Until recently, Jon Bon Jovi, the man behind one of the most recognisable voices in rock, didn’t know if he’d ever tour again. Two years on from a crucial but risky surgery to repair one of his vocal cords – after it atrophied catastrophically at the end of his band’s last tour in 2022 – he was still in recovery and unable to promote their 16th studio album, Forever. Suddenly, the title of the record seemed grimly ironic.
“It sucked,” the musician born John Francis Bongiovi Jr tells me plainly. “We were releasing the album along with the docuseries [Thank You, Goodnight], and we were going to do our 40th anniversary celebration and tour. But I had this traumatising throat surgery, and as we released [the album], I started to rehearse with the band and I said, ‘Guys, I’m sorry, but I’m just not up to it yet.’” He was especially gutted because he was proud of what they’d made, a “joyful” record that marked his first return to the studio since undergoing surgery. But with a career spanning more than four decades, he knew all too well that without a tour to promote it, “it’s dead”.
