No Richie on current leg of the tour

Richie is not an ordinary worker, is a rock star, so do not compare with normal jobs, and wages. Richie still has a great talent. If you want a 9-5 worker, there have Bobby and Phil, who are boring and no soul.

Who knows? But she fits the profile, blond and young enough to be mistaken for his daughter.

There are some definite gaps in this. I think Richie has given us the highlights here and nothing more. This goes back to all those initial posts people made about his heart not being in it and not speaking up before the tour was booked… he should have put his foot down and said ‘No, I don’t have another album and tour in me right now, I want to focus on my solo album.’ But in Jon’s defence, Dave is working on his musical throughout 2014, so that would mean they would have been off the road until 2016. I cold have handled that but Jon really doesn’t like too long away from the billboard tour charts so any tour, even one like we’ve had this year, will make him happy.

I think that RS being such a flake and Jon being such a control freak has finally brought about a breakdown. They may love each other but they can’t stand each other right now. The first leg of the tour, the song choices, an album RS didn’t really put his heart and soul into and a fractious relationship with Jon… although it didn’t show on stage, I think when it came time to get back on the plane, he’d had enough. I still think that his comment about having the odd drink has something to do with this. I stated about 500 pages ago that I reckon Jon has told him he has to be completely clean and sober so as not to risk his performances and Richie just wasn’t prepared to commit to that. I think RS doesn't see a small wine to get him through the boredom of touring as a big deal. It is, obviously and Jon has seen him do that before and seen where it leads. All these little niggles between them just mount up, without any big argument and suddenly you just don't want to be around each other any more. If you’re in Jon’s situation, you have a million things to manage and then you have Richie being a dick, missing rehearsals, dissing the song choices, wishing he was somewhere else. But to a certain extent, Jon pulled all this down on himself… There is no way he wouldn't have known that the timing sucked and he was taking a risk by hastily scheduling an album and tour like this but that doesn’t in any way absolve RS from his huge part in making this the biggest mistake of his and the band’s 30 year career.

I can understand why Jon doesn’t want RS back on the tour. I can understand why RS left if he was unhappy with the song choices and the changes with the band. I can understand why Jon got frustrated with a naysayer in the camp who never turned up to practice. I just think, in hindsight, this album and tour brought out the very worst in this band; Jon & Richie in particular and how the two of them recover, how they respond as a unit and indeed IF they actually pay attention to the fans and realise that an epic response is required; will be telling as to how grateful they truly are for our friendship…

Screw soul, I just want a guy who is going to show up.

You're right, when you have a 9-5, you don't get months and years off.

Agree 100 %

Even though the 'reasons' are what we expected, I did enjoy watching the interview as it was good to finally hear someone speak up a bit more.

Richie pretty much took all of the blame (which he should) and didn't try and put the blame on anyone apart from the touring comment, which I do agree with.

I just wish Richie opened his mouth before the tour rather than in the middle of it. Everyone is in the same boat. They all have families and have all missed a big chunk of their child's growing up, but that's part of being in one of the biggest rock bands, isn't it?

The 8 years sober comment was such a stupid thing to say. Why on earth did he say that? He clearly hasn't been sober. He has been in rehab twice since then. Something doesn't quite add up.

He seems keen to rejoin the band and if Jon has said 'no' to his return this tour, then good on Jon. If Jon said yes to him, then Richie would probably do this again on the next tour and think he can just get off whenever he wants and come back whenever he wants. Thankfully, that hasn't been the case and we have someone in who looks like he is having a great time up there. Don't get me wrong, I would sooner us have Richie back and have the odd rarity here and there which isn't happening with Phil X, but if Richie can't be bothered doing a tour, then I will take this. I don't want Phil X for good, I really don't, but for this tour, he has been a big big help.

I just can't wait for this tour to finish. I have never said that about a Bon Jovi tour, ever. I didn't think I ever would. This tour feels like it has dragged so much when usually, the rest of the tours just fly by. If this isn't sorted after the tour (obviously not right away) but a few months after, then things won't be looking good anymore for Bon Jovi.

Have a long long break after this has finished. Sort everything out, pick up on things that are wrong and change them and come back better than ever. Well... Better than they are now.

It´s obvious that Richie didn´t say the truth here but for me this comment of his is more like "Last tour we played in 52 countries". He likes to exaggerate on this kind of things when he wants to look better.

Yeah, that sorta sums it up for me. We all know that Richie can play awesome guitar when he is motivated. We also know that if he is not motivated he might start drinking or just not show up at all. He has trashed his own reputation.

Yeah 'cause there's so much soul in this man. I'm surprised his spirit didn't come out and start doing a duet together