The past few years have not been kind to Jon Bon Jovi. The iconic singer has had his fair share of vocal struggles. To help those problems, he underwent vocal surgery and has been going to therapy for it.
Celebrating the opening of JbJ’s Bar in Nashville, Tennessee, Bon Jovi played a five-song set a rare public performance since the singer’s surgery. They opened with their 1988 hit “Blood on Blood” and played other old hits such as “We Weren’t Born to Follow,” “You Give Love a Bad Name,” and “Born to Be My Baby.”
To close out the set, Bon Jovi played the lead single from their latest album, “Legendary.”
Videos have surfaced from the performance. @historyrock_ on X posted a video of the band performing “You Give Love a Bad Name.”
Bon Jovi does appear to be straining when reaching the highest notes he has to sing. The singer also throws it to the crowd to sing the chorus. Later in the video, more of Bon Jovi’s singing can be heard.
His voice does sound weak in the video. Unfortunately, it appears to be more of the same from the band’s previous tour where he really struggled. Hopefully, by the time their 40th anniversary tour starts, he has recovered even more from the surgery.
Bon Jovi fans unimpressed
In the replies, Bon Jovi fans were unimpressed with the performance. The responses were largely negative with some asking for the band to give it up.
“Yikes. This is pretty brutal,” one fan said.
“Sometimes it’s better to remember these older bands from when they were great than for them to struggle on,” another weighed in.
Another user was harsher with his criticism. “Give it up dude,” he said to the lead singer. “You guys were never that good anyway!”
A different X user pointed out that it’s far too soon after Bon Jovi’s surgery to perform. They also said it’s too soon to expect fans to pay hundreds of dollars “for a sing-along with Bon Jovi.”
“Sometimes you feel it’s just time to move on,” someone chimed in. “There is truly no need for this.”
On a positive note, one fan said called the performance “brave” and “brilliant.”
Jon Bon Jovi’s vocal struggles
During Bon Jovi’s last concert tour in 2022, the lead singer struggled as it limped to an end. A performance of “Livin’ on a Prayer” from their Dallas, Texas show on April 28, 2022, showed his vocal struggles. It is probably hard to watch for fans of the band.
Another notably rough performance was of “You Give Love a Bad Name” from St. Paul, Minnesota on the same tour on April 3, 2022. At least the Nashville performance from 2024 is better than that.
The next show, which happened to be the last of the tour and took place in Nashville, saw a change-up from the band. Instead of playing “Livin’ on a Prayer” late in their set, the band opened with it. This allowed a refreshed Jon Bon Jovi to give a better performance.
It was far from perfect, but lightyears ahead of the Dallas performance. He even belts out the title line in the middle of the song in an impressive feat all things considered.
Jon Bon Jovi and his band are gearing up for the 40th anniversary of their debut. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1984. Since then, they have released 15 more studio albums. Their most recent, Forever, was released on June 7, 2023.
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