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Boxoffice Insider: Bon Jovi Europe Bound With ‘House’ Tour
David Bergman – Jon Bon Jovi’s
Runaway To Paradise Cruise took 2,500 fans to sea from Miami to Nassau April 12, with a storytelling set from the Bon Jovi frontman, special guests and discussions.
Bon Jovi is gearing up to head back on the road with the first European leg of This House Is Not For Sale, the band’s current world tour that has played the Americas, Asia and Oceania since early February of 2017.
With upcoming shows booked at stadiums or outdoor concert sites at 19 cities in 15 countries, the trek through Europe is set to begin at Moscow’s 81,000-seat Luzhniki Stadium on May 31. It will be the band’s first concert appearance at Russia’s national stadium since the Soviet era when they played the Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989 along with Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne and others.
The Moscow concert will be followed by a performance in another former Soviet-controlled country, Estonia, marking the band’s first appearance there. The June 2 concert will be an outdoor event staged in the capital city of Tallinn.
Dublin’s RDS Arena is the only venue on the European jaunt that will host the band for more than one show this summer. The Irish multipurpose sports venue has concerts planned for June 15-16. Bon Jovi has played the stadium three other times in the last 20 years, according to boxoffice tallies reported to Pollstar – first in August of 2000 during the Crush tour, then in June during the following year’s One Wild Night tour.
Most recently, the band played there for two nights on their 2011 Live tour, selling 68,144 tickets for the engagement.
Also this summer Bon Jovi will perform at stadiums in three English cities – Anfield in Liverpool June 19, London’s Wembley Stadium June 21 and Ricoh Arena in Coventry two days later.
Jesus Aranguren / Invision / AP – Bon Jovi
“Art Basel,” Faena Theater, Miami Beach, Fla.
The group has two previous concerts at the Coventry stadium included in the boxoffice archives: sold-out shows during the Have A Nice Day tour in 2006 and the Lost Highway tour in 2008.
Aside from the U.K. events, most of the European concerts will mark the band’s only appearance in each venue’s country this year, but in both Germany and Austria, the veteran rockers are to perform at stadiums in two cities on the upcoming trek. Düsseldorf, Germany’s Merkur Spiel-Arena and Olympiastadion in Munich both have concerts scheduled in early July, while Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadion and Wörthersee Stadion in Klagenfurt, Austria are booked later in the month.
After the tour’s European leg wraps July 21, Bon Jovi will head to Israel for a performance at HaYarkon Park in Tel Aviv on July 25. The expansive urban park has hosted numerous concerts including massive draws during the past decade such as Madonna, The Rolling Stones and Justin Bieber, just to name a few.
The final trek planned for the tour will be a five-city South American leg in September with the first four shows set in Brazilian cities. Stadium events in Recife and São Paulo are first on the schedule, and the city of Curitiba will follow with an outdoor performance at Pedreira Paulo Leminski.
A headlining slot at the annual Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro on Sept. 29 will be the group’s finale in Brazil. Finally, the tour’s last show will be held on Oct. 2 at Estadio Nacional in Lima, Peru.
The This House Is Not For Sale tour – supporting Bon Jovi’s 14th studio album released in November of 2016 – included North American treks during the first half of the year in both 2017 and 2018. Based on 55 concerts reported during the North American jaunts in both years, the band grossed $72.7 million overall in U.S. and Canadian venues with a total sold ticket count of 788,619.
Live Nation promoted the tour’s North American dates.
Bon Jovi, a touring power house, has frequently topped Pollstar charts, and in 2013 had the top tour of the year based on ticket sales with more than 2.6 million sold worldwide. That year, Bon Jovi averaged 27,397 tickets per show, with an average gross of more than $2.6 million.
This year, frontman Jon Bon Jovi’s Runaway To Paradise Cruise in April took 2,500 fans aboard the Norwegian Jade in Miami setting sail for Nassau, where the rocker performed an acoustic Q&A storyteller set giving fans from around the globe a look into his life and the stories behind his music.
The following day featured a full rock show with his backing band The Kings of Suburbia, mixing Bon Jovi hits and classic covers. Jon Bon Jovi was joined by Collective Soul, Tonic, BETSIE GØLD, Slippery When Wet, Tempt, DJ Dave, Brett Wiscons, Matt Brown, and Wayland. The Runaway To Paradise cruise sets sail again in the Mediterranean Aug. 26-30 from Barcelona to Palma, Majorca.