Jons likes to surround himself with creepy men. Obie..

Sorry, I've been so busy watching videos of the recent shows on YouTube.

And subsequently crying my eyes out trying to pretend it's not happening.

I'm watching two guys who aren't "in" Bon Jovi trading guitar solos, and a bloke on lead vocals who is hitting more wrong notes than right ones.

Watching Dave (who still looks like he's having a ball!) and Tico has become the highlight. Sad times.

If you want to watch something tragic, you might struggle to find something worse than this: Yes, I know it's a non-album track etc. And probably no worse than most versions of WGIGO.

I was round Jon's house last night. No biggie, just chilling, talking over old times.

Then, out of the blue, in walks Richie. We all notice, but don't go crazy.

He's just welcomed back, like nothing has happened - a few man hugs, that's all.

We chat, make a few arrangements, management call some cars, book some tickets, and off we go for the next show with Rich back in the fold.
.
.
What a weird dream. It didn't even include any sex.

Gutted.

i always tried to keep away from harsh comments and fights epecially in a forum but i really find all that thing overwhelming...its really sad that so many people all of a sudden have phil x avatars/photos etc supporting him like someone could put him in the same sentence with richie...its all that naivity that gives jon the impression he is the band and everyone else is replacable...
phil x is a nice musician who tries his best but i get furstrated when more and more people act like he should replace richie...richie co-wrote almost every good bj song, marked it with his style and voice...how can someone disregard that? i get that not all the people react the same way but in reality we dont even know the real reason, and even if someday we learn some portion of the truth surely there will be many details who none of us would be able to understand...
many people here deny the brotherhood and the friendship that exists between the guys...its logical to fight from time to time, in fact i believe the problem in bj camp is that everyone respects jon way too much and always has his way...these guys have been through so many things together that would be impossible not to be really close...even if richie has left.
ps.it looks like richie aint coming back at least for the european leg...really sad about this. after all these years there are 3-4 really big gigs for the band and richie is gone...instead we get bobby and phil x who s trying but will never fit the band the way richie did..
ps2.jons comment about the edge was a disgrace...i said it before and i ll say it again...i cant get over the fact he said sth like that...he showed no repsect for the band with this remark...richie isnt a guitar pioneer but plays with soul, how can you replace soul so easily???he went over the line and disrespected him

Seriously?!?! People are crying about Richie not being there.....

Jeeeeeeezzzzzzz!!!!

I will admit that if it is announced that Richie has left I will have a cry :(

Oh I believe some have. There are way more important things to cry in life about than this situation.

I hadn't watched anything with Phil X at all in it until I watched one of the Birmingham You Tube clips of Dry County and I have to say - he nailed it - but what he can't match is Richie's harmonies and melody and the way it just mingles with Jon perfectly.

What do you find wrong about that version of Garageland (other than that the sound of the video is quite poor)? I was pleasently surprised at how good it was :-)

Actually it's quite easy to put them both in the same sentence: Phil X is filling in for Richie Sambora at the moment. :-D

I'm not sure that's not a sarcastic, rhetorical question?

Apart from all the out-of-tune vocals it was alright.

The perfect outcome of this situation would be for Richie to come back and Phil to take over from Bobby. I know it won't happen but it'd make the live shows a lot better.

I cry myself to sleep every night holding a teddy with a picture of Richie's faced sewn onto it.

Yeah it really would. I know, let's start a petition - those are always helpful :p

No, nothing sarcastic. I think the vocals were great for the most part. If you call that out-of-tune you need to listen to Always or These Days from the last couple of tours for example ;-)

Haha, I don't disagree with you about those two songs, sadly!

Hey ho - maybe our ears are becoming accustomed to hearing the out-of-tune-ness! LOL

Hmm, possible ;-)

Sure, there are a couple of (slightly) flat notes and he avoids the high notes in the chorus (which is fine with me, since that does this song no harm), but other than that I really found it enjoyable :-) And I think I have pretty good ears ;-)

The perfect solution for everyone - except Bobby of course :p Maybe he could go back to Southside's band except that now Southside has a really fine guitarist - he plays rings around what Bobby used to do.

Agreed - if Jon got another vocalist in with a similar sounding bluesy voice (such as what Richie has) the mix would sound a lot better. Pretty much I miss the harmonies, the guitar has been taken care of (in my opinion).

Maybe Jon could get another vocalist in and watch the show from the drum riser, perhaps just shouting out "How we doing so far, okay?!" in between songs.

Nowhere near.

What I find quite amusing though is Phil is far more a hard rock guitarist these days than Richie is, and we've been harping on so much about wanting something that has a punch - the guitar sound is a big part of that.

Indeed Phil is rock. Bon Jovi isn't. Talent wasted playing in country-pop band.

I've seen you make the comment that they're country pop a few times and I'm curious why. I see them as way watered down but there's nothing country about the modern stuff, save a few songs here and there.

Was that supposed to be funny?

I agree with every word 100%.

Thing is that Richie IS replaceable. Phil is proving just that.

I think it's hilarious that people still think of this group as a "band". Jon has made it very, very clear that the band are his hired guns and he controls it all. Doesn't sound like a band at all.

^^ Agreed

Any moderate guitarist can play Bon Jovi songs just as well as Phil X can. I know I can, and I also know that I'm holding back when playing along with their records. I know many of you who like Phil say that "he's holding back" on his skill, but I'd say it's blatantly obvious to any long time fan that Richie has been "holding back" for many years now too. He can do much better than what the band does on albums, just look at any live footage of his non-BJ performances. I think it's all part of Bon Jovi trying to get away from that big-hair, big-guitar sound and set themselves apart from other 80s bands in todays world.

I prefer Richie (after all he's one of the writers responsible for the band's discography) but I do like Phil and I hope he stays on for live shows, or maybe even for records, if Richie comes back. Bon Jovi needs a refresher. Their shows are still good but albums are getting more and more dreadful, and they could use some fresh RnR influence in their writing. As for live shows, Phil would be a booster to them because Bobby and Hugh are like two antiquated statues that would look more in place at a Barry Manilow show. Bon Jovi have no business calling themselves a rock band with those two on the stage. At least hide them out of sight.

The current stage set-up has just about push Hugh back as far as he can be pushed..... Bit harsh in my opinion..... Even Bobby only comes forward when he has a solo, which fortunately only happens twice per night.

To be honest, Hugh is totally hidden up the back with Tico now and Jon only occasionally lets sloth out of his cage to slaughter a couple of solos here and there, his position seems to be on a plinth at the back too. Its quite a weird set up with just Jon & Phil/Richie up front and everyone else in the shadows.

Edit: Great minds!

Sloth!!! HAHAHAHA

I saw them in Denver 2 months ago and I liked the setup because the (core) members were all pretty visible, Dave was even in the spotlights a few times.

yeah well. ok perhaps not as whole. but country part is there. I never said it was anything like "real" country, more like something of a crossover of a crossover. Little by little sliding more and more towards meaningless nashville oriented chart & radio friendly easy-to-forget junk. Newer material, it may be arranged bit differently, but deep down everything they put out would suit, for example LeAnn Rimes perfectly. Besides, nowadays they do target same audience as "real" countrypoppers. From my point of view, it is understandable to water everything down and add less rocking elements. I just don't like it a bit.

Exactly - and I saw several Phil shows back in 2011 (and obviously I'm going to see more this time around). Phil was almost a welcome relief at that time, he was so much more "into it" than Richie had been for a while. Those shows were fine, better than fine actually but were missing the signature harmonies. Fix that and it would go a long way to making me happier.

They definitely have a bit of country in their sound now, probably in hopes to maintain whatever audience they gained with "Who says...". A little attention they got with that song and boom!!! - Lost Highway happened. That was the band's Nickelback moment, the most shameful part of their career. It's not over though. God forbid they ever colaborate with some rapper and the single takes off.... Next thing you know, Jon will be all like "Yeah, we were always influenced by hip-hop and rap so naturally our new album was influenced by the sounds of Compton". Yeah, Jon's gonna rap, and fans are gonna be like, "yay #1 album"! And I will die a little reminiscing about the band I really liked in 90s. But I'll probably buy a Bon Jovi Crips rag to wear in my back pocket.

Most shameful part of their career? Lost Highway is a masterpiece, it has great melodies with great lyrics and a nice production, more shameful is what came after it: The Circle and What About Now.

Has the sound really changed? There's zero difference live between Lost Highway (the song) and Hard Times Come Easy, and Saturday Night, and Destination Anywhere. I've never bought the "they've gone country" crud, they just changed what it was called.

No. It's not. And no, it has not. Production, well, can't save sh*t with sparkles.

Lost highway can't be marked as turning point though. Out goes rock and in comes.....whatever.

Perhaps the sound hasn't changed that much, I give you that. Songs and arrangements has. Too much and for a lot worse.

If posted elsewhere I apologize, (actually been earning my pay today at work!) Phil X appears to have changed his Twitter status/info.

Phil X
@TheRealPhilX

bio/detailed discography on philx.tv right now i'm playing guitar & touring the world with BON F#©KING JOVI. .... of course, only until RS comes back


Of course. :D

He always says in interviews how they remained true to themselves and didn't hire a rapper to bring on stage when that was cool and stuff. I know yours was tongue in cheek, but I just wanted to point that out.


I agree. I think the whole album may sound a little different, but it's definitely Bon Jovi. As they said, it's a Nashville-influenced Bon Jovi album. It's not a country album or even a pop-country album, but some people are obsessed with this myth so much that they'll even diss anything post-2007 as country-pop. It's silly.