Official 11th April 2013 Dallas, Texas - American Airlines Center

I tell you what it looks like to me……….

I think the whole band were affected by Richie’s problems hence the lacklustre shows. JBJ will take the brunt of criticism but the whole band looked on autopilot. For all we know this could have been going on for ages and JBJ who (by his choice) has everything on his shoulders was clearly unhappy with the live shows.
Richie has left to sort out his issues and they have brought in Phil X who despite having as much stage presence as Hughie is playing the guitar with passion and energy. It’s something the tour needed. It has in a way brought the band back to its live best.
Look at the KTF faith YouTube clip from the other night. Everyone was loving it. Dave had a grin like a Cheshire cat. They were loving it.
It’s a shame that Richie has left the tour but hopefully it benefits him, the band and the audience.
When Richie does come back he will have to up his game to that of Phil’s and again – that can only be good for everyone.

Which is ironic cos I actually thought Richie had been the one shining light on this tour. Perhaps in part because he'd been below par on the last tour but there was a marked improvement in his playing and general stage presence.

You may well be onto something though, obviously Jon has had to up his game to try and maintain positive PR from the live shows but if the other players are enjoying it more now he's gone, there maybe something in that.

Not wanting to be negative...

... but Phil isn't exactly going to walk to the front of the stage and stand next to Jon, or strike guitar God poses during every solo.

It's clear from his YouTube posts that he could give it 10x more personality but he made it clear in a statement after his last stint and from reading his tweets this time around, this guy was/is respectful of the fact that he is a session player in the band and the show is about Jon.

This is actually the first setlist that I wouldn't be disappointed to hear! Still a lot of space for improvements, but it's decent.
And LMS sounds quite fresh, actually better than I heard it with Richie playing!

Fair enough but he is stepping into Samboras shoes so he should try and give it some stage pressence as they already have a bass player lurking in the shadows!

There is NO way, in my opinion, that Jon would want Phil to perform any more than he already is. You probably won't agree but I don't think Jon is the type of guy, especially not nowadays; who wants some young, talented guitarist giving it the big 'un and hoovering up any attention... whether that be for one song or 3 hours.

Therefore Phil's stage presence is exactly what is required as a session player. The rest of the band, bar Jon and Richie have slowly but surely been moved back from the front of the stage over the years and that is by design.

Looking forward to your review and the comparison to the OKC show you saw.

Looking forward to it, glad you enjoyed yourself.

None of that positivity thank you!

Did anyone notice on the KTF clip that Phil X changed the solo - not the play out but the solo???

did Jon really say to Phil: "I know it’s a big gig, it’s a really big gig…but you are doing an excellent job!” ??