Bon Jovi Announce ‘Because We Can’ Tour
Bon Jovi will embark on a world tour of stadiums and arenas next year with the “Because We Can” tour, set to begin with a Canadian leg Feb. 13 in Montreal.
The first dates announced include Toronto, Edmonton, Ottawa, Calgary and Winnipeg. With U.S. dates to be announced in the coming weeks, Bon Jovi will also tour Europe, the Far East, Africa, Latin America and Australia. The tour will once again be produced globally by AEG Live and will be in support of the upcoming album “What About Now,” to be released in Spring 2013.
An elite touring band for years, Bon Jovi has found a new gear in this millennium, with more than 500 shows at stadiums and arenas around the globe since 2000, moving just under 13 million tickets, resulting in a gross just shy of $1 billion at the box office, according to Billboard Boxscore. Bon Jovi tours finished as Billboard’s highest-grossing tour of the year twice in three years, 2008 and 2010, a feat only accomplished by the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead.
The “Circle” world tour wrapped in the summer of 2011 with a $365 million total gross, according to Boxscore, making it seventh all time among the highest grossing tours in history. The preceding “Lost Highway” tour found the band not only building its North American and European audiences, but also selling out shows in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South America and grossed over $210 million.
In an interview with Billboard last year, front man Jon Bon Jovi talked about the band’s global popularity and the broad demographic of the band’s fans.
“I’m very aware that there are two generations of fans out there,” he said. “We’ve known that for the last decade. But I don’t look like the fat old guy yet, either. I’m not in the ‘fat Elvis’ suit yet.”
Canadian Tour Dates (U.S. Dates To Be Announced):
Feb. 13: Montreal (Bell Centre)
Feb. 17: Toronto (Air Canad Centre)
Feb. 20: Ottawa (Scotiabank Place)
April 2: Calgary (Scotiabank Saddledome)
April 3: Edmonton (Rexall Place)
April 5: Winnipeg (MTS Centre)