The Official April 14, 2018, Public Auditorium, Cleveland, OH, U.S.A. thread

my face was more like this Johnny face when I saw them together:


>_< jajaj

well, this ceremony, with all its ups and downs only proved one thing: BJ needs Richie back. Either that or call it a day. Jon said it himself, it felt like he was playing a cover band whilst playing the Richie-less and Tico-less gigs back in 2013. It still feels that way in 2018 with Shanks, Phil X and Everett, no disrespect for either of them.

Everett especially is only there to provide backing vocals (bless him!). It's clearly they don't need the percussion. Trust me, you can hear and feel his impact a lot more on the ESB.

Shanks is a competent, talented guy but he just lacks the charisma IMO. And the worst thing is that they seem to be ALL OVER THE DAMN PLACE, unlike Bobby who was a bit more discreet - if he 'butchered' the solos the way he did was because the boss man insisted he did so. Everyone seems to hate Bobby's guts and I don't know why. I like his style and he's a Jersey-shore veteran, one of those classic bar players who knows every song on earth. He was more than enough as the live rhythm guitarist in BJ.

Some people are claiming they'd like an 'Alec' album but remember - he never played on the records. Kudos to John for acknowledging Hugh's impact and having him inducted.

agree with you...imagine if he was just plain saying thank you bla bla bla and then1-2 minutes it's over, i am sure this forum will erupt saying Jon ego and how he doesn't appreciate their brothers and stuff LOL

well you can please everybody after all, there will be those who complaining for certain aspects

There is a lot of room between 1 and 18 minutes to make a speech. Jon went too long. He was 1.5 times longer than anyone else and the guy who clocked in at 12 minutes had to be taken off stage.

His speech was also boring. It was a regurgitation of their career to date. In 5-10 minutes,Jon could have produced something more meaningful than a career history with cliched sound bites.

The bits that worked well were when he said Tico allowed him to be his singer and the stuff about Richies departure because those two bits showed a humility and vulnerability that the rest of his long speech was missing.

well i dunno about you, but somehow i keep playing their ceremony includes Jon speech over and over again and it's not boring to me..

Fair enough. It’s just opinions and everyone is entitled to one.

Alec played on 7800° Fahrenheit.

Exactly. Bang on.

It pains me to say this but Richie will do more harm than good if he went back full time, both presence and performance-wise. I’m absolutely convinced there’s no chance of this but hey, I’m human, Bon Jovi was always Jon and Richie to me... of course in the deepest part of my heart I wish he was back and things were the same again.

Even though I’ve never been a huge fan of his solo work, I had lots of faith in him for the HOF performance. I’ve watched, heard and read bits and pieces about his recent work and shows with Oria and even though I knew it was far from the old Richie, I still thought he’d slay the HOF thing like nobody else.

He didn’t. His chaotic improvisation shtick is not working, and believe me, I’m the first to enjoy a good lengthy bar jam. I even love pointless 20-min prog-rock solos. And I’m not in love with Phil’s playing in BJ at all. But I’ll be holding on to nostalgia and wearing the biggest pink-colored glasses ever if I said that the old BJ sound was back for one night or that Richie proved that without him the band will only be a pale imitation of its former glory. His playing was simply messy and over the place. I don’t think he should have played within a constrict like Phil does, he should have had the freedom to express himself, but let’s be honest here, it was far from the Richie that has saved the band so many times in recent history, going as little back as his last shows. Would you want his sloppy playing in the hopes for a moment of brilliance? I see many of you saying yes! I’d get a horrible Richie over a perfect Phil any day, who cares about the playing… what about the fvcking harmonies???? Yes.. I get it, I want it, but it wouldn’t work.

And besides I don’t want the uncertainty. It broke my heart everytime Richie had to leave the band to go to rehab. For him and for the band. Imagine having to go through that one more time. No thanks.

I truly love Richie, I do. But the dream is over.

BJ for me is 5 guys,then we lost one(Richie)no matter how crucial member is,I dont count Alec because of whole situation with him- not playing on records,sloppy playing and so on. So we got 4 original members and that still is BJ. If we loose Dave or Tico that will be falling apart but all of you saying without Richie there is no BJ is nonsense. They are still great band,still filling arenas and stadiums and I hope they will be active at least next 10 years and quit.