ABC/ Lou RoccoGraduating students from Fairleigh Dickinson University were treated to a surprise performance by Bon Jovi at their commencement ceremony Tuesday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The rockers played an acoustic rendition of “Reunion,” a tune from their latest album, This House Is Not For Sale.
Prior to the performance, frontman Jon Bon Jovi addressed the 2017 graduates, saying, “Choose your words wisely — not only the ones you’ll say to others, but also the ones you say to yourself…Accept both praise and criticism equally, but take neither to heart…Pursue perfection, and although you’ll never achieve that, remember to demand excellence.”
Bon Jovi’s appearance at the event came about because FDU won a national contest launched earlier this year by MTVU that asked college and university students to tweet their best school memories using the hashtag #JBJReunionContest.
As he was preparing for the surprise performance, Jon was interviewed by ABC’s Good Morning America inside the MetLife stadium locker rooms.
“We had a nationwide contest to have Bon Jovi perform at your graduation,” he explained. “I had written a song for a commencement [address] I was giving, and since then it had turned into a record, a song on our new album called ‘Reunion.’ And so we’re going to pop up and surprise the school who had the most votes to get us to come.”
The FDU event won’t be the only college graduation the singer is attending this week.
“Two of my kids are graduating college this week,” Bon Jovi told GMA. “Stephanie has got her film degree and Jesse’s got his political science degree, so daddy’s going to two graduations.”
Highlights from the band’s appearance at the FDU ceremony will be shown on Good Morning America on Wednesday.
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