Prior to the days of M3, Rock on the Range, or other hair
metal festivals, the only way an 80’s rocker could get their live hair metal
fix was when the Poison tour would come through town. Poison started touring in
1999 with the Glam Slam Metal Jam tour, taking other 80’s hair bands out with
them. There were usually 3 other bands on the bill performing prior to Poison. That
particular year saw Cinderella, Faster Pussycat, and Winger as the acts prior
to Poison.
As I have mentioned in some previous concert reviews,
sometimes recollections can be a little fuzzy, or nonexistent. This is one such
case. I vaguely remember seeing Faster Pussycat’s performance. I don’t recall
anything about Winger’s set. That’s not to say they were bad performances, it’s
just that I can’t remember much, if anything, about them. By 2002, I was seeing
Poison for the fourth year in a row and all of their concerts from that time
period seem to blend together. It’s hard to recall what the opening acts
performed. Heck, I can barely remember who they were, let alone what they
sounded like or played.
Cinderella was the co-headliner that year. It was the second
time that I was seeing them perform, the first being in 2000 when they went outon the road with Poison. Cinderella gave a solid performance and I was
impressed by how great they sounded. Tom Keifer’s vocals were in fine shape and
the rest of the band was tight. Their set included the mega hits that we had
all hoped and expected. Cinderella did not disappoint. “Night Songs,” “Comin’
Home,” “Shelter Me,” and the power ballad “Don’t Know What You’ve Got (Til It’s
Gone)” were all played to the delight of myself and the crowd. Most of the audience
would say that Cinderella had the best performance of the night and it was hard
to argue that. However, being a huge Poison fan, I was anticipating nothing but
excellence from them.
Poison had recently released a new album, Hollyweird, and I was interested in
hearing some of those songs in the live setting. Hollyweird wasn’t their best album, but I thought it was a solid
record and there were some songs that were going to be great live.
Unfortunately, Poison decided that their cover of “Squeeze Box” and the worst
song on the album (the CC Deville led “Emperor’s New Clothes”) were the songs
to perform. That was a bad decision on their part. I never thought that CC
Deville was a great singer and I think the decision to let him perform a song
where he sang lead vocals was meant to serve his ego. CC is a great guitarist,
but he is not a front man. Leave the vocals to Bret Michaels, please!
Poison did mix up the set a bit by performing “Talk Dirty To
Me” as the second song of the night instead of at the end of the set. That was
a nice surprise. The rest of the set was filled with all of the hits. “I Want
Action,” “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” “Something To Believe In,” and of course,
“Every Rose Has It’s Thorn.” In the slot normally reserved for “Talk Dirty To
Me,” Poison closed with their fantastic cover of the classic KISS song, “Rock
And Roll All Nite.” They even pulled fans onstage with them to dance and sing
the song. That was quite a cool moment to witness.
The one song encore was the expected “Nothing But A Good
Time” and it was fabulous! I absolutely loved seeing this band in concert and
they gave another wonderful performance. New songs, classic hits, and a shakeup
of the setlist led to a wonderful evening of hard rock.
Unfortunately Poison no longer tours and that’s a real
shame. I would love to have the opportunity to see these guys live again. I
would especially love it if they would headline the M3 rock festival. I know
that Bret Michaels did a solo performance there a few years ago, but it just
wasn’t the same. I want to see Poison in all their glory. Until that happens, I
will have to relive the memories of nights like this one.
Cinderella
Setlist
Somebody Save Me
Push Push
The Last Mile
Night Songs
Fallin’ Apart At The Seams
Heartbreak Station
Comin’ Home
Shelter Me
Don’t Know What You Got Til It’s Gone
Nobody’s Fool
Encore
Shake Me
Poison Setlist
Look What The Cat Dragged In
Talk Dirty To Me
Ride The Wind
Squeeze Box
I Want Action
Emperor’s New Clothes
Something To Believe In
Your Mama Don’t Dance
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Unskinny Bop
Fallen Angel
Rock And Roll All Nite
Encore
Nothin’ Bit A Good Time
Slaughter came out first and while I can’t recall exactly which songs they performed, I know that they played a majority of songs from their first (self-titled) record. I have always been a fan of Mark Slaughter’s voice, going all the way back to his days in Vinnie Vincent’s Invasion. He has a high range that not many vocalists can compete with. Sounding exceptionally well on that warm June evening, Slaughter was magnificent.
Slaughter set the tone for the evening and passed the torch to Dokken, who was out next. In 2000, the only member of Dokken still in the band from the original 80s version was Don Dokken himself. Long gone was George Lynch (due to several feuds with Don). The other members slowly left the band over the years. Don was performing on the moniker Dokken, but we all knew this was really Don Dokken solo artist, performing the hits of Dokken. What could be done? The band did carry his name.
Cinderella came on stage next as one of the two headline acts for the evening. I had never seen Cinderella live before, so this was a real treat for me. I had adored this band as a younger lad and to finally see them live while in my late 20s was a dream come true.
“Ladies and gentleman… please welcome… Poison!” With the announcers scream, so entered Poison. This was the second time that I would see them live (and for the second year in a row). I was more excited this time around because I knew how great they were in concert.