Jon Bon Jovi Taking Inspiration from Metallica for Bon Jovi 2026 Tour Setlists

Bon Jovi are playing a whopping nine shows at New York City’s Madison Square Garden as part of their recently announced 2026 “Forever Tour,” and singer Jon Bon Jovi says he’s taking inspiration from Metallica’s “M72 World Tour” when figuring out the setlists for the upcoming concerts.

Next year’s tour, which thus far consists of the MSG residency (tickets available here) and a handful of dates in the UK and Ireland, is a comeback of sorts for Bon Jovi, marking their first extended dates since Jon Bon Jovi underwent vocal cord surgery a couple years ago.

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Knowing that many fans will likely attend more than one show at Madison Square Garden, the singer says that he’s taking cues from Metallica’s ongoing “M72 World Tour,” which features the metal band playing two completely unique “no repeat” sets over two nights in most cities.

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The vocalist even sought advice from Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, telling Planet Rock (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), “The one thing that I am in control of, the only thing I’m in control of [is the setlist], ’cause at this point, because I do [rehearsals of] two hours a day, four days a week of sets, of shows. I was looking to Metallica. And I talked to Lars. I said, ‘So let me get this straight. If you’re only doing “Master of Puppets” on one night and “One” on one night, is the audience mad that they’re not there [on one of the nights]?’ And he goes, ‘Nope. We have enough songs that it works.’”

He continued, “[Lars] goes, ‘And your catalog…’ And I went, ‘I’m digging that concept.’ So not that we’re gonna do that, but I have enough songs and enough hits, I could do two separate entire shows and have hits on both sides. So I’m having a lot of fun putting together shows that are multiple-night kind of shows.”

Asked about whether Bon Jovi had ever performed an entire album in concert, Jon answered, “We’ve done those in situations, like we did the This House Is Not for Sale album at some theater here for a record and for a TV show. And we’ve done Lost Highway like that. So, there’ve been a couple, but not a lot. I think 2020, we did that too, but that was during COVID. But no, we’ve never performed ‘Slippery [When Wet]’ in its entirety or New Jersey in its entirety, or Keep the Faith in its entirety.”

Watch Jon Bon Jovi’s interview on Planet Rock below, and pick up tickets to Bon Jovi’s 2026 tour here.