Originally Posted by JackieBlue

Any number of things could have happened. But at least we know now that it was never as simple as "Richie should have said that he didn't want to tour (or do a new album/tour) before the tour/album ever started." Apparently the decision he faced wasn't whether he wanted to tour or not, but whether he wanted to stay in Bon Jovi or not.

His statement in this article also leads me to believe that when he said that Mick wouldn't tour without Keith he wasn't referring, as some have suggested, to the idea that Jon should have stopped the tour when Richie walked away; but rather that Mick, in Jon's shoes, wouldn't have said (before the tour was arranged), "The band is going on tour with you or without you. You're either a part of that band or you're not."