Phil X Expresses Guilt Over Taking Richie Sambora’s Spot In Bon Jovi

In a new episode of Talking Shred, the current Bon Jovi guitarist Phil X sat down to answer fan questions. During the Q&A, he revealed that he feels sorry for taking Richie Sambora’s place and that fans have to see him instead of Sambora. He said of the fans who came to see Bon Jovi live for the first time:

“When it’s something like a situation where you’re filling in for somebody and somebody comes up and says or writes a comment the next day, ‘That was my first Bon Jovi show and it was Phil X,’ I feel bad sort of. I feel like that should have been Richie.”

The Fanbase Affected The Guitarist

In the same Q&A, he recalled the fans’ signs during the shows and how one particular show affected the entire band:

“When we were in on and we did the Bowl, at the [Milton Keynes] Bowl, that was my maybe 30th or 40th show in 2013 when we didn’t know Richie was coming back. So they do this thing called choreography where you’re in a stadium and they hold up signs. So I saw, okay, over here is the Bon Jovi symbol and you go to another stadium, this is a Bon Jovi symbol, and it’s usually just a section. In Milan, it was the entire Bowl. All the front the ground seats were holding up the Italian flag and across the entire Bowl, it says ‘Bon Jovi forever.’”

Apparently, this was one of the rare moments where Jon stopped the show for being too emotional when fans held up signs. He also added that it should have been Sambora instead of him:

“It was the most amazing thing I ever saw. [I] never saw John stop a song because he was emotional and he stopped. So you see, it was incredible. Now you know what I was thinking? I was thinking this isn’t my moment. As amazing as this is, Richie should be here for this.”

What Phil X Felt When He Replaced Sambora

The rocker has been playing with Bon Jovi since 2013. But it wasn’t until 2016 that he replaced Sambora as the lead guitarist of the band.

When the guitarist first joined, he was sent some DVDs of a Bon Jovi gig from 2010 in Tokyo to jam along with and pick up the tunes. At the start, he couldn’t make it through the whole show. He admitted during an interview:

“Do I want to do this? So I put on my guitar on the couch and I put HBO on — Bon Jovi documentary. So that was the sign. I picked up the guitar, finished the show, keep doing it. I couldn’t tell anyone what’s going on. Inside I’m burning up, exploding all at the same time and I can’t tell anybody.”

He also said that his and Sambora’s styles were not quite the same:

“I can’t be Richie, it’s not in my DNA. I can’t be full Phil X because me being full Phil the Drill isn’t going to work. I can’t be Riche Sambora because he’s a completely different human being.”

See the Q&A below.