yep, If he has left for family reasons, they will clear up and he will return.

If he left cause he is pissed, high, elbow deep, or whatever other vice he has then eventually he will get sober for a few weeks and come back.

If he has had enough and walked, time's a healer and all that, so he will be back one day.

If it is health, well Mick Mars has been on stage from beyond the grave for years.

LOL Right?

I had heard there was supposed to be some sort of official statement made about Richie today, but other than Matt's PO'd Tweets, I haven't heard anything. Were they this slow at issuing a statement back in 2011?

Bravo! Hear, hear! Post of the day.

If my memory serves correct, in 2011 some website leaked the info and BJ.com announced it officially a couple of hours later, so it was nothing like this. This leads to me to believe, the more they wait to announce it, the less likely is the chance of it being related to substance abuse.

Or the promotor is having a wank instead of posting something useful.

Another reason I don't think this is a case of Jon vs. Richie and Jon being a Big Bad Meanie is that Tico and Dave haven't walked away from the tour. If the band were being treated badly, they would be more likely to be unified and walk away together than for just Richie to leave. Jon's been surrounded by the same people for 30+ years. If he were really an ass to people, he wouldn't garner such loyalty. The band don't have to do this and his wife could have left and taken her half of everything long ago.

Richie Sambora ‏@TheRealSambora

Thank you everyone for your concern. I'm well, but had to stay in LA to take care of a personal matter. Love you all and see you very soon.

Interesting. Well glad he's okay. And at least he thinks he's coming back real soon.

Jesus, if it is not a big deal and he'll be back soon, THEN JUST ISSUE A DAMN STATEMENT!!!!

Not interesting at all. Vague, pointless, and disrespectful to the fans who shelled out hundreds of dollars on tickets to see the band trying to decide if they should get a refund or not.

I'm sorry. Not trying to be a wanker to the guy. He could have some serious issues to deal with, and that's all cool. But when you're a celebrity and you choose this life, you gotta handle things the right way and be professional and respectful of your fans.

Well, fair enough. We really don't need to know anymore.

Could be family, could have been a friend in trouble, could be a legal issue.

Main thing is he's well and will be back.

I guess if Richie happened to leave the band, that would a good opportunity to drop the curtain. Those guys they're far from their prime and while Jon keeps being this workaholic, Richie only thinks of recording and playing the shitty songs he writes for his solo records, Dave cares about his musicals ans Tico wants to play golf (don't mention Hugh the ghostly bass player...). 30 years is a great achievement, they should think of that.
Anyway and though I'm not such a staunch supporter of Richie, I'd sell my tickets or get a refund for Madrid. I won't book a flight and a hotel night to see JBJ.

at last...i think matt wouldnt lie as well...it looks things are a bit better than what we speculated!!! maybe its sth with his mother or heather? to be honest it doesnt matter, if he is ok and the band is ok im fine

Oh come on. He is not just the lead guitarist of a band.

He is human and shit happens and plans sometimes have to be amended.

Well..that's helpful.
I'm really curious what comes out of all this now.

Well, I feel a little better now.

He just did.

It's a personal matter - Richie had to stay and take care of it - no-one needs to know any more than that.

He doesn't have to elaborate on what the personal matter is. Nobody cares. Just let us know, is he coming back? "See ya soon" doesn't tell anyone anything.

maybe his Hummer got impounded and he had to go to the DMV to clear it??

He said see ya very soon and the announcement from bon jovi.com said this leg of the tour he will be missing. So 3 weeks at the most??

I'm glad he's come out and said something. Just a little reassurance.

I just spoke to Ticketmaster regarding the offer of refunds for ticket purchasers. They know nothing about it. I'm know it's not been a long time since that was posted on the fanclub site, but I'm kind of wondering if that only applies to fanclub ticket purchases.

I do agree with you. People speculate about him leaving the band. He could have made himself clear about that. We're glad to see he's OK but it tells US nothing about the situation with BJ.

You're right they don't. Frankly none of us need to know the ins and outs of someones life. I'm glad he's well and its not a health or band issue.

I am however dissapointed in the way the camp have addressed this. People are paying alot of hard earned cash to see the band in full and at the very least deserve official statement as to whether this is for a leg, the rest of the tour or even a see how it goes.

The whole managing systems sucks balls, they aren't managing anything at all.

If I were him, I would have denied the TMZ story. Seems odd that he didn't even mention it: it's a major rumour. Or maybe he just isn't aware of it.

I'm guessing he isn't aware of it; after all, he wasn't aware of Matt's Tweet about 'no banners' either, and that's /within/ the Jovi organization. Or maybe he just doesn't want to acknowledge site like TMZ.

All this speculation makes us as bad as the press speculating!! He is still in LA,explains why he was not at sound check. It's not Jon's or anyone's responsibility to tell the world what the issue is!! Richie will tell us or let more info out via the band when he wants and that's how it should be. I'm pretty sure the band fall out all the time, just look at Jon and Richie in London a few months back, a few days later they are brothers in arms again.
Richie has been on fire on tour so far, he knows that he is part of the bigger picture at BJ and although Jon does himself no favours with his attitude at times, he has his own family, had the drug issue with Steph recently and is likely to be more understanding and caring about a best friend than some seem to credit him for!
Lets quit the speculation and negativity. When more is known, then have a say but for now the support goes to the band, including any replacement and Richie on whatever the issue is! Hopefully they will all be reunited soon and get back in the groove!

What happened with the "Addiction is a disease" debate? I want to know how it ends! hahahahha

Song introductions like this is the only thing that can help Jon keep the audience interested in absence of Richie.

Phil X Is Back Into The Tour.

**** Yeaaaaah.

Edit: Sucks that Jovitalk doesn't let me write all in caps locks, I was actually shouting that.

Just read this: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/en...-29173202.html

Richie better be there in Vienna or I'm gonna be seriously pissed.

After dedicating Wanted to Richie at tonight's show, Jon said...

"Life always has a few bumps in the road...he will be back""

That's encouraging to hear.

Maybe he feels its so shit there's no need to comment or he hasn't seen it

Actually maybe this whole thing is staged, to get people (not die hard BJ fans) talking about the tour and possibly attending the shows. The album bombed because it sucks so they need to get attention in some other way.

album bombed? Dont think so.

Album debuted at #1 in the US

Yeah, the album certainly didnt bomb. I was actually quite impressed by its sales considering how terrible the marketing and promotion for it was. Shows the power of the Bon Jovi brand name.

Regarding Richie I think it has to be family or minor personal problems. If it was a cash or treatment by Jon thing, i've no doubt the label and promoters would put pressure on Jon to sort it at least for the European run. Its an ambitious tour in terms of venue sizes and the band can't be a member down or Jon be portrayed as some nutty dictator who pissed off his guitarist to the point he walked out.

If its personal its a similar sized leg as the one Richie skipped on the last tour, so its obviously the best time to take off. If I had to guess he'll be back for South Africa and Europe.