Luck of the Irish for Bon Jovi in Dublin

Fresh from their European return in Edinburgh, Bon Jovi headed to Dublin for the next stop of the Forever tour.

Dublin, Ireland - Croke Park - 30 August 2026

1. With a Little Help from My Friends - The Beatles cover
2. Beautiful Drug
3. We Weren't Born to Follow
4. Lost Highway
5. You Give Love a Bad Name
6. Born to Be My Baby
7. Legendary
8. Whole Lot of Leavin'
9. Bed of Roses
10. In These Arms
11. These Days
12. This House Is Not For Sale
13. It's My Life
14. Livin' on a Prayer
15. Raise Your Hands
16. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
17. Hey God
18. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
19. I'll Be There for You
20. Wanted Dead or Alive
21. Bad Medicine - featuring Everett Bradley
22. Always 

If you're thinking that looks familiar, you'd be right -- same set list as Edinburgh. But that's alright, at least the Irish crowd didn't get stiffed on "Hey God" or "These Days".

Video from Dublin

Some legend recorded the whole show so rather than handpicking personal highlights, I'll just share that. 😉

Thinkin' on a prayer 

Joe Elliott was at this show, which would have been a nice opportunity to get him on stage for a "Walls of Jericho" duet, but nope.

And sorry to harp on about it again but they really should do something that first half. Maybe open with "Living Proof" since it's the effing Forever tour, and drop stuff like "Lost Highway", "We Weren't Born to Follow", "Whole Lot of Leavin'" -- songs I actually like on the record, but they add nothing worthwhile in a live setting. Not to mention, the so-called easy songs often make Jon sound more vulnerable... whether it's because he's so nervous, or there's no crowd involvement to feed off, or they sit in an awkward vocal bridge or whatever.

Of course, a big part of this tour (and probably any shows Bon Jovi does ever again) are about the emotion behind it after everything Jon in particular has been through. No one's realistically expecting vocal perfection. But that doesn't mean you can't tweak things better and make the most of an imperfect situation.

Anyway, I personally know a few people attending one or more of the upcoming Wembley shows so I'm keen to get their impressions afterwards!

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Bon Jovi resumes the Forever Tour in Edinburgh

After a month off, Bon Jovi headed to Scotland to kick off the next leg of the Forever Tour. (I say next leg, but it could well be the final leg, given no further shows have been confirmed after Wembley in September.) There were plenty of questions, like:

• did the break do Jon's voice any good? (Hopefully, yes.)
• will Europe get better sets than the US? (Reasonably likely and I'd love to see it, but that also sucks for American fans who were paying a pretty penny for these concerts.)
• will they do something crappy like "save themselves" for Wembley? (Hopefully not.)

Anyway, the first show of this leg was in Edinburgh, and here's what unfolded. 

Edinburgh, Scotland - Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium - 28 August 2026

1. With a Little Help from My Friends - The Beatles cover
2. Beautiful Drug
3. We Weren't Born to Follow
4. Lost Highway
5. You Give Love a Bad Name
6. Born to Be My Baby
7. Legendary
8. Whole Lot of Leavin'
9. Bed of Roses
10. In These Arms
11. These Days
12. This House Is Not For Sale
13. It's My Life
14. Livin' on a Prayer
15. Raise Your Hands
16. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
17. Hey God
18. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
19. I'll Be There for You
20. Wanted Dead or Alive
21. Bad Medicine - featuring Everett Bradley
22. Always

Legit couldn't believe we got freaking "Hey God" and "These Days" for the first time since 2013 and 2019, respectively. Phil X rocking the kilt was a fun touch, too. 

Selected videos from Edinburgh

These Days - Let's not pretend this is the greatest performance ever, but vocally, I'd say Jon's roughly on par with when I saw them do this song live in Melbourne in 2013. 

Hey God - Now this sounded better than I was expecting... and it's a killer track. But perhaps more to the point, Jon was using the stage, getting into the song, showing some passion... and that can make the world of difference to a performance when your vocals aren't the best, because being rooted to the spot and clinging to the microphone only highlights any weaknesses. So yeah, good on you, JBJ.

 

In These Arms - Arguably the best performance of this song on the tour so far. But why can't Phil X play the solo instead of John Shanks? Like c'mon, dude.

Thinkin' on a prayer

The first half of the main set, as it was in New York, seems to be mostly "get Jon settled in with something that's not too challenging" time... but there are better songs you could use for that. Hell, maybe even something from the album you're meant to be promoting, like "Waves", "Walls of Jericho", "Seeds", or that neglected single "Living Proof"?

 

But overall, a decent start to the UK/European leg. Dublin's up next, and hopefully they get a good show.

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Looking back on shows 4, 5, 6 & 7 of the Forever tour

Back to my official unofficial catch-up of Bon Jovi's Madison Square Garden residency, and we're looking at shows 4 to 7 -- leading up to the infamous shortened show 8, for which ticket-holders have reportedly started receiving refunds for.

New York City, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden #4 - 14 July 2026

1. With a Little Help from My Friends - The Beatles cover
2. Beautiful Drug
3. We Weren't Born to Follow
4. Lost Highway
5. Who Says You Can't Go Home
6. You Give Love a Bad Name
7. Born to Be My Baby
8. Legendary
9. Whole Lot of Leavin'
10. Bed of Roses
11. Have a Nice Day
12. It's My Life
13. Livin' on a Prayer
14. Lay Your Hands on Me
15. Living Proof
16. This House Is Not for Sale
17. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
18. I'll Be There for You
19. Red, White and Jersey
20. Wanted Dead or Alive
21. Bad Medicine
22. Always

Literally the same set from the previous show, lol. But he probably sounded better on those songs overall.

Videos from #4:

Shout out to Tully Blanchard who recorded the whole show. Legend!

New York City, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden #5 - 16 July 2026

1. With a Little Help from My Friends - The Beatles cover
2. Beautiful Drug
3. We Weren't Born to Follow
4. Lost Highway
5. Who Says You Can't Go Home
6. You Give Love a Bad Name
7. Born to Be My Baby
8. Legendary
9. Let it Rain
10. Whole Lot of Leavin'
11. Bed of Roses
12. Have a Nice Day
13. It's My Life
14. Livin' on a Prayer
15. Lay Your Hands on Me
16. Limitless
17. This House Is Not for Sale
18. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
19. I'll Be There for You
20. Red, White and Jersey
21. Wanted Dead or Alive
22. Bad Medicine
23. Always

A couple of changes, with "Let It Rain" and "Limitless" make their Forever Tour debuts. 

Selected videos from #5:

Let It Rain - One of my favourites from 2020, an album I genuinely still rate today. The acoustic intro/harmonica outro is kinda cool.

Limitless - One of my not-so-favourites from the aforementioned 2020, lol. But it's okay. Has its moments and probably works better in a stadium than most of the better songs from that album. At least they didn't decide to do "Unbroken" or something. 😜

 

New York City, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden #6 - 19 July 2026

1. With a Little Help from My Friends - The Beatles cover
2. Beautiful Drug
3. We Weren't Born to Follow
4. Lost Highway
5. Who Says You Can't Go Home
6. You Give Love a Bad Name
7. Born to Be My Baby
8. Legendary
9. Let it Rain
10. Whole Lot of Leavin'
11. Bed of Roses
12. Have a Nice Day
13. It's My Life
14. Livin' on a Prayer
15. Lay Your Hands on Me
16. Limitless
17. This House Is Not for Sale
18. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
19. I'll Be There for You
20. Bad Medicine

Show was shortened, with "Wanted Dead or Alive", "Always", and "Red, White and Jersey" cut from the planned set list.

Selected videos from #6:

Bad Medicine - Look, let's be real here. Jon sounds rough. I mean, the fans he high-fived and fist-bumped probably didn't notice or care in the moment, but I'd guess his voice on the night is why the show was cut.

New York City, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden #7 - 21 July 2026

1. With a Little Help from My Friends - The Beatles cover
2. Beautiful Drug
3. We Weren't Born to Follow
4. Lost Highway
5. Who Says You Can't Go Home
6. You Give Love a Bad Name
7. Born to Be My Baby
8. Legendary
9. Let it Rain
10. Whole Lot of Leavin'
11. Bed of Roses
12. Have a Nice Day
13. It's My Life
14. Livin' on a Prayer
15. Raise Your Hands
16. Limitless
17. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
18. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
19. I'll Be There for You
20. Red, White and Jersey
21. Wanted Dead or Alive
22. Bad Medicine
23. Always

Selected videos from #7:

Raise Your Hands - First time since before COVID. Apart from that voice crack at the end, it was a decent-sounding performance.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead - This used to feel a teensy bit overdone on earlier tours, but I'm enjoying it here. Works fairly well live and this is its Forever Tour debut.

Thinkin' on a prayer

Bit up and down, with sets being pretty stagnant bar one or two swaps here and there, but I suspect that's par for the course going forward.

 

With this post, I've now caught up on all the MSG shows and you can see the others at the links below: 

• Show #1 (7 July)
• Shows #2 & 3 (9 & 12 July) 
• Show #8 (23 July)
• Show #9 (26 July)

After a month's break, the tour resumes in the UK this week. I hope the fans there get some consistently quality shows, no matter which one(s) they're attending, but we'll soon see if the rest has done Jon some good.

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Looking back on shows 2 & 3 of the Forever tour

As previously mentioned, Bon Jovi's Madison Square Garden shows coincided with my overseas training camp, so I wasn't blogging in real time. And I'm going to share a few retrospective thoughts in the next few posts, before shows resume in the UK.

New York City, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden #2 - 9 July 2026

1. With a Little Help from My Friends - The Beatles cover
2. Beautiful Drug
3. We Weren't Born to Follow
4. Lost Highway
5. Who Says You Can't Go Home
6. You Give Love a Bad Name
7. Born to Be My Baby
8. Legendary
9. Whole Lot of Leavin'
10. In These Arms
11. Have a Nice Day
12. It's My Life
13. Livin' on a Prayer
14. Lay Your Hands on Me
15. Blood on Blood
16. Living Proof
17. This House Is Not for Sale
18. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
19. I'll Be There for You
20. Red, White and Jersey
21. Wanted Dead or Alive
22. Bad Medicine 

Selected videos from #2 

I'll Be There For You - generally a communal singalong moment, and the piano-only accompaniment for the first verse and chorus was quite nice.

Red, White and Jersey - technically the live debut of the song, though it was part of a rather tepid performance for the Tony Robbins special. I think this one turned out a bit better.

  

New York City, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden #3 - 12 July 2026

1. With a Little Help from My Friends - The Beatles cover
2. Beautiful Drug
3. We Weren't Born to Follow
4. Lost Highway
5. Who Says You Can't Go Home
6. You Give Love a Bad Name
7. Born to Be My Baby
8. Legendary
9. Whole Lot of Leavin'
10. Bed of Roses
11. Have a Nice Day
12. It's My Life
13. Livin' on a Prayer
14. Lay Your Hands on Me
15. Living Proof
16. This House Is Not for Sale
17. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
18. I'll Be There for You
19. Red, White and Jersey
20. Wanted Dead or Alive
21. Bad Medicine
22. Always

Selected videos from #3 

Bed of Roses - We've had a global pandemic since this song was last played, so it was good to get it back in the set. Is it perfect? No, but funnily enough, the big ballads Jon seems to want to avoid when he's lacking confidence in his voice, are probably more forgiving of some imperfections (they can sound more emotional if you sell the performance).

Always - Honestly, even if you have to noticeably drop the key, this should be a set list staple for Bon Jovi; it's their biggest worldwide hit. And if they ever had to lower it so much that it fell off the bottom of Jon's vocal range, they obviously shouldn't even entertain performing anymore. TLDR: Play the songs people go to your concert to hear.

 

Thinkin' on a prayer

A solid couple of gigs within the nine-show MSG residency. Pretty samey sets, but with a couple of good inclusions as I alluded to above. 

 

I've already posted about:

• Show #1 (7 July)
• Show #8 (23 July)
• Show #9 (26 July)

with 4 to 7 on the way before the resumption of the tour at the end of the month. The order got all topsy-turvy due to my schedule, but I fully intend for the shows in Scotland, Ireland, and England to be blogged about chronologically. 😉 

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Bon Jovi wraps up MSG residency

With show 8's early end making the news, there was plenty of attention on show 9... which did in fact go ahead without a hitch. Or even really any mention of what happened, so no idea if the promised redo of show 8 will actually go ahead at any point... especially since it's something Jon just brought up without running it by anyone else. I suspect it will get put in the "we're not obligated/too hard" basket and forgotten, but I hope I'm wrong.

New York City, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden #9 - 26 July 2026

There were at couple of (actually planned) collaborations, but "Wanted Dead or Alive" was notably dropped again (it happened on a couple of the other shows on this run). 

Set list #9: 

1. Beautiful Drug
2. We Weren't Born to Follow
3. Lost Highway
4. You Give Love a Bad Name
5. Born to Be My Baby
6. Legendary
7. Whole Lot of Leavin'
8. In These Arms
9. The People's House - featuring The War and Treaty
10. It's My Life
11. Livin' on a Prayer
12. Raise Your Hands
13. This House Is Not for Sale
14. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
15. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
16. I'll Be There for You
17. Bad Medicine - featuring Everett Bradley
18. Who Says You Can't Go Home - featuring Bruce Springsteen
19. The Promised Land - Bruce Springsteen cover featuring Bruce Springsteen

Selected videos from #9:

Who Says You Can't Go Home / The Promised Land - Jon had some technical difficulties with his harmonica on the Bruce song, but I love that song and it was great to see two Jersey boys perform it together:

Shout out to Harry Ward who has blessed us with videos from all the shows on this MSG residency, including the full show 9 with timestamps. I'm forever grateful to people like Harry:

Thinkin' on a prayer

Jon said before the encore that this isn't the end, and I hope the month-long rest before he heads over to the UK does him some good. Shania Twain had similar surgery on her vocal cords and seems pretty at peace with the fact that her voice will never be the same but she's able to work with what she now has. I don't know where Jon's head is at, but his voice is... okay. Maybe it gets better, maybe this is as good as it can be now, but I never stop hoping for the best.

The next show is scheduled for 28 August in Scotland, so I'd better catch up on blogging about shows 2 to 7 before then, haha. 

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Show 8 of Bon Jovi's Forever tour cut short as Jon loses his voice

We're going to try something a little different starting today... and start from the 8th show of this Bon Jovi tour. Assuming the 9th show goes ahead as scheduled, I'll post about that, then start working my way back to the second - I already blogged about the first Forever Tour show. 

In case you missed it, I've been away on a Muay Thai camp. I did watch some videos and read comments about the shows as they happened, but I didn't have time to sit down and gather my thoughts in any coherent fashion in between training for up to four hours a day in Thailand. But I'm back in Perth now, and... yeah, shit got real with show 8 ending abruptly, and Jon telling fans to hold onto their tickets for a rescheduled date.

New York City, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden #8 - 23 July 2026

The official line was sinus infection, but I spoke to some long-time fans who were there, and they're of the view that Jon's voice just gave out. Either way, I hope he's okay. I have genuinely worried about this tour and its impact on his health, especially after they announced nine shows at MSG alone, with a short turnaround. 

Set list #8:

1. With a Little Help from My Friends - The Beatles cover
2. Beautiful Drug
3. We Weren't Born to Follow
4. Lost Highway
5. Who Says You Can't Go Home
6. You Give Love a Bad Name
7. Born to Be My Baby
8. Legendary
9. Let It Rain
10. Whole Lot of Leavin'
11. Bed of Roses
12. Have a Nice Day
13. It's My Life
14. Livin' on a Prayer - featuring Pat Monahan

 

Selected videos from #8: 

Livin' on a Prayer - This ended up being the final song of the night, with Train front man Pat Monahan getting the call-up from backstage to take on unplanned lead vocals. I actually used to be a big Train fan back in the day, right up until 2014 (just could not connect with anything on the Bulletproof Picasso album, and then they fell off my radar... sorry Pat). From what I recall from my fangirl days, Pat's actually got a hell of a voice and is a great performer, and that didn't come through at all here -- but to be fair, he rocked up to the gig thinking he was going to be watching it, not performing.

 

Bed of Roses - Jon started sounding really stuffed from about 4:00 onwards, or basically the second chorus. He turns around to look at his bandmates, and later needs the crowd to finish the song for him.

 

Later, he joked about how he was proving he wasn't lip syncing. But... ouch. 😟

 

Thinkin' on a prayer

Look, for any critiques and grievances I may have had over the years... I love Jon. Fingers crossed he hasn't done any further damage to his vocal cords. It was a heartbreaking end to the show, and... hopefully, just this show. I hope he hasn't pushed himself too far. 

The fact that Jon kept saying he "felt great" sounds more like he was confused about why his voice was misbehaving like that, rather than battling an illness. Personally, when I have a sinus infection, I most certainly do not feel great, but your mileage may vary.

Anyway, get well soon, Jon. I'm in your corner on the other side of the globe.

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Bon Jovi's big comeback in New York

And we're back! We as in this blog, but also we as in Bon Jovi the band. 

I'm actually away on a Muay Thai camp at the moment, doing two two-hour sessions a day in the heat, which is why my published thoughts on the comeback shows are delayed by several days. Training like this, plus showering and doing laundry ASAP after each session, is tiring and time-consuming, y'all!

Anyway. Jon Bon Jovi's vocal issues, and his subsequent vocal cord surgery in 2022 have been fairly well documented at this point. There was a certain buzz and trepidation about their closest thing to a tour since then. 

Jon has performed live here and there over the last few years... but to be perfectly honest, it's been a bit heartbreaking and underwhelming most of the time. So while I'm sure I would have bought tickets if they'd announced a show in Australia, I can't say I've been expecting much from this run of shows. 

But here's what they played:

New York City, NY, USA - Madison Square Garden - 7 July 2026 setlist

1. With a Little Help From My Friends - The Beatles cover
2. Beautiful Drug
3. We Weren't Born to Follow
4. Lost Highway
5. Who Says You Can't Go Home
6. You Give Love a Bad Name
7. Born to Be My Baby
8. Legendary
9. Whole Lot of Leavin'
10. In These Arms
11. Have a Nice Day
12. It's My Life
13. Livin' on a Prayer
14. Lay Your Hands on Me
15. Blood on Blood
16. Living Proof
17. This House Is Not for Sale
18. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
19. I'll Be There for You
20. Wanted Dead or Alive
21. Bad Medicine

Selected videos from MSG

With a Little Help from My Friends - including the video intro. With lines like "What would you do if I sang out of tune?" and "I'll try not to sing out of key", it may seem a little on the nose to open with it. And it's not exactly a high energy rocker. But in this case, it felt fitting somehow, especially with everyone coming together to sing the chorus. 

Living Proof - finally, the neglected single! Actually sounds pretty decent, if I do say so myself. I can't turn back time but I so wish this had been the song that got any promotion from Forever, rather than "Legendary".

In These Arms - Jon honestly sounded way better than I was expecting here and I'm so weirdly proud of this man who doesn't know me from a bar of soap and whose achievements I have absolutely nothing to do with.

Blood on Blood - Hmm he's trying, but this sounds pretty fragile. I don't know if we can maybe bump Everett Bradley up in the mix? I know Everett's not Richie Sambora, but Richie left of his own accord and Everett does make the current lineup sound better vocally than they otherwise would.

Livin' on a Prayer - between the click track and the entire venue always singing along, "Prayer" has arguably been spared to a large extent as Jon's vocals declined, despite being a painfully difficult song to sing. But I do think he sounds a bit better here than he has in recent times?

Final thoughts

It was a solid return, not perfect but I don't think anyone's expecting that anymore. Though I do really hope Jon gives me the finger and surprises us all. The set list could be stronger but I guess it's okay. Hopefully we get some deep cuts during this short run of shows. 

I honestly don't know how much of a future my beloved band has. Or how I feel about it all. A lot has been made of Jon's voice but I'm also considering the band as a whole -- no one's getting any younger, and it's probably Phil X and Everett bringing the bulk of the animation and energy on stage. I still rate Jon as a songwriter but people don't buy music the way they used to.

Anyway, what did you think of the comeback show? Were you there, or watching from somewhere in the world?

And which Bon Jovi song should be my walkout song if I could pick one for a hypothetical fight? 😉

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