Richie Sambora

It was a "Coming Soon" holding page for ages and then just redirected to his Facebook. Hopefully he will launch a new one for the new album...

I always thought it was Jon that closed the door on Richie, and not the other way. So, until we hear anything from Jon I am not holding my breath.

I can't remember the last time I read a press release for a tour of a band I was interested in seeing. Especially as a casual fan of a band, I just buy the ticket and turn up. I went to see Judas Priest last year and bought the ticket a few days prior to the show because I am just casual on them. If I had turned up and the guitarist was singing half the songs, I would be pissed. I am sure Priest did the press releases, the interviews, etc to promote their tour, but like many casuals, I am not seeing that.

You can argue that is ignorance but despite the many avenues for information, casuals of bands are not going to do the work to find out. Ok, Bon Jovi rolling into town with the guitarist and keyboard player singing half the songs would probably make mainstream news. Most casuals hearing that would just be, "that's not for me".

Competition is rife and tickets expensive, why pay to see a band that is clearly broken and cannot do it how it is meant to be done anymore? Esepcially if someone only likes a handful of songs or whatever else defines "casual". It would work as a large theater tour probably, but a 40th anniversary tour would be about bringing as much money as possible.


I agree, but I am sure there are people out there who think guitarist X from band Y has a better voice than Richie. So, it's debatable.

Richie doesn't tank the show like Jon's love for certain songs does. But nor do they get an amazing reaction. They are what they are, to give Jon five minutes.

It absolutely does need to be addressed. And the best way of addressing it is to just not do a tour if the lead singer's voice is not up to it anymore. You don't address it by bastardizing the band and hoping casual fans (the ones who make the difference) have any interest in it.

"Jon has been getting help with his voice and is in great shape, but has been advised that he needs to take it easy... but we are coming on tour anyway, taking your money, giving you 30 mins of twiddling your thumbs, and asking the keyboard player none of you know to sing a couple of popular songs."

Just my two cents supposing BJ would go on tour and with Richie:

Jon should work on his guitar chops (not acoustic!) to play along with Richie more often (e.g. something like they did with Thorn in my side). Playing the guitar could help Jon to relax physically and mentally from the singing for some time.

Two songs with Richie singing would be max, but instrumental parts could get extended.

But in the end this is all about making the impossible possible. (I think it's impossible.)

There;s really not how it works for most people. Huge budgets are spent on the marketing and promotions for big shows. And there is a reason for that...

No one is saying they are singing "half the songs"...again, it's all in the way you market it....

That's why you need the marketing...

That's not Jon's way though. He's not just going to give up until he's made every last possible penny. If he was going to retire because of his voice it would have happened 5 years ago....

Good job you're not in marketing...well, I hope you're not...

To be honest, if you are only giving Richie 2 songs and Dave 1, they wouldn't even HAVE to mention it, though probably should. The 2 sets things is actually becoming quite a popular set up for some shows. People actually like an interval, gives them a chance to go to the bathroom and get drinks without missing anything. It's only like the changeover between main act and support, except you get two main act sets.

I agree its' a hard sell in some ways, but it could still be a very financially lucrative tour for the band. Of course they could even make is slightly smaller venues (another reason to say it's special), such as Arena's in Europe rather than Stadiums. To make up for less tickets, the ticket price would be higher of course, but that is the way these days anyways...

It's all just hypothetical anyways, as i keep saying, it's no gonna happen...

I am not doubting the marketing budget and/or the validity of the marketing. However, marketing with a bunch of small print caveats is not going to work. Besides, if you take twenty bands you know are coming to your city/country this year, how much do you know about the show/tour beyond the basics such as venue, price, etc? Marketing does not focus on details that may make the show worse.

Ok, not half the songs but this conversation started with someone saying Richie singing 40% of the songs. I was responding to that post initially. 2 songs by Richie and 1 by Dave does nothing to solve Jon's problems.

I am presuming we are talking about Richie and Dave taking over a portion of the show, not a few songs. Otherwise there is no conversation to be had at all. Even say it is 30% of the show, it is too much. You are convinced that marketing could solve this.

For me, it would not. Richie and Jon could come and tuck every casual into bed for a year and they would still not be interested in seeing Bon Jovi with Jon not singing on anything less than 80% of the songs.


Agreed, anything under 20% of a show is probably normal and not even worth discussing.

Is it? One of the benefits of living in a major capital city where my outside earnings smash inflation levels is I have been able to go and see everyone over the last 10 years on the cheap. Not once have I had a 30-minute gap in between a main act set. Over 50 acts, everyone from One Direction to Slipknot. Avantasia did over 3 hours and I didn't even have a 10 minutes break. I am genuinely curious about which major acts are doing this.

Marketing focusing on making the the show seem appealing. My previous post explained how that would work. There's a lot of milage in making something seem one off, special, or exclusive.

Actually that's not true. In my opinion part of the problem is that from the moment he takes to the stage Jon has to sing for 2 hours non stop. This resulted in his voice being completely gone by the end of the show a few times. Most notably the time he had to mime on Prayer. Giving him 3 breaks during the two main sets and a 30 minute break in between would help with that in my opinion.

I'm not talking about regular shows, I'm talking about special "evening with" type events. I believe that Europe have done them, and will be doing them again on their tour anniversary tour later this year. A lot of acts such as Russel Watson and non-rock artists have done this regualarly. Def Leppard did this on the Hystera shows, on their Vegas run. The Eagles have done it several times.... There are others, can't think off the top of my head. The Who also I believe. It's often done when bands do a "play the whole album" type shows, with one set being the album and the second set being a greatest hits. Bryan Adams recent royal albert hall shows for instance. I've worked with a band called Thunder for years, who have done this many times, usually as part of a Christmas show.

@Thinny - Before it continues large post after large post, are we talking about a one-off show or a tour? I am talking 100% about a tour, which is where this conversation started.

I'm talking about a tour - billed as "an evening with Bon Jovi". When I said "one off" I was meaning a "one off tour" not a "one off event" sorry for the confusion.

I don't really see the point filling this thread up with it though to be honest, as it's all just hypothetical/fantasy at the end of the day, and I think we've both had our say?

To bring in another point of view:
Jon's voice was already ****ed up when they announced the last tour and he knew it. Before Covid they announced a tour together with Bryan Adams.
I don't know anymore how exactly it was billed. But in my book there is no market in which Bryan has the need to be the support act.
So it is just an assumption: If the plan was 1 hour Bryan, 1 hour Bon Jovi, the vocal situation for Jon would have been different.
So if they are planning a new tour, they could think about doing it that way. 1 hour Richie solo or another (bigger) artist, 1 hour Bon Jovi with 1-2 songs sung by a band member.
I think that would be the only possibility to sell a tour under the current circumstances without losing countenance. We die-hards would know what's going on, but the casual fan probably would think "cool, 2 artists for the price of one, sounds like a good deal to me!".