Bon Jovi guitarists old and new, Richie Sambora and Phil X, joined forces with Orianthi and Matt Sorum at the Rock For Responders benefit concert on Thursday, February 27, with Livin’ on a Prayer headlining the supergroup’s mini performance.
Phil X became a full-time member of the rock giants in 2016, having initially served as a stand-in for Sambora on a number of tours after 2011. And, while a Sambora-Bon Jovi reunion may be off the table, the two lead guitarists offered perhaps the next best thing with an era-combining show.
Sambora wielded a heavily relic’d Henrik Danhage signature Charvel, while Phil X opted for a gold Gibson SG as the pair put on an initially subdued – and notably Talkbox-less – take on the 1980s classic, with an octaver-laced solo from Sambora helping crank through the gears.
He’d started by thanking the responders who “risked their lives to save ours” during the wildfires before asking the crowd, “Wanna sing with me?” as the droning opening chords of the song cut through the PA.
Taking place at the Battleship Iowa Museum in San Pedro, California, the show was the latest in a long line of benefit concerts that have been put on to raise much-needed funds in the wake of the LA wildfires that swept through the city in January.
The concerts haven’t disappointed so far, with a female-powered Nirvana reunion, Blink-182 performing with Matt Skiba, and a star-studded show being compared to Live Aid all delivering the goods previously.
Orianthi, meanwhile, made one of her first public appearances since being forced off the Alice Cooper tour due to injury. The guitarist had been forced to perform sat down at PRS's recent 40th anniversary bash.
Last month, Phil X confirmed that new Bon Jovi music – featuring at least one killer guitar solo – is in the works, along with more tour dates, as the band looks to build on the momentum of 2024’s Forever. That record featured Jon Bon Jovi’s first-ever acoustic guitar, after the frontman was reunited with it 45 years after he sold it.
The news seemingly keeps any possibility of a Richie Sambora return on ice. Mind, Bon Jovi had rather brutally shut the door on a reunion last summer, when he hit back at the manner of Samobora's departure, saying: “He wasn’t kicked out, he quit. And he hasn’t made any great overtures about coming back.”
Sambora, meanwhile, has detailed Bon Jovi's disastrous first arena show when, opening for ZZ Top at Madison Square Garden, he blew his amp in the first 60 seconds.
