You were both right.

The whole thing was junior high school recital dire: dreary horror movie lighting, a skeletal drum riser, sluggish tempos, tentative harmonies, Jon's WTF reaction when his mic punked out. But thanks to Phil and Shanks being either gracious or sensible enough to stay out of Richie's way, one light did shine through -- Bon Jovi's co-frontmen chemistry is still very much alive and well.

Even without his performing well enough the steal the show, the temporary return of Richie's actual and musical voices were downright rejuvenating. And I'm very glad they played When We Were Us, which I've described as "play-it-safe...we-gotta-get-something-on-the-radio schlock" -- he gave it enough of a personality to turn it into a rock song.

Most important, Jon and Richie seemed to genuinely enjoy being back in each other's company -- I've described the two of them as being "the core of the Bon Jovi brand, whether anybody likes it or not." Being able to bounce your attention between Richie and Jon is what made their live shows so much fun. Maybe their unity was just due the to momentousness of the occasion -- or maybe, after Jon's done resting his voice and Richie has finished supporting his new album, it could develop into something more...