Austin is a long way from Sayreville, New Jersey, but Bon Jovi received a hometown hero’s welcome all the same when they arrived at SXSW on Thursday for the premiere of their upcoming Hulu docuseries, Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story.
The band appeared at the Paramount Theatre alongside Thank You, Goodnight director Gotham Chopra and his father and author Deepak Chopra, who moderated a short Q&A with singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan and drummer Tico Torres. Before that, though, the audience watched the first episode of the four-part docuseries, which will debut on April 26 on Hulu and Disney+ internationally.
The first episode, filmed in 2022, sets the stage for Bon Jovi’s impending 40th anniversary (which took place in 2023), and the band is seen rehearsing extensively for a 15-date arena tour. It’s not all smiles and warm, fuzzy nostalgia though: As fans now know, Jon Bon Jovi was struggling with vocal issues that ultimately required him to undergo medialization surgery to regain proper function of his atrophied vocal cord.
This modern-day footage is interspersed with archival footage and storytelling to chronicle the rise of Bon Jovi from a scrappy Jersey Shore bar band to stadium-filling superstars. Episode one naturally focuses on the early days and hits all the expected rock-doc beats, but Thank You, Goodnight features enough ancillary players from the Bon Jovi universe and beyond to keep things interesting — and it ends on a cliffhanger of sorts that will have fans smashing the “play next” button (and had the SXSW crowd roaring with applause).
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Thursday was a momentous day for Bon Jovi for more reasons than the Thank You, Goodnight premiere. The band also released its new single “Legendary” and announced its upcoming album Forever, out June 7. Jon Bon Jovi touched on both while speaking to Chopra after the screening.
“The release of ‘Legendary’ today and the forthcoming album is just all about joy,” the frontman said. “And it’s that pursuit of excellence so that if and when we tour again, that we can go out there and truly embrace it, just sheer pleasure. And that’s all that matters: nothing more than the sheer pleasure of looking at the guys that I want to be with on that stage, and singing these songs for you.”
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Gallery Credit: Anthony Kuzminski
