Lost Highway (Bon Jovi album)

Background

In the summer of 2006., Jon Bon Jovi revealed that he and Richie Sambora were planning to go in Nashville, Tennessee to record the next Bon Jovi album. Their intention was to write songs and record duets with famous country songwriters and artists. Jon explained: "I'm thinking of a Nashville sessions record. I'd like to knock out a quick record with a few country writers and artists and me and Richie. I'd like to get two or three artists to do duets with. I'd like to give a couple of Nashville songwriters a chance to shine, and Richie and I would write a few songs to prove we could hold our own with these guys." Band members went to Nashville in September 2006. and by December they had written, recorded and prepared for mixing ten out of twelve songs. In early 2007, Jon Bon Jovi pulled back the album and wrote five more songs and two of them made the album.

Release and reception

After its first week on sale, Lost Highway entered the Dutch, German, Swiss, and Japanese album charts at No. 1, and the UK Album Chart at No. 2, below The Traveling Wilburys Collection. It entered the Irish and Australian charts at No. 5, although after the conclusion of Bon Jovi's Australian tour the album climbed to No. 2. In Japan, the album debuted at No. 1 and sold 73,212 copies in its first week of release on Oricon charts. This is the fourth such time, breaking The Beatles and the Bay City Rollers' record as a Western band (under Oricon's definition) of having three number one albums in the country. In the UK the album sold 79,000 copies in its first week, an improvement on Have a Nice Day's first-week sales of 54,000. In Denmark, the album debuted at No. 5, but went to number one after five weeks on the charts. In the U.S., the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 292,000 copies sold in its first week. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA in October 2008, it has sold 1,221,000 copies in the United States and over 4 million copies worldwide.

Promotion

Jon Bon Jovi served as a keynote speaker at 2007 Country Radio Seminar (CRS) in Nashville. As a part of the seminar, band performed private concert at Nashville's Cannery Ballroom for about 400 invited country programmers. Band performed many songs from the album "Lost Highway" along with their hits. Song "We Got It Going On" was chosen as a theme song for the Arena Football League's weekly programming which debuted on March 4, 2007 at 12:30 ET on ABC and it was also used in show-opening video which took fans inside an Arena Football League arena. The footage aired before games between the Dallas Desperados and the New York Dragons, and the Chicago Rush and the Kansas City Brigade. Jon Bon Jovi has recorded team-specific lyrics for every one of the AFL franchises that aired throughout the season. Title track "Lost Highway" also appeared in a film Wild Hogs (2007). Album title, first single and their release dates were announced on March 19, 2007. First single of the album, "(You Want to) Make a Memory", was released on radio stations on March 20, 2007. and on the same day it was put on a stream on a band's official website. Pre-orders for the album started on May 10, 2007. iTunes Store pre-orders offered the instant download of the first single "(You Want to) Make a Memory" and live versions of "(You Want to) Make a Memory" and "Lost Highway" recorded at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville. On June 5, 2007. Bon Jovi played three and a half hour set with 20 songs in Steiner Studios. The band taped this show for an Unplugged special which was broadcast on MTV, VH1 and CMT. On June 22, MTV broadcast a half hour version of the concert, VH1 broadcast a one-hour version of the concert on June 23, while CMT broadcast an hour and a half long version of the concert on June 24, 2007. On June 12th, 2007. VH1 put on a preview the entire album on their official website. On June 24, 2007, Bon Jovi opened The O2 Arena in London and played concert which coincided with the release of this album. Tickets for this concert went on sale on April 20, 2007. at 9 a.m. and were sold in one minute because it was the only Bon Jovi concert in United Kingdom in 2007.It was, also, the first time in 15 years that Bon Jovi played indoors in United Kingdom.

Tour

In the summer of 2007, Bon Jovi performed ten concerts around the world as part of the Lost Highway promotion, with plans for a full greatest hits world tour in 2008. However, after Lost Highway did better than expected, the world tour was moved forward to the fall of 2007, and was renamed the Lost Highway Tour. The tour so far consists of ten dates in New Jersey, followed by Canadian and Japanese tours, as well as the band's first stadium concert in New Zealand since the These days tour. The tour also saw them play Australia for the first time since their brief appearance at the Rumba Festivals in 2002, playing sold out shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. The band then toured the U.S. and Europe in spring and summer 2008, before returning to North America for a few more summer shows, including a free concert in Central Park in New York City.

Personnel