Jon Bon Jovi calls Croke Park "the most special" venue ahead of upcoming tour dates

Jon Bon Jovi has described Dublin's Croke Park as "the most special" stop on the upcoming Bon Jovi Forever Tour during a lively press conference.

"There's a feeling that I get when I come here," the iconic rockstar told gathered press. "Our history as a band takes us back to every venue there is here in Dublin."

Indeed, the band have a storied history with Ireland's capital. They played 3Arena (then the Point Theatre) in 1990, Lansdowne Road in 2003, Croke Park in 2006, Slane Castle in 2013 and a handful of shows at the RDS Arena with the earliest in 1988 and the latest in 2019.

"Croke Park was the first big, what we'd call, 'cement structure' that we played," he explained.

"This was the big one on the street. This was the one that you aspired to. I remember coming here for the first time very well and then subsequently after that, always wanting to come back."

Bon Jovi at Croke Park on October 23rd, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

He described a story from one of his past RDS shows, a sold-out gig marked by "biblical thunder and lightning" and the lashing rain, "the kind you only get in Ireland."

"It's raining so I think I'm being witty, talking about how the angels are crying because they couldn't get a ticket to a sold-out Bon Jovi show," he recounted with a grin.

"And then the thunder and lightning strike — boom! — I dropped to my knees out of fear, and then I crawled up the microphone stand and I said, 'You Irish are really connected to God!' Everyone here talks to me about it and I'll tell you now, it was a true story. That's just one of the many great memories we have from here."

He added RDS and then Croker were the grandest venues the band played before the mythical Slane Castle. On the topic, he spoke about his connection with Slane's beloved patriarch: the late Lord Henry Mount Charles, who died aged 74 in June.

"I remember meeting Henry when I flew up here from London to play at Slane, which of course is one of the storied venues in the world," he recalled, pausing to wipe his eyes.

"I got the opportunity to meet him, to go out for a drink and announce the show. To hear of his passing... it was a sad time, because for the guys that will go there now, the new artists, they won't know that relationship. But I still have in my rehearsal space right now — I could tell you where it is — a picture of me and him at the castle. It was a very special time and he was a very special man."

Bon Jovi at Croke Park on October 23rd, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

Along the "kinship" he felt with Lord Henry and his admiration of both Slane and Croker, Bon Jovi said there's also something particularly special about Irish fans. Though he's "not necessarily sure why," the band "worked hard to feel that connection."

"There was something unique about so many of the bands that I came up with that were Irish," he said, brightening up.

"In the mid-70s, Thin Lizzy broke out in America. I was introduced to Van Morrison because of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Then, of course, U2 came out just before we started making records and I fell in love with their music as the years went on."

Between those and others such as "the young Mr Hewson's band" (Inhaler), Bon Jovi described, "the storyteller was a common thread here, and I was always drawn to the storyteller."

"I could go to any pub in Ireland and every person in there, singer or not, is a good storyteller," he said. "It's the poetry that I've felt in the relationships that I've had with the people that I've met from Ireland. Initially, I was drawn here by other bands but what I came to know is that it's the people that I care so much about more than just the music that I love about this country."

He has found himself drawn to the Irish; his wife Dorothea has her roots in Cork. He joked, "My children are Irish, my wife is Irish, I'm still aspiring to be Irish. That's why I keep coming back."

Bon Jovi at Croke Park on October 23rd, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

Dorothea's maiden name is Hurley, he explained with a laugh, as Croke Park staff presented him with a hurley bearing his name.

"This is the second best hurley I've ever gotten," he remarked. "I might have been better off playing for the Steelers last month, but I'll get my first hurling lesson today!"

And sure enough, hurley in hand, Bon Jovi took to the field that will soon be filled to the brim with adoring fans.

Tickets for the Croke Park show on August 30, 2026 will go on general sale on Friday, October 31 at 9:00 a.m. via Bon Jovi's website.

Bon Jovi at Croke Park on October 23rd, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com