John Shanks playing with the band?

Intersting little thing I found on his website

Question from pretzel
I had always enjoyed hearing/seeing you play live, you have made some rare appearances, apparently mostly for charity in the last five years.. Is there a source for knowing when you will be playing on TV or other venues ie guest appearances with colleagues, before the fact ? This forum could be a possibilty but so far has not served in that capacity. Thanks

Answer
I'm just working on some records right now, where I really get to play on... Rod Stewart and Take That... I almost went and played with Bon Jovi but things got too crazy... I do miss it though.

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I wonder what that means...

I'm pretty sure he played HAND onstage with the band when they were on the World Music Awards and got that Diamond Award a few years back.

He did, in 2005. The way he worded it was like he almost went on tour with them or something. I guess we'll never know.

- Perhaps he was considered for the tour but they got Bobby, with whom Jon apparently is friends, instead.
- Perhaps he was considered to play some leads when Richie had hurt his shoulder but Jon did that instead (and we know how THAT sounded!).
- Perhaps he was considered for the tour but the band was afraid that the fans wouldn't want an "outsider" on the road.
- Perhaps he was considered for the tour but was eventually too busy with production commitments.
- Perhaps a mixture of all of the above.