No Richie on current leg of the tour

Originally Posted by steel_horse75

If Richie didn't want to be in the band any more he would have left before the tour started.
He wouldn't just walk out 10 ish shows in. He knows he would be letting 100,000s of fans down.

Originally Posted by RonJovi

I'm hoping it's a case that your sarcast-ometer is on the blink.

Originally Posted by Keychange

Come on guys... BJ have been through a lot worse than this!

Doesn't anyone remember their These Days and Keep The Faith eras? Jon and Richie were both fighting physically back then night after night, show after show and they still managed to continue with the band. At one point I remember seeing Jon give a dead evil look to Richie just before the solo of LOAP in Chile 1990. If looks could kill, Richie would be 6ft under.

Originally Posted by The Rock

I'm finding out more and more. When they say it's personal for Richie, it's personal. No drink, drugs or health problems but personal. Think coming back from Hawaii holiday. Ex-wife. Where that child wants to live? who that child has been spending more time with.....there you go. A beautiful, teenager but still under 18 and needs custody. Mommy not happy at the moment.

Originally Posted by The Rock

it's better for him to work out his issues now, then to screw up Europe.

Originally Posted by danfan

Um, 1990 was before the Keep The Faith or These Days eras. It was also 23 years ago.

Originally Posted by Roll

Let's face it, his comment about the not loud enough guitar in WAN is a joke from a guy who released a record with such a poor guitar work last summer. I mean what he wrote and played is at best in the same league as what the band offered for WAN (I think in most cases it's much worse, and no need to talk about 7 years gone please).

Originally Posted by Roll

Apocalyptic Love beats the shit out of AOTL. It's got everything you want from a rock record and the guitar player doesn't sound like he's got MS...

Originally Posted by Keychange

Come on guys... BJ have been through a lot worse than this!

Doesn't anyone remember their These Days and Keep The Faith eras? Jon and Richie were both fighting physically back then night after night, show after show and they still managed to continue with the band. At one point I remember seeing Jon give a dead evil look to Richie just before the solo of LOAP in Chile 1990. If looks could kill, Richie would be 6ft under.

Originally Posted by Captain.Crash

Im going to weigh in on this once just because it seems to be the thing to do.

There are so many different things that go through my head when i try to speculate on what is going on here, and face it its the natural thing to do.

1. I dont believe a think Matt BJ says so i pretend he doesnt even tweet, talk, type, whatever.

2. TMZ is a fairly reliable source and just because a lot of people dont like some of the things they publish, this story isn't crazy out to lunch.

3. I do believe there's a very good chance that this is involving a rift between JBJ and RS for a couple of reasons:

- JBJ has become a monster. There has been a slow shift to this being Jon and the rest of the band, and i know people are going to say "yeah hes always been the boss, blah blah blah" but the interviews used to include the band, they at least used to include RS. Now all i hear is JBJ doing interviews and saying ME, ME, I, MY, etc every chance he gets. You listen to his town hall interview and he is a bold face liar. About HIS shows, HIS tour, HIS this and HIS that, he lies. He lies about setlists, he lies when he makes comments like "my best is yet to come" and i could go on for hours.

- From what i saw in the 2 Toronto shows, there was something going on with JBJ and RS. Very little interaction between the 2, they seemed more disconnected than ever. The set was stale, the band sounded OK, and it seemed like a show that ive seen a million times with a band going through the motions.

- The band didnt want to tour this soon. JBJ made them. To me its about money. For this band doing a tour is like printing money. JBJ is smart and knows the window wont be open for ever so he's milking this thing for all he can. He's gonna keep doing sell out (or close to sell out) shows and every single time they make millions. He's even gotten so cocky with the setlists to the point where they could sing the alphebet and the masses will eat it up.

4. This band is not immune to these types of problems. Some people act like its not possible, that it cant possibly be a fight between "peas and carrots" - well guess what? If i was dealing with that ego (JBJ) every day I wouldnt have lasted this long no matter what the money is. RS has been through enough that he probably doesn't want the stress anymore. He has JBJ by the balls because he knows they cant go to Europe without him so he takes this break and tells JBJ "i'm taking the break you said i was getting" or something along those lines.

5. If it was alcohol, we would know by now. Plain and simple.

I really never thought i would get bored of this band. Ive been to 23 shows and always look forward to the next, but when you look at everything over the past 5 years I have come to the conclusion that Bon Jovi in 2013 is an afterthought. Nobody outside of these message boards cares about this band anymore. JBJ always talks about not being a nostalgia act, which again is a lie. Thats what they are. Outside of HAND (the Song), LH (The song) and maybe WWBTF - nobody wants to hear anything post 2000 at the shows. Most of the crowd just goes along with it because JBJ is bouncing all over the stage. (Which he doesnt even do anymore).

If this band wanted to protect its legacy they would have taken the break as planned. Make people wonder where they've been and come back with something somewhat fresh. Its my opinion that JBJ doesnt care about that either anymore and he would rather ride the marketing machine to the bank.

Its such a weird feeling to have such strong feelings towards JBJ himself but love the band and the music for what it is.

At the end of the day, none of this surprises me. Ive been wondering how the band puts up with him and his attitude/actions, and i really think that this time someone finally stepped up and did something about it.

Of course i could be completely wrong and that wouldnt change my feelings one bit, but when you think of it (if you want to believe it) the signs have been there for some time.