Bon Jovi Plays First Full Concert Since 2022, Close Out Nashville Show With a Late 1980s Classic
Bon Jovi is back on the stage! On June 14, the band performed a full concert in Nashville, Tennessee, their first such event since 2022.
Only a select few were present at the no-phones show, as it was part of a travel package that also included a hotel stay.
Those who traveled over the weekend got to take in the 17-song concert at Marathon Music Works. Per Ultimate Classic Rock, Bon Jovi opened the show with their 2020 track “Beautiful Drug,” and closed the performance with 1988’s “I’ll Be There For You.”
In between, the band played tracks including “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Livin’ on a Prayer,” and “Wanted Dead or Alive,” the outlet reported.
The show also included a Q&A session with frontman Jon Bon Jovi and the rest of the band, per the outlet.
As for the reason for the groups years-long break, that all has to do with its frontman’s health. Back in 2022, Bon Jovi underwent medialization surgery after one of his vocal cords began to atrophy.
Years of vocal therapy followed. It wasn’t an easy road for the singer.
“People had to talk me off the ledge, because you’re like, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong! What’s wrong?’” he recalled questioning in a 2024 interview with AARP. “I could talk the day after the surgery. I just sounded like the Godfather.”
“It takes some retraining of the mind and the body and then the spirit, and you just have to be patient,” he added. “I did not excel in the patience category. I’m not Superman. It’s just a tattoo that I have on my arm.”
Shortly thereafter, the singer gave an update on his health.
“[I’m] more than capable of singing again,” he told The Guardian. “The bar is now: can I do two and a half hours a night, four nights a week? The answer is no.”
“There’s no miracle,” Bon Jovi added. “I just wish there was a f**king light switch.”
However, he assured fans that “as long as I have the ability, I will write songs and make records.”
