Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I was 27 & the Harry Styles of my day when I wed… America wasn’t happy, my manager was furious and so was my mother
breaking up. “That’s not the recipe for success if you want a band to live,” he says. “You can kill them on the road and pressures of writing a follow-up to Slippery. Or you can have faith in them and say, ‘Be cool, it’s going to be all right’. We should have been nurtured and had a year off. It was a difficult time.” Determined to ensure the band never imploded again, Jon decided to manage them himself – a decision that was widely mocked at the time.
“The industry scoffed and said, ‘You’re dead, you will never survive’,” he says. “I was only 30 but I saw the clarity. I knew what I needed to do.” Life on tour rolls along at more of a sedate pace these days.
But as Jon returns to the UK for the first time in six years for dates at Anfield, Wembley and Coventry’s Ricoh Arena, the energy to put on a great show still burns strong. He says he remembers vividly his last visit to Liverpool for the 2007 Royal Variety Show. “Between the soundcheck and show, there was nothing to do… so we started driving around in our smart jackets and ties to try and find John Lennon’s childhood home,” he says.
“To our surprise, we found it and went and knocked on the door. It was all being refurbished and wasn’t open.
“But amazingly they let us in and we all got pictures of us in his childhood bedroom. It was very special memory.”
Another one will be stepping out in front of 50,000 fans for one of the first concerts at Anfield for a decade. Jon understands the significance of the occasion – not least because he is good pals with Sir Paul Mccartney, one of the last to play the iconic stadium more than a decade ago.
They met up last month and Jon shows me pictures on his phone. “Two old men sitting in a rocking chair,” Jon laughs as he scrolls through snaps of the pair relaxing on a veranda following a long lunch, one of maybe “four or five” they enjoy each summer.
“I have always loved the Beatles – my mum had the records and I have been blessed over the years to have become friendly with Paul,” he says.
“I am fortunate to see him every summer. I only address him as Beatle Paul. I don’t address him as Paul.”
As for the Anfield show next June, Jon says: “I will tell him about that. I know he’s performed there too. There isn’t much Paul hasn’t already done.”
Jon says he’s been trying to soak up information about Liverpool FC before the dates next summer.
“I know the team is beloved – at least by the red half of the city – and a lot of people here in the US like them,” he says. “While I will have to plead the fifth amendment when it comes to football, I’ve heard Liverpool are winning a lot. I know the manager’s a fan too of the band, which is great.”
He has also, he explains, unfinished business at Wembley.
“We closed the old Wembley and were meant to open the new one – I even took a photo in front of the new one,” he says. “I should have gone in and realised it was a construction site.
“I’m still mad at the contractors for not finishing after we sold out two nights and then had to displace 120,000 people. A real heartbreaker.
“It would have been cool to close the old Wembley and open the new one – but it will be good to be back.”
Bon Jovi play Anfield, Liverpool, June 19; Wembley, London, June 21; and
Ricoh Arena, Coventry, June 23. See livenation.co.uk/artist/bon-jovi-tickets.