Is Richie back on track ?
 

So since the HAND problem, Has richie got his shit together in last few gigs :confused:

Well, that wasn't the problem that was just a careless **** up, that happens to anyone. As far as Richie goes, he still has a problem and it's the same problem he has been having for the past 10 years or so and that's being lazy on stage.

Richie has a massive problem. He doesn't play. I don't think he ever rehearses. The only time he plays is when he is on tour and that's not enough. He's stuck. Hasn't improved AT ALL since Undiscovered Soul and I would say that since about 2006 he has been regressing. More mistakes, less feeling, less quality improvisations....becoming worse and worse.

Look at people like Steve Vai...he plays a few hours every day. Sambora is busier designing clothes and what no. I am not saying that's bad...but his playing is getting worse with each tour, and that's a fact.

Such a dam shame, wonder how the self proclaimed CEO feels about the situation, and dont forget why ALEC lost his job,
I was hanging on a gooe soulfull Solo effort from Richie too.....:-?

Remember when Richie stopped making his "f*ck faces" on stage during solos? That's when it all went downhill, he looks embarrassed to be up there half the time these days.

I think that during Tokyo Dome 2008 Richie sounded really good, better than anything from 2003-2006, but at MSG he wasn't that good at all. Sound was overchorused and artificial, and he made some mistakes and dirty bends...
But I thing that he was pretty good guitarist at this time, compared to nowadays. He was doing great job playing I'll Be There For You or Dru County on MSG.


I thing on Cirlce tou he is playing really bad. He doesn't use anything but strong distortion (sometimes with volume knob rolled back to play some clean parts which is pretty terible).

He learned LH songs and I can hear that he has an idea on how to play them. But with the new songs (from TC), sometimes it's like he dosn't know what to play at all. Some stupid power-chords and sloppy solos. Bobby is playing most of the original parts from TC and Sambora does the chords. I thing this is really wrong. Just look at Born To Follow. At studio there's great opening The Edge -styled lick. During live Bobby do that (pretty bad comparing to studio record) and Richie does the chords.

Look at The Edge - he plays briliant on new Rose Bowl DVD and changes his tones everytime. I thing Richie was a lot better player and he could be if he weren't that lazy. Shame

I don't think it's his playing that gets worse, but his effort gets smaller and are smaller. If you look at Bon Jovi shows from 80s and 90s, he's running arround the stage, having orgasm with his guitar with every solo, singing his heart out in any place when he's backing up Jon. But know. Having them seen twice live and very recently, I have to say, that nowadays he's ****ing lazy. When I look at each member, I see Tico smashing drums with everything he has in the tank, David being as energetic as keyboard player can possible be and Jon singing, connecting with the crowd. Even though Jon's voice isn't ideal, you can see he's working hard and plays and sings with 100%. Richie, on the other hand, is just standing with his guitar and posing with it during every solo just to get a small aplause from the crowd. And he's no longer giving his best when he sings back up vocals. When you watch a DVD or other proshot footage, you don't see that, cause the camera is mostly on Jon all the time except for specific parts. But when you're at the show, you notice that the other 3 members (I'm not counting Hugh and Bobby as their job is just to stand and play) are energetic and giving all they got, but Richie is just so ****ing lazy.

I dont think he's worse or even getting worse every tour...no...
but I do think that if he only focused on his playing, as his only job, he would play even better.
He doesnt add anything "new" to the solos nowadays...maybe since the 90s...I dont know.

He should leave this stupid clothing thing and focus only in music...

Only if he's sick of it already...who knows. Maybe he doesnt want to improve anymore, he thinks he's good the way he is now. Which I think he IS, of course..Im not saying he's not.
But an improvement is always good.

I think that's 100% right. Look at LYHOM from 1995. He has that whole extra solo thing in the middle. He's still capable, one would think, but he's just not willing to do it.

And also, there hasn't been big solos on the past few albums. The last album where I would say he regularly "shredded" would be Crush. He needs a challenge now. He needs something in a song to look forward to.

Having just watched When We Were Beautiful, I have to wonder if that has more to do with Jon than Richie. Making sure the other band members don't overpower him--onstage or in the studio--seems to be part of Jon's overall "vision," which conveniently narrows it upon himself.