Bon Jovi fans who attended the band's second night at London's Wembley Stadium on Sunday, 6th September, were left frustrated after a malfunctioning speaker tower emitted a constant crackling static noise throughout the entire set, leading to refund demands and a flood of social media complaints.
Faulty speaker ruins middle show of three-night run
The issue affected only the middle concert of Bon Jovi's three consecutive nights at the iconic venue as part of their Forever Tour. While the opening and closing dates passed without incident, attendees at the second show had to endure the grating audio fault for the whole evening, which many said ruined their experience.
Despite the technical problems, fans praised the band themselves for continuing to deliver a strong performance. One disgruntled attendee wrote on TikTok: "It was awful, lucky we were able to move. Refunds all round, I reckon." Another commented: "I honestly thought I was going mad - what awful sound! The show was brilliant, though."
Fans vent on social media and demand refunds
The frustration quickly spread to X, where concertgoers directed their anger at the venue. One posted: "At Bon Jovi concert ... sound isn't right at all ... @wembleystadium, please do something about it." Another wrote: "@wembleystadium awful crackling speakers tonight at Bon Jovi."
The financial impact was a key concern, with one fan taking aim at Ticketmaster: "@TicketmasterUK £175 a ticket for club Wembley seat in block 207 and the speaker right in front of us hasn't stopped crackling! Sounds awful, poor #bonjovi."
Support act also affected; speaker eventually switched off
The faulty speaker also blighted the performance of support act James Bay, casting a shadow over the entire evening from the start. After numerous complaints to production staff, the speaker was eventually switched off.
One fan detailed the ordeal: "@Wembleystadium. Letting Bon Jovi down. Working their socks off. Speaker destroying performance. Affected all of James Bay's set, too. Inadequate sound checks? Complaints were made by numerous people. A member of the production team was notified. He wouldn't give his name. Said that was down to the sound engineers and would pass a message on. Eventually, the speaker was switched off. Waited a long time for this gig and was so disappointed by something which should have been sorted out before. Sound engineers/production team, hang your heads in shame. I hope people attending on 9th Sept have a better experience."
However, switching the speaker off created new problems. One attendee, who shared video footage of the crackling audio online, explained that cutting the tower left fans further back struggling to hear the stage. He posted: "Here's how bad the sound was for at least the first 45 mins! Then this speaker got turned off, and the stage sounded like it was miles away. Then it was turned back on, same again, then I think just used for the mid range. Shambles!"
Wembley Stadium has been approached for comment.
