2026 will see Bon Jovi take centre stage once again when they return for their Forever Tour, four years after Jon Bon Jovi’s vocal cord surgery had the group’s future up in the air.
Speaking to Sky News, he says he’s “excited, humble and grateful” to be back to full health.
“The band and even the crew, they showed me a whole other level of brotherhood and commitment and love for three plus years when, you know, there’s no money coming in. And their families are waiting on that. And they never lost faith, which helped me to keep fighting,” he adds.
Starting their European leg of the tour at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on 28 August, the group will then play at Croke Park in Dublin on 30 August before concluding their tour at Wembley Stadium in London on 4 September.
It is one of many reasons for the Grammy winner to celebrate recently.
His son Jake and his wife, Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, welcomed a baby girl via adoption earlier this year.
“It’s crazy, it’s a beautiful thing and you feel a responsibility for your kids’ kids, and it’s beautiful, and the holidays will be that much brighter this year, and we have a second one any day now. If I get the call, my wife is outta here now because the second one’s coming next week.”
On Bruce Springsteen
Hailing from New Jersey, the 63-year-old has long credited Bruce Springsteen‘s rise to fame as something that opened the door to other local artists getting record contracts, including him.
Now good friends for a few decades, this album marks the first time they blend their voices together on a track.
“We’ve sung together countless times over the years or had many [drinks], you know, but to actually call him up and have him on one of the records in an official capacity was wonderful. It was great.
“And it’s a testament to our friendship. It’s a testament to the song. And it’s good for the fans too. You know, they wanted to hear it, you know, and a song like that that I’m so proud of as the writer was the right kind of song for me.”
Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi perform in 2024 in Los Angeles. Pic: AP/Chris Pizzello
Whether he’ll follow in his friend’s footsteps and agree to a biopic about his own life is another story.
“No, I have no idea about that. You know, I mean the story of me is still being written,” he said, adding that he sat side by side with pride watching Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.
“It’s really good. It’s at a time in 1982 when I was very much alive and I wrote Runaway that year. I was playing two blocks over from where he was playing with that cover band every Sunday night. In fact, it competed with my playing it, so we would literally close our bar and go because we knew he’d be playing here on Sunday night.
“I mean, it was, I lived it and watching the movie sitting next to him in the movie theatre, kept punching him. We said it’s like a time machine. It’s a time machine. Because, you know, there was a part of all of our lives growing up in New Jersey and what he meant to or means to all of us.”
Evolving as an artist
Best known for his big hits like Livin’ On A Prayer, You Give Love A Bad Name and It’s My Life, the artist has also written a number of songs reflecting on life in America and pivotal moments in the country like the death of George Floyd, the January 6 Capitol riots, 9/11 and the multiple news stories on gun violence.
He says evolving as a songwriter and musician is his top priority for his career.
“I’m a grown man. I’m not chasing pop stardom. I’ve been doing this for 43 years and the opportunity to write for me is also kind of a way for me to think through a situation. It’s soothing sometimes, you know, to work through it. And with an album like 2020, which I became, you know, a narrator while we were all locked down in COVID and no one could play in an arena like [Wembley], you put on your fedora and you become the reporter, and you’re writing that story.
“But I loved it as a writer and if I didn’t evolve, if I came to you now and say, Hey baby rockin’ out we’re playing, I would expect you to punch me in the nose. You know, if I didn’t evolve.
“You know, people have been on this train with us for these 43 years. Some got off along the way to go and have a life. Others got on at that point and took it to the next destination, and they got off and they went and had a life. So this evolution is a part of my life. And where you get on the train and get off the train is all understood. But you know, the train kept going.”
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One artist he had hoped to collaborate with on the updated “Legends Edition” of the Forever record was Ed Sheeran, after writing Living In Paradise together.
Bon Jovi speaks to Sky News’ Debbie Ridgard
On Ed Sheeran
“I wanted him very much on this and that would have been perfect. But Ed and I discussed it immediately and he said, I’ve done too many things. I need to put my record out before I can do anything else. And I said, ‘alright, you little brat, it’s fine’. But no, I love him.”
Regarding whether we may see Sheeran or another one of his collaborators show up at one of his upcoming concerts, he says, smiling: “Who knows? Who knows who’s in town on the day?”
Tickets for the Forever tour dates in Dublin, Edinburgh and London go on sale on Friday, 31 October.
