It will also mark two decades since they took to the stage in Croke Park.
Jon Bon Jovi jetted into Ireland this week after the announcement for a press conference to share his grá for Ireland and why he feels a connection to the Emerald Isle.
Speaking about Ireland, he confesses that it is “the most special” place.
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“There’s a feeling I get when I come here, maybe because it’s because I was smart enough to marry an Irish woman,” he says with a smile.
“Our history takes us back to every venue there is here in Dublin, I was very excited to that [Croke Park] is the first place we landed. It makes me want to cry. Three and a half years since I’ve been on a stage.”
The break from performing is due to a surgery, Jon underwent in 2022 due to a condition called vocal cord atrophy.
“I had a massive surgery with no idea that the recovery was going to be so long. But I never lost faith that it would eventually get back to what it needed to be,” he says, as he assures that he is completely healed.
“It was just a big surprise to me, I didn’t know what was happening. I am 100 per cent healed now and that’s why I can come back and say we’re playing Croke Park.”
Of course, Ireland has adopted Bon Jovi as their own. There isn’t an event that you attend where at least one song isn’t played to a delighted crowd.
However, Jon confesses: “I’m not necessarily sure I know why other than we worked hard to feel that connection.
“There’s something about the bands that I came up with in the mid-70s. Thin Lizzy broke in America, I was introduced to Van Morrison because of [Bob] Dylan and Bruce [Springsteen]. Of course, U2 came out just before we started making records and I also fell in love with their music.
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“As the years went on and you think about Damien Rice or current day, the young Mr Hewson’s band, Inhaler, the storyteller was a common thread here.”
He admits: “I was always drawn to the storyteller. I could to any pub in Ireland and everyone, singer or not singer, is a good storyteller. Even if many of the stories haven’t been true, I have believed every one of them. It’s the poetry I felt and the relationships with the people I’ve met. I was initially drawn here by other bands but I came to learn that it was the people I cared about.”
Bon Jovi will play Croke Park on August 30th, 2026. Fans can preorder FOREVER (Legendary Edition) at shop.bonjovi.com to access the presale beginning Tuesday, October 28th at 9am. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general on sale beginning on Friday, October 31 at 9am at bonjovi.com.
