I would agree with that if it weren't for a couple things. First, Jon would have known that prior to him and Richie both saying, publicly, that Richie would be doing some songs from Aftermath. Second, he's never let bathroom breaks stand in the way of doing songs he wanted to do. That whole "2 for you and 1 for me" thing.

But you're comparing the lull a new/unknown song reaction gets when Jon is on stage versus the guitar playing signing a song. Two VERY different things. This is strictly North America. From the 20 or so shows I've seen since 2002 that's a big thing I've noticed. Yes the dull songs can cause a pee break, a sit down or grab a drink. Jon flat out leaving the stage is ten times worse. It's usually one of my favourite parts of the show but you just can't compare the two.

Any other tour I would be with you guys and say "it's odd Richie isn't not signing one" but they made the stupid mistake of playing over half of an unreleased album. Jon and Richie did both say AOTL would be promoted but it wasn't a press release or a promise or anything. Jon also said New Years Day would open the THINFS tour and things changed.

I wasn't disagreeing. I think you're right.

Something else I've wondered about, since you brought up 2011, is how much rehab may have changed the way Richie saw his place in the band, as well as his relationship with Jon. If rehab is like other recovery stints, it probably involved a lot of self-assessment. Thinking about what Richie said in WWWB about his job being to keep Jon happy, and his obvious need to express himself through music, it's possible that the self-reflection in rehab could have made him realize how much of his adult life had been given over to the role of sidekick and that time was getting short if he ever wanted to do something on his own. He may have come out of that experience with a more assertive attitude, which could have led to more confrontations with Jon and higher demands for his own recognition.

It seems like a lot of that is reflected in the lyrics on AOTL; and it also makes me wonder if part of his contribution to Pictures of You might have been "No matter how I try, no matter what I do; I'm still painting pictures of you."

VERY good point, I agree.

That's all true. But it doesn't change the fact that Jon would have known all of that before he said it would happen. It might have been different if it was something they hadn't done before and Jon cut the song after seeing the result. The only thing about it being a public statement is that we know he did, in fact, say it. Otherwise, people would probably have assumed that Richie was just blowing smoke when he did the Brazilian interview to support his album and said that he would still be promoting AOTL on the BWC tour. I wasn't saying that Jon promised the fans or the public; but I think it's something that Richie might have seen as a promise Jon made to him that he didn't follow through on.

my theory about people being in love with you WM was also an allusion to all the theories here and of course I agree with you that my theory is 100% right... Now how can I go to Bon Jovi concerts with all these people being jealous of me? I guess I’m not going to be front row anymore or I will need to pay for extra security... it’s okay -_-


all the time

Just to stay on topic, bastards!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BppuviMnfRM/

Meant to reply earlier. I thought you were just being a smart-aleck in keeping with all the other BS that was flying back and forth. :)

And besides, I may owe you an apology, anyway. Even if it was unintentional, you may have been wrong only once. Still seeking confirmation, but it could be that you actually DIDN'T hear it first from Jon, after all - if we want to get technical. (And I'm sure there are those among us who do.) :p

'S alright!

What does he mean, by himself? Richie has never written a hit song by himself. How many songs has he actually written by himself?

He's perfecting the tranny look.

I'm sure he's written a few...just because Jon refuses to record anything that he doesn't get a song writing credit on. There's been some discussion about this here in the past, I'm sure Jon has just changed a line here and there just to get a song writing credit at times. So we never really know how much of each song was written by Jon/Richie/Desmond/Billy/whoever...