Bon Jovi plays free to cut ticket prices in Madrid

Singer Jon Bon Jovi and his band have waived their performance fees for a concert in Madrid next month in sympathy with Spain’s financial crisis.

The gesture allowed Bon Jovi’s Spanish fans to buy cheaper tickets for the band’s tour, which starts in Denmark next week. Tickets that were normally more than $100 were made available for between about $24 and $50 for the concert in the Spanish capital on June 27.

Bon Jovi, whose signature song, Livin’ on a Prayer, tells the story of fictional working class couple, Tommy and Gina, who struggle to make ends meet, told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo the tour was not originally going to visit Spain over fears the concert would be poorly attended in the financially struggling country.

But out of loyalty to the band’s fans the ticket prices were reduced at the expense of the band members’ wages, with the price just covering the cost of the venue, operating costs and the salaries of staff on the ground at the event.

“When we were planning our tour to promote our new album, we did a study and saw that, given the economic crisis, Spain wasn’t even on the map,” said Bon Jovi, 51.

“But we didn’t want to forget all about our fans in a country which I love, and which has treated me so well for 30 years.”

Tickets for the concert have sold out. Unemployment in Spain reached a record 27.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2013, with the majority (57 per cent) of young people without a job.