A look back at Wembley #3, a glance forward to Bon Jovi's future

A little over three weeks ago, Bon Jovi played their last of three shows at London's Wembley Stadium to close out the Forever Tour so far. And if that was going to be their final show, they did swap in a couple of little surprises, while keeping the same structure they've been using since the tour began.

London, England - Wembley Stadium #3 - 9 September 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. Who Says You Can't Go Home
9. Bed of Roses
10. Have a Nice Day
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. Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars
17. Hey God
18. Love's the Only Rule
19. Keep the Faith
    
    Encore:
20. I'll Be There for You
21. Wanted Dead or Alive
22. Bad Medicine
23. Always

"Love's the Only Rule" and "Captain Crash" made their tour debuts. 

Selected videos from Wembley #3

Love's the Only Rule - a little tepid but if they played it more, it would probably be better as Jon's confidence often plays a key role in how a performance comes across. Still one of my favourite songs from The Circle:

 

Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars - This song has always been cheesy, poppy fun that made me smile on Crush, although I don't know if Jon was concentrating too hard on his vocals to really enjoy it until the end.

 

Always - Jon giving early leavers a bit of stick before ending the tour for the known future (as no other shows have been announced at this stage:

 

Thinkin' on a prayer

Part of me had wondered if this was it for Bon Jovi as a live act, even as another part of me thought, "surely they're not going to give up the likely ticket sales boost of billing something as a farewell tour!"

 

But Jon said during the show that they were indeed planning to tour again in about five months' time, which would be around February 2027. I rate him as a songwriter and would have been fine with the rest of his music career being based in the studio, but presumably he thinks he can handle touring again after this test run, so good for him.

 

Jon has effectively had to relearn how to use his voice. I'm proud of him for the work he's done. As a front man and entertainer, he's getting his mojo back and not clinging to his mic stand all the time, and that's awesome to see. But I'm also acutely aware that for all the fan and marketing hype, he's still nowhere near the top of his game vocally and... I don't think he ever will be again. He's made me eat my words before though. Please can he do it again? 🙏

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Take 2 for Bon Jovi in London

Bon Jovi took to the stage at Wembley for the second of three London shows. I was expecting, or at least hoping, for a couple of switch-ups after three identical set lists in a row on the Forever tour, but here's what was played.

London, England - Wembley Stadium #2 - 6 September 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 - featuring James Bay
8. Whole Lot of Leavin'
9. Bed of Roses
10. Have a Nice Day
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
22. Always 

Not identical, but very, very close. Though I guess doing a duet with James Bay is technically a switch-up. And I'm glad "Hey God" and "These Days" have survived.

Videos from Wembley #2

Legendary - I sometimes sound like I dissing this song because I think "Living Proof" should have been the lead single...  but "Legendary" is perfectly fine on the album, and it's fun live. James Bay does have a better voice and tone than Jon though, especially now, but it was still an enjoyable performance.

I don't know if everyone is thinking this is the end of the road, or if it's just the vlogger/content creator world we live in, but people keep recording full shows for the 'tube:

Thinkin' on a prayer

There's still one more London show to go so I'll share more thoughts then. 

 

Maybe more tour dates to come in the new year, maybe not. But night 3 in Wembley is, at the very least, the final show of this leg, so let's go out with a metaphorical bang.

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Bon Jovi live in London again

Bon Jovi headed back to London for the first of three shows at Wembley Stadium to finish this leg of the Forever tour. And possibly the whole tour since no other shows have been announced? 

London, England - Wembley Stadium #1 - 4 September 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's the exact same set list as Edinburgh and Dublin" you'd be right, haha. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Unless you're going to drastically play a different set every night a la Bruce Springsteen, I'd much rather they tighten up the "standard" core set list, even if that means playing basically the same thing, with maybe one or two changes if you're playing multiple nights in the same city. 

I'm also happy that no one who's attended this leg so far has missed out on "Hey God" and "These Days" yet!

Videos from London #1

Not all heroes wear capes, some of them just record the whole show and put it on YouTube:

Thinkin' on a prayer

I'd be surprised if they didn't change a song or two for the next show, but hopefully it's not dropping a great song for something blah.

As for what happens after the Wembley run... It's hard to imagine they wouldn't be billing these shows as your last chance to see Bon Jovi if this really is it. So in that regard, I'd expect something else to be announced, but I also don't think large-scale world tours are realistic anymore... so we'll see. 

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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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