Richie's always been my hero alongside Jon, and the two of them together have that creative spark that on any given day, makes them the best band in the world. I'm no fan of Richie's solo work, but what he brought to Bon Jovi alongside Jon, is something special. Even though Richie's been piss drunk at shows, his guitar playing erratic, his off-tour life something that just makes you blink in a mystified manner - he has the ability to be a genius at what he does. Without it, Bon Jovi can still be a really, really good band, but I don't know if they can ever be great. I'd love for Jon and whatever guitarists he has to prove me wrong on that though.

That being said - whatever his reasons were for walking off the tour, and Jackie I'm sorry but I don't think there's any great conspiracy here, Richie just didn't want to go to work - because he did that, mid-tour, he doesn't deserve to be in the band and it doesn't sound like he wants to be anyway.

So I'm pretty much over Richie. If there's ever a way he can come back with any dignity, and I don't know if that's possible, then great but otherwise I'm happy to see where the band goes from here - they might not be great, but they could still be really ****ing good.