I think it's more than that that stopped this tour being any good. Jon's lack of vocal range plus his inability to put down the guitar, own the stage and sell the songs have been a massive let down for me.

I was never a 'Richie lover', I sing in a band, I am 37 years old and idolised Jon as a frontman from the age of ten, since the first time I saw the Prayer video. I unfortunately predicted this new, acoustic strumming Jon when the album came out; stating how my opinion of the new album would be coloured by whether he sold the songs live or whether he tethered himself to the mic stand with that f*cking Takamine strapped around him for 2/3 of the set.

I honestly take no pleasure at all in watching Jon's decline. We could all list the songs he can no longer sing, the middle-of-the-road plop he puts in the middle of the set to give his voice a rest are down to him; not Richie's absence.

People are extremely fond of rolling out how many shows Richie has missed on this tour - and he is a pr*ck for missing them, I admit that - but if you are saying that, then you have to admit that Jon has had plenty of time (around 7 months) to change the set around and it can't be blamed on Richie's absence. Jon shoe-horned this tour in to 2013, knowing Richie's album was out in 2012 and Dave's new musical was ramping up in 2014. He loaded the gigs up and picked sets to accommodate playing over 100 shows in a year, compared to 85 on The Circle tour - to make sure they got the number one tour again.

Blame Richie for being a total bell-end but even if he'd been on this tour for the entire year; this album, Jon's lack of energy and hiding behind his guitar, the crappy setlists would have remained...

I (unfortunately) have to agree with much what you said. Jon knew that David was not available in 2014 (at least that's the way I heard it) so he got this tour in. The shows I saw were not bad, Jon didn't sound horrible, but there was little setlist variation at all which really bothered me.

I agree with everything you said except I think there would have been a few more gems thrown into a lot of shows, especially the big ones like Slane, had Richie been there. Whilst Jon could plan the setlists and have Phil learn rare songs if he wanted too, the moments songs like that have appeared in recent years haven't ever been part of the pre-planned set-structure - they've always been thrown in as audibles when the set-list was written for whatever show.

I'm in no way saying the main setlist would have been better, that was planned from the start and hasn't changed much since the tour started, but it's been that way every tour. But the main set never bothers me - it's those moments that are almost sporadic (though we know their not quite) which make things special for all of us who know every possible setlist variation back-to-front. Richie's absence made that a difficult thing to pull off other than just Jon pulling them out on his acoustic (like the Cardiff show) and that's not quite the same.

Well, if Sambora not left the tour, I'd wager that Jon would make an extension of the tour in 2014, as happened with The Circle Tour 2010 - Greatest Hits Tour 2011.

Jon thought release a compilation (live or unreleased songs) that Obie was mixing. And he supposed would come out in the first quarter of 2014, the launch could be an excuse to continue a tour until summer 2014.

Also there was another rumor, would have dates for Europe in 2014, with a possible negotiation at Wembley Stadium. Now, all this will not be possible. If Richie had not deserted, the next to suffer the aftermath of tour had been David Bryan for combine their diary.

Add also, would have happened if Richie left on this tour on January?, without promotion of the new album. I think the negativity would have taken over, and they would not have gotten a number one album, not sold well the tour. It would be strange to hear a new single and tour called "Because We Can" and Richie is not part of all this in the promotion and tour.

Undivided reminds me of the energy this band had, however theres no way Jon is singing that live.

I guess the "Iiiii"-shouts in the second verse are samples? The rest seems live, though, especially since he misses the "where" in the second chorus... it's not like there's any spectacular notes any way.

Good version of a great song, though!

No that's really him. He could get that raspy growl if he really went for it back then. You should check out some vids on youtube of the beginning part of the tour, there's some awesome versions of KTF, Blaze and Undivided floating around on youtube where he's just going 100% on his voice.....

I was at the CD:UK recording.... Band were all on great form that day.
And, yes Captain.Crash it was all done live. They had to redo a couple of the songs because Jon wasn't happy with them.
Jon even gave my wife his guitar pic at the end!

great rock sound compared to what they produce now! Still love listening to undivided, hook me up and everyday live with the deep guitar and drums.

Hook Me Up was badass.




Great staging. Very cool lights.

You can all talk till your blue in the face about how much Undivided rocked but it did NOT sound like that on the Bounce tour. My god it was practically a ballad by how much they slowed down the tempo.

Aloha !

Like I said, in hindsight this looks spectacular for nowadays standard, but back then the setlists for the Bounce tour were heavily criticized, a lot more than the ones the band plays now. Wild In The Streets, Runaway, Right Side Of Wrong/Joey, Misunderstood, Blaze Of Glory, Born To Be My Baby and the snippet of Shout were all songs many fans wanted to see exchanged for something else. Now they've been replaced by other, more mediocre songs, everyone wants to have them back in the set.

Why? Everyone keeps saying Jon sounds like ass now, but apart from the first leg in North America and a few shows in Europe and Japan, Jon sounded terrible on that tour as well. It became the turning point in his vocals, got worse during the HAND tour and then changed completely when he started to sing differently, which has resulted into what we have now. I've got fond memories of the Bounce tour and have seen a few shows of it, but Hyde Park 2003 was a lot worse to what I saw in Milan on this tours. And both are considered the best shows of both tours. There was absolutely no show on the Bounce tour that came close to what Jon delivered in Cologne, Milan, Berne or even Dublin.

And this tour has great shows to remember as well. Just a handful, really, but so did the Bounce tour. There weren't that many spectacular shows on the Bounce tour, and even during the half acoustic shows Jon started to throw hissy fits. What looks good on paper back then wasn't all that really when you witnessed it in person.

This I agree with. The Bounce tour rocked a lot harder, but back then the same was being said what you are saying right now. It's so watered down compared to the usual standards. A pop song like Misunderstood didn't belong in the set, and neither did Captain Crash. The sad thing is that we got more of those now simply because Jon has no interest and ability to sing the more uptempo and rockier songs of those days.

I don't think so. Although some kind of release was planned for Christmas with an extention into 2014, I don't think the lack of dates for 2014 is due to the absense of Richie. It's really the lack of sales everywhere and the entire tour being a giant cluster****.

Bon Jovi were never scheduled to play Wembley. There were rumours for festival dates next year, but that seems to be off the table. The Wembley rumour is started every year a new tour seems to be coming up, but it's not going to happen unless AEG and the other parties settle their differences stemming back from 2006.

The thing is; Jon and AEG both thought they'd get away with another monster tour, and although it's clearly been a succes, it's not been the financial succes Jon has been hoping for. Too many problems and not enough people thinking a Bon Jovi show is worth over 100 dollars. There have been absolutely ZERO sold out shows this tour, which is a first for Jon in about 15 years now.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

It's funny, the Bounce tour was my first tour and Jon's voice wasn't the best but I didn't care. It was the energy and the soul he put into it. Running around the stage and owning it and shoving the new songs in your face whether you liked it or not. You could tell he believed The Distance would be huge. This time around he thinks Because We Can should be huge but has no reason to other than because it's by them.

Just bring it. Own the stage again and the new songs would go over better.

While I agree with everything else in your post, there was one show on the Bounce tour which actually kicked the shit out of any show that came afterwards (maybe bar one or two in 2008) and that was Munich. Besides that, the tour wasn't that great at all (but neither was this one).

Aloha !

Oh, I know there were several European shows that were among the best the band had done in years. Vienna, Mannheim, Amsterdam, Bremen, Zurich, Munich and Kiel were the band peaking. Apart from those shows, there was not much to write home about. Still, the Jon I saw in the encore of Milan was one I hadn't seen since Frankfurt 2008. My point is that even though people seem to think the Bounce tour was so much better than this one, it really wasn't. By nowadays standards, maybe. By standards from those days? Not so much. 90% of the shows from 2000-2006 were Jon on auto pilot, pretty much like 90% of this tour has been Jon on auto pilot.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I disagree. Certainly, the decline had set in with Jon's voice and if you compare them directly to the early shows I went to in the late 80s and up to 1995, then 2003 wasn't what you would call epic.

However, although it's purely a matter of opinion, Jon was on fire in 2003 compared to how he's been for this ENTIRE tour because he hasn't taken care of himself, it's that simple.

A man who smoked up until his late 40s and knocks the crap out of his knees running every day has made his choice to give up being the front man who still commanded the stage - albeit in patches - ten years ago.

I saw the Capital FM show where they introduced the songs from Bounce live for the first time (I think it was anyway) and Jon was on it. He still believed in the album and it was a huge departure even from the Crush tour, to see him boss an arena again.

I then saw three UK shows, Molineaux, Manchester and Hyde Park and although they were far from the performances of their heyday and the set lists were almost identical, they were close enough to the band I loved to be enjoyable. Auto-pilot or not, he still had the chops to sing songs like Bad Name a helluva lot better than he does today.

Now, the problem is - the level of enjoyment always dissolves over the course of a tour for Jon. Being onstage is a means to an end. Once he realises he hasn't written a hit album in the sense that it boasts some relevant tunes that are going to stick around for years to come, then he gets disillusioned and just wants to go back to charity work until the next time he wants to prove that the Hall of Fame and all the rest of them are wrong and schedules a number one tour... that's why he does what he does.

But even 2008, or 2010 was better than he's been on this tour. Neil Diamond makes more effort than Jon Bon Jovi 2013.

This is a joke right?

Spam actually - hence the signature. Don't click on it, and just delete it, dear mods.

Not to be an ass but why wouldn't this have been posted? Sorry if it sounds harsh.

The "news" was about 1 year old?

More of the same old, but the first time I've seen him addressing why he left between legs:

http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbi...-with-daughter

Still very unprofessional of him to leave without a few days notice so that the band would've been prepared for it...

Richie Sambora & Steven Van Zandt, yesterday.

http://oi39.tinypic.com/oge9u9.jpg

I suppose Richie looks totally coked up here too...

No, but he looks ridiculous in that hat.

it is quite a silly hat.

Yeah, guess he found the porkpie hat under the couch cushion, hadn't seen it in a while. (Thank goodness. :)) And is he wearing a sparkly jacket or is that just a trick of the light? Or my eyes?

Sparkly it is!

Good pics - yes sparkly jacket and I know he was raised Catholic - I'm not and he wears a lot of crosses but that looks like a Rosary? or is it just a beaded cross/crucifix necklace? Just curious if anyone knows the difference.

Dont give a shit - he's an arsehole for bailing on us.

derek shulman
 

Derek Shulman's just tweeted

"Great time with Richie Sambora.
Going to be major icon in his own right in next couple of years!! "

I bet he wont.

I thought the Richie fan-girlies already considered him a major icon. :D

Aloha !

Why? Is he going to die? Drink himself to death?

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

How's Richie going to achieve this iconic status? A duet with Lady Gaga?

This isn't meant to sound insensitive, but he could die and reach icon status. Death is a good career move, at least for artists and musicians. The "value" of their work increases in the public and critical eye. Again, this really is not meant to sound insensitive or flippant.

But guys, guys. Come back as me went VIRAL!!!

100,000 VIEWS!

Now this is viral status, 11 million views in a month and 1.6 million Facebook shares prompting Living on a Prayer to get back into the Billboard top
100 (#25). If I was one of those Richie fangirls, I would be pretty embarrassed.

http://rollingstone.com/music/news/b...harts-20131121