I see very overreacted, Phil is smiling not stop and shake his head in every song as if it were a heavy metal band. Only exaggerated. Besides, in the Knockout video, the guy looked like a comedy, Jon was trying to take it more seriously though. That starts to be annoying.

Why should they take themselves so seriously? Phil adds a little bit of fun and energy to an old and worn out rock band - and shouldn't rock be fun anyway? I personally love seeing Phil smile and laugh and carry on - makes me happy and enthusiastic about the band too. Especially now that Jon is much more static, it's great that other members, namely Phil and Shanks, are appearing more animated.

Yes and no.

This well he can be happy and bring that energy in rock songs, but there are others that need to be something more ... dramatic or requires another tone, and just watch Phil doing these movements and with that stupid smile.... just annoy a great time, but ok, this only happens if you see the video. I'm just saying he does not have to be constantly clowning.

Wow, you're certainly bitter about Richie leaving the band... I don't think any other guitarist would satisfy you. If seeing people being happy and enthusiastic makes you annoyed, then maybe that's your problem and not Phil's. It's almost as though, now that the new songs are not "Richie's songs", Phil can be himself a little bit and make the performance his own.

It's a lose-lose situation - not enough movement means no stage presence, and too much and then he's "clowning" around. What do they have to do to please us fans!

I'm just saying I see exaggerated his behavior.

This is not Raise Your Hands or Blood on Blood.

I think that's just Phil it's what he does I don't think it's forced at all. He certainly also has Hugh and Tico smiling!!

Rolo...be nice. Phil's a great guy and wants to be there!!!

Give it a rest. How come I never see you bitchin' about that other guitarist who appears much more like a clown to me in his recent shows?! :p

I know, and too note. I'm just saying you have to be a little more... in tune with the song., and not lose my head for enthusiasm.

I think the other guitarist already has enough. I Have to balance the scales a little, do not you think?. Let me be a little critical with the kid.

Rolo will never be happy with Phil, its pointless to argue.

Maybe Tico should stop hammering the drums so hard and blowing the cheeks out and rolling the sticks all the time, or David who throws his hair about and bounces at the keysboards, hell even Hugh has moved this tour (how very dare they!)......oh that's right, they are loving playing in the band Bonjovi, just like Phil is, a band we all supposedly love and would probably love to play in ourselves.......Richie, however, decided he did not want to. End of. Deal with it.

*People wish Bon Jovi would be fun again*
*it happens*
*NOT LIKE THAT!!!*

I have a bad habit of engaging in pointless arguments lol!!

Phil has a heavy metal style, you can see it in the way he plays, in the kind of guitars that he use (no Fender, no Gibson), the long hair, and of course if you listen something of his main band Drills.
He has a lot of energy and he use it on stage live or in a music video.

In the other hand you have someone like Hugh, static player, who don´t use to bang his head, or jump, or smile or do funny faces. He´s just there standing in front the mic.
The band could be playin some of the hard rockin 80 songs but you won´t be seeing Hugh jumpin fron one side to another.

There is not just ONE way to play on stage. And thats fine for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-PCSyNBgnY

He looks 100% into the song. That's what I want from Jon.

This was an instant favor of mine at the Basie show!! Still loving this song!!


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He looks to be into all of the new ones. He's sold me on the album, that's for sure.

Completely the opposite of What About Now.

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Phil seems like the guy who lives the night of his life when he is playing with Bon Jovi, like "I can't believe it, it's happening, yeah Bon Jovi!". Meanwhile the other members also seem to have fun but they are also tired and used to it :P

Absolutely love Rollercoaster! I love the 'ooohhh' parts at the end of some lines.

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I really hope they keep Rollercoaster and We don't run for the tour! Both sound amazing live! Who is doing the backing vocals on Scars on this guitar? Is it Dave? He's absolutely nailing it!!

These performances Jon sounds better than on the first 2. Looks like a test warm up for the stream. I'm confident in the dude that we will get better vocals come show time next year.....

jon improves with every show...hope he continues to work this out...
i have seen all the 3 shows til now and its evident he feels more confident, it was also obvious he smilled and moved more, he has a long way to go to do the back catalogue justice live but its promising there seems to be improvement.
i love most of the new songs, hope there is a bunch of them in the setlists and some setlist staples that stayed for too long like lost highway-leaving going on-we got it going on-because we can etc become replaced by new songs, i think 5-6 new songs would be ideal if placed right and combined with oldies.

I hope they keep most of them! There's a few I don't care much but anything is better than hearing the same post HAND songs over and over again. Last time they believed in an album was HAND. I think they played the whole album (save for a song or two?) and lots of album cuts where semi-regulars or even regulars. I know people like the 2008-2011 tours for the rarities, but to me up until the HAND tour they had a better core setlist. Born to Follow, LH, WGIGO and BWC can't be classics over most post2000 songs, I refuse to accept it.

This should be the perfect time to start anew. They have strong songs live, they seem to enjoy playing them, Jon's voice is holding up pretty well so the more new songs they use, the better, everybody and their mother has already heard at least 4 songs from the album and chances are most fans have had the chance to watch most of them live. They really don't have lots of excuses this time to ditch the new songs because they are not working. They are clearly working live, when was the last time that happened?

The only problem I see is some of them might sound too similar, but at least they have many options this time for a nice rotation. Well, they only one they can't touch is Devil's. If they don't make it a staple live I will... I don't know what I'll do but it won't be nice :bad-word:

Does or did anyone put a link together of all songs with the best qualities? So we could have all 4 shows...

It's always been my opinion that Phil goes over the top with juvenile, overenthusiastic mugging, especially since he doesn't do it when he's performing with others. I agree with Kukoc7 -- he comes across like he's a little a kid who won a "Richie Sambora Fantasy" contest. It wouldn't be so annoying if his guitar playing kept pace.

What does your last sentence mean?

I'm calling foul, he always seems high energy in whatever he's performing at to me.

I think rocknation has an axe to grind and just seems offended someone's enjoying themselves in Richie's place.

It does. Just use your ears.

Phil is streets ahead of Richie in terms of reliability and dare I say it, technique, these days.

The new songs don't need technique, look at John Shanks for the love of God.

Still doesn't change the fact that Phil is technically a great player, probably more accomplished than Richie. Yes, Richie was able to emote the right feeling with his great playing, there's no doubt about that.
But when the above comment was made I knew it'd be less than 20 minutes before you jump on it :D

PhilX is just the real PhilX. If you don't know his vids for Fretted Americana you should check some of them, it'll give you a good idea! ;)

And you can rest assured that Shanks didn't do it by accident. Predictable, mild-mannered, uncomplelling guitar work that doesn't overpower Jon is his form of unemployment insurance.

I don't hold it against Shanks or Phil that they aren't Richie; I hold it against them that they don't make me miss Richie. I have never believed that Brian Johnson is as good as Bon Scott, but I believe he's done a good enough of preventing me from missing Bon Scott.

The new songs are nothing to do with Phil's technique being better than Richie's these days.

There's people on this board who will probably have a better technique than RS right now.

He is a mess. His repetitive licks and runs and lazy phrasing are obvious to anyone who plays.

He used to be an exceptional player, very clean and had a wonderful sense of melody.

Rolo, I promise you if RS put on a guitar clinic now and challenged Phil X, Phil would embarrass him.

Plenty of players that have been at it for a long period of time have some signature tricks they tend to use often and they also tend to lose some spark, some sense of what made it special at the beginning or peak. Richie is still a great guitar player, what he lacks is consistency and maybe some confidence, but his passion is still there. As for who is better, I believe I read somewhere on here that that's like comparing Eric clapton with Eddie van halen, they're both guitar gods to me, and so are richie and phil. It all boils down to personal preference, Phil is definitely more technically proficient and consistent, but I can't envision him writing something as moving as stranger, that said he's the perfect guitarist for Bon Jovi right now....

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I agree some guitarists do lose their edge - the problem I have with Richie is he is going backwards. He's not plateaued - he's in decline and it is horrible to see. He was my guitar hero.

No doubting Phil isn't of the same calibre as RS in terms of song writing. Richie Sambora between 1986-1998 was exceptional - great guitarist, gifted song writer and a fantastic singer.

The honest truth of the matter is he is currently a very sloppy, lazy guitarist and for that reason alone, he can be judged against someone who stylistically, may be different. He is being judged on basic things, things all professional guitarists should be competent in.

Phil being a faster player wouldn't make him better than Richie - but Phil being much more professional and consistent and way more innovative in his approach to playing, does.

That's how I see it!

richie is a better musician artist guitarist songwriter imo, phil x is more technically accomplished the last 10 years or so...
richies timing chord use harmonies ideas are better imo he just became lazy with time and abussions...if you once were a great musician(not just guitarist)you cant unlearn it...phil x pleasantly impressed me during the last 4 shows but he goes into the axeman / shredder category for me than in the musicians one..