Bon Jovi Guitarist Richie Sambora Bails On Tour

Apart from bassist Alec John Such departing in ’94, Bon Jovi has more or less stayed in tact for the past thirty years. That’s an impressive amount of togetherness for such a group of musicians, but that doesn’t mean the guys haven’t had plenty of ups and downs over the last three decades. In fact, it seems like they’re about to enter another down period right now.

According to The Daily Mail, Bon Jovi took the stage more than forty-five minutes late in Canada last night with an intern because longtime guitarist Richie Sambora suddenly and unexpectedly quit the group’s Because We Can tour. No one involved in the situation has released any specific word on what the hell may have happened other than it's "personal", but the musician isn’t exactly known for his sound decision-making skills. He’s been to rehab on several occasions, and a fill-in has been used in the past when he was unable to fulfill his tour obligations. That being said, no one has said rehab, drugs or alcohol at this point; so, for all we know, it could be a family emergency or jury duty or anything else that could occupy a grown man’s time for a few months.

Bon Jovi is planning to tour pretty extensively until the end of July with an yet unnamed replacement. Sambora is expected to miss all of the early dates in the United States in Canada, but when they guys take the show on the road to Europe and Africa, it’s possible he will rejoin his brothers. We’ll keep you updated. Until then, here’s to hoping whenever Richie returns, he’s healthy and ready to work.

Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.