No Richie on current leg of the tour

Fair enough....but we don't enough know if he's been asked to carry on or whether he's told Jon no to Sept and on. So that leaves the door open for Richie too return or Jon's going to put Bobby in the lead guitarist postion God help us if that happens makes me glad I haven't brought a ticket for the Toronto gig yet

Amen, as simple as this.

To be honest, when he is dicking around with fashion and taking a holiday at the same time as a concert that his fans have paid good money to see him at, I would let people off with a bit of bitching and moaning.

All of this would have been solved if they just said the truth to begin with- whoever's decision that was. I don't doubt that from BJ management side that they wanted to leave some hope so ticket sales weren't a bloodbath, but one or both sides should have been more honest with the fans. I love Richie and thankfully these shows have been more than adequate with Phil X, but he's lost a fair bit of respect from me for what he has done, especially implying it's a private family matter, and then saying "Well me & Jon have fallen out, the band is like a family". Thankfully I've had 20 years of good times with this band so this mugging off can fly, but people have been and will be pissed off and with every right too.

I'd hope Jon has a contingency plan in place just in case he gets to a point there is no Richie or Phil. And that plan cannot be for himself and Bobby to share lead!

I wonder- and I'm clutching at straws mostly- if Richie said September looks good because he's had a bit of an ultimatum due to Phil making a decision on this? Perhaps been told he could take his time to sort his shit, but Phil can't do past September so he'd better be back by then? Pure speculation on my part, but could make sense?

Thank you, it is so nice to read something like this, it truly is, especially after you see those heart-breaking lines like "cant he also have a little life poor Richie?" or even worse, like "Jon is a devil incarnate"... I spent almost 400 Euros for a Diamond Circle and when buying the ticket I had been telling myself I would be standing at the Richie's side to see him play...and then f....ck, he did not bother to show up hanging aroung LA with that blonde. I think I have a right to feel a little irritated...

You're spot on, of course. And symbiotic is exactly what it is.
But that's not to say he can't take a new direction and make a success of it. Success being in the eye of the beholder, of course.

Am wondering the same thing you are....I guess we will see come Sept. I'd rather have Jon on lead than Bobby I still have an image burnt into my brain from the Toronto gig in Feb of him doing his "sex" faces

Fair enough, I hope he is successful with it. His timing absolutely sucks though. As someone has just said, he's doing it when he is supposed to be where people have paid for him to be. I'm not suggesting he should be in a dark room crying day after day, but it looks bad for him. It's at this point I feel he should have come out and said something. He can give an explanation without all the specifics of the situation if he is actually gagged. At the end of the day, it's his 'symbiotic relationship' that's being damaged- show us that you actually do give a shit!

I am attending the Chicago show in little over a week, and wishing they would postpone things until the stuff with Sambora gets sorted out (if it does).

To me, this seems like seeing the Rolling Stones without Keith Richards – or Aerosmith without Joe Perry, especially if you are a long-time fan of the band.

Honestly, if this was Tico Torres or David Bryan, it would be easier for me to swallow not having them on tour. But Richie has always been up-front, and the group's #2 member – leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else.

When you are watching the band without Sambora, all you see is Bobby and PhilX in the front of the stage with Jon, so to me it is nothing more than essentially a Jon Bon Jovi and friends show.

I keep thinking what if Tico or Dave had pulled this sh*t on Jon, pulling out mid-tour? I think you would be looking at a permanent replacement for one of them now.

If this is a money issue, or a quality issue Sambora has with Jon, it should have been sorted out BEFORE the tour.

Best case scenario for me and Sambora does come back, they are going to have to produce an EPIC album the next time around (unlike the last several albums) for me to get back into the routine of purchasing an album and forking hundreds on concert tickets (and I tend to think I will not be the only one).

I'm starting to wonder if we might be witnessing a bit of midlife crisis from both Jon and Richie. From Jon's side, we had two summers in a row where he injured himself onstage. Early in this tour, he looked stiff as a board, possibly due to back trouble. He looks tense to me in a lot of recent photos. Maybe he's looking at things and thinking, I don't have forever left to write music and tour, I want to be relevant, I want that critical acclaim, I need to tour now, now, now! And then we have Richie, who admittedly is burnt, who is also reevaluating his life and saying hey, in 30 years, I've never spent 3 months in a row at home, I want to travel, work on my fashion, spend time with people I love, I'm sick of touring.

Jon tells Richie, you have to really want it, you have to die every night on stage and Richie says, you're crazy man, you can die like that if you want, but I have other things to live for.

Admittedly, this is all speculation, but it does seem to fit.

jublke