If and when Richie gets back I could think of no better way to thank Phil X than to get The Drills to open a few stadium shows in Europe....

I´m 100% agree with you.

I tried to explain the same in another thread but you used the right words.

Richie is mi hero. I play guitar because of him. But I love the Bon Jovi songs written by Jon and Richie. The music written by David and Tico. As long this guys still playing this songs, I´ll see the band so many times I could.

I've been puzzling over all of the theories I've seen/discussed/read regarding the Richie situation, and I've come up with an idea to add to the mix. As a big Richie fan, I'd love to be proven wrong about this, but since I have anxiety and emotional codependency issues, myself, I can empathize some, if this scenario has any truth to it.

Basically, I'm wondering if Richie has replaced drinking to cope with stress with fleeing conflict (literally).

The story that made me consider this angle was one I had forgotten: Last year, Richie and Denise Richards were scheduled to present at an awards show. Apparently, they got into an argument, and Richie took off and flew back to L.A., leaving Denise to present the award on her own.

Meanwhile, Richie does his solo tour in Europe, which sold out in pre-sale! He is loved, he is adored. He Tweets enthusiastically after each show. However, the U.S. dates don't fare so well, so he claims illness and cancels most of them, and turns the LA show into a charity show (commendable, of course, but by doing this, he can also take the focus off of himself and what might otherwise be disappointment at not selling to a packed house). Therefore, stress of poor sales averted, even if for only one show.

On Twitter, fans get pissed that he's cancelled so many U.S. shows, and they call him out on it. Eventually, perhaps after being 'attacked' one too many times, Richie sends out a couple of nearly incoherent Tweets. Though I didn't understand quite what he was saying, the tone I got was akin to a cornered, wounded animal, trying to defend itself. However, by the next day, Richie claimed his Twitter account had been hacked, and that we should just ignore the seemingly out-of-character Tweets.

Now, magnify that type of scene, only have Jon as the source of the conflict. Richie gets offended by something, and flees by leaving the tour. Instead of dealing with the conflict, he can hide out for a few weeks, then send a few Tweets to his own Twitter fan base, and then chill and watch his 'Every Road' contest submissions, while, in the very same state of California, his band mates play a show (and just in case they're wondering how he's doing as they prepare to go live, he Tweets he's 'having fun'). No crisis here!

If any of this is true, then it says to me that Richie's coping mechanism is the main problem here: Perhaps he has substituted drinking with running away from stress. Unfortunately, this behavior affects a lot more than the band; it affects his loyal fans, as well. On his part, it points to deeper psychological issues than addiction.

Richie is a huge part of bon jovi's live sound, I checked couple recent videos and it is obvious, it doesn't matter how talented phil x is.

Richie and Jon had a fight, that's why he left. In the pre show party in Las Vegas, a mexican couple asked Rob Fuzesi if that night (April, 20), Richie would make his return to the band. Rob answered "no". Then he told them that they had a fight and then he said "Business are business!". Or maybe he's just helping Heather Locklear.

I had anxiety and maybe that's why I can empathize with him..

Given Richie is an alcoholic he will probably have received endless advice on avoiding stress and prolonged pressure situations. It may just be the pressure and expectation of touring that has kept him away, or it could be a ‘personal matter’ between him and Jon.

Either way, it is possible that he has stayed away in order to maintain his sobriety.

This was my first notion... but I think there is more behind the stress that leads to the temptation. I still don't think Jon would have been happy that Richie was plugging his album while WAN was freefalling from the top ten all around the globe. Richie is the only band member with a dedicated Twitter following and he wasn't marketing the right record, as far as Bon Jovi are concerned. I can see both sides of that one.

Could well be, in fact im sure there is but you know he will have been advised time and again to avoid stress.

If Jon wasnt happy about that i dont have much sympathy with him. Its essentially a Jon record anyway and it pretty much sucks, Jon knew Richie was committed to finally getting out a new Solo album and was occupied enough with that when Jon started on WAN. This is the tragic thing about the album for me, when I listen to WAN its totally lacking any Sambora. Had Richie been involved they could have turned it into a decent album. I think there are some good ideas on there they just needed some more work and some Richie influence.

Im not commenting on whether or not Richie could have promoted WAN any harder, im just saying I doubt whether he really believes in it and I don’t think that has helped.

And what if Richie is facing a health problem? That's a very personal matter which I don't know if he would like to become public. What if Richie Sambora is in a Tony Iommi situation at the moment? Alcohol, smoking etc can cause such health issues. It's just a thought that crossed my mind few minutes ago. I hope I'm wrong but we might never know.