Bon Jovi Play Surprise Club Set at Opening of JBJ’s Nashville Bar

Jon Bon Jovi has been making the rounds lately to talk up Bon Jovi‘s new album, Forever, as well as to promote the recent Hulu series, Thank You, Goodnight – The Bon Jovi Story, which chronicles the Jersey band’s history and his long, hard road back from vocal cord surgery in 2022.

The one thing he hasn’t really done, though, is perform a set with the band as he tests whether all the work he’s been doing to strengthen his voice has paid off. But on Friday night the band hit the stage at the singer’s new Nashville bar, JBJ’s, for a special mini-set to celebrate opening night. And, by the sounds of the fan videos of the pop-up gig Bon Jovi is in fine form.

According to Setlist.fm, the set opened with “Blood on Blood” (from 1988’s New Jersey) and included “We Weren’t Born to Follow,” “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Born to Be My Baby” and the Forever single “Legendary.”

Wearing a black t-shirt, jeans and a white sneakers, at the top of the show Bon Jovi welcomed the capacity crowd to the bar and said, “we’re just gonna play you a couple and then we’ll get to drinking.” Bon Jovi recently said that he doesn’t think the band can do a full tour in support of the album, so the club show was a rare treat for the group’s fans.

The Tennessean reported on Bon Jovi and the band’s first walk-through of the five-story Broadway bar — now the tallest one on the city’s main drag — during a media preview on Thursday. The singer was joined by drummer Tico Torres, keyboardist David Bryan and bassist Hugh McDonald as they unveiled the 37,000 square-foot space. “It’s like Christmas morning. I knew this space as a parking lot,” Bon Jovi said. “We came once during the construction, but we haven’t seen the finished product until today.”

According to the paper, the open floor plan includes all the levels opening up to a three-tiered stage on the ground floor, with the walls covered in Bon Jovi pictures spanning the group’s four-decade career and bathrooms bearing sings for “Tommy” and “Gina.”