Concert Review: Poison With Vince Neil - June 14, 2003

During the summer of 2003 I would witness Poison live for the fifth year in a row. As they had in years past, Poision was taking other classic 80s bands out with them to revisit the great hair metal movement of my youth. This time around it was Vince Neil taking the stage before Poison. Skid Row was the opening act sans Sebastian Bach. Skid Row had a new vocalist Johnny Solinger singing for the band and the reviews were relatively positive. I was hopeful for this concert, but also reserved. In years past Poison had hit the road with Cinderella, Warrant, Ratt, and had great undercards in Dokken, Enuff Z’Nuff, Slaughter, and Winger (just to name a few). Skid Row, without Sebastian Bach, and Vince Neil, without the rest of Motley Crue, just didn’t excite me the way the Poison bills of the past had. Still I went with an open mind, full of hope.

Perhaps I had grown contempt because I had seen Poison so many years in a row, but this show was definitely a low point for the band and their hair metal tours. It appeared that it was getting harder and harder to get big (or semi-big) name acts to go out on the road with them. And while Vince Neil is exciting to some, he lacked the marquee status that came in years past. Vince Neil was okay, but that’s just it. He was okay. He wasn’t making me buy tickets. I think I attended this show for the pure fact that I had gone every year. It was another opportunity to travel nostalgia avenue and remember the hair rocking days of my youth.

I honestly don’t recall much about this concert overall. I’m sure I sang along with the songs and pumped my fist in the air during key hard rocking songs, but there is nothing emblazoned in my memory that makes this night stand out. That tells me this concert was average at best.

Vince’s set was filled with plenty of Motley Crue standards, which the crowd went crazy for, but without the rest of Motley Crue, it just wasn’t as special. And Poison gave their standard set filled with hits from the 80s and a couple of new songs that they were pushing. They closed with a cover of Kiss’ “Rock And Roll All Nite” which is always cool to hear, but overall there was nothing spectacular in their set. Even the order of songs was anticipated.

That’s not to say it was a bad show. A standard Poison concert is still a whole lot of fun. It’s just that there wasn’t anything that shook it up from years past. All of the shows from that time period start to blend together after a while. And it must have shown in ticket sales as well. By 2003, it seemed that the end of the Poison party was close at hand. Poison would go out the next year as the opening act for KISS and they wouldn’t tour at all in 2005. It was certainly fun while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end.

These days, I get my 80s fix by attending the M3 festival in Maryland every spring. It’s a two night event that is filled with all of the great bands from back in the day. And while I hope that poison will headline that festival one year, they haven’t to date. I am still hopeful though. As I can no longer witness their travelling hair metal bonanza, it would be nice to see them appear at M3. Maybe next year will be the year that it finally happens.

Vince Neil Setlist

Shout At The Devil

All In The Name Of…

Too Young To Fall In Love

Girls, Girls, Girls

Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.)

Home Sweet Home

Wild Side

You’re Invited (But Your Friend Can’t Come)

Looks That Kill

Dr. Feelgood

Teaser

Kickstart My Heart

Poison Setlist

Look What The Cat Dragged In
Squeeze Box
Ride The Wind
I Won't Forget You
Your Mama Don't Dance
I Hate Every Bone In Your Body But Mine
Something To Believe In
Stand
Fallen Angel
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Unskinny Bop
Talk Dirty To Me
Rock And Roll All Nite
Encore
Nothin' But  A Good TIme      

Vince Neil - January 9, 2004

Prior to his second (or maybe third) reunion with Motley Crue, Vince Neil went out on a solo tour with no new album to support. He just wanted to be on the road. Neil decided to go clubbing, performing at local area clubs across North America. In January of 2004, Vince made a stop at Double D’s, a rock club with a strip bar upstairs. It was the perfect place for Vince (who loves strippers) to perform.

My cousin’s husband, Greg, is a huge Crue/Vince Neil fan, and when he heard that Vince was performing in Morristown, New Jersey, he said that we had to attend this show. I had always been a fan of the Crue. Up until that point I had not seen them or Vince live. I was curious. It was set. I would attend the concert with Greg and our mutual friend, Caesar.

Double D’s rock club is a small environment and a tight place to perform a concert. This is great from a visual perspective, but an absolute nightmare from a hearing perspective. Seeing as how I was still pretty young back in 2004, I was foolish. I decided that ear plugs weren’t necessary for me. This was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made.

We started the night upstairs in the strip club, like any good rock and roll boy would. We had a few beers and in between tipping the strippers, we talked about what Vince would perform. It was a strange experience to know that I would soon be leaving the strip club to walk downstairs and watch Vince Neil perform live.

Greg, Caesar, and I headed downstairs prior to the first act performing. We sat through a lot of opening acts, none that I recall. After each opening act, Greg kept pushing his way closer and closer to the stage. He wanted to practically sit on the stage when Vince came out. It was almost as if he had a man-crush on the California boy. By the time he was almost on top of the stage, I had to peel back. My claustrophobia kicked in and I knew it would be a matter of moments before I started having breathing issues and a panic attack. I relocated myself to the back of the club, which still wasn’t that far away from the stage.

When Vince came onstage, the crowd roar was intense. Here he was, Vince Neil, the golden boy from California, playing a small club in New Jersey. He had a backing band of musicians we never heard of, but from the opening notes of the first song, you could tell they were good. The band had been practicing. Old Crue was the sound of the night, as Vince decided to play mostly classics from the first two Motley Crue albums. Too Young To Fall In Love, Shout At The Devil, Ten Seconds To Love, Live Wire, On With The Show, and Too Fast For Love were all performed that evening. The well known Crue hits such as Kickstart My Heart, Girls Girls Girls, and Home Sweet Home were also mixed in.

What was notably absent from Vince’s solo tour setlist was the Vince solo material. He performed no songs from his solo albums, although he had two solo albums out at that point. I was hoping to hear You’re Invited (But Your Friends Can’t Come), but it was not meant to be. We got Crue songs sung by Vince with a backup band playing the parts of Motley Crue.

That’s not to say they were bad, because they weren’t. The band actually sounded sharp, and at one point, Vince let the audience call out songs, and the band would play them live. It was hard to tell if this was staged or not, but when the band launched into Bastard from Shout At The Devil, no one really cared. They were all having a rock and roll blast.

As I stood in the back of the room, I noticed that the volume continued to get louder and louder. What I didn’t realize was how much it was hurting my ear drums. After the concert, I had to shout to speak to Greg and Caesar. My ears rang for two more days, and I was really worried that I might have blown out an ear drum. Thankfully, I was able to recover, but I learned a lesson from that concert, always have earplugs, just in case.

All in all, Vince gave an amazing performance. He performed for more than 90 minutes, and for most of that time, Greg was pressed against the stage, hoping Vince would slap his hand, or touch him, or acknowledge his presence in any way. I smiled. I knew that if it was Kiss on the stage, I would have done the same thing. At the end of the night, we all went home tired, happy, and partially deaf. It was a great experience though. Vince came to the East Coast and showed us how a party is done. He kicked our ass and left us wanting more. Long live rock and roll!

M3 Festival 2010

The M3 festival is returning this year. What is M3 you ask? Just an amazing day of hair metal music played at maximum volume and one of the better festivals of 2009. It promises to be just as great, if not better, in 2010.

Being held at the same location as last year, The Merriweather Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, this year’s lineup features confirmed acts of Kix, Winger, Vince Neil, Cinderella, Warrant, L.A. Guns, The Scorpions, Nelson Trixter, and more!

Most of my regular readers know that I also write reviews for Hard Rock Hideout (http://www.hardrockhideout.com/). This is the festival that we have chosen to attend this year. Rather than try and brave the mid-summer heat of Rocklahoma, or attend another unproven festival, M3 is our festival of choice for 2010.

M3 promises to be an incredible festival of hair metal music bliss. Last year’s M3 was an amazing event that was enjoyed by all. 2 stages featuring several acts across the day saw some great bands performing. This year’s lineup is shaping up to be even better. With Winger supporting their fabulous new album (Karma), Cinderella performing, and The Scorpions as the big headliners, this is going to be one amazing day of music and mayhem. It will be an excellent introduction to the 2010 summer concert season.

No word about the on sale date for tickets, but I imagine that it would be soon. The website claims that prices and on sale dates should be announced in the next week.

For more information and updates, visit the M3 Festival website at: http://m3rock.webs.com/

Comments are open. Feel free to post some.