LONDON (AP) \u2014 Bon Jovi will embark on their first tour in four years in 2026 \u2014 and it\u2019s more than just a victory lap.<\/p>\n
In 2022, singer Jon Bon Jovi<\/a> saw a doctor who said one of his vocal cords was atrophying.<\/a> He had major surgery and has been in extensive rehab since. These new shows \u2014 kicking off with four nights at New York\u2019s Madison Square Garden in July before heading to Edinburgh, Scotland; Dublin and London \u2014 are the result of all the work.<\/p>\n In an interview with The Associated Press at Wembley Stadium,<\/a> where Bon Jovi will close their \u201cForever\u201d Tour in September 2026, frontman Jon Bon Jovi discusses the forthcoming gigs, his band and their latest collaborative album, \u201cForever (Legendary Edition).\u201d<\/p>\n This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n BON JOVI: It\u2019s a lot of hits that you know. But I think more than ever, I\u2019m really in touch with the idea of gratitude and joy, and this idea of this energy that happens between me and that audience. And it\u2019s been so long since I\u2019ve done it that I can really re-appreciate how much that means to me. And that\u2019s really the only motivation for me to want to do it anymore. It\u2019s just to go out there and say, \u201cTouch.\u201d You know? It\u2019s gonna be good. <\/p>\n AP: I think that\u2019s what we all want.<\/p>\n BON JOVI: I agree with you. I agree. You know, that optimism and tribalism but with joy as the underlying thing, you know, that fact that brings you together.<\/p>\n AP: And you\u2019re starting with five nights in New York.<\/p>\n BON JOVI: Well, it\u2019s home. I get to sleep in my own bed at night, which was integral to this equation, that I would play a bunch of nights there to start it as long as I was going home at night. And then we\u2019ll go and do these ( U.K.<\/a> and Ireland<\/a> shows) and that\u2019s going to be it. That\u2019s it for the year. Just get my feet back in the pool, you know, and get in there slowly, wait around, and after I have that joy and good health then we could talk about doing some work. But this should be about, don\u2019t even bring a suitcase. We\u2019re just going out for the weekend.<\/p>\n AP: How are you feeling?<\/p>\n BON JOVI: Really, really good. I could go tonight. I can tell that I woke up this morning at 7 a.m. and you\u2019re ready to talk and you go, \u201cYeah, it just works.\u201d<\/p>\n AP: You\u2019ve talked about how the band has supported you. Would you mind sharing that?<\/p>\n BON JOVI: Well, the truth is, here\u2019s a band of brothers who at this stage and phase of their lives could have said, \u201cWe\u2019ve had it. We\u2019re done. Good luck to you. We are going to go and do solo projects. We will go and join someone else\u2019s band.\u201d They sat in the rehearsal space to this day with me and said, \u201cWe got your back.\u201d And how much more grateful can I be than in my darkest hours, each one of them said, \u201cThis ain\u2019t about money, boss, let\u2019s go.\u201d And the bond has just gotten bigger and deeper and stronger.<\/p>\n AP: You build that camaraderie after such a long period of time together, don\u2019t you? <\/p>\n BON JOVI: It\u2019s amazing, and each of \u2018em\u2019s contribution has been unique. And from the newest member, Everett Bradley to Phil X, who\u2019s just that guy that wants to play seven nights a week, doesn\u2019t care where he plays, the guy\u2019s nuts. He truly would play seven days a week if he could. And to see him just going, \u201cI\u2019m here, I am here, I\u2019m not going anywhere else,\u201d it\u2019s unbelievable.<\/p>\n BON JOVI: Well, the thing about the \u201cForever\u201d album is that we were very proud of it, and it was coinciding with the documentary and the 40th anniversary. When I wasn\u2019t up to it physically, I thought we could reimagine the record by having features on it. In this day and age, people know what features are. I learned about that the hard way. But in doing so, I think they took a great record and made it better. And, you know, I called Robbie Williams.<\/a> He was the first call I made. He said yes, which made it easier for me to call number two, three, four, seven, eight, nine, 10. Because at first, it\u2019s daunting. You call even your dear friends and go, \u201cHey, would you do this for me?\u201d Each one of them did it. I think that joy in the record is felt and even just raised the level of the bar.<\/p>\n AP: Bruce Springsteen<\/a> is on the album. What was it like collaborating?<\/p>\n BON JOVI: Oh, it\u2019s fantastic. I mean, I\u2019ve looked up to him my whole life. The E Street Band<\/a> are our Beatles.<\/a> They were just 25 miles away from where I was as a kid. You know, Highway 9 was out my window. You know, these are, these are my streets, too. And so, it was fabulous because he loved that song (\u201cHollow Man.\u201d) Even when it was a demo, he\u2019s like, \u201cThat\u2019s a really special song.\u201d So, when I called him on that one instead of the obvious single, he was like, \u201cYou know, yeah, I get it, I can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n AP Music Writer Maria Sherman contributed to this report from New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 Bon Jovi will embark on their first tour in four years in 2026 \u2014 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2375,3623,4971,156,31258,157,111,139,69,58022,9382,6290],"class_list":{"0":"post-99219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-bruce-springsteen","9":"tag-celebrity","10":"tag-concerts","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-jon-bon-jovi","13":"tag-music","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-robbie-williams","18":"tag-rock-music","19":"tag-surgery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}