Thomas Dolby

You saw Bon Jovi.

I did.

I did, I did, I did.

I wasn't expecting to, and it was kind of an interesting thing because I knew about these shows coming up, and I di- wasn't really sure when they were.

And then I saw on Instagram a clip from the first night of the tour.

Now I know Jon's been in rehearsals for months and months and months-

Yeah

... for this upcoming tour, which is very much a comeback tour in a lot of ways.

It's no secret he's had major, major voice issues over the years, so much so that he had vocal surgery and was unclear if he would ever tour, sing, or, or get on stage again.

But he did something, I believe it was back in Nashville, where he played three or four songs at one point.

And most recently he showed up at the Springsteen archives and performed with Bruce.

I, I was at that performance, and, and he sounded good.

It was a big question of, you know, what that was gonna be but did, uh, did a couple of things and, and was surprisingly strong.

So when-

Yeah

...

I saw the footage of the first night and heard what he sounded like in, in the very s- small clip that was up there of Living on a Prayer, I was pretty shocked.

And I was like, you know, this is a band I grew up loving, and my wife's a big fan.

And I said, "If he sounds like this, I need to go." And I had had tickets to go see him back in COVID, and it got canceled because of that.

So this was like, all right, let, let's give it a shot.

And it's funny because I was thinking about it sitting there in the Garden.

It's been 40 years since the first time I saw Bon Jovi live.

First time I saw them was Slippery When Wet Tour.

They were opening for 38 Special, and that was the first time I saw this band.

And here I am sitting in Madison Square Garden, where they are in their second of nine sold-out shows.