The enigma that is Bobby Bandiera.

Aloha !

So, we've never really discussed Bobby Bandiera over here, so I decided to create a topic about him in which you can all praise his qualities.

In all seriousness though, why is Bobby there? He's played in Southside Johnny and I've heard people say he was better there, but that's because Southside pretty much doesn't do guitar solos, it's just little fills here and there, and that's as much as Bobby is capable off. I've been given bootlegs on which Bobby played with Southside on which I was supposed to hear his guitar qualities but I still can't hear what his quality really is.

It was obvious during the HAND era that Jon envisioned some kind of E street band for himself but this didn’t work out due to the entire backup band he put on stage not being able to reproduce the Bon Jovi sound, but why is Bobby still there? I’ve read stories in which people said it’s because Jon considers him family, but where was Bobby for the rest of their career then? Was he Jon's estranged uncle? Jon has known him all his life, yet it was only 2005 in which he was hired to work with the band. I don't think it’s got something to do with family, that’s just romanticizing the truth. Bobby needs money for treatment for his ill son and Jon offered him a paid job as part of the touring band. What I don’t understand though is that Jon’s got plenty of money to support pretty much every family in New Jersey yet he makes Bobby work for it. It's like having a cousin telling you that his son is ill and you being the multi millionaire saying that he has to work your garden for a year first before you pay for his medical bills. What a brilliant way to treat your family.

I get that the band would like an extra guitarist but the only thing that has changed is that Richie’s gotten lazier, Bobby’s started to record parts when Richie couldn’t be arsed to come over to record and Jon has started to rely more and more on Bobby’s backing vocals. I know many people think Jon has started to sing a lot better lately but I don’t think you’d like to hear him sing a song like Bed Of Roses without Bobby doing the chorus. There’s a reason for the multiple layers of effects on his studio vocals, and Bobby is his effect while singing live, if you can call it that.

With all the top guitarists, and I'm not talking professionals like Clapton or Vai, but the ones that post their videos on YouTube or play in cover bands, why did Jon pick Bobby to support him on tour? Considering how many times he's played Lay Your Hands On Me now and he's still incapable of playing the riff properly that makes him utterly useless - He'll never learn. Yes, he can play a bunch of classic rock riffs, but so can I. So can in fact every guitarist who spends time fooling around on guitar every day while clicking random songs through his iTunes library. You click, you play along, it’s that simple. It’s nothing impressive really and certainly not a reason to hire someone.

Now I know, being a good guitarist doesn’t mean being able to play the fastest: There’s also a need for creativity. But does Bobby have that then? I don’t think so, and if he does he’s never showed it. It’s as if he knows one scale and tries his best to mess it up by the longest bends in the wrong key all the time, the In These Arms guitar solo being the prime example of it. I am also well aware that most people don’t hear his messy guitar solos and think the bitching is way too much, but then again those people have no business discussing music anyway.

So what good has Bobby Bandiera brought to this band apart from his backing vocals? And considering how average he is, what does this say about Jon and his capabilities of deciding what the Bon Jovi sound is nowadays, and how to improve the live sound of the band?

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I think It's a combination of things.

I agree with the E-Street comment on the HAND tour. Jon tries to be Bruce more than we know (Another Topic).

I think it sorta goes like this..... First off Bobby is an great musician and an excellent vocalist. More than what Jon allows him to show. I actually saw a solo Bobby show by accident a few years back and was blown away. He did a Roy Orbison tribute and he did it with total justice.

(It's only 2 minutes but check out his high vocals - He challenges Jon And Richie)

Bobby made his first appearance during DA in '97 and the '98 tour. He still remained with Jon with solo charity gigs during the Crush and Bounce era... AKA The Big Dogs.

One thing about Jon, he seems very loyal and hates change. Once your in the Bon Jovi club, you're there forever. That's why no talent Gonzo Obie is still mooching around.....

I'm not sure why he joined the HAND tour but the LH tour makes sense. After that point, I think he earned his spot. He's might add a little vocally and with the guitar, although I would never notice the difference.

Maybe Jon was missing Alec's vocals. Maybe a professional rhythm guitar player to replace his parts. Jon's guitar playing seems more like a prop these days except for his solo on Runaway.

I think it's mutual. Jon needs to keep Bobby in his pocket for all his political solo gigs, so he pays him for that and to join the tour. It keeps him fresh.

Jon figures he could replace some of his guitar parts or just add something extra. Bobby has outgrown no talent SSJ and needs work. Maybe SSJ replaced him and now Jon feels obligated to keep him on.

I think it's a progression of everything stated above give or take.

If it wasn't for the In These Arms solo, I would have no problem with Bobby... or even really notice he is there... except he has excellent taste in guitars. I will watch what guitar he is playing, not noticing really how he plays it (again, except the ITA solo).

I don't know who really makes they call on who gets what solo, but for crying out loud, Richie Sambora is one of the best guitarists of all time (and my personal favorite). Yeah, he might have gotten a little lazy here and there. Yes, he may get drunk and botch Wanted. But even when he messes up a solo it is far better than Bobby's ITA solo.

I tend to agree with the theory that Jon kept Bobby on the Circle tour in the case that Richie's physical and psychological condition started going downhill. Think about it. Jon has proven that he is "the show must go on" type of guy. If Richie was unable to go on stage an hour before the show, the show could go on with Bobby. I imagine it is also why we have seen Jon play more and more solos lately. It would be a safe, short set, but it would due until they were able to get a Phil X type of replacement.

Don't think he's one of the best of all time. One of the coolest and one my faves yeah, but he's far from being all time greatest.

He's also a mess. Think all the partying has caught up with him. you wonder how he actually lives; does he wake up and need a drink? Does he abstain for four weeks at a time then have a three day binge.

It's sad. 53, all the money in the world and nobody to come home to cause you've ****ed up so bad on booze and god knows what else.


As for Bobby, as a guitarist speaking, it would be a great luxury to have someone like him filling in for me as I'm singer AND guitarist. I guess he's there because Sambo has become a liability and his vocals are shot live!

Bobby is a fine RHYTHM guitarist. Why he gets solos (while long time band members like TICO OR DAVE rarely or never get solos at all is silly to me. But you only ever hear him when he's botching solos.

Take a look at the solo during It's My Life. There's a great rhythm guitar part that really fills out the sound there. Can you hear that live, despite the fact that there's a rhythm guitarist? No. You cannot.

I don't mind Bobby being there. If he actually played rhythm guitar parts (and NO SOLOS), and you could hear his chords, then it wouldn't be bad. But he doesn't. He tries to play parts that he can't play, and they sound like crap. It compromises the sound of the band.

If anything, Jon should play electric guitar more. He's not a bad guitarist at all. He's gotten better. There's plenty of songs that he plays acoustic on (ie Born to Follow and Last Man Standing) that could benefit from another electric guitar.

I understand Jon is trying to help out Bobby, but like Seb said, just give him the money. He has the money. I understand he's trying to help out a close friend, but this isn't a family owned pizzeria or construction business. This is a PROFESSIONAL ROCK BAND.

Hey, that's the post I love. I keep saying that about IML for a long time! It isa great example where the songs could benefit from having another guitarist but they don't.

I don't call him a rhythm or back-up guitarist. After reading an interview from Berlin few years ago with David and Tico, I call Bobby a "sound-filler". He fills the sound so David doesn't need to play that many samples and loops - stuff needed almost only after 2000 when they for some reason are rarely able to write a rock song based on four or five instruments

I also agree about Born To Follow and Last Man Standing. There are probably others.. If Jon wants to play a guitar then he should grab his beautiful new vinatage Les Paul and rip it. An acoustic doesn't make sense here.

About Bobby needing money. That's fine if Jon wants to help him but why to destroy your own band with it? If Alec was sacked because of his crappy playing why is Bobby still here? That's too charitable. If Jon want to help Bobby earn money for his son, they should do an annual show (maybe Christmas) with Jon solo plus Bobby and many other musicians or even a BJ how with Bobby as a guest. I think nobody could say a word against such help. And I think they'd get more money than Bobby is payed (even if I don't know how much he is played).
So there is probably something else why he is still with the band. Be it as a substitute if Richie can't play.. maybe. The vocals - I was pissed when Bobby sang Drift Away instead of Jon+Richie back in Germany 2008. Still, vocals couldn't be reason for keeping a crappy guitarist. They should turn up David's mic, he is singing his lungs out but couldn't be heard

Where are the NJ who are SSJ fans that can give incite on the whole Bobby thing?

Plus, I know the whole Bobby needs money for his sick son was true but was anything ever said about Bobby joining the band for this very reason or was this something people just jumped to conclusion about?

Jumped to conclusions hardcore. Bobby was brought on the same time Jeff was (along with Everett Bradley briefly) so to say Bobby was included just to a) pay his sons medical bills or b) be Richie's back-up/understudy in case Richie went off the rails (a full seven years before he went to rehab) IMHO are way off. Richie's playing, while getting less and less imaginative as the 2000's progressed was not THAT bad in 2003. He was still pretty together at that point.

Well since we are sticklers for facts around here, Richie did go to rehab in 2007 but I would say he truly started to deteriorate somewhere between the end of the bounce tour and the beginning of HAND. Although Richie is one of those people you can always tell when he's loaded. Bloated Richie = loaded Richie and he was heavy too towards the end of the Bounce tour.

Oh I'm not disagreeing his problems probably went to that point but, I'd think, 2006 was the kick-off year with the dying dad, the divorce, the broken arm, yadda yadda yadda. I don't think things were bad enough to have another guitar player for his sake. To assume they added in Bobby in 2003 to cover for Richie's "off" nights, why was Jeff there? I don't buy it.