by the way, Sambo's latest tweet:

Richie Sambora ‏@TheRealSambora 2 h
Just to be clear,I've been running the fashion company for 5 Yrs. It does not take me away from the band,I'm an artist first. Always will be.


:rolleyes:

Dude. That news is like 7 pages old. :p

If Richie does leave the band should we rename the thread to "No Richie on current band lineup" or just rename it to "No Richie on current album" and then rename it again to "No Richie on current leg of Tour"?

Let's do a poll! :multi:

I don't care what you rename it, just be sure it makes it to 500. And I'm totally up for another poll. :D

Richie who?? :)

Because he sacrificed Richie's poodle in the name of satan and then wore it as a hairpiece.

Richie Samboringo, or Sambongo, or whatever.

Personally I'm blaming Tico, anyone that cool has to be satan.

Makes sense to me. As Nixon said: "you can't trust the jews".

We could do a series of commercials, like "This Is Sportscenter" but "Because It's JoviTalk"

Maybe is because of this new phase of the Jovidrama that "We got it going on" isn't played.

If this gets worse, I think there will be no "Getting down with Big and Rich and Richie and Jon" anymore...

Maybe the name should be changed to FashionTalk. ;)

All will be revealed in Bobby's upcoming autobiography 'Stealing A Living'

Since Richie is obviously gone for good (no doubt about that) I think it is time to give Bobby the Dry County solo!

Regarding the thread title, no matter what happens, it should remain the same. It's the iconic part of old messages and threads. The original titles should never be changed, just for archives sake.

Ep1: "Poodle Hair: the new look for fall w. David Bryan."

That could be the one good thing that comes out of this mess.

Excellent call.

I think people would orgasm at the mere sight of his agonised joyous face as he blazed through the solos. He deserves his moment in the spotlight too.

Eddie trunk reckons that all will be revealed soon.

I was just thinking:

What if Richie just grew tired of being second-in-command to Jon? After all, he said his solo album was the most rewarding thing he's ever done in his career. He's seemed (as far as I can tell, at least) sober and happy since 'Aftermath' came out. There were the subtle digs he seemed to give toward Bon Jovi and their output at various times during the promotion of 'Aftermath.' He seemed to enjoy his solo tour (despite the canceled gigs later on, for whatever reason).

So, maybe he got back to Bon Jovi and missed the feeling of being his own boss and in charge of his own musical/creative output. Also, maybe Richie was newly confident/assertive and maybe that caused Jon and Richie to clash in a way they hadn't before. Jon had said Richie would get to perform some of his solo songs during the 'WAN" tour (Richie had mentioned this in interviews, as well), but, perhaps tellingly, Richie's last appearance with Bon Jovi was where he sang "IBTFY" as a solo in Lubbock, Texas, rather than one of his own songs). Maybe that was, in a sense, the final straw --maybe Richie simply didn't feel supported by Jon, and in the end, didn't want to come back on the next leg of the tour to more of the same.

Maybe the combination of sobriety and therapy made him re-assess his own life and the direction in which it was headed, and he had decided he had to make changes.

I know portions of this have been discussed elsewhere in this thread, but I'm curious if any of you see a possibility of Richie's leaving coming from a place of happiness/thriving/mental and physical health on Richie's part.

Oh yeah, that's a possibility - probably discussed at the beginning.

But - doing it in the middle of a tour he signed up for - somedays I hate my job too but I can't just walk out in the middle of it. Or I could, but I'd lose everything. Richie's loaded enough because of Bon Jovi that he doesn't have to worry about that.

If he wasn't "feeling it" sorry - but go through it til the end. He's been lazy as hell the last few years anyway, one more tour wouldn't make a difference.

*raises hand* THIS.

That would be interesting. He's not missing because he's ill, he's missing because... he's ****ing great!
I see your point. But there's gotta be more to this.

It's possible that he thought extensive touring was a risk to his sobriety. He did fall off the wagon on the previous two tours.

If that were the case would it be so hard to come out and say "after 30 years I decided I didn't want to do what Jon said, I wanted to be my own man and so I'm taking a break from the brotherhood." Fans might not like it but it would be something. It's the silence (well, not so silent anymore :rolleyes:) that made it all so messy and confusing. And led to this mega-thread.

Fact is, Richie bailed on the tour and isn't showing up to work. He's the one letting down thousands of people. If Jon was so bad, Tico and Dave would have bailed long ago too. Richie is the one coming across as an unprofessional twat. If he wanted to pursue solo interests, he shouldn't have signed on for the tour to begin with. If any of us with real jobs behaved like Richie, we would have been fired long ago.

Becky said twat, this is bad! And I totally agree with all of the above, I admire Jons professionalism, I can book flights, hotels to see this band knowing the shows will happen. I can tell you now I wouldn't travel far to see a Richie show again.

I used to say I admired the band's professionalism, but Richie has totally lost my respect in that regard. You can't count on him for a band show or his solo shows. Jon, Tico, and Dave have a great work ethic. Dave played when his father died which went far beyond the call of duty.

OH GOD PLEASE NO.

"Work" :rolleyes:

This is the exact kind of approach to Bon Jovi in recent years that has turned the band into nothing but a money making machine. Just show up, get paid and go home without causing a fuss and everything will be fine.

No one has the right to call anyone a twat until they know the truth.

Richie has form in messing fans about in recent years though...

This just makes me sad and angry all at once.

After a mostly wonderful relationship with the band for over 20 years, it is like it has run it's course and I am hanging on, hoping things get better, but in my heart I know it's near the end and there is not a thing I can do about it :(

Richie is a massive twat and I do not say that lightly, I agree with what Becky has said 1000%.

My soul just died. :(

Exactly. Couldn't have said it better.

And that's coming from the biggest RS fan I ever met. Sad times.

You're saying it lightly. You just called the man a twat when you have no idea why he's missing the tour. Knee jerk nonsense.

But you have to agree that he doesn't help himself with his bullshit tweets? He tied himself in knots late last year after screwing the US fans then blamed being hacked.

Do you actually think he went out of his way to mess with fans though? he missed shows due to rehab and cancelled some because of low ticket sales.

People seem to be forgetting the twenty plus years where he never missed a show.