Bon Jovi Guitarist Phil X Breaks Silence: “I’ll Never Be Richie”—Despite Winning Over Fans in New Documentary, Online Trolls Won’t Let Go of Sambora’s Shadow—Inside the Battle for Acceptance, Social Media Backlash, and How Phil X Is Shaping the Band’s Future Amid Relentless Criticism

The guitarist has been in the band for over a decade, but it seems certain fans still haven’t accepted that Sambora is out of the picture

Phil X

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Filling Richie Sambora’s shoes in Bon Jovi was always going to be a big task for Phil X, and though he accepts certain portions of the fanbase will always pledge allegiance to his predecessor, he says the band’s recent documentary has helped win some fans over.

Sambora left the band in 2013, leaving a 30-year legacy behind him, with Phil X getting the gig off the back of a three album stint with LA pop rock outfit Powder, and his work with vintage guitar store Fretted Americana.

He’s played on three albums since, including 2024’s Forever, which saw Jon Bon Jovi reunite with his first ever guitar after 45 years apart, and he’s now starting to see more and more of the band’s fans warming to him.

Speaking to Guitar World at NAMM 2025, he says: “If I walk through an airport, most guys are like, ‘Hey, I love your Fretted Americana videos.’ Most girls are like, ‘You’re doing great in Bon Jovi.’

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“And then once in a while you get, ‘Hey, I saw the documentary. You come across like a really down to earth guy, and I think the fans that didn’t like you before like you more.’”

The four-part, career-charting doc Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story sees the guitarist enter the fray for its final episode. His presence in the doc, as it explores the band’s more recent exploits, has helped showcase Sambora’s replacement in a new light, allowing certain fans to embrace him for who he is, rather than stand against him for who he isn’t.

But not everyone has been charmed by him.

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“I still get little comments,” he reveals. “I could be blazing on Instagram and [there’ll still be] comments like, ‘You’ll never be Richie!’”

He laughs as he says this, accepting it’s an impossible job to make everyone happy, and it shows the importance that Sambora had in the band’s success. even if their first shot at the big time ended in smoke and disaster.

In February, Sambora and Phil X crossed fretboards when they jammed Livin’ on a Prayer with Orianthi at a charity bash, and reflecting on that era-crossing moment, Phil X assures there is no bad blood between the players.

“Man, we were buds before and after. It was really cool,” he says. “it was a really amazing day. Sometimes, I had to sit back and go, ‘Holy shit. Is this really happening?’”

Phil X

(Image credit: Gibson)
It also proved an interesting moment for the guitarist, who played a “supportive role” as Sambora strutted his stuff.

“One funny thing is that he doesn’t do the modulation at the end that I do when I play with Bon Jovi,” he goes on. “I just had to stay in my head. I’d be like, ‘OK, don’t do the modulation, don’t do the modulation.’”

Phil X

(Image credit: Getty Images)
Despite the pair getting together, the chances of Sambora rejoining the group, in any capacity, seem thin. Speaking of his departure last year, Bon Jovi said, rather bluntly, that “he wasn’t kicked out, he quit. And he hasn’t made any great overtures about coming back.”

Sambora was a recent guest on Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast, where he discussed the band’s origins and his subsequent departure three decades on. Corgan also revealed that the guitarist is hugely respected in the alternative guitar scene.