Grimey’s New & Preloved Music & Books in Nashville, Tennessee, hosted an intimate record release day celebration with none other than Grammy Award-winning band Bon Jovi on Friday afternoon. Released via Island Records, Forever was recorded locally in “Music City” at Ocean Way Nashville Studios in 2023. Marking the band’s 40th anniversary with the release of their 16th studio album, Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan, Tico Torres, Hugh McDonald, Phil X, John Shanks, and Everett Bradley, signed copies of Forever for the 200 event attendees lucky enough to snatch up a wristband for the day’s celebration.
Before I share a little about the event itself, it is also worth highlighting that Bon Jovi achieved another milestone last week when their track “You Give Love a Bad Name” exceeded more than a billion Spotify streams to join the official “Billions Club” playlist on Saturday, June 1st. This was the band’s second entrance onto that list, with “You Give Love a Bad Name” joining its Slippery When Wet (1986) chart-topping tune “Livin’ on a Prayer,” which crossed the same streaming achievement back in January of this year.
As for the event, my friend and I rolled up about 12:30 pm, collected our pre-purchased Forever albums and wristbands, and then joined the rest of the early crowd trying to grab a sliver of shade against the building wall. As the clock crossed the 1:00 pm hour, a small caravan of vehicles with tinted windows turned into the front driveway and subsequently unloaded the band, much to the adoration of the screaming fans positioned near the main entrance doors. With only an announced hour scheduled for the celebration, the clock was now ticking.
The line began to move for us around 1:15 pm, and we found ourselves positioned outside the main doors about 30 minutes later. The very organized and friendly record store staff were managing the flow of fans in and out of the building, and once inside we simply snaked our way through the aisles of vinyls towards the long table the band was seated behind. As fans approached the band with their new Forever album unwrapped for signature, you could see that seated from left to right were Shanks, McDonald, Torres, Bon Jovi, Bryan, Phil X, and Bradley.
Candidly, seventeen-year-old me who sat in the audience twice back in 1989 at the now-demolished Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, for the New Jersey Tour would not have believed that I would be sharing room oxygen feet away from Jon Bon Jovi all these decades later. That moment was gone in a blur, but I am fairly certain I smiled and said “Thank you” as he slid my album cover over to Bryan after signing it.
While the event was quick and understandably lacked much personal interaction time with the band, the 7-hour round trip driving investment from Atlanta to Nashville was worth my effort. The memory of attending this record-release celebration at Grimey’s will last with me forever. Now, where did I store my turntable?
Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar, maracas, harmonica
David Bryan – Keyboards, piano, backing and occasional lead vocals
Tico Torres – Drums, percussion, occasional backing and lead vocals
Hugh McDonald – Bass guitar, backing vocals
Phil X – Lead and rhythm guitars, talk box, backing and occasional lead vocals
Everett Bradley – Percussion, backing vocals
John Shanks – Rhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals
Track List – Forever:
1.) Legendary
2.) We Made It Look Easy
3.) Living Proof
4.) Waves
5.) Seeds
6.) Kiss The Bride
7.) The People’s House
8.) Walls Of Jericho
9.) I Wrote You A Song
10.) Living In Paradise
11.) My First Guitar
12.) Hollow Man
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Elliott is a music photographer covering shows in Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The highlight of his photography career was back in the early ’90s, when he sold Neil Diamond the rights to his negatives from a show and then purchased a set of tires for his 1979 280ZX during college with the money.
