diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplication.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplication.java
index 11f0287e0e5..755d98c4d7f 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplication.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplication.java
@@ -335,10 +335,17 @@ public class SpringApplication {
 			callRunners(context, applicationArguments);
 		}
 		catch (Throwable ex) {
-			handleRunFailure(context, listeners, exceptionReporters, ex);
+			handleRunFailure(context, ex, exceptionReporters, listeners);
+			throw new IllegalStateException(ex);
+		}
+
+		try {
+			listeners.running(context);
+		}
+		catch (Throwable ex) {
+			handleRunFailure(context, ex, exceptionReporters, null);
 			throw new IllegalStateException(ex);
 		}
-		listeners.running(context);
 		return context;
 	}
 
@@ -795,13 +802,15 @@ public class SpringApplication {
 	}
 
 	private void handleRunFailure(ConfigurableApplicationContext context,
-			SpringApplicationRunListeners listeners,
+			Throwable exception,
 			Collection<SpringBootExceptionReporter> exceptionReporters,
-			Throwable exception) {
+			SpringApplicationRunListeners listeners) {
 		try {
 			try {
 				handleExitCode(context, exception);
-				listeners.failed(context, exception);
+				if (listeners != null) {
+					listeners.failed(context, exception);
+				}
 			}
 			finally {
 				reportFailure(exceptionReporters, exception);
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplicationTests.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplicationTests.java
index 02f71004d2c..6bed2b01cbd 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplicationTests.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplicationTests.java
@@ -707,6 +707,32 @@ public class SpringApplicationTests {
 		}
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void failureInReadyEventListenerCloseApplicationContext() {
+		SpringApplication application = new SpringApplication(ExampleConfig.class);
+		application.setWebApplicationType(WebApplicationType.NONE);
+		ExitCodeListener exitCodeListener = new ExitCodeListener();
+		application.addListeners(exitCodeListener);
+		@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+		ApplicationListener<SpringApplicationEvent> listener = mock(
+				ApplicationListener.class);
+		application.addListeners(listener);
+		ExitStatusException failure = new ExitStatusException();
+		willThrow(failure).given(listener)
+				.onApplicationEvent(isA(ApplicationReadyEvent.class));
+		try {
+			application.run();
+			fail("Run should have failed with a RuntimeException");
+		}
+		catch (RuntimeException ex) {
+			verify(listener).onApplicationEvent(isA(ApplicationReadyEvent.class));
+			verify(listener, never())
+					.onApplicationEvent(isA(ApplicationFailedEvent.class));
+			assertThat(exitCodeListener.getExitCode()).isEqualTo(11);
+			assertThat(this.output.toString()).contains("Application run failed");
+		}
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void loadSources() {
 		Class<?>[] sources = { ExampleConfig.class, TestCommandLineRunner.class };
@@ -1427,14 +1453,14 @@ public class SpringApplicationTests {
 
 	private static class ExitCodeListener implements ApplicationListener<ExitCodeEvent> {
 
-		private int exitCode;
+		private Integer exitCode;
 
 		@Override
 		public void onApplicationEvent(ExitCodeEvent event) {
 			this.exitCode = event.getExitCode();
 		}
 
-		public int getExitCode() {
+		public Integer getExitCode() {
 			return this.exitCode;
 		}