Originally Posted by Captain_jovi

I never understood the "it's cuz Richie left" thought process. I totally get psychologically but there's so many holes in this.

1) He could have him back if he wanted to
2) It's not like he's mentally scarred from what went down. At first on that tour, sure. But if he's continuing to move on as a new incarnation of the band with a new backing vocalist and the same amount of guitarist as before..

I just don't see it. Richie bolted, it sucked, he kept going. It shouldn't still be the forefront of why his voice doesn't work if he's truly happy with this version of the band.