Stones set longevity bar for Bon Jovi
AAP
Melissa Jenkins December 6, 2013, 5:31 pm
Members of Bon Jovi say they will see how old the Rolling Stones are when they retire before deciding when to call it quits.
Bon Jovi are in Melbourne ahead of the final leg of the Because We Can tour, which starts at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Frontman Jon Bon Jovi, 51, sang Livin' On A Prayer with songstress Taylor Swift and Prince William at a charity gala last week.
"He really belted it out and he was in tune," Bon Jovi says of the Duke of Cambridge.
"If you are around long enough and able to be blessed with the opportunity to do what it is you love to do, sometimes, if you do good, good things happen and you fall into situations where the future King Of England knows the words to your song."
Bon Jovi pointed out Prince William and Swift grew up listening to his music.
"They both didn't know a world without Bon Jovi records," he says.
"I get that because that's the way we feel about the (Rolling) Stones or The Beatles.
"I was born with The Beatles."
The Rolling Stones will tour Australia from March next year.
Bon Jovi keyboard player David Bryan says The Rolling Stones set the standard for longevity. The Stones' frontman Mick Jagger is 70.
"They set the bar, wherever that is if they keep going until they are 80, 90, 100, 200," Bryan says.
"We retire when they retire, that's the age."
Bon Jovi says he feels like a heavyweight fighter some days while keeping a cracking pace travelling the globe.
"Some days you feel beat up, other days you feel like king of the world," he says.
"Every show comes down to that desire to be the best.
"We do it because we love to do it. As long as we're doing it at a level to which we have grown accustomed, we'll keep doing it."
Bon Jovi says he has seen lots of acts like One Direction rise and fall during his music career.
"You see boy bands come and go," he says.
"I have seen all the generations of them over the last 30 years.
"It's just the next one along that line... either they'll go on and turn into Justin Timberlake or they'll go off and do Where Are They Now kind of reality show."
