During next year’s Bon Jovi tour don’t expect that you will hear a show full of their greatest hits. Jon Bon Jovi said when the band heads out on the road in February the mix will include some rare tracks. He talked about having a conversation recently with a reporter suggesting that they break more of the obscure tracks out that Bon Jovi sometimes plays while in Europe or rarely performs. Bon Jovi says they will play their hits but will also mix the set list up. Yes we will always want to do those, but what if one night we don’t end up playing “Always?” It was a ballad and monster hit for us. What if one night you just aren’t in the mood to play ballads so you don’t. Personally I think that we have earned our right to have the freedom to do that.

Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi guitarist said, he is ready to play which ever tracks their frontman would like to play. Jon is our quarterback. He will call our set list. There will also be some audibles. It happens a lot. Sometimes we will be in our dressing room getting ready and Jon says, let’s pick up “Keep the Faith” or “These Days” or something we haven’t played for ten years. On the spot we will learn it. Then we take it to the stage that night and play it. It really depends on what we are feeling in terms of where we are at or what is going on.

The band will be out backing The Circle, their new album.

After taking a long break following the creation of “Alter the Ending,” the newest Dashboard Confessional album, front man for the band Chris Carraba is very happy to hit the road once again, and in particular is thrilled about opening up the first leg next year of Bon Jovi’s tour of North America.

Carraba said, I love the band. They are amazing. The songwriting prowess they possess has inspired me very much, although it probably isn’t obvious in my songwriting. They are also one of the archetypes in terms of live bands from the past thirty years. I am really looking forward to watching them play each night.

Carraba added, when I was just a young kid I heard something Bon Jovi said that has stuck with me. He said if a song couldn’t stand up with only an acoustic guitar that meant there really wasn’t a song there. I think that there is a lot of truth in that. That boils it down to the simplest equation. If it really is a good song it will be effective. It is a very good litmus test.

The dates for Bon Jovi start in Seattle on February 19 and will continue through until April. They are only part of the planned touring for Dashboard Confessional in 2010. Carraba along with John Lefler, guitarist, are playing acoustic dates currently in support of “Alter the Ending.” The album debuted on Billboard 200 at No. 19 in November.

The acoustic shows are being done instead of a tour of the full band. It was canceled abruptly due to a family emergency that was not disclosed. Carraba has continued to be discreet regarding the circumstances leading to the cancellation. He would only confirm it didn’t involve any of his family.

Carraba said, I really can’t say very much in order to respect the situation. Everyone is dong well. I think that we are through the thickest part.

Dashboard Confessional will be playing some headlining shows in between the Bon Jovi dates. They are also planning there own headlining North American tour as well as into other territories.

Carraba said, I hope to also do lots of shows with lots of my friends. It took us lots of time making this record as well as taking us off the road a lot. I am looking forward getting back out there to have the camp experience of touring life.

We probably will not be home too much next year. I am very happy about that.

Dave Matthew Band, Kenny Chesney and Bon Jovi top the confirmed performers list for a new outdoor festival spanning multiple days that is scheduled for next July. The festival will take place at Churchill Downs, home of the legendary Kentucky Derby.

HullabaLOU Music Festival will take place in Louisville, KY at the racetrack on July 23-25 and feature over 65 bands.

Performers will represent the musical genres of Bluegrass, adult contemporary, country and classic rock. They will be performing on five stages over the course of the event. The event is being designed by its organizers to be an event held on an annual basis.

Other performers and acts scheduled to play at the festival include Dwight Yoakam, Michael McDonald, Joan Osborne, Gov’t Mule, The Black Crowes, Loretta Lynn, Colbie Caillat and Jason Aldean along with many others.

Quint Davis, consulting producer as well as the director and producer of New Orleans’ Jazz Fest said, the performers who are scheduled to play at the HullabaLOU festival will put the event instantly on the map for the country’s major music festivals.

The price for tickets for the festival will range from $60 covering a general admission pass for one day, up to $975 covering VIP admission for the entire three days. On December 4 tickets will go on sale starting at noon Kentucky time.

Richie Sambora, guitarist for Bon Jovi, revealed that to promote “The Circle,” their upcoming album, the band might go out on a world tour next year. He told Rolling Stone magazine that in 2010, probably in the spring, that they would get going and would go out for a long time and that it would be a big one.

The guitarist said he and Jon Bon Jovi had been planning to release a greatest hits collection first before they worked on a new album, but once they started just couldn’t stop making new music.

He said that they began having so much fun while they were making the record that they decided they would first do a studio album. He added that it sounded fresh and that they have reinvented themselves once again. He said that he and Jon had a great time making the album and were quite proud of it. Sambora said they were just getting to the mixing and that they had had quite a prolific songwriting period.

The band’s long awaited new album will be released in November.