Bon Jovi visits Wembley Stadium today!

Jon Bon Jovi is in the UK and came to Wembley Stadium today to talk to UK press about the new album ‘Forever (Legendary Edition)’ out today featuring superstars such as Bruce Springsteen and Robbie Williams, and new UK tour dates (see press release posted two days ago on this site for more details including dates, venues and where and when to get tickets and tracklist and full artist roster on the new album). He traveled to Wembley on the tube saying he finds it convenient, safe and clean!

 

Jon confirmed, that although his surgeon did a good job, he was not promised the surgery would succeed, but he would never lost faith that he would get his voice back after his vocal surgery. He had, however, no idea that it would take so long to recover! His surgeon has since retired in the interim, but has full confidence now in Jon to tour.

Jon’s voice really started to improve in the spring of this year and the band has played a show in Nashville for the fan club and have played songs live in West Palm Beach which would be televised. He added the band and the fans would not let him quit!

When the original version of the ‘Forever’ album came out his voice was not in good enough shape yet to tour. For the album 2020 Covid hit and he was not able to tour that record either! He recalled being with Prince Harry and soldiers that had been wounded and dealing with recovery issues also, when he found out that Covid was spreading internationally, and that was a couple of weeks before the world closed down. However, in the meantime he has been rehearsing at home everyday with Wembley in mind,  and three and a half years after surgery he confirmed he is now ready to go!

The time of struggle has also been a time during which he has developed a greater appreciation of his band and vice versa and “a bigger better me would come out of it”.

Around the time of the 40th anniversary he thought of the Beatles song “With a little help from my friends” and the idea for ‘Forever (Legendary Edition)’ was born. He called Robbie Williams first about ‘We Made It Look Easy’. Jon knew Robbie had dealt with some of the same issues he had, and once Robbie had said yes, he was encouraged to telephone others to take part in the project. Bruce Springsteen is a close friend and like a big brother. Jon and he unplug themselves from phones etc. and go driving regularly about a hundred miles just to talk. Bruce had heard the demos from the ‘Forever’ album. They had never recorded together before, but Jon knew that Bruce had connected to the song ‘Hollow Man’ and so he asked him to sing on that song rather than the more obvious single ‘Legendary’. Bruce “took a magnifying glass to my storytelling”. Avril Lavigne was asked to sing because she has a powerful voice, knew how to sing a Rock song and had worked with John Shanks Jon’s co-producer and was keen to do it! War And Treaty “brought the church to ‘People’s House’.” Jon had wanted a mix of “guys and girls”, international artists and “Country to Rock” on the album. Jon concluded that all the artist collaborating on the album had interpreted his songs in their own way and had made each and every song better.

Jon was asked about his philanthropy and he explained he had tried to tackle some homelessness issues when he owned a football team and wanted to help the community. His wife Dorothea had suggested they now “feed the people they had housed” and in 2013/14 they had created a model of restaurants where you can volunteer to earn meals or pay for a meal and donate for someone else to eat at the same time. There were now four more ‘Soul Kitchens’ in Universities where some students were struggling to afford meals. Jon and his wife Dorothea also sometimes work at the restaurants sweeping floors and mucking in with others.

Jon explained he loves the UK and has a lot of memories here. He has been inspired by British artists, but also has great memories of sharing joy with audiences here. He also has more quirky memories such as driving round with Dave Stewart at the time of ‘Destination Anywhere’ being encouraged to write lyrics on the spot!

Jon said some people were saying Rock was dead a few years ago. However, he has no doubt that Rock is alive and well and lots of young Rock bands should get a chance to shine again. Jon said he has just as much passion as ever for what he does. It’s a different kind of passion to 1983 and filled with gratitude, but no less great. Touring now is not about future, outcomes, numbers or tomorrow. It’s all about the here and now!

At the end of the conference before taking a walk around the Wembley pitch Jon was presented with an award from the BPI for a billion UK streams which he received with his billion dollar smile!

Dawn Osborne