Open Letter to JBJ

Anthony Kuzminski has posted a couple of GREAT reads.

The first is a letter to Jon regarding set list choices. Some staggering stats from Tony K's post:

To be fair, I decided to sit down and see how many actual songs I have seen you perform over the last few decades. What I found surprised me. I have seen a total of thirty-seven shows over the course of seven tours stretching back two decades and have only seen a mere ninety-one songs performed. Sixteen of these are covers (and I’m including snippets including “Jumpin' Jack Flash”, “Good Lovin’”, etc.). So essentially I’ve seen seventy-five original Bon Jovi songs over thirty-seven performances. When looking at this, I decided to see how you matched up against the other “top grossing” acts on the road and here’s what I found:

• Over 37 performances Bon Jovi has done 91 songs (only 75 originals)

• I’ve seen The Rolling Stones 15 times and have seen 97 unique songs

• I’ve seen U2 20 times and have seen 87 unique songs (no snippets included)

• I’ve seen the Dave Matthews Band four times on one album cycle and saw 51 unique songs

• I’ve seen Pearl Jam a mere five times and they have performed 85 unique songs

• I’ve seen Bruce Springsteen 45 times and have seen a whopping 257 unique songs

Gotta give the rest a read. It's great.

The second post offers suggestions on how to punch up the set list. I like this particular post because I've always believed that if you tell me what the problems are, you damned well better have a solution in mind, otherwise you're just whining. When I managed people, my stock answer to any complaint was, "I understand your concerns, how can we make it better?" When met with a shrug and a blank stare, I knew I'd hit on a whiner.

Tony got hundreds of emails from fans, and he used them to put together statistics to share with Jon. Read the whole article, but here are a few highlights:

* These Days was the most requested "play in full" album among his responses. I know I blogged it a couple of times :)

* These were the top-10 requested songs ~ some you wouldn't expect:

Most Requested Songs:
1. "Edge of a Broken Heart"
2. "Wild Is The Wind"
3. "Dry County"
4. "I Believe"
5. "Hey God"
6. "Never Say Goodbye"
7. "Something To Believe In"
8. "In & Out of Love"
9. "Tokyo Road"
10. "Let It Rock"

Some requested songs that were not surprises:

12. "Diamond Ring"
15. "This Ain’t A Love Song"
16. "It’s Hard Letting You Go"
20. "Shooting Star"
22. "Bang A Drum"
31. "Let’s Make It Baby"
32. "Hook Me Up"
33. "Blood Money"
35. "One Wild Night"
38. "I’d Die For You"
39. "Only Lonely"
41. "Hallelujah"
42. "Here Comes The Sun"
44. "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
45. "Lie To Me"

About Richie's solo: He laments the repeat of Stranger and IBTFY, and offers some suggestions, any of which would make even the heart of the slightest Richie fan soar. To hear him playing Layla? Or We All Sleep Alone? Uh, yes, please!

About the Don't Play: Spot on, but missing Who Says :) Tony put that in the must play every night category. I think we're sick of that one.

Go, read Tony's articles. You won't be disappointed.

Then, if you're of a mind, tweet the links to @BonJovi. It will probably fall on deaf ears ~ it's been my experience that a "CEO of a major corporation" typically doesn't like to have his judgment questioned, but Jon has always struck me as a fair guy. He's said more than once he wants the fans to enjoy the experience. I want to believe him. I really do. But he's done/said things before that he hasn't come through on (including the Philly Soul Arena Bowl Champs celebration free show and looking into the O2 prices, to name a couple).

~ Hath