My colleagues and I spend a fair amount of time on social networking sites such as Facebook/Twitter/Myspace possibly a few others and we see so much controversy concerning "Vanilla" set lists.
Some fans bitch and moan about the lack of diversity in the set lists and I have to wonder why?
Do you not realize that there are certain songs that the band MUST play? Not every fan in the audience is a die hard who can name every single song ever done whether a b-side, a cover or simply a bootlegged jam session. Actually, most of the people in the audience on a given night know only those songs made popular by repeated airplay. So, with the band playing to a different crowd every night, chances are that 80% of the set lists are going to be exactly the same.
I think the problem is, for those bitching and moaning, the fact that they buy tickets to many many shows, some of which are back to back. You really need to stop your complaining. The reason Bon Jovi is still around and still successful is because Jon and company have perfected the art of pleasing, or being relevant to a very very broad range of people. Do you think they could be as successful as they are right now if they only focused on pleasing a minute percentage of the people who listen to their music?
Look, the guys know what they are doing with the setlists. They know when to pull out a rarity and when the crowd wants the good old rock anthems that made them famous so please, quit complaining! It makes the die-hards sound like a bunch of ungrateful little high schoolers.
Thoughts? Comments? We welcome them, even if they disagree whole heartedly with what we've posted.
In the name of Jovi,
The Beauty Queen From Mars
OK, so far so good...I am mostly in agreement with you. While I may want to hear more rarities, I totally understand the rhyme and reason of the setlists. In addition, I think with a catalogue as big and broad as BonJovi's, even if they played lots of rarities, people would be disappointed - there's no way they could play everything and please everyone. So, I'm intrigued, let's see whatcha got, BQFM!
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