Should the band go on without Richie?

(Becky) I must admit I probably would still go see them if Richie wasn't there. Mind you if I was in your situation (and if he wasn't playing) and knew all of this before purchasing everything - it would probably be a resounding "no".

But if I had already forked out to see them, then I would go and make the most of it.

And if they cancelled alltogether, then that is a real bitch!!!!

It's a really hard question actually.

What Richie is going through now isn't a quick fix, 'it'll be okay in a couple of weeks' thing. I guess it all comes down to how rehab goes, how Richie is himself. There are a lot of things Richie will have to confront now and deal with, much of which has had/will have significant impact/s on his life. If Richie is out of rehab in 2-3 weeks, like we see so many 'famous' people doing these days, I'd be really concerned. True rehab is a long term commitment, and for the person involved, a life time commitment.

I'd rather see the band do what they probably have to do right now [like Becky points out re: contractual obligations] and then take a little bit of time to really look at what should happen next. If Richie is not in a good enough place to be able to be with the band fully, then they should wait.

S.

I'd say Jon should tour without any Bon Jovi members (that is if he must tour without Richie) and do it with a real country band. Have Sugarland back him or something. Bon Jovi is not Bon Jovi without Richie, yet the show must go on. I think Tico and David realize that they aren't selling any tickets, and doubt they'd be awfully hurt if Jon decided to do this.

Not to get on you, but that would suck balls IMO.

Anyway, Richie is a HUGE part of Bon Jovi, and if the band went on without him in the longterm, this would be a loud and proud resounding NO.
However, the realiy is, they have an album to promote, and if they need to play a few shows with out Richie, I think they should.

I agree with you.

deb

There are times when other musicians fill in for band members due to injuries etc. Let Richie take his own time because IMO there is no Bon Jovi without Richie and maybe the biggest positive to come out of it (apart from Richie regaining 100% health) willl be some exceptionally good and strong lyrics for future collaborations with Jon.

I think they should - I doubt Richie would expect them to cancel anything, or even want them to.

They're selling at least one ticket.

This isn't a full blown tour. These are some promo gigs and it's now on Jon for the show to go on with the other members of the band. Hopefully then they can all take some time and Richie can work out a plan for how to deal with what he has to go through.

I don't think they should just cancel all their promo gigs. I doubt Richie would want that.

I am with Becky, theres alot more to take into consideration when cancelling. It's a big decision and very good of Jon and the rest of the band to even go on without Richie. If you think you miss Richie up there, imagine how Jon feels???

They do what they have to do, one can only hope they get some fan support for that, instead of kick Jon in the guts for daring to do shows without Richie.

Kat

OK, let's look at this from another angle then - if it were Jon in Richie's shoes at the moment, would they go ahead and play the shows with a replacement lead vocalist?

How could they really?

The shows would either be postponed or cancelled - it should be no different (and rightly so) if Richie can't play too.