Phil X is scheduled to play all of the May shows

Possibly the fact that, when you listen to the guitars across the early records up to 'These Days', you hear a freshness with each consecutive album. There was also a growing technicality to his playing as well has more tasteful selection of licks instead of the more 'shredded' sounds he went for in the early 80s.

Live, he produced fantastically constructed extended solos and improvs that we just don't see today - he has unquestionably been resorting to just basic repetitive licks and bends that carry little emotion in comparison to his previous efforts.

Don't get me wrong, I still love seeing him play live with the band but would rather he (and the rest of them) take a break and pursue their own projects to allow them to grow again. When you get comfortable, you get complacent - it's the nature of the beast. IMO, I think he needs to rediscover his passion for developing his playing as even I, as an ardent Richie fan, can admit his performances have been somewhat autopilot from tour to tour over the last decade. That's not necessarily his fault as the whole band seems to have lost their spark but I think that just highlights the need for a break after this tour is over.

I know what you mean (my previous comment was regarding Richie's "freshness" compared to phil's but i know where you're coming from).
Richie's early stuff (BJ & 7800) doesn't appeal to me, SWW to TD was his best period, you're right. And having recently watched the Wembley 95 and Yokohama 96 performances compared to MSG 08 i suppose he has become a tad complacent, however, not to the point (in my opinion) that it's too repetitive or formulaic. Richie's playing, whilst not as exciting as before, still appeals to me much more than most other guitarists. Also, my very first post on any topic to do with Richie's rehab was that i hope this acts as a wake up call for him to, as you said, rediscover that passion he has seemed to have (slightly) lacked. Well, we can live in hope mate!

For what it's worth, I thought Richie was shredding at the last MSG show better than on any of the others I've seen this tour.

Now with that I totally agree especially the last show on DC and Always.

I'll just clarify that I deem the term 'shred' to mean fast playing that places an emphasis on technique and speed over emotion - Vai is a shred guitarist for instance.

I'd have to watch the performances you mention to be sure but I don't recall Richie ever 'shredding' during Dry County (the solo is reasonably fast but it is well structured, conveys good emotion and is not 200bpm fast) and his outro solos on Always, particularly in the last decade, have been a mish-mash of rehashed Sambora live licks (eg. THE lick he uses at the end of the Prayer live solo, the middle of the HAND solo, the end of the Blaze solo at MSG live DVD/Blue-Ray... the list goes on!). He uses that lick everywhere as well as a handful of others and it's easy and uninspired. Lazy even.

You do get the odd performance where he shows what he can really do but the majority are autopilot, basic improvs, which is a shame given what the guy is capable of.

How cool is that?

TheRealPhilX
To the girl in the pit holding up the "PHIL X. Thanks for Philling in!" sign @ the BJ show in Ottawa last night. Thank YOU. Ottawa ROCKED!

Who did that? Someone from this forum?