Bon Jovi have been on tour for the past month. They not only received praise for this, but also harsh criticism. The reason: Jon Bon Jovi’s vocal performance. Justin Hawkins, singer and guitarist of the British rock band The Darkness, has now also commented on the singer’s voice problems in his YouTube format “Justin Hawkins Rides Again”.
Jon Bon Jovi sings “terrifyingly bad”
Various reviewers had recently complained about the musician’s singing level. “TwinCities” described a performance during his band’s US tour as “shockingly bad”. Bon Jovis has not yet issued a statement on this, and according to Asbury Park Press, his spokesman is said to have refused to comment.
Hawkins, who often talks about fellow musicians on his YouTube channel, commented on the Bon Jovi debate: “I think someone should tell them to stop.” But he doesn’t mean that in a derogatory way, he does I have the utmost respect for Jon Bon Jovi and wish him all the best.
No evidence of problems with the vocal cords
In a 12-minute video, he analyzes concert recordings and speculates about the supposed reasons for the drop in performance. An observation of the Darkness singer is that Jovi only seems tired. Hawkins doesn’t suspect a problem with the vocal cords: “It doesn’t sound like there’s a polyp or some kind of knot on the vocal cords, because that would have a more unpredictable effect – it would hit the notes and then the voice would squeak and do something unexpected.” Since this is not the case, the musician sounds more like “tired”.
Hawkins recommends therapy
Hawkins suspects that Bon Jovi may no longer be able to use his muscle memory. He is of the opinion that therapy can help in this case: “Talking to someone and trying to get the performance back” is the way to the goal in his opinion. The 47-year-old then formulated another thesis: “I’m not a doctor, but I’ve also had voice problems. Holding the note out of pitch suggests pitch problems, which could also be hearing related.”
It’s not fun to watch, and it’s not fun to judge one of the greats… He’s a great singer – he always has been, but it sounds like something’s nagging at him from the inside ‘ said Hawkins.
You can watch the full video here:
Solidarity with Ukraine
Bon Jovi recently expressed their solidarity with Ukraine on Twitter. They had reposted a video of Ukrainians preparing for an attack by Russian troops while playing and singing “It’s My Life”.
In 2021, the Bon Jovi concert film “Bon Jovi from Encore Nights” was shown in German cinemas for the first time. Shortly thereafter, the music video for Bon Jovi’s hit “It’s My Life” cracked a billion clicks on YouTube.
In 2020, Liam Gallagher canceled a concert in Hamburg due to voice problems. Bono from U2 also had to capitulate in 2018 after a voice failure during a live performance.