I guess the comments on his looks come up because it is in big contrast with his vocal chords. If he'd look like the fat Elvis where all physical elements show a person who's completely out of shape, it is probably easier to grasp the idea that one can't sing anymore.

You'd think that a guy who's so well in shape as Jon Bon Jovi would also have his vocal chords in shape, but unfortunately he does not. It's really like the top-sportsmen and women who have had too many injuries over the years. At a certain point they won't be able to compete anymore, even if they are still people with an overall physique that is much better than you and I. With Jon, this is the case as a singer. No amount of fitness, workouts, pills nor vocal training will help this anymore. Surgery? Not sure. It's my guess that Jon has tried everything possible yet. If surgery ( maybe he had it) was an option, he could easily go under the radar for 6 to 8 months to get surgery and fully recover.

Probably, Jon's doctors will have advised him to maximum tour 3 months a year and to pace it into shows of max. 2h, limiting the amount of songs that are too hard on the vocal part and playing max. 2 shows per week ( which is exactly how the tours are paced since THINFS)

I suppose this is not far from the truth since I am a non trained unprofessional singer who plays solo acoustic shows in bars and I am suffering from vocal problems myself since a few months. My vocal coach and doctor are now advising me to respect following rules ( at this time)

- Max 1 show per week
- respecting breaks
- no more than 2 hours
etc etc ( this alongside other things)

If that's the case, that is why we get the shows we are witnessing now.
Shorter than before with a lot of newer songs that are easier to sing. In the older songs, he sings them in a way that does avoid a maximum of tension on his vocal chords and he saves just a few moment here and there for a few high notes or power bursts.

For what I'm doing musically, there's also many restrictions in my setlist. Fortunately, people who see me play do not have any expectations about my setlist, so as long as if what I do is well done, I get compliments about it. It's far of from JBJ where people go and expect him to play all the big hits.



In my opionion, Jon should adress the matter and being open about it. If he'd share his situation with the fans everyone would understand and perhaps have more respect for the bad vocal performances. With that known, anyone can still decide if they'd be cool about it and buy tickets for shows that you'll know will be heavily based on recent song that are easy to sing, shorter setlists and plain bad singing in general. It is just about being honest about it and setting and accepting new standards, both for Jon and the fans.

Up till know, Jon has been acting like nothing's going on and selling the ' we are better than ever + we are not a nostalgia act who's relying on their greatest hits ' story. That's BS if I can say so.

Compare it to Def Leppard's drummer - that guy has one arm and adapted his playing around this. He can't do what other drummers do but he doesn't pretend to either and so everyone loves what he's doing.

Or I am thinking about Prince, back in the 90'ies when he was in a big fight with Warner ( his label): he refused to play his hits any longer and so all fans new that he'd only play recent stuff. With that in mind, those shows were often excellent.

It is all a matter of being clear about what people can expect and for fans to go to shows with the right expectations.

End of my rant