An intriguing slice of rock history was made on February 27 when two generations of Bon Jovi guitarists — Richie Sambora and Phil X — graced the stage to play “Livin’ on a Prayer” before a delighted crowd at the Rock For Responders LA wildfire benefit concert in San Pedro, California.
Richie Sambora’s talents helped turn Jon Bon Jovi’s namesake outfit into one of the biggest bands in the world, with his talkbox on that mega-selling 1986 track his crowning moment. He featured on 12 studio albums before a messy split in 2013, which saw Phil X — who had filled in for him across a string of dates in 2011 — replace him.
Things between the Sambora and Bon Jovi camps have been a little frosty since. While Sambora confessed that he “regrets how it happened,” Jon Bon Jovi has coldly ruled out any possibility of a reunion, saying: “He wasn’t kicked out, he quit. And he hasn’t made any great overtures about coming back.”
That backdrop, then, saw the event's organizers doubting whether the two guitarists would be willing to team up. Discussing the head-turning performance with Guitar World, Phil X said Richie was a last-minute addition to the bill and that it provided him a unique opportunity.
“They called me a couple of days before,” he says. “They were like, ‘Hey, so Richie wants to come out and play Livin’ on a Prayer... is that going to be okay?’
“I was like, ‘We’re both adults. Yeah… it’ll be okay. It’ll be fun.'”
Phil X had put a sizable shift in before Sambora entered the fray.
“I had been playing all night,” he continues. “Then, he finally got onstage, came over, and we started playing “Livin’ on a Prayer”. We had rehearsed it the day before, so he and [Orianthi] could play their parts, and I just played more of a supportive role.”
That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Phil X had a frontrow view of Sambora’s semi-ad-libbed guitar solo and everything beyond it.
“One funny thing is that he doesn’t do the modulation at the end that I do when I play with Bon Jovi,” Phil X says. “I just had to stay in my head. I’d be like, ‘Okay, don’t do the modulation, don’t do the modulation.’”
Yet for all the talk of animosity between the parties, modulation faux pas aside, he doesn’t have a bad word to say about the man he’s replaced and whose riffs he’s been performing to arenas around the globe.
“Man, we were buds before and after,” he beams. “It was a really amazing day. Hanging out with all those guys was killer. He [Sambora] was just one more guy hanging out backstage. Sometimes, I had to sit back and go, ‘Holy shit. Is this really happening?’ It was really cool.”
Much of the tension between Sambora and his old employers comes from the fact that he left in the middle of the band's 2013 tour. Asked what would have happened had he stayed on to see out the remaining dates, he told GP, “I wouldn’t have been able to stay. I did what I had to do as a man for my family, and I don’t regret leaving — I regret how it happened. But I had to just evaporate.
“The communication level... I might as well have been driving my head into a brick wall.”
Since the split, Bon Jovi has reiterated that there was drama or conflict, telling Classic Rock, “I swear to Christ there was never a fight, nothing.”
But the manner of his exit has left a slightly sour taste.
Livin' On A Prayer was a song of my youth. I've played that song 300 times, and I still get goosebumps
Phil X
“No one saw it coming,” he reveals. “I talked to him the day before; I remember it so well. It was Easter Sunday, 2013, and he said, ‘Can I stay home one more day?’ ‘Of course. You want to fly private [to the next show] tomorrow? Sure. Do it. I don’t care. See you up there.’ And then the next day the phone rings at three in the afternoon, and, you know… ‘I can’t go on.’”
Speaking to Gibson Gear Guide about his role in Bon Jovi, Phil X had said he has “a wall of respect for the music, and Richie Sambora,” and that “Livin' On A Prayer was a song of my youth. I've played that song 300 times, and I still get goosebumps.”
Perhaps then, the guitarist was more excited by the prospect of playing the song with the band who helped make it a success, rather than being intimidated by the challenge or seeing it as Sambora trying to sit on his toes. He was happy to stand back and let Sombora have the limelight. If there was a rivalry, there was no sign of one on the night.
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