I have started threads about this - such as "What has happened to Richie's guitar tone"? When he was playing his own brand of guitars the tone changed dramatically. I really complained about Bed of Roses - that guitar used to come in, in the beginning and cut the night air like a sharp knife. And yes 2003 is probably the last time I heard that. He did come back to using a Gibson rather infrequently. When I saw that Phil had a Gibson for Bed of Roses last night I cheered - and it sounded wonderful. My comment was that it sounded like Richie USED TO sound. This is not a matter of disrespect or of how quickly our idols have fallen. The damn guitar sounds better and it was Richie that used to play it like that. He doesn't anymore.

And a corrollary here is that whoever the front of house sound engineer (mixer) is should be shot (or at least replaced). The sound where I was sitting Thursday night was terrible. For a while Hugh was so high in the mix all I heard was bass. Half the time Jon's vocals were drowned out (maybe intentionally) and the entire show was boomy and bass heavy. I know making things sound good in a stadium can be difficult, but I heard reports from all over saying that the sound was awful. That also used to be one of my pleasures going to a Bon Jovi show. Their sound was pristine. This was not.