Does Jon have dementia?

His only problem is that he has no voice left. Jon is physically in a great shape. There is absolutely no indication in any form of a mental decline.

Even a guy like Michael Jackson who was sleeping with Propofol and taking daily Demerol in doses to a level where a normal person wouldn't be able to walk was dancing and singing well enough that they could make a movie with just rehearsal footage.

Strange to think that Jon wouldn't be able to stand by a microphone and sing because of health issues. His only problem is his voice. With a voice like in 2011 he would still perform like in 2011.

No Jon doesn't have dementia, all Jon's vocal issues timing, pitch and breath control issues are basically both a physical and psychological issue. The physical issue being the extensive damage done to his vocal cords from doing the B.W.C Tour and the psychological issue stemming from losing his voice and it aging rapidly since the initial blowout, as well as not being able to sing the way he once did.

As for the weird annoying 'stroke-like' slurred phrasing when he sings a lyric or the over-emphasis on certain vowels is basically down to the poor techniques his vocal coach has taught him.

I don't get why you guys think there needs to be some serious underlying medical condition to explain his vocal issues. If he did have some serious medical condition there's no way he'd even go out on tour. He has four kids, he has a wife, he has a family he clearly loves - there's no way he'd be risking his health like that. (Other than his vocal issues he also seems to be in perfectly good shape.)

He spent three decades of his career abusing his vocal cords pretty heavily and getting away with it, but eventually stuff like that just catches up with you. Add natural aging processes and a bunch of psychological stressors to that and it's really no surprise his voice deteriorated like it did.

People often underestimate the impact a person's mental health can have on their physical health. Jon has said that the entire situation with Richie leaving the band was traumatic for him and he's also said that he used to be bulletproof, but then suddenly he just wasn't anymore. It makes perfect sense that something like that would just make those physical degeneration processes even worse - and also harder to manage.

If you have something that used to come very easily and naturally to you your whole life, but then it suddenly doesn't anymore, you're most likely gonna feel insecure and frustrated and overwhelmed and it won't be easy for you to adjust to that.

He seems so "off" on stage because he's clearly still struggling to adjust. His tendency to slur words together (which is something he's been doing since the 2000s) probably got worse because he feels like it makes it easier to hit the right notes. His timing is off because he takes too long to prepare the notes he's gonna sing and get his voice under control. His tone gets weird because he's probably afraid of singing some atrociously wrong note or his voice cracking, so he tries to keep his voice "small" (which is probably also why he still sounds more like himself on higher notes, because you can't be shy about a high note - either you really go for it or there won't be any note coming out at all). He spent a lot of the last tour just standing glued to the microphone, now he's moving around more again, but it sometimes seems awkward because it doesn't come that naturally to him anymore and he's most likely still preoccupied with his voice.

It's a shame it has come to this point and I feel really bad for him because losing your instrument like that must really be awful, but I don't think it's anything more serious than that.

I 100% agree with you.
Listen to any concert of the past tours, the way he pushed himself to the edge night after night for 40 years it's just insane. You can even argue that some musicians from the same time or at the same age that Jon still has their voice, but that doesn't apply for everybody, and also, I really doubt anyone did it like he used to do it.

Even if it were so, each person has different genetics.

Anyway, Jon can continue writing and recording albums. Since is embodied in a different way than a live performance. I don't think this is the end of him.

I'd be fine with that, I'd be fine even with him still touring as long as he did it because he's happy doing it, which in all honesty doesn't seem to be the case at all, since he looks to be extremely uncomfortable while on stage.

I have a feeling that he thought the tour would go just fine when he originally planned it last year. The reality has sunk in now and he has to gut it out.

Great post. That’s the way I see it, too.


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One thing nobody seems to notice is that Jon started to use floor monitors (6 of them!!!) even though he once said he hated them and he was using IEM’s instead. Is that a syndication of hearing issues? Maybe. Clearly something has changed in this matter.
Regarding the stroke theory - that’s what my wife said when she saw him singing, left side of his face noticed as well.
All in all, I only have a feeling that we just need some explanation to this from the man himself. The band cannot pretend that all is good anymore, especially that they are probably planning another leg of the tour….

Keep in mind I know very little about how this works but if he was having hearing issues, wouldn't IEM's work better than a sound source further away? Or are monitors simply louder for his issue?