Richie Sambora's Tour 2016!

Haters will hate... I enjoyed the vid He seems in better shape these days (now he was such a trainwreck in 2014 he can only gets better!).

Playing the devil's advocate here.
Joe Bonamassa is in a league of his own, Ori shreds the blues and Richie's no longer what he used to be, that's understood.*
Now obviously all that Richie wants is to play with other musicians, famous or not, just jam and enjoy himself. No more pressure, no more pretending, no more challenges, just music and fun. Richie has turned into the Bobby Bandiera of the West Coast!
Remember it was a gig in a tiny -yet legendary- bar to support Richie's favorite charity organization, not a big show for which thousands of fans have paid $$$$$$. Richie's perfectly aware that Joe and Ori are better guitarists than him from a technical point of view but it's music, it's not a competition, the 3 of them poured their hearts and souls into the performance and had a good time, like the audience, and that's all that counts, right?

Let's wait for the famous RSO album and tour, that's when he'll have to prove the world he still has it. Those gigs are like rehearsals/practice/noodling to prepare for the big leap.


* Nobody cares about my POV so skip the following paragraph.
I love JB's guitar playing but can't stand his voice, I don't like Ori's shredding the blues and her voice, I love Richie's lead and back-up voice when he's serious about it and not drunk. So let's pretend I'm Dr. Frankenstein and let me create a monster: Richie's voice and soul with Bonamassa's guitar skills, Ori's body in Ava's bikinis (because looks are everything in today's music world) and let's call it.... Laid-B. Gaga!!!

People are destinied to be disappointed if they expect Richie to outplay Joe Bonamassa or Steve Lukather, like they did earlier. OJ hit they nail in the head with the point about music not being a competition. Richie is Richie, if he could just be somewhat on form, I would be happy with that and I would enjoy it more than I would enjoy anything Bonnamassa is ever going to accomplish - this a personal perspective only of course and different people like different stuff.

Another good point is that the most important thing is that he is happy. He has given enough to the world, already. Love to get more, but there is no justification of demanding anything from him anymore. He has done his part.

Comparing him directly to Bonamassa is insane, but it is not about that. He remains sloppy, repetitive, and sounds like someone who is out of ideas. That has nothing to do with who he is on stage with.

It is clear some people are fine with a guitarist not playing his instrument well, while others think playing well is a minimum expectation. I guess those opinions will never be changed. However, it is not a matter of taste. There are definable technical issues with Richie's playing that cannot be argued and clearly for some of us those issues cannot be overlooked.

My reasons for ragging on Richie's playing are simple. To play well within yourself just requires practice and nothing more. Richie is clearly not practicing or has something much deeper wrong. He can play this stuff well because he used to do it.

I am sure the other guitar players here would back me up and say it bugs the hell out of us when we mess up, whether on stage or in a living room. I do not understand how this does not register to Richie. The missed notes, poor phrasing, repetitive licks, and even a degrading tone, he is letting them all slide. Someone (maybe his own ego) is telling him it is all amazing, but his playing needs so much work.

As a spectacle, I suppose Sambora's shows are decent. The guitar player in me just can't enjoy them though.

I can agree with this. I hope he would be on better form. I don't think Ori is practicing too much, either, to be honest. She used to practice a lot. People touring with her even made jokes about it.

A shame, like I said earlier.

This sums up very well how I feel about the situation. It's not that I enjoy Richie having a hard time on stage and being sloppy as hell, but him not noticing or not caring about it truely makes me sad. I actually don't know which one of both would be worse for me.

Guess who?

Ohhh, let's don't and just say we did!

It doesn't matter to me if he prefers blond(e) for significant others, family, friends, bosses, AND employees. When it comes to his own hair, that man needs to stay as far as possible from blond anything - rugs, weaves, wigs and scary extensions (especially scary extensions!).

And in the future, he should definitely do everything within his power to avoid any and ALL permanent, or even semi-permanent, hair-coloring processes!!

I don't care if it IS just "f'n hair"!

I don't even care that it's HIS "f'n hair"!

I can excuse, forgive, or otherwise get past a lot of bad behaviors, but THAT might just be a deal-breaker!

(And yes, he's been warned!)

da ya think it suits the iamstevent better?
(courtesy of Ori's multipurpose extensions)

The same gig with Joe Bonamassa from a different camera angle.

RSO: Richie Sambora & Orianthi performed at Norman Harris & Friends Book Signing & Live Jam benefiting The Midnight Mission. The performance also included Joe Bonamassa, Derek Frank (bass), and Tiny Biuso (drums).

I really hope Richie would visit Greece for a show, plus Orianthi is half Greek too so why not since they got a pretty good fan base, mainly Richie, cause of Bon Jovi of course.


Btw, any European dates out yet? Or at least any rumours?