by Michael McCarthy
This morning the news has broken that Bon Jovi is issuing refunds for their July 23rd, 2026 show at Madison Square Garden. The show was cut short at 90 minutes after 14 songs because Jon had, as he later explained, “a sinus infection.” At the time, Jon told the audience, “Don’t throw away your ticket stubs, I’m gonna figure something out, OK? Just hold onto it, we’ll figure out how to reschedule. But I’m gonna have to cool it for the night. I feel great. I’ll see you again soon, goodnight.”
I am sure that many Bon Jovi fans would rather have gotten another concert and been able to see the band do their full 23 song, two and a half hour, set than get a refund, but the thing you have to keep in mind about these Madison Square Garden concerts is that fans traveled from all over the world for these shows. Myself, I traveled to NYC from Massachusetts via Amtrak, for example. But some fans even came from the other side of the globe. For fans who live outside of New York, returning for another Bon Jovi show would have been quite costly even if the show itself was free. And I think it’s with that thought in mind that the band decided to issue refunds instead of doing a make up show. Plus, the band has some upcoming shows in Europe and Madison Square Garden is booked up many months ahead of time so I’m sure there were also scheduling issues that ultimately prevented the band from doing a make up date. (The band says “scheduling and logistics” prevented another performance.)
If there’s one thing I can say for certain about Jon Bon Jovi after having read countless interviews and articles about him is that he does not like to disappoint his fans. This is someone who truly wants to go out there and do over 20 songs and play two and a half hours. And that’s what he did at most of the Madison Square Garden shows. Even though he’s had trouble with his voice and had to have vocal surgery and all kinds of treatments, he still went out there and played for an hour longer than most artists play these days. And he did that because he loves the fans and wants to make them happy. In a perfect world, I am sure that Jon and the rest of the band would have liked to give those fans another concert but given how expensive traveling to New York can be, a lot of fans who were at the July 23rd show probably could not afford to travel to New York for another show, hence my thinking that the refunds are the most fair thing the band could do.
I attended the July 26th show with my mom. At that show, the band did 19 songs. According to a photo I saw of the set list, the band had intended to also do “Wanted Dead or Alive” but I’m assuming that the reason they didn’t was that Jon still wasn’t feeling 100 percent. Which makes sense; I’ve had several sinus infections and you usually feel horrible for at least a week so I’m sure Jon wasn’t feeling very well at the show we went to. Besides, we had special guests The War & The Treaty and Bruce Springsteen at our show so I was perfectly fine with the band only doing 19 songs. And I’ll tell you something: a lot of my favorite Bon Jovi songs are the ballads. And they only did one ballad at the show we went to, “I’ll Be There For You.” At the shows where the band did 23 songs, they did three additional ballads, “Bed of Roses,” “Always” and a cover of The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends.” I would have loved to have heard those songs at the show we went to. And I don’t mind telling you that “Always” is my all-time number one, favorite Bon Jovi song. And when I saw that they’d added “Bed of Roses” and “Always” to the set a couple of weeks before our show, I was so, so happy. Suffice to say that, yes, part of me was disappointed that they only did one ballad at our show. But the show was still two hours and Jon and the rest of the band gave it their all and sounded great so I walked away happy. For that reason, I would have felt guilty if they’d issued refunds for the show I went to. I can’t remember what we paid for our tickets but two hours and 19 songs from Bon Jovi was certainly worth whatever we paid and I would happily do it again.
I should also mention that a lot of concerts these days are only around 14 songs. In fact, just this year I saw Lily Allen’s current show, Lily Allen Performs West End Girl. At these shows, Lily is doing her whole new album but that’s it. She does the 14 songs on the new album and nothing more. And the show was only around 80 minutes. But have you seen thousands of fans posting irate messages all over the internet complaining that Lily’s shows are too short? I’m sure some people are complaining because there are always a few people who do but for the most part fans are walking away from these Lily Allen shows quite happy. And an 80- or 90-minute headlining concert isn’t inherently an unacceptable product. Therefore, voluntarily refunding people after already performing for 90 minutes is unusually generous on the part of Bon Jovi. I don’t know what the minimum amount of time Bon Jovi was required to play was, but I have read several posts that state that the band exceeded the minimum length of time they were required to play. My point being that Bon Jovi definitely did not have to issue these refunds. And I think it speaks volumes about the band caring about their fans that they’re doing this.
Of course, I do realize that some people who’d attended the July 23rd Bon Jovi show have been complaining about the show being cut short and demanding refunds or a make up date, but they are not the majority. From what I’ve been reading online, it sounds like most fans who attended the July 23rd show left feeling pretty satisfied since the band did play for 90 minutes, which is an average concert length these days. The complaints that I’ve seen certainly didn’t appear to amount to the sort of widespread fan revolt that would have left the band with little choice but to respond. If Jon and the band wanted to, they could have simply moved on, kept the money and eventually people would’ve stopped talking about this. But, instead, they’re apologizing and issuing refunds. And I’ve seen several posts already from fans who are satisfied if not entirely happy about that.
Finally, I just wanted to mention that I am working on two different Bon Jovi articles for here on Love is Pop. One will be about the best rare Bon Jovi songs and the other will be about Bon Jovi’s best ballads. Of course, there will likely be a few songs that end up on both lists but for the most part I expect these lists to be quite different. If there are any rare tracks or ballads that you think I should include, feel free to comment with your suggestions. I’m really looking forward to writing these articles. It might take me a week or two because I am currently in the middle of writing season one of a TV series I’ve created called The Unveiling, about an advanced AI that reveals it has secretly been helping humanity for years and begins directly intervening in people’s lives, igniting a global battle over whether it should be embraced or stopped. But I definitely intend to write these articles in the not so distant future and would welcome your input.
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