I think that the O2 crowd will take a lot more to please if Richie isn't there to be honest. Nothing against the Puerto Rico crowd but they were mostly glad Jovi were playing there at all after all these years. Richie or no Richie, they were going to have a ball and good for them.

The UK is lucky enough to have Jovi as regulars, playing multiple shows at different venues on each tour. The British public (in general) too are harder to please and given the unusually high cost of tickets compared to the stadium shows, to not have such a HUGE part of the band there may manifest itself a lot more noticeably than in Puerto Rico. I just don't think that the UK crowd will be as 'up for it' as they would if Richie was there. I can say with absolute certainty that, if Richie were not to play, it would completely wreck the concert for me. Other people may think I am placing too much emphasis on the need for his presence but, as far as I am concerned, Bon Jovi the band do NEED his presence otherwise it simply ain't Jovi IMO.