% aware of everything that goes on behind the scenes. Maybe i'm blinkered, but I think jon gets slated no matter what he does sometimes, he can't do right for doing wrong!!

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Thanks for giving me your time.