Thursday, June 15, 2017

Concert Review: Poison




I was there for Poison.

I had never really known Tesla. I was aware of Def Leppard all along, but I didn't get into them until the early 2000s.

Poison was different. They always had good crossover appeal so were played during all time blocks, and I always liked them. I had never seen them live, though. Hearing about this tour I knew it was something I really needed to see.

They were so great.


It's not that time hasn't taken any toll. It seems pretty clear that Bret Michaels' voice is not as strong as it used to be, and equally clear that it doesn't matter. He is such a showman that you don't feel a loss. He brought the audience into every song, he got us to sing with him, and made the show a shared experience.


It would still be remiss to point out that when C. C. Deville played the opening riff to "Talk Dirty to Me" I felt that time had taken no toll there. Age may slow him down eventually, but it hasn't happened yet. 

 
For instruments they were all pretty strong. Bobby Dall sounded great. I thought Rikki Rockett sounded fine but was maybe playing with less flair, but speaking of "Talk Dirty to Me", when that started suddenly Rikki was wearing the chauffeur's cap - apparently conjured from nowhere - so he still has some tricks up his sleeve.

It is also worth pointing out that there are ways in which the passage of time can enhance.

Poison has had ego issues in their past. Saturday night it was clear that not only had they found their way back to their original configuration but that they had found ways to make it better. There was so much appreciation shown between the band members.

Actually, Bret took time to show appreciation for Tesla and Def Leppard as well, but it was even better how much credit he gave to his band mates. It's been about a year since I watched Mötley Crüe: The End. If it works for that band to take four separate buses to four separate hotels, and probably never see each other again after, I guess that's okay. To instead learn to appreciate each other more, and respect each other more, seems infinitely better. 

It don't get better than this.





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