We know that Tico wants to rest, and does not want to be bothered with their free time. David is the Broadway man, very busy. Richie wants to do his solo stuff, come on, the guy has earned it after so long.

Jon knows it's time to attempt a third solo album. My guess is that Jon finds the drama, Bon Jovi is over? nah, so to strengthen his next solo album, and honestly, I hope you have much success. Then Jon will realize you do not need use the Bon Jovi brand for his purpose, and only used for a real meeting.

The problem is, there is no market right now for Rock n Roll in general. No major radio station will give any real rock band a chance which is horrible.

Country Music is the new trend in rock music around here. Jon should have saved Lost Highway as a 2014 solo record.

The only thing rock music has on it's side right now is touring.

It's been like this for a while and continues to get worse.

Jon has always said--and even as recently as when he got that Songwriter's Icon Award that songwriting is his first love and nothing gives him more satisfaction than that. So I don't think he's going to stop writing because of a bump in the road. I have no doubt that there will be more music from Jon because it's in his blood to write. He's always taken breaks from writing, but he's never left it behind. (He's said he rarely writes while they're touring.) I can't say whether the music Jon does next will be with the band or not. Personally, I would prefer that it was not with the band because of the way Richie's handled himself for the last year and a half. Don't forget that Jon's icon is Frank Sinatra, not Jerry Jones. If it weren't for his first love of songwriting, he wouldn't be able to explore his other loves of philanthropy and football.

Jon wouldn't wanna tour with old material only. He'd wanna do a new album, too - remember his fears of being seen as a nostalgia act. And he knows that he and Richie write the best stuff when they're together. Really, as far as Bon Jovi the band is concerned, Jon KNOWS that Richie's part of that team. He might do solo stuff (he already is doing that), but as far as the band, I think he's rather humble as far as that goes.

I'd go one step further, rock could be the top genre in sales but Bon Jovi aren't a part of that world anymore. That's an audience they have to reclaim.

LOL, that's the best news I've heard about the band all year! Jon has just given the whole world permission to blame him -- LOL!!! http://rocktivity.com/Graphics/chuckle.gif

So we can assume if they did tour again you would not go and see them?

I wholeheartedly agree. Richie seems to, at the moment, lack that same humility and thinks he can do it all on his own. This fiasco could still have a good outcome if John Shanks is booted from the next band album. Even better if Bob Rock could make a return.

One of the only videos I've seen posted so far…he can't remember the words Halleljuah but seems to take it in stride.

I think now is the time for the band to enjoy their wealth and relax. They've saturated the touring circuit since 2000. The GH tour was the perfect jumping off point for a nice 2/3 year break but Jon got greedy which lead to the awful if eventful BWC tour. I very much doubt Richie will consider a reunion until he's got his current enthusiasm for going solo out of his system and at that point Tico & Hugh will be in their mid 60s. I think the band is done for good.

Give them some rest and in 5 years they'll be back with a new album and tour.
They had the biggest tour last year so I can't imagine that Jon will let it go that easy. In his eyes they are still a big deal and relevant today (well, in terms of touring they obviously are).
So Richie's gonna do his solo stuff for a while, Dave has some fun with his musicals, Tico takes his time working on the golf court, Jon's playing some gigs with KoS and after a while they sit together settleling the whole s*it and go around again.

50 $ and a six pack of beer, who's in?

I don't think it'll be 5 years. :)

More and more, I think the only differences in this situation and the breakup with "5 different planes headed in 5 different directions" is that this time one of them just got on his plane before the others did. And because it happened during a tour instead of at the end of it, it's a more public break.

I doubt that the feelings are any stronger this time around than they were then. For the fans, maybe, but not necessarily for the band. I think it seems that way because, with the internet, we know more about it than fans did then; and with social media, we're keeping it stirred up more. So it just seems worse. JMO.

I disagree. There's a big difference between going 5 separate ways for a break when they were young and still had the prospect of a long successful career together, as opposed to going their separate ways after 30 years.

I don't know how long Richie will prefer solo/Ori over Bon Jovi, but if Jon does buy the Buffalo Bills, he's out for a while, if not indefinitely. That will be his main focus for a long time.

I'm starting to guess you have a gambling problem :D

Thanks for the link. He done well to keep going and sounded good too.

mmm....4 years ago (in the Circle tour) if Jon had said that the band was done I'd have been gutted beyond imagination. They were at their post 2000 touring peak at this point. Richie was sober(ish), Jon's voice was the best since 1995 and they were playing all kinds of rarities. I'd have been shocked and gutted.

Right now, reading this, I'm not surprised and kind of pleased. I don't want to see them get back together in 5 years time. They'll all be in their/nearing 60s and will not be able to create that electricity that captured me to loving this band in the early 90s. The way I feel about the band now if how I would feel about a sick pet. Metaphorically speaking Bon Jovi need to be put out of their misery and ended. It's sad but there needs to be something official. Like Take That in the 90s!

There's something so tragic and comical in this whole thing. Chill out people, their body of work speaks for themselves and the songs that meant something to you and took a special place in your heart will always be there. But it's just a band, and it's always gonna be just a band. Put out of their misery?? Really?? If they tour again great!! If they don't, their legacy will always be there and the world won't end, and nothing will be missing from your life.....

Interesting point, but are they just a band to some of us? There's no other band message board I go on or spend inordinate amounts of time reading - even if I don't post as much anymore, no band that would actually upset me if it was dead and gone for good.

Now of course that just sounds sad when you say it about a band - I'm fully aware of that - but I've been listening to them for most of my life now, met my wife because of them, so many good friends. And while you're right in saying all that will still be there the one thing that will be missing will be those two or three times every few years I can go into a stadium full of people just like me and sing those songs I love without a ****ing care in the world, cause I'm at a Bon Jovi show.

Of course Seb thinks I need to be tone deaf to enjoy a show these days - but that's not all of what it's about for me. Never was about musical perfection, there are so many more artistic bands for that. Jovi was just about having fun but it looks like it's no longer fun for anyone anymore.

Believe I understand. They are my favorite band, their songs have gotten me through most times than I count count or remember, they are the first band I liked when I was getting into music (and music is a VERY important component of my life). But taking things so personally or saying they shouldn't come back in 5 years is just out there. If they feel the need to tour until their 70's then really why should it matter if it doesn't have the same energy as their 90's shows?? Like I said, It's just a band....

It's more than just a band to me because they've played such a big part of my life. Many of my friendships started with Bon Jovi as our common ground. I have great memories of my family because my Dad was the greatest and would drive me to other states to see the band. In fact, I couldn't even listen to Bon Jovi for a long time after my dad died because of the family memories.

But right now, Bon Jovi has become a stress plate in my life. I have WAY too many significant stress plates on my table right now and I can only deal with so many so I'm taking Bon Jovi off the table. I can't control them, but I can control whether I let them affect me. Let everyone else fight it out. I'll just sit back and wait for Jon to make some new music in whatever avenue that turns out to be.

Thanks Javier, crashed and Becky for your posts. I agree and can relate to your sentiments. I don't think I could articulate my thoughts as well as you have.

When I first came on this forum, my first thread was asking about bands that sound similar to Bon Jovi's post-2K sound and a lot of people were very helpful in suggesting bands and I really appreciated it. I listed down some of the bands I'd tried out and got a lot of sh*t for them and I tried to justify it but someone pointed out that I didn't need to. I'm sure a lot of you have gotten more than your fair share of jovial banter when you mention that you listen to Bon Jovi.

I've told this story three times but what the hell: I was 11 when HAND came out and I remember seeing half of an aisle at Wal-Mart full of HAND smirks. It was my first CD and I took the physical album everywhere with my blue and green Sony CD Walkman that I spent ages saving up my allowance for. I didn't really appreciate the lyrics until much later. I now have a notebook where i jot down lyrics that I love, the first few pages are full of lyrics from HAND (none from WAN though).

Last July, I went with my girlfriend to the Chicago concert at Soldier Field. We got tickets for the 6th row right next to the catwalk, on the outside. Both of us had never seen the band before and we both really enjoyed it. She doesn't care for my obsession with Bon Jovi but she had an amazing time. Maybe the band isn't what it used to be during the Circle Tour or 10 years ago, I dunno, but they can certainly still do a good show, maybe not by Seb's standards and that's fine, he has a neat perspective and I find his posts informative but I don't take criticism against the band personally. Even though Richie was off the tour and people on this forum were talking about how Jon sounds like a constipated cat, all of that went out the window.

You might feel I'm easily impressed, these are the bands I've seen live prior to Bon Jovi:
Matchbox Twenty (x2)
Train (x5)
Gavin DeGraw
The Script (x2)
Matt Nathanson
The Rolling Stones
Aerosmith


At that time I'd never have thought Jon was even thinking about calling it quits. WAN was definitely not their best effort, I really liked HAND, LH and The Circle. I still listen to I'm With You, What About Now, Water, Beautiful World and Room very often which is about the same amount of songs from the earlier albums. I like to think of this album as just another Bounce, hastily recorded and assembled with no real direction. If this isn't the end, and I hope it isn't, I think (just hope) that Jon will take this as a wake-up call, keep writing and just take more time and care into putting out a new record.

What bugged me a bit initially after the tour was the KOS shows he does. I was watching that "Corporate Event" gig on YouTube and it wasn't how he sounded, it was how he was acting, it seemed like genuinely wanted to be that washed up, old, has been. The only positive I can take out of this is that the energy he puts into Bon Jovi live must be driven by something, I'd like to think it's still the adrenaline from the crowd or being on stage but it's most likely just that he can't get away with embarrassing Dad dance moves in front of 40,000 at Soldier Field.

Reminded me of this gem:

I absolutely agree united17. Being a young Jovi fan I also share similar sentiments regarding their most recent releases. There's still hope yet...

This band are my absolute favs. Been there for me from 13 to now (39)
but all things do come to an end. If its the end then so be it.

The people who missed BJs real golden era (86-90) and again in (94/95) wow did you miss out.

I hope they take 4 years off - then all get together and go from there deciding whats best and what they all want. If 1 dont want it any more then pull the plug and move on.

Look what I found:

http://youtu.be/z8DiIqJQNCw

Am I the only one hearing "I could write a torch" and "Light a grain of sand" during With These Two Hands :confused:

I think you should read Captain_jovi's sig because he quotes the "Iceman" who makes the most sense out of all this.

Nice that he finally played a DA song again, but a whole set of these slow-paced, low-key-sung songs would most likely put me to sleep...

It might be slow-paced and sung in lower-keys but at least he sounds decent and the songs are somewhat enjoyable.

I'm listening to both of these songs as I type here and Jon sounds surprisingly good. Yea, I get that they low-keyed and slow but his tone is actually enjoyable. I think Jon might be working with a coach and even more so, on something new.

I have this gut feeling that something new will be introduced at the KOS show this Wed. BTY, the Stream tickets sold out as well.

Question to all: Which type of show would you prefer? This acoustic type of show which one might say is boring or a full energetic KOS show?

90% of Jbjs solo stuff will send me to sleep

Acoustic. When Jon was promoting Destination Anywhere by doing acoustic shows on radio stations, I was in heaven. Those are among my favorite shows in my collection. I prefer them to most full on electric band shows too.

I think you completely missunderstood my point, as most on here did. Richie leaving and commenting the way he does really has gotten a lot of panties in a twist..... :roll:

Nah I understand entirely. You think people are unjustified for reacting in a certain way that does not sit comfortably with you - hence what I said about Ice's words at the bottom of captain_jovi's sig. Here - i'll even spell it out for you:

I'm impressed.




Bobby managed to look even worse.

No, what I said was, and let me spell it out for you, that if they want to get back in 5, 6, 10 years and tour then it shouldn't matter if they don't look as young or cool anymore. Or if their shows don't have the same energy, because at the end of the day they're just a band. 5, 6 guys who are allowed to grow old and be human, not some kings or gods that will tarnish some imaginary holy grail of awesome legacy. All of that will still be there, even if they never tour....

No they didn't. There are well over 300 still available.

Even after this http://youtu.be/XsZ6Ijo_ZKw

Nah, you're back tracking. You think people are getting their "panties in a twist" for reacting in a certain way. My point is that everyone has their own agenda for this band, so people reacting in certain ways - its fine.

There is a serious lack of videos from this two shows.. I wanted to listen to that Destination Anywhere

That Every Word Was A Piece Of My Heart is amazing, I'd love to see an acoustic gig like that.

Given those two options, I would feel very fortunate to get an acoustic show and would love every minute of it.