F*ck that. If Richie quits for good the band should retire. I don't want a new Bon Jovi 30 years later. For better or for worse, I want any future album to be the four remaining founding members, or none at all.

Agreed.

I'll continue to support Jon, Tico, and Dave in anything they do.

Matthew Bongiovi ‏@MatthewBongiovi now
I'm tired of talking about negative and will only respond to positive. This article smells fishy to me. It looks like BS to me. Going 2 bed


Hannah Sambora ‏@JoviHolic31 2h
@MatthewBongiovi ummmm Matt you might wanna come rescue Jon right about now... Every magazine/website turned him into an ass! #Help :(


Matthew Bongiovi ‏@MatthewBongiovi 29m
@JoviHolic31 remember he didn't show up to work. Everyone else did. So who's at fault?

I will too, but seperately, not as Bon Jovi. Richie can go be a flake in LA for all I care. My last 5 shows will be far more bitter than sweet.

I feel like I'm in high school again.

Please read the quotes people! If indeed these are Richie's words, he doesn't say he left the tour TO work on his fashion line. He says, "Jon needs to stop talking about me publicly. I am fine working very hard on my fashion company Nikki Rich and this is a private matter." The "this" is not necessarily the "working hard" on Nikki Rich. To me it sounds more like he’s working on NikkiRich while "this" has him off tour and that “this” is a dispute between him and Jon which Richie would like to keep between the two of them (i.e., a private matter).

I have believed from the beginning that they were at loggerheads and that Jon's comments had just enough truth in them to keep him from being caught in a lie and that Richie's silence was due to a gag order (Jovi confidentiality?) or advice from his attorneys.

I don't believe the reason he hasn't explained anything to the fans is out of any disrespect for them but because he couldn't say anything for legal/financial reasons (negotiations?) or out of respect for the band (meaning ALL the band and their history of keeping dirty laundry to themselves).

The article quoted him as saying that the fans aren't getting what they paid for and he feels bad for them. Isn't that what some of you have been waiting to hear? (Besides when he'll be coming back, of course. And maybe with the current situation, he doesn't KNOW when he'll be back.)

I personally think Jon has been goading him since April 2, beginning with the Calgary stage and the (deliberate, I believe) statement of Jon's, "I'm sorry he's not here for you" (IBTFY, anyone?) and that there was a veiled threat in his comment that, "Sambora's not going to be performing anywhere for a long time."

If emotions can be put aside for a moment, does it really make sense to anyone that someone who's been in the music business for over 30 years and has repeatedly stated how much he appreciates the fans, who's been committed to the same band his entire working career, who is clearly proud of most of the band's work would now suddenly throw a fit and negate all that, not to mention risking his future career (if people begin to see him as unreliable), demolish his fan base, lose upwards of 3 million dollars (if the 100K per show is anywhere in the ballpark), and possibly find himself in breach of contract?? Over a f**king WHIM???

I think Jon is deliberately trying to make it appear that Richie has succumbed to alcohol issues again and is unreliable with his constant reiteration that "we've been through this before" and "he's had issues [like this] before in 2011". And yes, I do think Jon's pissed. But I don't think it's because he's tired of answering the same questions and struggling along with a broken tour. I believe that, for whatever reason, he and Richie had it out and Richie walked - either b/c he couldn't take it anymore or Jon gave him an ultimatum. I don't believe that it was as unpredicted as Jon led the fans to believe - other than he may have thought Richie would cave and come back and the surprise was that he didn't. And THAT's why he didn't need Paul to tell him what the rest of the phone message was. He may have thought, even at that point, that once Richie saw "how well" they were getting along without him that he'd be back with his tail between his legs. But instead, Jon finds himself facing angry fans, demanding refunds and complaining (much to Jon's surprise, I'm sure) that Bon Jovi is NOT Bon Jovi without Richie Sambora even if the CEO is present and accounted for. On top of that his wallet is taking a hit as the tour limps on, giving away tickets almost as fast as they're giving back refunds and still having to pay all those employees to carry on with a tour that the band told him they weren't ready for to begin with.

And STILL Richie's not crawling back. That's gotta sting. And I would imagine that Jon is one person who really hates it when his plans don't work out the way he expects. So hell yeah, he's pissed, and it's beginning to show - not only in his obvious displeasure with the interview questions, but also in the way that he's going against his own confidentiality rules, getting quite close to revealing "secrets we take to the grave."

How about cutting Richie a little slack here? I know you're disappointed and you've lost money. I understand that as well as anyone. I went nearly $2000 in debt, lost a week's vacation, and spent HOURS on a train to go to NJ for the Philly and NYC solo shows only to learn within 2 hours of arriving that they would be the best two shows I never saw. (And before anyone goes off on the cancellations being caused by low ticket sales, I have no way of knowing how many tickets were or were not sold. But I do know that a friend of mine talked with Richie at the Q&A in NYC and she said he was "sick as a dog and croaked like a frog." She also said that his rep told the audience that Richie (who we know is a hugger) had requested "no hugs" because that's how he got sick to begin with and he didn't want to risk infecting anyone else or, I'm sure, risk further sickness himself. While I may not know about the ticket sales, I DO know that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for a lead singer to pull off 2-hr shows with laryngitis, no matter how dedicated he is to his craft or to his fans. Not to mention the possible permanent damage to his vocal chords that could result.)

I didn't mean to get sidetracked but I’ve had it with that argument unless someone here KNOWS beyond pissy speculation that low sales was the ONLY reason Richie cancelled those shows. What I had started to say is that I understand from personal experience how disappointed many of you are. But really, you've criticized the "fan-girls" on twitter for tweeting nothing but supportive comments and blindly following Richie into hell, as it were, but aren't you kind of doing the same thing just in the opposite direction? It appears as if many of you are allowing your disappointment and financial loss to cause you to just as 'blindly' find fault with a man you have apparently respected for years until some unfortunate circumstances messed up your own personal sandboxes.

Has Richie really been all that unreliable over the years or is this something that is being generalized due to the current atmosphere? I remember him missing shows due to rehab during the Circle tour and I vaguely remember him being sent home from tour (?) following the Unplugged fiasco. I also remember other rehab stints, but not any that conflicted with Jovi dates, all of which occurred in the wake of tremendous personal upheaval and losses that could defeat anyone. Simply choosing to perform for the entertainment of others doesn’t make someone immune to that sort of devastation or equip them any better to handle it. So can someone refresh my memory? Over the 30 years that the band has been together how many shows has Richie missed – on short notice or for no reason?

If he has been an unreliable prick all this time, why are you still following him? And if he hasn't been all that unreliable or acted like such a prick then why are you so willing to believe that he suddenly turned into a flake who doesn’t respect his fans, his band, or himself?

For my money, there simply has to be another answer. And some sort of dispute is the only thing that, for me, logically explains them not communicating except through press and tweets, Richie keeping silence while Jon is progressively more vocal, the fact that Richie seems to be happy and healthy and looks more on top of the alcohol than he's been for a long time, but due to some "private matter" is not touring with the band. So I think the "private matter" is between Jon and Richie and that Richie was willing and, in fact, doing his best to keep it that way until Jon got more and more aggressive in his comments.

Did he choose the best time to walk away or to prove a point, if that’s what it is? It wouldn’t appear so; but then we don't know what caused him to walk or what point he's trying to prove. It may be that it was the ONLY time to do it. Not knowing what "it" is, I can't judge Richie's timing. But I will say, not as a blindly enraptured fan-girl, but rather as an individual who's been accused of being logical to a fault... Richie has flaws like we all do and he reaps the consequences of bad choices as we all do. But whatever the reason is that has led us all to this point, I believe it is important enough to Richie for him to lay everything on the line... his career, his fans, his "brothers", the money - everything. And I don't believe that ANYONE would do that unless he truly believed it was unavoidable.

I believe he still respects his fans and loves his "brothers" but on the horns of this dilemma he had to do whatever "it" is even in the face of disappointing others and risking the professional reputation he's worked for over 30 years to build. It has to go well beyond some insignificant flight of fancy or childish temper tantrum.

Obviously, all of this is conjecture. The reason for Richie leaving the tour could yet be something that we haven’t even considered, despite our collective attempts to investigate, speculate, research, crystal-ball, or supernaturally divine. But I refuse to throw all the respect I’ve had for Richie (or Jon) to the wind. My respect is not based on some teenybopper image of them as perfect people who can do no wrong, but on observations over the years, highly respectful comments from people in the industry who have worked alongside them, and the things they have stood for too consistently for it to have been a sham.

All was fine until the last tweet...

I think Matt's passive-aggressive, sophomoric tweets are really telling that there's been bad blood from day one. And at this point I don't see how anyone can't believe that. He's not coming back, it's just boiled down to some cock fight about whether Jon will FIRE Richie or if Richie will QUIT. Pathetic.

We know you have never liked Richie, that much you have made clear. You don't need to inject it all over this thread. Remember that time you get all pissy because I called you out on it and others backed me up?

Jon, Richie and Matt are all pathetic losers at this point.

But they really haven't. His tweets began back in April insisting there is no fight, Richie will be back and he has a right to his privacy. They continued with Richie is like a brother to him so don't mess with his family and he feels Richie will be back sometime this summer. It's only since Jon's gloves have somewhat come off that Matt is turning it around and saying who's the bastard that didn't show up to the gig.

A dispute between Jon and Richie could very well be, but if so, would Jon really be challenging Richie to say something? Because the past few days Jon has clearly backed him into a corner. I just can't see Jon opening that door for Richie to speak about a personal conflict between the two of them. Just doesn't add up for me.