The Circle Tour

The Circle Tour was a worldwide concert tour by American rock band Bon Jovi. The tour was supporting the band's 11th studio album The Circle.^[2] Starting in North America in early 2010, the tour progressed to Europe, South America, Asia and Australia before the years end. It included a historic 12 night run at the O2 Arena in London and four nights in East Rutherford, New Jersey to celebrate the grand opening of the Meadowlands Stadium. The tour was the #1 top-grossing concert tour for 2010 in the United States.

Bon Jovi also played a special free performance for fans and former season ticket holders of the Jon Bon Jovi-owned arena football team The Philadelphia Soul on Wednesday, March 24 at 5pm a few hours before the band's show at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center. The band will end the first year of the tour in Australasia, currently scheduled to play two shows in New Zealand and eight shows in Australia including a VIP-ONLY gig on December 15 at Star City Casino.

Background

On this tour, the band has pledged to play some of their classic albums in full on some nights, and is varying their set lists more than usual – rarely played songs from their first two albums are being played, possibly for the first time in twenty-five years. Such songs include Roulette, Get Ready, Only Lonely, Tokyo Road, Let It Rock, Wild Is the Wind, Something to Believe In, It's Hard Letting You Go, Santa Fe and Homebound Train (vocals by Richie Sambora).

Bon Jovi kicked off the stadium leg of the Circle Tour by making history – they played the first ever show at the brand new New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The three sold out shows on May 26, 27 and 29, 2010 were a huge success, that they prompted the addition of another tour date at the stadium – on July 9, 2010 (the start of the 2nd North American leg)

Bon Jovi played a special free performance for fans and former season ticket holders of the Jon Bon Jovi-owned arena football team The Philadelphia Soul on Wednesday, March 24, 2010 a few hours before the band's show at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center. They also became the first band ever to play on the roof of the O₂ Arena in London, England on June 7, 2010. Around 1,500 people were there to see the amazing stunt on a large TV outside with a large PA system. Trained mountaineers helped the group to reach the top of the roof, which stands at 58 metres above the ground.

This tour features a circle-shaped stage and five massive ABB robots, each complete with a 6' by 9' Nocturne/ Vidicon LED screen attached to their "articulated arms". The patented RoboScreens are an experience in itself as they are choreographed to move with the music and onstage production.^[3]

Commercial reception

Bon Jovi on stage during The Circle Tour at the O2 Arena in London

The Circle Tour was the highest-grossing concert tour of 2010 according to Billboard's annual Top 25 concert tours, grossing $146,507,388 from 69 venues. The band's first 35 shows in North America all sold out. They played for 548,632 fans and grossed $51,954,562. Bon Jovi's 12 night run at London's O2 Arena grossed $18,178,036 and seen them play to 187,696 fans. The band's 4 shows at the New Meadowlands Stadium grossed $21,386,437 – a new record for the band, according to the box office gross reported to Billboard and they ended up playing to 206,099 fans.

So far the tour has played to 1,909,234 fans and has grossed $201.1 million from more than 80 venues reported to Pollstar. According to Pollstar, the band's first leg of their North American tour was the top-grossing concert tour for the first half of 2010 grossing $52.8 million from 35 shows. The figure excludes the bands 3 shows at the New Meadowlands Stadium which was part of the first leg of the tour.

The Circle Tour ranked #1 in the Top 20 Concert Tours for 2010. The tours are ranked by average box office gross per city, which includes the average ticket price for the North American shows. Trade publication Pollstar compiled the list based on data they received from the concert promoters and venue managers.

"Bon Jovi; $2,010,829; $96.36 For the second time in three years, Bon Jovi ranks as Billboard's & Pollstar's Top Touring Act of the Year. The band's achievement, this year and previously in 2008, demonstrates that, remarkably, the group is hitting its touring peak 26 years after releasing its debut album. In an ongoing global trek promoted by AEG Live that saw the band play stadiums and arenas, Bon Jovi reported Boxscore grosses for the period of November 20 through 28, 2010, of $146,507,388 and attendance of 1,591,154 to 69 sellouts. When Bon Jovi was tops for the year in 2008 with its Lost Highway Tour, the trek finished with a gross of $210 million, the 10th-biggest of all time.^[4]

Opening acts

Bon Jovi held a contest, called SuperBAND Tonight, for north-American bands to compete to get a chance to perform as their opening act for some major concerts.^[5] They announced the winners of the contest in a press release. A list of the winners, their show dates, and more information about the contest can be found at: Bon Jovi's The Circle Tour Announces Winners of Contest.

• Dashboard Confessional supported the February, March and some of the April dates.
• Fuel supported the Hersheypark Stadium show on May 19
• Kid Rock supported the O2 Arena shows on June 22, 23, 25 and 26.^[6][7]
• OneRepublic supported the O2 Arena shows on June 17, 19 and 20.^[7]
• Kid Rock supported on July 9, 15, 17, 20, 21, 24, 28, 30 and 31.^[6]
• Train was the special guest on the first night at the Meadowlands Stadium. Gavin DeGraw will be special guest for the second night, and OneRepublic will be special guest on the third.^[8]

Setlist

Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora on stage

1. Blood on Blood
2. We Weren't Born to Follow
3. You Give Love a Bad Name
4. Whole Lot of Leavin'
5. Born to Be My Baby
6. Lost Highway
7. When We Were Beautiful
8. Superman Tonight
9. We Got It Goin' On
10. It's My Life
11. Bad Medicine (with snipets of Shout)
12. Lay Your Hands on Me (Richie Sambora on lead vocals)
13. (You Want To) Make a Memory
14. Bed of Roses
15. Something for the Pain (acoustic)
16. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night (acoustic)
17. Keep the Faith
18. Work for the Working Man
19. Who Says You Can't Go Home
20. Love's the Only Rule

Encore;

20. Runaway
21. Wanted Dead or Alive
22. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
23. Always
24. Livin' on a Prayer

Shows

Personnel

Bon Jovi

• Jon Bon Jovi – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
• Richie Sambora – lead guitar, backing vocals, talkbox
• Hugh McDonald – bass, backing vocals
• Tico Torres – drums, percussion
• David Bryan – keyboards, backing vocals

Additional personnel

• Bobby Bandiera – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Phil X – rhythm guitar, backing vocals

Notes

References