Richie Sambora, does he save the live show?

Richie said before the WAN tour that he was excited because he was getting to play his new album on the tour. Obviously one song a night but a rotation of his album tracks.

I don't have the link or remember exactly where he said it but he definitely did because I was quite surprised to see that he didn't even get to sing at all.

It's been discussed to death on here about what caused the split but perhaps Jon gave Richie the opportunity to sing his songs each night on the condition that he not f*ck around and Richie either missed a rehearsal or turned up drunk and Jon slammed the door shut. Which caused huge resentment.

It's a possibility.

Anything's possible. Jon said New Years Day was going to be the opening song this tour. Things change, setlists change before the tour. I truly think him singing an original song in North America on a tour with 6 other new songs is overkill but at the very least him singing a band hit would have been better. Who knows.

The first signs that things weren't quite right for me were in this interview where Jon says Richie didn't bother to turn up for rehearsals. He's laughing about it but knowing the pro Jon is, you know it would have pissed him off and it casts Richie in a bad light publicly.

1m30s in - https://youtu.be/hT_9IdaxlDw

The subsequent performance is very frosty. I don't think Jon looks Richie in the eye once and doesn't even do the usual interactions with him during the Bad Name solo or Wanted intro.


https://youtu.be/se8-Ii7TvYc

Before last week my answer would have been YES! But now, tbh, I'm not sure Bon Jovi IS saveable. Like Seb, I wouldn't be surprised if Jon has to cancel the rest of the tour at some point. I just don't see how he's going to be able to keep going like this; and I fear he's only doing more damage the longer he pushes it.

If it's just that Jon's pipes are physically shot, Richie can't do a thing. But if it's true that Jon "couldn't sing in the shower" because Richie left, part of the problem is psychological. If Richie's departure caused that, then it stands to reason his return would fix that part of it.

Anxiety seems to be an issue. It's been noted that it helps when Jon's relaxed; but how can he relax when he knows he's butchering songs and not performing at the level he used to? Especially given that he's always said, "When we can't perform at the level we're used to, I'll hang it up." It's a vicious cycle. He knows he sounds bad, so he tightens up, which makes him sound worse, so he tightens up more... People talk about Jon's great mood, or happy smiles and energy, and I wonder if we're watching the same shows. When I see Jon's face, it looks like he's in pain, scared witless, or absorbing sights and sounds as if he's thinking, "Is this the last time I'm gonna get to do this?"

In WWWB, Richie said his job was to keep Jon happy and take some of the load off of him. Jon doesn't like change; and this has been one hella change for him. Getting back to the way things were - or close as possible - might help. Of course, that depends on why Richie left. If it was purely substance abuse, the unreliability factor might only increase Jon's anxiety. If the primary reason was something else, and it could be resolved, then yeah, I think Jon getting his wingman back could go a long way towards saving Jovi.

Bottom line: imo, if anything can save Bon Jovi, it might be Richie coming back. The Rock Hall performance wasn't flawless, by any stretch. But nobody - band or fans - seemed to care. The chemistry was there; and the fun and joy of performing together. Both Jon and Richie looked happier, and seemed to be enjoying themselves more than any time I've seen either of them since April 2013. It was magical. And at this point, I'm afraid the only thing that has a snowball's chance in hell of saving Bon Jovi is a little touch of magic.

A lot of people talk as if Richie was on top of his game when he left. Let’s not forget he was far from it, even though he was OK by his 2013 standards. I don’t think he would save the show, because since 2006 his voice went downhill as well, and he was no longer the “leading backing voice” anymore. That was Bobby. So it wouldn’t make much diference today when it comes to backing up Jon’s vocals. As for guitar playing, of course his style is the right one for Bon Jovi, but he had become a very sloppy guitar player by then. I’d say the last time Richie stole the show with his playing was on Any Other Day in 2007 at the O2 Arena.

Yes, we've had this discussion before; and I'm sorry, Captain, but that dog still don't hunt. If it had been the first time they tried something like that, and then stopped it when he saw the result, I might buy it. But I'm pretty sure that Jon was at the same shows you were, plus a few; so he would have been fully aware of when people took beer/bathroom breaks, and that they were going to be singing a lot of songs from an unreleased album, before he told Richie he could sing songs from AOTL and continue promoting his album on the BWC tour. Not to mention the fact, also previously discussed, that lulls in the show or people taking breaks has never stopped Jon from doing any song that he wanted to do.

Not to beat a dead horse, but by the same token, it seems like people have been offended BY him for over 6 years now without really knowing why his decision was made either, or if it was right or wrong... but there seems to be very little concern about that.

Tough one.
I’d love to think yes but do we know if Richie is clean 100% and Jbj voice isn’t going to suddenly come back.


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Richie was in good form after his rehab in 2011 until he left the tour in 2013. After recording Aftermath his voice was great and strong. When you watch the TV performances on the craig ferguson show you can see that.
I think he was really pissed that he wasn't allowed to play one song of his own material at every show.
At the iheart show in 2012 he and Jon had a good chemistry but at the sandy relief concert and the bbc show they weren't even looking at each other. Something must have happened between those shows and the split was only a matter of time.

Really? I remember reading in another thread a few years ago ,that he was with the band in Calgary, and then the obvious part that he never showed up.

I don't think Richie's return would make much, if any, difference on Jon's vocals in general. Actually, I don't think his absence has made Jon's voice decline anymore since 2013 - he was getting somewhat better around mid-to-late 2014 (as was showcased by the Red Bank benefit show in July, for example; his tone was much better and more pleasant there than in late '13) and then his voice just exploded again by the time the Asian tour came up in September 2015, probably due to either physical or other psychological reasons (such as being afraid of failing the shows and ultimately doing so, or - maybe a bit far-fetched - that damn Buffalo Bills/record company thing). His vocals have also been getting subsequently worse since late '15, starting to crack uncontrollably and gaining the clipped, whispery tone more and more each year, which to me indicates either a sudden lung/voicebox-related health problem, or a failed vocal chord surgery in the vein of Paul Stanley.

Either way, it's all just speculation and will probably never be fully resolved.

PS. Jon's vocals excluded, that post of yours is absolutely spot on and sums up the feelings of us both perfectly, once again. That said, I would never have been able to put them into words as greatly as you did, so kudos to you