Jon Bon Jovi recently discussed the band’s comeback shows at Madison Square Garden and the brutally honest feedback that pushed his recovery forward, sharing his thoughts in an interview with Sportuality.
The singer explained how the band persevered through various setbacks and how honest conversations with his team helped him improve his performance.
“There were some other setbacks that happened and yet somehow we persevered,” Jon Bon Jovi said. “And it took a big group effort and a lot of love and trust and admiration for each other in the band and for those surrounding me and the band. So those shows were really the culmination of that and, I mean, it’s a longer story, but there were hard truths that were spoken in my recovery by the band.”
He then recalled a specific performance for a television special where his engineer and bandmates gave him some difficult feedback.
“We went and did a Paramount Tony Robbins special, and Tony was, you know, kind of a guru 20-plus years ago, and he has a studio in Palm Beach,” he continued. “I said, ‘I think it would be fun if the band performed on your stage.’ We shot it. We did it for television. But here’s the crazy thing about that. As well as I thought that show went, Obie O’Brien, my engineer, and even some of the band said, ‘I know that you’re content with the way you’re singing, but we think you can do even better.’ And that was a harsh conversation to have.”
Instead of rejecting the feedback, the frontman used it as motivation to work with a new coach and push himself further.
“But I didn’t reject it, and upon reflection, I was certainly willing to dig in deeper, and then I invested the time and effort with a different coach just to get to that next place,” he explained. “So that was humbling. It was really good for my spiritual connection. It was really good for my ultimate outcome physically, and then mentally, I never gave up. So there was that.”
He also noted that other band members faced health challenges that made the preparation for the shows even more difficult.
“There were other members of the band that had severe health issues that shocked me after I announced to the public that we were doing these shows and really caused a setback,” he added. “We didn’t know if we were going to make it to those shows. Then we didn’t know if we’re going to make it through those shows. And again, you know, without having had the perfect nine for nine, you know, sort of having an 8.5 out of nine, Bs and A-pluses, is somewhat human, and it sort of keeps you humble and it keeps you striving.”
Finally, Bon Jovi addressed the eighth show of their run, which he had to end early, and how they bounced back for the final night despite online criticism.
“I know I’m sounding a bit cryptic about some of it, but you know, on night eight I got tired,” he concluded. “I made no bones about it. I said, ‘Hey, I’ve done an hour and a half. Good night. And if you want your money back, no problem.’ And we came back at night nine in a world of doubters and naysayers and trolls on the internet, unbeknownst to me. You know, they were saying, ‘There you go. It crashed.’ Hell no. Night nine was awesome. You know, and then the rest of the band’s health issues, you know, we persevered.”
This comeback run highlights the band’s resilience as they continue to move forward.
