He tells that story to artists who are trying to get record deals in the traditional sense. “So one of the first cities to play me without a record deal was that man in your city.” Eight DJs obliged Bon Jovi, including one from Tampa. Forty years ago, frustrated by trying to get signed with demos before he had a record deal, he got his music out by approaching radio DJs. The spirit of giving unsigned artists a shot comes from the frontman’s personal experience. When she showed it to him to caption, he said, “If you can’t do what you do, do what you can.”Īs part of the tour, Bon Jovi is reprising their Opening Act Contest, which gives local bands the opportunity to open for them in each city on the tour. The song Do What You Can was born from a photograph his wife took of him washing dishes at their Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen Community Restaurant in Red Bank, N.J., where he spent a lot of time feeding people in need, especially early in the pandemic.

“It doesn’t matter if you are young, old, Black, white, Republican or Democrat, no matter where you were on the planet, we were going through this experience together,” he said. Bon Jovi emphasized that the album’s themes are topical, not political. When the pandemic hit, their planned summer tour was canceled, and the album was put on hold.īut because of that, Bon Jovi said he was able to reassess the meaning behind the album and two new songs were written. Originally set for release in May 2020, the album has received acclaim for lyrics that address the zeitgeist.īon Jovi said that in 2019, the band had a batch of songs ready - the album name was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the election year. The tour is in support of the album 2020, which was released in October of that year. Tampa is one of 15 cities on Bon Jovi’s 2022 tour, which kicked off April 2 in Omaha, Neb. “And the guys are excited, so I’m excited.” “It’s sort of like, reacquaint myself with me and get back out there and do what I do,” he said.

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