New Jon intv ahead of Detriot Concert - he mentions Richie right at the end - nothing new. Just that he loves him, he's dealing with issues - he's welcome back etc...but the whole intv overall is a decent read. IMO

http://www.freep.com/article/20130714/COL18/307140087

Good interview ...... Very good news ..... I reckon Richie will be back sooner than later ..... Jon makes it clear he can come back tomorrow and loves him . Richie has chilled , had a nice holiday with the kid and will be bored shortly and back on tour . Simple ;)

I wish I was that naïve.

and the ball is smashed back over the net into Richie's court once more!!!

Yeah, but if Jon´s counting is correct when he says that he was 46 or 47 shows into the tour that would put this interview into early June when they where in the UK.
Some stuff has happened since then with Richie going more public with his "personal problems" than Jon may have wanted him to.

Thanks, everybody, for explaining what you don't like about Richie showing his chest. I have to say I don't mind or give much thought to it.


That's correct. If you count them up, we're talking about either the Manchester (June 8th) or the Birmingham (June 9th) show. They usually group press conferences and/or interviews in the same day, if they can, and since the latest interview with Jon was done while in Manchester, I would say this one was as well. In any case, we can say it's about one month old. Still, it's a new one, so thanks for sharing. I have to say sometimes these statements come across as bittersweet to me. Like, positive but gloomy at the same time. They don't really leave me with a good taste in my mouth.

I'm with you, the open shirt thing doesn't bother me as far as Richie...lol, I'd say maybe because I'm old too. But, to be completely hypocritical, I did say, "yuck" to myself when Roger Daltrey to off his shirt at 121212...ha ha ha!!

From Jon's latest interview:

Q: I’m trying to think of a clever segue into this question. If you’d said you do want to be the 70-year-old Jagger, I’d have said, “Well, do you expect Richie (Sambora) will be back by that point?”

(Laughs) Ba-dum-dum.

Q: I’ll just leave it at that and you answer it the way you want.

A: I love the man to death. He’s always going to be the guitar player in the band. He’s not been fired. There’s been no fight. There’s been none of that initial TMZ story about money or anything. He’s going through, all I can tell you, is personal issues. And as soon as he works them out, he’s got a seat on the plane next to me. …

I couldn’t stop in order to accommodate that. People come to see me do what I do, and we work very hard to give them the satisfaction of knowing their time and money was well spent. And that’s what I’ve got to do. And that’s also the case for Dave (Bryan) and for Tico (Torres) — we’re not going to stop. But the door’s open. You’re welcome back, we love you.

---

I think we did get something new out of this interview. See in Jon's last answer, where the ellipsis (the three dots) is? That's where the interviewer snipped something Jon said out of the interview. Jon comes across as very open in this interview, and given that, I suspect that he told the interviewer - off the record - what Richie's issue is/was. And followed it up with "I couldn't stop in order to accommodate that."

It's an interesting choice of words, and it makes me wonder even more what "that" is. Jon's words imply that Richie did not quit permanently, but that he took some time off to sort something out. Something that required time smack in the middle of the tour. Something that Jon - in his own words - did not think was justification for stopping the tour. Which leads us right back to personal issues and the beginning of this thread.

I am honestly starting to wonder if Richie wanted some time off to find himself or get centered or take a spiritual quest or something like that. Having seen an early show this tour with Richie in it - where Richie seemed really into it and Jon was struggling with his stage presence - I am still baffled by what the trigger was.

jublke

The open shirt thing is a trick often used to hide the gut and moobs :)

That was a great interview. Thanks for the link. If that's the EDITED version as it says in the beginning, I wonder just what else Jon had to say. Normally his quotes get cut down to the bare minimal but this one gave us some meat of what he was saying. I hope his health will improve, but I guess there are some things that are just time and wear and tear taking their toll on him.